![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
red_satin_dollBut first a gentle reminders to icon fans: Sign ups for Round 4 of ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
btvsats20in20 are happening here and now ...but don't forget that sign ups are open the ENTIRE round.
Last round the winner was...me. I pushed myself to learn some new-to-me techniques, most importantly vector masks (aka cutting around objects - and it should NOT be this hard someday I will download gimp I swear) to create some icons and banners/posters I'm really proud of *point to Dead Things icon*. And because of what I learned, I finally had the courage to create artwork this week for![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
velvetwhip's beautiful, tragic Mr Gordo fic "Soft and Pink and Very Sad".
When I think of the story, the phrase that comes to mind is "silent scream." Who would have imagined that sadness, confusion, despair, abject helplessness and rage could all be expressed so vividly in the person of Buffy's beloved stuffed pig?
Click on the banner below for a direct link to Gabrielle's marvelous story.
The idea came to me a couple of months ago but I didn't know how to execute it. I always wanted to have the ghost image of Buffy from that final shot of The Gift merging with Mr Gordo in the lower-right corner. I had originally planned to have a faded image of a younger Buffy holding Mr Gordo or at least looking down, on the left of the picture' but it turns out Buffy either never held him onscreen or I couldn't find the cap. And at any rate, it didn't feel right to have her image there - her absence, not her presence, is the central thing to Gabrielle's story and to poor Mr Gordo. The ghost image of her headstone and most of the textures used (a furry plush texture, the blood spatter texture with color inverted over Buffy's face, plus noise and grunge filters alternating with softening and bloom filters) came about because I was trying to hide the edges of the Mr Gordo image I'd cut. Now I'm satisfied that you can't see the "seams" but working on it that was all I could see.
Gabrielle felt it captured the "chaos" of Mr Gordo's world after Buffy's death and most importantly she was pleased with it. Now I can say I am, too. I don't see the flaws anymore when I look at this; I only remember her story and Mr Gordo's plight: "His soft pink heart hurts and he wishes she were here to make it better."
The biggest mistake I made was forgetting that her LJ is narrow and downsizing it before I sent it to her, or doing it in a vertical format.pickamix kindly downsized it for Gabrielle's LJ. Thank you very much to everyone who has already commented on the piece there. Constructive criticism is warmly accepted.
And if you haven't read Gabrielle's story for goodness' sake what are you waiting for? But do bring tissues; you'll need them.
btvsats20in20 are happening here and now ...but don't forget that sign ups are open the ENTIRE round.Last round the winner was...me. I pushed myself to learn some new-to-me techniques, most importantly vector masks (aka cutting around objects - and it should NOT be this hard someday I will download gimp I swear) to create some icons and banners/posters I'm really proud of *point to Dead Things icon*. And because of what I learned, I finally had the courage to create artwork this week for
velvetwhip's beautiful, tragic Mr Gordo fic "Soft and Pink and Very Sad".When I think of the story, the phrase that comes to mind is "silent scream." Who would have imagined that sadness, confusion, despair, abject helplessness and rage could all be expressed so vividly in the person of Buffy's beloved stuffed pig?
Click on the banner below for a direct link to Gabrielle's marvelous story.
The idea came to me a couple of months ago but I didn't know how to execute it. I always wanted to have the ghost image of Buffy from that final shot of The Gift merging with Mr Gordo in the lower-right corner. I had originally planned to have a faded image of a younger Buffy holding Mr Gordo or at least looking down, on the left of the picture' but it turns out Buffy either never held him onscreen or I couldn't find the cap. And at any rate, it didn't feel right to have her image there - her absence, not her presence, is the central thing to Gabrielle's story and to poor Mr Gordo. The ghost image of her headstone and most of the textures used (a furry plush texture, the blood spatter texture with color inverted over Buffy's face, plus noise and grunge filters alternating with softening and bloom filters) came about because I was trying to hide the edges of the Mr Gordo image I'd cut. Now I'm satisfied that you can't see the "seams" but working on it that was all I could see.
Gabrielle felt it captured the "chaos" of Mr Gordo's world after Buffy's death and most importantly she was pleased with it. Now I can say I am, too. I don't see the flaws anymore when I look at this; I only remember her story and Mr Gordo's plight: "His soft pink heart hurts and he wishes she were here to make it better."
The biggest mistake I made was forgetting that her LJ is narrow and downsizing it before I sent it to her, or doing it in a vertical format.
pickamix kindly downsized it for Gabrielle's LJ. Thank you very much to everyone who has already commented on the piece there. Constructive criticism is warmly accepted.And if you haven't read Gabrielle's story for goodness' sake what are you waiting for? But do bring tissues; you'll need them.
