btvsats20in20 ROUND 6: WILLOW ROSENBERG
Jan. 10th, 2015 12:11 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
red_satin_dollETA 01/16/15: Round 6 Voting at ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
btvsats20in20 open until Jan 18th. Thank you everyone who has voted and commented!
Many many thanks to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
velvetwhip for her boundless support and encouragement, for the brainstorming sessions and her absolutely invaluable Willow expertise!
This is the first time I've been comfortable enough to make Dark Willow icons; I've needed to tap into a little of that dark side apparently.
TEASERS:
13-14
15-18
19-22
23-26
23 was my alt Outfit icon; my entry version is a bit more visually arresting, and has a nice lesbian subtext (it could be an icon for an Impala/Willow shippy fic). But the alt version, with the mummy's withered face frozen in anguish, is sadder and more interesting on a meta level. 25 and 26 attempt to blend a quote from Reptile Boy with an image from Grave; it doesn't quite work because the context the image - a pile of burning books - is unclear.
27-28
This is the first round that I started by making the AC set; I've wanted to have an aesthetically coherent AC set ever since I sawspikesredqueen's pretty Cordelia AC set for Round 1. So I collaged them together in a row as single images to apply text and effects to all the icons at a time. Then of course I proceded to make at least three more variations, and mixed and matched to come up with the final set of five.
As one does:
29-33
34-38
39-43
44-47
I used the "Oh my goddess" rather than the "White Willow" cap because I think the White Willow cap looks just plain silly.
btvsats20in20 open until Jan 18th. Thank you everyone who has voted and commented!Many many thanks to
velvetwhip for her boundless support and encouragement, for the brainstorming sessions and her absolutely invaluable Willow expertise!This is the first time I've been comfortable enough to make Dark Willow icons; I've needed to tap into a little of that dark side apparently.
TEASERS:
| 10 Themes | ||||
| Accessory | Purple | Quote | Reason | Profile |
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| Out Of Character | Soft Glow | Bored | Outfit | Re-Cast** |
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| 5 Category |HOLIDAY TIMES | ||||
| Cat 1 | Cat 2 | Cat 3 | Cat 4 | Cat 5 |
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| 5 Artist's Choice | ||||
| AC 1 | AC 2 | AC 3 | AC 4 | AC 5 |
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* Reason: In 2014 I came out of the closet as a Buffy/Tara shipper. This year I'm coming out as a Buffy/Willow shipper...and by "ship" I mean "relationship" in the broadest sense.
I love Buffy. I love Willow. Their friendship was one of my favorite things about the show; it's not only central to btvs, it's absolutely essential - just as the friendships and love I've found in this fandom are likewise absolutely precious and essential to me. I want to celebrate and appreciate, not waste time mired in pointless and tone-deaf fandom wars.
** Aly Sheedy. (The Breakfast Club, War Games; she's adorable and quietly intense on this 1975 segment of the game show "To Tell The Truth", after her novel She Was Nice to Mice was published when she was all of 13 years old. It's a historical novel about Queen Elizabeth told from the POV of a mouse who lives at the castle. Which seems like a Willow Rosenberg type of project. Except that I suspect Willow would hide her manuscript away in a drawer because somebody laughed at it.)
Ironically Alyson Hannigan was already a "recast" of Willow; Riff Regan played her in the unaired test pilot, but I couldn't find a decent photo of her to work with.
Alts/Extras:
01-05
I've never seen this image of Aly used in icons, and I have no idea why not; it's utterly adorable.
06-07
The inspirations for my AC set. I wish both of these had come out better, and I couldn't find another theme to fit them in.
08
My alt Reason icon, and one of my favorite icons I've made this round. Buffy & Willow (or "Wiffy") fans unite!
09-12
I love Buffy. I love Willow. Their friendship was one of my favorite things about the show; it's not only central to btvs, it's absolutely essential - just as the friendships and love I've found in this fandom are likewise absolutely precious and essential to me. I want to celebrate and appreciate, not waste time mired in pointless and tone-deaf fandom wars.
** Aly Sheedy. (The Breakfast Club, War Games; she's adorable and quietly intense on this 1975 segment of the game show "To Tell The Truth", after her novel She Was Nice to Mice was published when she was all of 13 years old. It's a historical novel about Queen Elizabeth told from the POV of a mouse who lives at the castle. Which seems like a Willow Rosenberg type of project. Except that I suspect Willow would hide her manuscript away in a drawer because somebody laughed at it.)
Ironically Alyson Hannigan was already a "recast" of Willow; Riff Regan played her in the unaired test pilot, but I couldn't find a decent photo of her to work with.
Alts/Extras:
01-05 I've never seen this image of Aly used in icons, and I have no idea why not; it's utterly adorable.
06-07The inspirations for my AC set. I wish both of these had come out better, and I couldn't find another theme to fit them in.
08My alt Reason icon, and one of my favorite icons I've made this round. Buffy & Willow (or "Wiffy") fans unite!
09-12 13-14 15-18 19-22 23-2623 was my alt Outfit icon; my entry version is a bit more visually arresting, and has a nice lesbian subtext (it could be an icon for an Impala/Willow shippy fic). But the alt version, with the mummy's withered face frozen in anguish, is sadder and more interesting on a meta level. 25 and 26 attempt to blend a quote from Reptile Boy with an image from Grave; it doesn't quite work because the context the image - a pile of burning books - is unclear.
27-28This is the first round that I started by making the AC set; I've wanted to have an aesthetically coherent AC set ever since I saw
spikesredqueen's pretty Cordelia AC set for Round 1. So I collaged them together in a row as single images to apply text and effects to all the icons at a time. Then of course I proceded to make at least three more variations, and mixed and matched to come up with the final set of five.As one does:
29-33 34-38 39-43 44-47I used the "Oh my goddess" rather than the "White Willow" cap because I think the White Willow cap looks just plain silly.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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Date: 2015-01-10 05:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-01-10 05:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-01-10 05:36 am (UTC)Friday January 9
Date: 2015-01-10 05:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-01-10 06:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-01-12 04:07 am (UTC)The OOC one is a particular favorite of mine *points to new default icon*
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Date: 2015-01-10 06:12 am (UTC)I do not believe I have ever seen the picture of Alyson Hannigan that you used in the Out of Character category before.
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Date: 2015-01-12 04:14 am (UTC)I do not believe I have ever seen the picture of Alyson Hannigan
When I look at the photos at Chosen Two gallery there are an incredible amount of gorgeous photographs of Alyson over the years that are just begging to be made into icons, and only a few I've seen used in fan art. But I do the same thing with Sarah - reuse my favorite images of her over and over when there are plenty of other photos to play with.
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Date: 2015-01-10 06:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-01-12 05:24 am (UTC)Thank you that's one of my favorites! *points to default icon* I used some light textures I've found online that I hadn't used before with several of these icons, including that one.
Alt 1 was supposed to be the OOC entry but I went back and made a totally new version at literally the last minute because the alt version felt too fussy, too precious and overly-detailed. (The same with Cat 2.)
I think Willow's colors are more vivid with the bright yellow.
I agree. The background is a simple default ipiccy texture I've never used before but the color coordinated beautifully with her w/out being too match-matchy.
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Date: 2015-01-10 12:29 pm (UTC)And Ally Sheedy as 80s Willow? Inspired.
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Date: 2015-01-12 05:34 am (UTC)Oh my gosh thank you!
Ancient Chinese secret: I used some light textures I've found online that I hadn't tried before AND - I finally figured out what the "Burn" photo editing tool does. Basically, it allows me to deepen shadows anywhere I like with precise control. So like my sweetie does with her paintings, it helps me lay down my darkest darks right next to my brightest brights. It's simple and really rather fantastic.
And Ally Sheedy as 80s Willow? Inspired.
:D I don't even recognize most of the folks in other people's recast icons because I don't watch many movies or tv so I had to go retro. also, the hood of that coat - I immediately remembered Willow's eskimo costume.
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Date: 2015-01-10 01:32 pm (UTC)Let's talk about how brilliant your alts are because, honestly, HOW CAN U?
I LOVE 05. One of the best Willow icons ever even if it's OOC but I just like the coloring, the crop and the text. Also 07! Your conceptually complex icons strike back! Can I tell you what I see? Not only absolutely genius because you blended the images perfectly but also deep symbolism: we imagine Willow raising Buffy from the grave, but actually we see it as if she's almost invoking her from another dimension and the dimension is inside her womb because of the crop. Supernatural/symbolic rebirth: check. You should totally do a large artwork with this idea.
Absolutely lovely 13 and 14 and the "stay close to me" made me giggle because the text is from my favorite icon of yours. Did you do it on purpose?
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Date: 2015-01-19 07:40 am (UTC)ABSOLUTELY. :D I knew you'd appreciate that.
I apologize for not answering you sooner, dear, because I was and still am STUNNED by your wonderful words, by the way you understand everything I'm trying to communicate with these, and see things I didn't even realize. THANK YOU so much for all of it, and your compliments!
I especially like "reason" because of the soft coloring and the subject (Willow/Buffy friendship) and I like the alt with the heart shape.
Reason is one of my favorites - my claim for next round is Buffy & Willow. Because for as central as their relationship is to the Buffyverse precious little attention is paid to it in fandom, in comparison with the "ships". What's worse though is that fandom factions seem to have been split into Buffy vs Willow camps. I say, Fuck that noise, you know what I mean?
dark!Willow (Which, as you already know, is one of my favorite villains)
This is the first time i've ever made Dark Willow icons and been comfortable doing so - really seeing the power and righteous rage that Dark Willow (initially) represents and ignoring the way it went off the rails or the fact that Joss' story implies that powerful women need to be tamed or controlled by men. (again, Fuck that noise.)
I just love how you mix past and present with your icons.
Thank you for noticing that! I really worked on that very consciously.
HOW CAN U?
Occasionally I am callous and strange *LOL*
Also 07! Your conceptually complex icons strike back! Can I tell you what I see? Not only absolutely genius because you blended the images perfectly but also deep symbolism: we imagine Willow raising Buffy from the grave, but actually we see it as if she's almost invoking her from another dimension and the dimension is inside her womb because of the crop. Supernatural/symbolic rebirth: check. You should totally do a large artwork with this idea.
YES, YOU GOT IT!!! *Dances with joy* You completely understand what i was going for. And I want to make a larger version of this.
Willow is very much Buffy's "sire" when she resurrects her. And I think it's important to emphasize that Willow may have gone about things the wrong way but she had the best intentions. She wanted to save her friend from eternity in Hell and risked her own life to do so.
Did I read or did I just imagine the other night a fanfic where Willow's reason for not including Dawn was that she didn't want Dawn's hopes crushed if the spell were a failure? Or is that just my head canon?
And thank you for noticing 13-14, I really love those for the old tea vintage color and texture. I probably should have entered one of those for purple rather than the slightly fussier entry version but oh well.
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Date: 2015-01-19 11:47 am (UTC)I apologize for not answering you sooner, dear, because I was and still am STUNNED by your wonderful words, by the way you understand everything I'm trying to communicate with these, and see things I didn't even realize. THANK YOU so much for all of it, and your compliments!
My pleasure. :D
Reason is one of my favorites - my claim for next round is Buffy & Willow. Because for as central as their relationship is to the Buffyverse precious little attention is paid to it in fandom, in comparison with the "ships". What's worse though is that fandom factions seem to have been split into Buffy vs Willow camps. I say, Fuck that noise, you know what I mean?
Totally. I was rewatching Though Love the other day and let me tell you about my FEELS. Buffy and Willow bonding over the fact that they love Dawn and Tara and they will take care of them. S5 is the best and most wonderful season when it comes to family and women bonding. I love it so much!
Willow is very much Buffy's "sire" when she resurrects her. And I think it's important to emphasize that Willow may have gone about things the wrong way but she had the best intentions. She wanted to save her friend from eternity in Hell and risked her own life to do so.
Did I read or did I just imagine the other night a fanfic where Willow's reason for not including Dawn was that she didn't want Dawn's hopes crushed if the spell were a failure? Or is that just my head canon?
I personally think there's a mix of selfish and selfless motivations. I think that Willow was brave and strong and she really cared about Buffy, she wanted her back and she thought (or she tried to tell herself) that she was doing the best thing for her. I don't think there's only selfish/power craving motivations. I don't think that Willow is so manipulative. Of course, there's also a component of manipulation and Willow's sincere curiosity about her power, but WTF. People understand power when they actually USE IT. I think that Willow says, if I remember correctly, that she didn't want to tell Dawn and Giles because she was afraid of something going wrong. Which I think it's also true. Complex motivations, yeah.
I love the symbology of the icon and yes, I'm absolutely curious to see more Willow/Buffy icons.
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Date: 2015-01-10 02:24 pm (UTC)You know how you say you can identify my icon by my coloring? I am starting to see a consistency in your coloring. I know I say this a lot but you have come so far from when you first started making icons!
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Date: 2015-01-12 07:24 pm (UTC)I'm starting to see just how and why my icons are improving (my round 3 and 4 sets were - not as good as I thought they were at the time. Ouch. *lol*)
I am starting to see a consistency in your coloring.
I'm often surprised by how "autumnal" and muted my icons tend to be; even cool tone ones (because I really do love rich jewel tones) although I seem to mostly make warmer toned icons.
I was looking at my Normal again round 4 set and whoa, that was some harsh color there. I think doing the muted rainbow for round 5 was a really good way for me to "recalibrate" my color palette.
When I made moulin Rouge icons ten years ago i used a lot of bright colors but that film is quite different stylistically to btvs.
you have come so far from when you first started making icons
Oh my gosh thank you so much!
I need to start posting my huge back catalog of banners I've made this past year because I'm really proud of some of those as well.
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Date: 2015-01-12 08:34 pm (UTC)I'm often surprised by how "autumnal" and muted my icons tend to be; even cool tone ones (because I really do love rich jewel tones) although I seem to mostly make warmer toned icons. I, on the other hand, like brighter colors as much as I like muted colors but I rarely do muted colors in my icons.
I need to start posting my huge back catalog of banners I've made this past year because I'm really proud of some of those as well. I know I have mentioned this before but you should really think about getting an icon/artwork journal. Authors have their lj memories and tags, like we have but they also have fanfiction sites and AO3 to store there work. We artists don't have as many options.
I know I can be a bossy little witch sometimes, so please feel free to ignore any and all advise. I sometimes can't help myself with the unsolicited advise. If fact there are several artist I have seen enter icon contests that have pretty good icons but they make (to me) a glaring (easy to fix) era in their work. It sometimes takes all my will power not to pm them and give them advise. I'm sure they wouldn't be too happy to get unsolicited advise, especially since my work is FAR from perfect.
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Date: 2015-01-10 03:27 pm (UTC)These look so awesome and I love how you captured so many sides of Willow's personality!
My favorites, of course are:
Accessory
Reason (I'm pro-Buffy/Willow)
Profile
Out of Character (ah! such a cute face)
Re-cast (Aly Sheedy is a perfect choice)
Cat 1
AC 1-5. I love the power of that statement!
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Date: 2015-01-13 06:28 am (UTC)Thank you! I was hoping you'd approve of this set so that means a lot to me. I wasn't sure if the icons were good when I finished them (not false modesty, I really wasn't sure - I made this set in about a week or so rather than my usual 3-4 weeks) but I had a sense that I had covered a lot of facets of her personality. This was the first time I made Dark Willow icons and didn't feel uncomfortable with it or dwell on the messed up aspects of the arc because I was able to see it as a part of her arc and also an expression of power and righteous rage.
I tried to make this just S1-2 Willow or limit it to one season or episode but the more I looked the more I realized how much I'd forgotten - like, how important all three of the Halloween episodes are to Willow's arc and what a key role she plays in each one.
Your favorites are all favorites of mine, btw - except that of the Category set my favorite might be #5 from Fear Itself. I wanted to contrast her comfort and confidence at that point with her discomfort in Halloween, and the fact that she's really sexy in that Joan of Arc armor because confidence is incredibly sexy - so "something sexy" is meant humorously but also sincerely.
Accessory was originally one of the alts with more glow in it, and Out of Character was going to be Alt #1 but I remade it at the last minute because it suddenly struck me as too fussy. I'm really super happy with the OOC one I did enter; it's probably my favorite this round. I mean, SO CUTE, why haven't I seen this image in like a thousand icons already?
Re-cast was one of the most difficult icons to make. I couldn't figure out who could possibly replace AH in the role; the only photos I found of Riff Regan were very poor quality; and the caps from Breakfast Club and War Games of Aly Sheedy weren't much better. That's the one entry I probably threw out the most rejects of.
Reason (I'm pro-Buffy/Willow)
Yay!
I've been working on some treats I think you'll like. :D
AC 1-5. I love the power of that statement!
Thank you! I love it too but I was a little worried that folks would think I was stealing Willow's thunder by having Buffy's quote there, but I saw it as an expression of how important Willow is to the story, to Buffy's story, and to the central themes of the show. So I'm very glad and relieved that came across to you!
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Date: 2015-01-10 05:10 pm (UTC)Gabrielle
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Date: 2015-01-12 03:36 am (UTC)Now I have to delete some of my current icons to make room, darn you!!!!
*stage whisper* If you're serious btw I can suggest one icon to quietly retire *cough*suicidehint*cough*
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Date: 2015-01-12 03:48 am (UTC)Gabrielle
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Date: 2015-01-12 04:01 am (UTC)Thank you dear!
ETA: I've added a couple from this set to my user pics btw *points to new default icon* I was worried as usual that this set looked awful and am so pleased and gratified by how it came out. I do think this set is more cohesive and less "jittery" overall than, for instance, my Normal Again set from Round 5.
Could not have done it without you - I can't emphasize that enough.
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Date: 2015-01-10 06:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-01-11 01:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-01-11 07:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-01-12 03:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-01-13 09:41 am (UTC)This is a beautiful set hon. Your icons just keep getting better and better and I love how you work with textures (it took me so long to even start using them myself).
And now for my faves...ok so first up I have to say I love what you did with the ACs. It's really creative and the image choices are suberb. I also really love:
Accessory (Willow was so adorkable in the early days and I love the simplicity of the icon);
Reason (Yes! And also it's a beautiful icon. I love the colouring; it has a rich yet kind of retro look to it);
OOC and it's alts (it's just pretty and I love the light effects);
Soft Glow (same as above - seriously beautiful!);
Recast (excellent choice and I love the warm colouring);
Cat 2 & Cat 5 (love the warm colours again, and great image choices).
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Date: 2015-01-19 07:23 am (UTC)I love how you work with textures (it took me so long to even start using them myself).
Aren't they wonderful? I've mostly used ipiccy's default textures or my own photos up until now; I started experimenting with other textures more in the last round; this round I pushed myself to use more and different textures I've found online, esp: light and glow textures.
I love textures A LOT. Adore them. I think there's two very distinct aesthetics in fan art in that regard - the more crystalline, smoother look with a certain clarity and purity that I admire so much, and the "rougher" texture-heavy aesthetic that I'm nonetheless drawn to.
Your Category set is a completely brilliant example of merging the two. If that's what happens when you use textures - more, please.
And I'm blushing even harder rereading your icon choices of my set. I don't know what to say except thank you so much!
This is the very FIRST round of 20in20 that i did the AC set first; I really wanted for once to have a true set conceptually and not just throw in 5 extra icons I happened to have lying around. I sacrificed their usefulness as individual icons but I'm ok with that.
Accessory is so cute - I'd forgot about that hat. I'd forgot about a lot of things in the early seasons so this round was great just for that. And I was really pushing myself to go for simplicity or the appearance of it this time around, after the last round of slayerstillness when my simplest icons took 2nd and 3rd place, that taught me something about the value of simplicity.
Reason (Yes! And also it's a beautiful icon. I love the colouring; it has a rich yet kind of retro look to it);
Buffy & Willow fans unite! (The "wars" btwn Buffy fans and Willow fans are as perplexing to me as the ship wars.) And you described what I was going for exactly -the color and look of an old hand painted postcard or photograph. I'm very pleased it worked for you; it's one of my favorites here.
I could do a set just from this scene. So next round my claim is Buffy and Willow; I look forward to making those. There are not a lot of icons of the two of them for all that their friendship is central to the show.
OOC is another one of my favorites - alt #1 was supposed to be the entry until the last minute I suddenly decided it was too fussy so I remade it; I'm glad I did. The light effects in the entry are from a set of "color filter" textures I've borrowed but haven't used before.
Recast was a fun idea but a real challenge - I wish I could have gotten a better icon but that was the best I could do with the screen caps i found from Breakfast Club.
And Cat 5 is my favorite of the Category icons; I really think Willow is sexy because of her confidence here, unlike Halloween and she looks so uncomfortable in that "hooker" outfit. But still adorable.
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Date: 2015-01-24 04:02 am (UTC)Your Category set is a completely brilliant example of merging the two. If that's what happens when you use textures - more, please.
Aw, thank you. I kind of have a love/hate relationship with textures because it takes me forever to do something I'm happy with. But I'm thrilled you like how the Harmony cat set turned out because that was someting I was quite pleased with :)
This is the very FIRST round of 20in20 that i did the AC set first; I really wanted for once to have a true set conceptually and not just throw in 5 extra icons I happened to have lying around. I sacrificed their usefulness as individual icons but I'm ok with that.
Lol, yeah that's usually how I do mine. I get all the theme stuff done and then see which images I'm left with :P
And again, it was a beautiful set and you should be proud of it :D
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Date: 2015-01-25 05:07 am (UTC)Thank you hon!
When I compare my entries for slayerstillness #37 with the icons I posted on Jan 1 2014, I'm pleased. (And mortified the older ones looked so bad and I literally had no idea at the time.)
But when I look at the icons that are out there on various comms then I'm really aware of how far I have to go. (If I never get the full version of photoshop, will I be able to go any further in terms of technique? IDK)
that was someting I was quite pleased with
I think it's utterly gorgeous - and should be in first place for category, no lie. (Is it ok to say that?) You'll notice I snagged the gold one. :)
I get all the theme stuff done and then see which images I'm left with
I'm so relieved to know it's not just me! I think for round 7 I want to start with the AC set again because I already have one or two ideas for it.
Thank you so much for the compliments; I'm honestly perplexed by how well this set has done but i'll take it.
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Date: 2015-01-17 08:27 pm (UTC)I hope you're doing all right. ♥
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Date: 2015-01-19 04:08 am (UTC)I'm really pleased that this round I specifically set aside time to focus on the AC and Category sets, rather than throwing them together out of alts and leftovers like I've sometimes done in the past. I do like Cat 5 very much - Willow is so adorable in Fear, Itself and I love how much more confident she is than in Halloween two years earlier.
which was a perfect prompt for you I think.
Oh my gosh thank you that is a huge compliment!
And I am doing ok right now hon - better than ok, actually, I'm doing fine. I've got a part-time job at a nursing home since November and I don't earn a lot but it pays the rent and I love the residents I look after. Working with them puts lots of things into perspective.
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Date: 2015-02-11 04:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-02-11 07:58 pm (UTC)Are you kidding? It's my pleasure and honor - I want these icons to be USED and enjoyed, not just looked at!
I think I said it in the post, but I've wanted to have a cohesive AC set ever since i saw your Cordy set in round 1 and this time I finally managed it. I know the text reduces the usefulness of the first four AC's so AC5 is the only true stand-alone. (And it won first place AC icon! *dances*)
And Reason I just absolutely love, I'm so glad other people like it too.
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Date: 2015-03-06 01:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-03-06 03:11 am (UTC)If it's all right? are you kidding, of course it is! (And I've seen your other comments re:snaggage and it just sends me over the moon that you think so highly of my work, m'lady!)
I was really happy with my entry icon for that theme - , but it didn't garner many votes - I think the bokeh effect might have been detrimental and in this instance I should have entered the alt you love. As you know, that sort of pale coloring is becoming one of my "signatures" but I wasn't sure I could make it work.
(like I have any reason to complain? I was really honored by the voters that round.)