Banners and Icons for Slayerstillness, Whedon Elite + Willow character poster for Ipseity

[red_satin_doll]

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The gorgeousslayerstillness banner was made by tempertemper; I adore how well it echoes my icon stylistically, and the boldness of her font choices. Not only am I far more limited in that regard I'm also far more timid. whedon_elite banner by yours' truly; image of Elisha Dushku on The Chosen Two gallery, (photographer unknown).

Feast your eyes on the winning entries and banners at both comms here and here respectively. My own entries:

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Challenge 49 at slayerstillness was "white decoration"; the textures on icons 3 - 6 are all by the lookslikerain. I swear that the the bars on icon #6 looked white-ish (off-white) to me - until I actually sent the set to starry_night and - oops. oh. damn.

If icon #5 reminds you of the Willow character poster I made for Ipseity by spuffy_luvr, it should. ;-)  The symbols on the left hand side are glyphs created by Laurel Cannon.

. 8


A tsunami of alts (once again, all textures except on the Joyce icons by lookslikerain). I particularly like the texture on #9 :

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          12 - 16


            17 - 22

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Quote on #24 from the gorgeous short story "Grave Daughter" by Nightmarish on A03. I really wanted that quote in my entry icon but I wasn't happy with the clarity/resolution of the text and I tried a couple of different fonts.

The whedon_elite challenge was - well, a challenge; I had already made some lovely framed icons of Faith for Round 10 of btvsats20in20 and didn't feel like I really had much else to say at the moment. For whatever reason Faith doesn't inspire me, visually or thematically, the way Buffy, Willow, Dawn, Joyce, Tara and now, Lorne, do. (Giles is the other fella I am starting to get comfortable with in terms of making icons - I hope.) Hence the shortage of alt versions. You're welcome.

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I am really happy with my banners for the round however. I wasn't sure what photo to use at first but I liked this one partly because of the white light in the upper-right corner; it provided a space to fit the icons without having to take the separate step of place them in a frame of give them a shadow to make them pop.The photo was black and white and I toyed with cropping it and just letting it be, but I felt like that would almost be too derivative of tempertemper's banner. So I started adding the color, toyed with sharpening and softening filters, and the added an additional layer to the lower left side - a photograph of lights (carlights?) in the darkness I took last year, set to Lighten or Screen.


I particularly like how the Light Use banner for sweet_lyri turned out because those shades of pink and red are hard to match.  I wasn't really trying for exact matches anyway but simply to coordinate nicely. The BMC banner for teragramm was the first one I made and I was happy with it right off the bat, no need for remakes. The yellow, orange and green tone banners were much harder by comparison. The banner for everythingshiny's first place winner was probably the hardest in that regard.

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A Vague Disclaimer is No One's Friend:

~ DO NOT RE-POST TO OTHER SITES (INCL. FANPOP) OR LJ COMMUNITIES WITHOUT MY PERMISSION!

~ Take what you like for personal use but please credit if used :) Do not take banner #1 for personal use without asking myself or spuffy_luvr.

~ No hotlinking!

~ Comments however are appreciated :)

Comments

[kikimay]

Icons number 1 and 2 FOR THE WIN! I especially love the white text on Buffy's face while she's in the coffin. That's really creative and original. Icon 7 is so funny. XD

Moar icons like 24 and 25. I love the grudge effect and why Buffy is so beautiful in the coffin? I can't explain to myself how SMG's face works tbh.

And, okay, but the banners with Faith are sexy.

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

Icons number 1 and 2 FOR THE WIN!

THANK YOU, KIKI!

I especially love the white text on Buffy's face while she's in the coffin.

I like that one too! The color and texture of the plain icon reminded me of an Old Master's painting (circa 17-18th century?) so when I found that texture it seemed a perfect fit to pop it on. And I'm glad you like #7, I never know if my sense of humor will translate!

why Buffy is so beautiful in the coffin? I can't explain to myself how SMG's face works tbh.

Neither can I! There is something oddly timeless or even "classical" about her, as we've talked about before but gosh I never get tired of talking about it! She evokes marble busts of Roman matrons and the great ladies of Italian Renissance portraiture.

I notice you didn't say anything about the Dru icons. I like those a lot but maybe they're too uncomfortable for other people, too triggery?

the banners with Faith are sexy.

That was definitely the intention!

[kikimay]

I notice you didn't say anything about the Dru icons. I like those a lot but maybe they're too uncomfortable for other people, too triggery?

Oh no, I like those too. It's just that I prefer the Buffy in the coffin ones for pure aestethical reasons I can't really explain. Just Buffy's face in that moment and the composition, the coloring, that grudge effect. Ultimately I'm a sucker for Buffy Summers icons. It's a disease.

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

It's a disease we share, apparently - transatlantic contagion? ;-D

[velvetwhip.livejournal.com]

I am so proud of you! You truly deserve those awards! Also, the alts are fab too!


Gabrielle

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

Also, the alts are fab too!

Thank you so much dear (and, I'm ever so sorry for missing this one. Where are my manners?)

[double_dutchess]

I like that this the slayerstillness set is such a varied set of icons! I do think you picked the best ones as submissions. #7 was my favourite; it's so funny. It's the little arrow that does it for me.

And I already told you how much I love the Faith banners. Looking at this banner I'd never guess you aren't inspired much by Faith!

ETA: I've brightened the Faith 5x5 icon based on your feedback; I think it must be better now.

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

My journal template shrinks the icons pretty small as you've noticed so I ran to your user pics to double check because I can see it fine even in the smaller size here and YES - PERFECT NOW! Just the right amount of brightness without losing the rich depth of shadow.

What kind of monitor do you have btw? I notice with my apple flatscreen that I have to be sitting and looking at it at an exact angle or everything looks off (I think that's true of flatscreen monitors in general though.)

And I'm glad the little arrow in #7 works! I think it's funny but I never know if my sense of humor translates. I love calling back to vintage advertising and magazine art.

Looking at this banner I'd never guess you aren't inspired much by Faith!

Thank you! As per usual with my banners I was really inspired by the icons I was working with - yours and teragramm's especially, the colors in both your sets are just SO RICH - the sorts of jewel tones I absolutely love and crave but I rarely work with myself for some reason.

[double_dutchess]

Great, thanks for checking! I'm glad to hear I've managed to get it at a good brightness level now. And thanks again for pointing out the issue to me. My monitor is a Samsung "Syncmaster" flatscreen. I just calibrated it again (just to be sure) and while doing I clearly noticed that the viewing angle does make a huge difference. I'll be paying attention to that in the future.

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

You're very welcome dear! It's one of those things you don't think about until you do.

I never thought about monitor issues until I was making Moulin Rouge icons years ago and went away from home to a "foreign computer" and - oy vey. This was in the days when most monitors were still the old fashioned CRT monitors and I realized my work looked way too dark on other screens, so I had to bump up the brightness quite a bit so other people could actually see my icons.

When my sweetie sells her painting on ebay or elsewhere online we always add a disclaimer that the colors look different on different monitors and may not reflect the painting accurately. Fortunately we've never got a return and a "this looks different than I expected" message; she's only gotten "this looks better than I expected!" responses. So far.

The Sunnydale Herald Newsletter, Friday, August 14

[livejournal.livejournal.com]

User chasingdemons referenced to your post from The Sunnydale Herald Newsletter, Friday, August 14 (http://su-herald.livejournal.com/815973.html) saying: [...] [Images, Audio & Video] Icons & Banners: Challenge artwork [...]

[snogged.livejournal.com]

You absolutely deserve your wins.
Also, I knew #2 was yours when I saw it in the tie-breaker. :P I really love the way you did that. It's so cool.

Really love the lighting effects that you used for your Faith banners!

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

Thank you m'lady!

I knew #2 was yours when I saw it in the tie-breaker. :P I really love the way you did that. It's so cool.

You did? Coolness. That texture was really nifty, wasn't it? I didn't even know I had that one until I was making these.

Really love the lighting effects that you used for your Faith banners!</>

Thank you! It came out nicely didn't it? Getting the colors right was the hardest part.

[lokifan]

I like your Faith icons! And Faith is my special boo who I have way too many icons of :D

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

That is a HUGE compliment, thank you so much!

And I'm constantly asking myself, "Should I have less Buffy icons?....Nah." so I don't believe in any such thing as "too many icons" of one's favorite character. Why shouldn't we enjoy our darling girls?