red_satin_doll

* You still have time to vote in

slayerstillness Challenge 46! Or at least I think you do. As long as you don't see a "Voting closed" post from

starry_night in the voting threads, you can still cast your ballots. 14 fantastic entries - a couple of which just might be mine. (Guess which ones?) And a couple of which aren't mine, but I wish to holy heck I had made them. (Guess which ones?)

* Entries for Challenge 204 at

otherworldlyric are due midnight June 26th. Speaking of OWL, thank you to everyone who voted my Becoming icon third place in Challenge 203! Congratulations to

chic_c and

xclaire_delunex for their lovely winning entries this round; and thank you

dragonydreams for the wonderful banner! OWL was the very first icontest comm I ever participated in when I entered Challenge 162 last February but the last time I entered was Challenge 178 one year ago; so this feels like a homecoming.

The Becoming icon is my favorite of the three I entered so I'm very pleased voters liked it as well. My indirect inspiration for the color scheme was early 20th century postcards, valentines, book and periodical cover illustrations. #2, the Becoming/Chosen blend, was an experiement in layering and #3, from Chosen, was just a bit of fun for me.

1 - 3

Alts / Extras after the cut:

My favorites here are 4 & 6. I nearly submitted #7 instead of #3 - I love the dual images of Buffy and the softness of the larger image that belies her steely resolve, but I wasn't sure the image was entirely "legible" and the text isn't well intergrated. I was trying to suggest a street sign and in fact, "Lonely Street" is applied over a screenshot of the Sunnydale sign at the end of Becoming, but I don't think it translates the way I wanted.

4 - 9

10 - 13

14 - 16

Congratulations to

tempertemper,

sweet_lyri and

teragramm on your winning entries for

slayerstillness Challenge 45, "Potentials". Click on the image above to see all banners with winning icons. This was the first time I'd seen the Potentials as an icontest theme; and when making my own icons I was surprised by the possibilities the much-maligned girls offered in just one season (half a season?) My own entries below. I kept textures and effects to a minimum this round because it didn't feel right for the images; I wanted to keep the focus on the girls themselves as much as possible. And in the case of 2 & 3 - being hunted down and murdered in the street ain't pretty :

1 - 5

Some alternate icons and thinky-thoughts beneath the cut:

When making my own entry icons I set out with the goal of doing at least one Kennedy icon because I think the character gets a lot of hate, unfairly (and I say that as a Tara fan). I also wanted to make an icon with the "Trailer Park Girl".

I always see the baseball girl (white, presumably middle class - those uniforms ain't cheap, as I know from my siblings experiences) used in fanvideos, linking her visually to Buffy; Trailer Park Girl (TPG) is rarely utlilized but I'd be lying if I didn't say that the moment she stops her attacker is THE moment in the "Ready to Be Strong" sequence that gives me chills every time I watch it because it's something I lived as a girl: the fantasy of being able to stop the monster you live with. Technically we're seeing her when she's a Slayer, no longer a "Potential" but I wasn't going to let a little thing like technicalities bother me.

In both cases (Kennedy and Trailer Park Girl), I failed. I didn't give myself enough time to make a Kennedy icon; and I spent a lot of time trying to make one of TPG but the caps of her tend to be very poor quality, on top of the fact that the shots of her are already very dark. Oddly enough, the caps from Lessons and Beneath You (2 - 3) are also very dark but brightened and cleaned up beautifully.

The only entry with TPG that I liked well enough has her hand stopping her assailant's arm (#5); her face isn't in the frame. This bothers me a lot because I'm implying, unintentionally, that she's not "pretty" enough to be seen; and btvs is yet another American television show where all the important girls are small and pretty. (Amber Benson being an exception and she was hired over ~~Mr Potato Head~~ Joss's intital objections over her size.)

So I decided to make her the focus of these banners and treat her to the same soft glowing effects and light leaks that I've lavished on SMG or Aly Hannigan without making her any less "herself" or minimizing her difference.

My alt icons:

6 - 11

12 -16

Icons and banners by yours truly, 2015. All icons snaggable, please credit; feedback is welcome and much appreciated. DO NOT claim as your own, hotlink, or repost to other websites/archives without my permission.

kikimay and

snogged both celebrated birthdays recently, as have

angearia,

teragramm,

leni_ba (far and away my favorite Bangel(us) author),

pocochina,

frelling_tralk,

comlodge,

chic_c,

boot_the_grime and

quinara and what have I done for any of these wonderful folks? Nothing, nada. I suck as a friend (but if only people would stop being born, please, it's so overwhelming. ;-P)

This really doesn't make up for any of it, but

kikimay has been requesting that I post the remainder of my Buffyverse in Wonderland artwork, and since she's been having fabulous adventures lately and deserves celebrating, here it be. If I don't post it all at once I never will:

Teasers:

willowPG_white rabbit banner1167x888.png

buffyandthewhiterabbit708x650_1.2trianglesigned.png

buffyjabberwockygreenyesv2.5april2015editbyredsatindoll1046x1085.png

Click all banners below for full-size versions. Fanart by me, 2015, unless otherwise noted.

Willow in Wonderland Banners 1-3; icons 5-7.

ProphecyGirl_BrokenScreencaps_whiterabbitwillow_signed.png

If #2 looks familiar it should - it's the banner version of my Mod's Choice winner at

slayerstillness Challenge 38. (Click #4 below to enlarge

tempertemper's fabulous banner.) Tip o'the nip to my beta-Muse

velvetwhip for her inspiration; I was working on the icons for that round and came across the texture in #1 that is a "handwritten" fragment of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. Gabrielle mentioned an interest in AiW, and away my brain went hippity-hopping from there.

**************

Prophecy Girl Down the Rabbit Hole Banners 8-10; icons 11 - 15:

buffyandthewhiterabbit708x650_1.4downtext.png

10.

Once I started toying with the idea of Wonderland, the notion of Buffy literally going "down the rabbit hole" to meet the Master seemed a natural fit.

Indecisive as always, I suspect #8 is the best version; I thought I would like #9 more than I do. I found the triangle texture on forwallpaper.com but like almost everything on the internet I suspect it originates elsewhere.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

***************

S5 Buffy and the Jabberwocky Banners 16 -17; icons 18 -20.

16.

buffyS5jabberwockyposterlarge_1.3greeneyes1400x1418byredsatindollapril2015edit.png

17.

"And hast thou slain the Jabberwock? / Come to my arms, my beamish boy!"

The "Slayer" in Carroll's poem is male but thanks to the long hair and slight figure, as well as my fascination with the Buffyverse, I can't help but see one of Buffy's predecessors in Tenniel's illustration.

velvetwhip noted that the original versions of 17 didn't quite work but it took me a while to understand why : it was too pale and lacked contrast (see #18 below).

18.

19.

20.

Fanart by me, 2015, unless otherwise noted. Original illustrations by John Tenniel (1, 3, 8 -20) and Salvador Dali (2, 4, 5). Photo of SMG 16 -20 by Greg Gershon.

Snaggage of icons warmly encouraged but please give proper credit, and do not hotlink, post to other website without permission or claim as your own. Capiche?

But first, I want to take a moment to wish HAPPY BIRTHMONTH to m'lady

snogged: funny, kind-hearted, generous with her time and support and oh-so-talented. I was stumped as to what to do for a birthday present this year but

velvetwhip gifted her with a fantastic Riley, Willow S4 drabble "Not So NIce Guy" that really packs a wallop (or at least a very strong "ouch") in just a few short lines. Check it out. (And yes, I happen to ship Riley/Willow. Didn't everyone when they first watched S4?)

********

Now, onto today's feature: THANK YOU again to everyone who voted in

slayerstillness Challenge 44, and most especially to everyone who honored my icons with 2nd Place, Best Crop and - drumroll, please - my very first Best Color honor! Congratulations again to the other winners

tempertemper, first-time entrant

muirthemne,

sweet_lyri, and my Banner Maker's Choice

teragramm. See all the winning icons and banners here.

Full disclosure: I was rooting for TT's Drusilla icon in the tiebreaker voting. More Dru icons are a needful thing and I love the meta-ness of the starlight texture - with Dru it's not just a pretty background - as well as the softness and coloring. But there were so many great icons that choosing was once again incredibly difficult. As happens so often, I noticed a consistency to the entries across the board, regardless of who made them. This time it was in terms of color choices, with cream/ecru, orange, green, and faded blue-grey predominating with touches of deep pink. So for the banner, I adapted a photograph I snapped in my front yard a couple of days ago to coordinate. Original photo behind cut, along with banners, entries and alt icons from rounds 42 and 44.

Teasers:

Banners and icons by your's truly; Art Nouveau Caps font from dafont.com; art nouveau frame from a design by riccus on deviantart.com.

My entries for Round 44:

If 2 and 5 look familiar, they should. I couldn't resist returning to that photo to play with it again. I still don't know who the original photographer was, alas; if anyone has the inside scoop on that, please let me know. Let's pretend that I did not look at #5 when I finished it and think to myself, If I can't win Best Color with that, then I never will. Nope, such impure thoughts never entered my mind. And by the way, that bridge in Brooklyn can be yours with a low down payment and 0% financing.....

My entries for Round 42, which I forgot to post previously, including Mod's Choice Winner #6:

Alts/extras:

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

19.

20.

21.

22.

I don't personalize my own icons very often so I wanted to give it a try. The "Shanghai" font in #16 is from ipiccy; Art Nouveau Caps in 18 - 22 is from dafont.com.

There were alt versions of #4, involving the First Slayer seeming to creep up on Willow...and I deleted those. There is no way to use an image as problematic and unintentionally racist as the First Slayer (aka "The Magical Negro") and not be part of the very problem I decry unless I use the image specifically to highlight how troublesome it is. And my icons weren't doing that; they just had a mildly creepy-erotic vibe so I chucked them. Not that focusing on the mighty-white Buffyverse and making caps of white folks and focusing on their beauty to the exclusion of the majority of the world's population isn't a whole heapin' helping of problematic in and of itself. But I digress.

*******

The geek-y, tech-y portion of the program: I took some snaps of the azaleas in my front yard the other day with my Nikon Coolpix 300 on the "Food" setting. I added glow, brightness and ambrotype filters and yadda yadda (I don't write this stuff down, are you kidding?) as well as several textures including a bokeh-look effect from Graphic Stock and the photo on the right. I pointed my camera at the trees outside my bedroom door and shook it while I snapped the picture. Does double-duty as a blur and/or brushstroke texture! You're welcome.

Photographs by your's truly, 2015 - and did you know that work can be copyrighted pseudonymously? Nifty, huh?

These banners presented a couple of very challenging problems for me: adapting the frame image to get the colors and transparency I wanted; and adding a font from a source outside of ipiccy. One if ipiccy's biggest drawbacks for me is the severely limited range of font options. I typed the text I wanted in a Pages doc using the one art nouveau style font I had on my Mac hardrrive; the font color was an educated guess on my part while I literally eyeballed the banner image. I converted the Pages doc to a pdf, which in turn had to be converted to a PNG file so I could work with it as a layers in ipiccy. Then I cropped every individual line or text element of the PNG, including the "RSD" stamp, to create several separate PNG's that I could manipulate freely in Layer Mode. For instance, the last line "Challenge 44" and the date, is actually two separate layers. The "multiply" filter to darkened the font slightly, with further small adjustments to saturation, brightness etc.

Every time I needed to add a new word of text that I'd forgotten the first time, I had to go back to the Pages file, save the changes, then override both the pdf and the PNG files. This was after I gave up trying to add the text directly using PS Elements 12. (For the record, I did try. Someday I'll know what I'm doing.) If I hadn't been at home sick from work for a few days I would have gone the path of least resistance and made do with a preset ipiccy font. Yay for downtime.

********

Many many thanks of gratitude and praise to my lovely Muse,

velvetwhip, for whom no query is to tedious ( "Is the text legible? Is the design cluttered? Is this any good, even?" ) or beneath her consideration. She's been utterly invaluable to me as a working partner and as a friend - feedback, conversation, inspiration - even if and when I don't show her what I'm working on. As it happens, we've recently had conversations about our shared taste for late 19th - early 20th century graphic arts and design (arts and crafts, art nouveau, art deco), as well as silent and early Hollywood cinema; I'm sure those conversations were indirect inspirations for the design of both the banner and the Best Color icon.

**********

And now a final word from our sponsors: Deadline to enter Challenge 45 "Potentials" is Friday May 29th at your timezone. And today is your last day to cast tiebreaker votes for five categories at

btvsats20in20 Round 9.

Yeah, I'm trying to cover all my bases here.

** THANK YOU to everyone who voted for my work at

slayerstillness Challenge 44 and congratulations to the other winners

tempertemper,

sweet_lyri and new-to-the-comm participant

muirthemne. (I just checked out her Gemma Arterton icon set for

females20in20 and holy sweet potato pie, is it gorgeous work. And I don't even know who the heck Gemma Arterton is. I don't care who Gemma Arterton is. Icons - pretty!)

WInners banners will be up shortly but THANK YOU very much for the 2nd Place, Best Crop and Best Color honors! This is my FIRST Best Color award in Slayerstillness!

1.

Best Color and 2nd Place/Best Crop winners, respectively, plus a personalized version.

At the beginning of the year I set a goal - I wanted to two placements I hadn't won yet, First and Best Color. Now I've earned both and - what now?
Keep improving, especially in terms of image clarity; try to get a handle on Photoshope Elements (my sweetie, who had mastered full PS before our previous computer burnt in the apartment fire, hates it. But I know other folks around here who love it and do amazing things with it.) Post my backlog of banners, including fanfiction artwork for ; and create new ones. Keep trying for an award at the

wicked_awards. (Yes, I actually do want that. Call me selfish.) And keep promoting, pimping and sharing the love for all fandom creativity as enthusiastically as I can. Speaking of which:

** There are TIEBREAKER votes that need attending at

btvsats20in20 for Round 9 - five to be exact, thanks to the fact that people came and voted and we had 27-28 votes cast. I think that may be a record for the comm? At the high end, certainly. (I won't stop to reflect here on "only 25 people?" and focus instead on the "25 people, yay!") Thank you to everyone who came out and voted thus far!

The ties are Blood, Close Crop+2, Category Set, Cat Icons 3rd place and AC icons 3rd place; so make sure you click on all FIVE buttons individually. I can't vote this time around because - I'm nominated in all five rounds. (This is no state secret; if you're reading this you know which work is mine and furthermore, if you click "View Answers" you'll see that's what I put there.) So YOU, my dear Gentle Readers, YOU must sally forth and vote on my behalf. Voting is up for 48 hours or until ties are broken.

Congratulations to the winners of

whedon_elite Challenge 117,

sweet_lyri and

starry_night; THANK YOU to

setentpet for the Mod's Choice Award for my #4 entry and to everyone who participated in the voting. Banners by your's truly; click on the banner to see all the winning icons and banners.

My entries: 1.

Mods choice banner, alts and thinky-thoughts after the cut :

For the banner I was inspired by design of

tempertemper's gorgeous banners for

slayerstillness Challenge 43 and her use of "radial blur" to try it for myself. The font isn't specifically "period" but it has a slightly vintage feel and reminds me of fonts I've seen on the covers of early 20th-century magazines. A photo or screencapture of the Summers' home exterior set provided the base image. I confess that I don't recall where exactly I found this photo; my apologies to whoever posted it originally. (Or for that matter, whoever shot/taped the original image.)

The icon

setentpet chose is my favorite of my four entries for this round, and the only one I made multiple alts for. I kept fiddling with the color, sharpness, glow, added floral layers; tried to make it look more like a pencil drawing, etc. before finally deciding on one of the earliest versions. I'm not sure it's the very best alt I could have submitted, but I liked the softness and glow, and even that tiny touch of color reflected in Buffy's hair.

Alts: 5.

10.

11.

12.

13.

1, 9 - 13)

kikimay encouraged me to keep experimenting with floral textures after my fourth entry for Challenge 116 also won Mod's Choice.

With #1, I simply liked how the flowers echoed the pattern of the wallpaper, and the colors of Anya's hair, lipstick and clothes; so there was really no particular "meta" meaning there. (Although if you want to read meta meaning into it by all means do!) With the Buffy/Joyce icons I think I was trying for a sense of the banality of domesticity, as well an echo of the flowers Joyce received from Brian that we've just seen, and a suggestion of funeral flowers. I don't think it worked and at any rate it distracted from the main image. Fun to experiment with, though.

2, 4) Yeah, it's the latest in my "Buffy and dead Joyce" series and I have to say, one of my favorite things about my most recent

btvsats20in20 entries is that I made two - count 'em, two! - icons of Joyce, by herself and alive. That said - I will always maintain that Joyce's death is the single most traumatic thing that happens to Buffy, aside perhaps from being resurrected. Even above killing Angel, although that's certainly in the mix.*

I've said it before - the men in Buffy's life are important to her but Joyce is at the core of her being, her constant. Even if Joss never quite got that and Joyce was shunted to the sidelines. For someone who "gets it", check out

velvetwhip's WIP, Answering Prayers. If you feel about Joyce's neglect in canon the way I do, Answering Prayers makes everything better.**

3) If you didn't know what that image is, you probably wouldn't know what that is? I tried other images from Forever, an unjustly overlooked episode because it follows the Body. If it were a masterpiece in and of itself it would still be overlooked and it isn't, but it deserves better than the neglect it tends to get. Several folks voted it best light use this round, and thank you to those who did. The caps in this last scene in Forever are terribly dark and difficult to work with.

* I started making a list of the traumatic things Buffy endures and gave up when it got really, really long. And then I started thinking about Dawn and the list got exponentially longer Instead of hating on them for what they don't get right, I'd rather hug them, congratulate them and marvel that neither one ends the series in a catatonic state for the remainder of their days, utterly ground down beneath Life's Heel. I don't think I could endure a fifth of what Buffy and Dawn do with any semblance of sanity.

** Who's with me on the Summers Women lovefest?

Finally it's here (after two extensions graciously granted by

starry_night)! My Season 5 (BtVS) set for

btvsats20in20 Round 9.

TEASERS:

10 Themes
Half and Half	Rotate 90	Frame	Lemon & Lime	Shocking

Blood	Close Crop + Two	Love	Lips	Group

5 Category \|HUSH
Cat 1	Cat 2	Cat 3	Cat 4	Cat 5

5 Artist's Choice
AC 1	AC 2	AC 3	AC 4	AC 5

Screencap Sources: Bloodqueen, Pretty as a Picture , Leave Me the White, SMG France. Wooden frame in Frame icon from Your Picture Frames. Texture in Cat 2 snagged from teragramm.

MANY thanks to the wonderful

starry_night for extending the deadline (twice); and I cannot heap enough praise on my beta-Muse

velvetwhip for once again whipping me and this set into shape - her screenname is very apt because the "whipping" was a most gentle one but she provides what I need time and again. I nearly gave up on this round and three or four days ago I was ready to. That I didn't is due largely to her generous assistance, guidance, ideas, meta analysis, and encouragement to motivate me.

Alts & Extras:

1 - 7

8 -14

15 - 21

15 -21) Image from Buffy vs Dracula, this set is, appropriately, very German Expressionist cinema (Nosferatu, Pola Negri, etc.) Also, kikimay asked me to post more close crops of Sarah's face so here you go.

The only guideline or focus I had going in to this was my usual: "Women of the Buffyverse". I consciously focused on the ladies and very much wanted to make some decent icons of Joyce and Dawn, who have been difficult for me to icon for some reason. I also tried to use images from the show I haven't seen capped often or at all. So for example, "Group" is the Maclays because I've seen a lot of icons of the opposite image, the Scoobies protecting Tara, from that episode. I've seen tons of Spike in FFL icons but precious few if any focused on Drusilla herself. And et cetera.

The relative absence of Willow here (in relation to her importance that season) isn't planned or meant as a snub of the character; I think because I've done a lot of Willow icons I ended up "giving her a break". I meant to make an icon of Glory, and also of Joyce and Dawn together but didn't get to those. I have meta thoughts about quite a few of these - the Drusilla one deserves it's own post - but for now I'll let you folks and the images do the talking.

I am "borrowing"

starry_night's rules for my own artwork

~ 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 :)

~ No hotlinking!

~ Comments are appreciated :)

But first a word from our sponsors:

starry_night has kindly extended the deadline for

btvsats20in20 Round 9 to Friday the 15 - and as usual, I'm the only person who hasn't submitted her stuff. *le sigh* (It's my job and the barometric pressure that gave me a massive headache and I can't find things because I had to move all my images...Excuses, I has 'em.)

But in the meantime do check out the wonderful entries from

sweet_lyri (The Prom),

halliwell (Spike), and

dark_x_huntress (Faith). Yes, this is a smallish grouping this time. Or, since the sign-ups truly are open the ENTIRE round, you could be all show-offy and smart-alecky and show up with a set of 20 you did literally overnight. I know there's someone out there who can pull that off.

helplessblendbannersyringelighttext478sq1.3.png

"Helpless" banner (Giles, Buffy) by yours truly; click to view full-size.

I promised

kikimay I'd post all my entries from the last rounds of

slayerstillness and

whedon_elite in one place so here they be:

My entries for

slayerstillness Challenge 43, "Helpless": Thank you again to everyone who participated either as artist or voter!

1 - 5

Awards Banners for me from

tempertemper: I know I posted these before but they're too magnificent not to show off again (click for full-size):

ss43banner1stplacebytempertempermay2015_siggieaddedbyrsd.png

Icons are snaggable; banners are not - obviously.

My entries for

whedon_elite Challenge 116 "Springtime" :

entry springtime whedon elite challenge 116

for whedon elite challenge 116 springtime

6 - 9

1) This icon's title could be "Feel the Fear but do it anyway" . One of my personal favorites of this set. The texture looks like some sort of writing (but isn't) so there's a mystery to it, and I think the focus on her expression as it emerges from the shadows is really strong. I originally added text to it (#14) but my wise Muse thought it stronger without and she was right. #26 is the "base" image without the last texture layer.

2) I didn't notice until after I made it that there's a slick of red blood on the underside of her hand. It's very un-showy and subtle compared to #1. Buffy has been through a horrific experience and she's trying to tamp down her emotions when by rights I wouldn't blame her if she burned the joint down and walked away. She endures an awful lot of trauma and keeps marching, keeps forgiving and keeps fighting. Her expression is so poignant and all praise to Sarah for her marvelous performance.

3) I actually freaked myself out with this one and it's companions 20 - 22. BtVS' template was partly rooted in horror movies and Helpless is one of the most overtly horrifying episodes of the series, hence my borrowing of the phrase from the episode Hush. This icon highlights that but also the ways that the series fails in it's "feminism". Again, see

velvetwhip's fic Answering Prayers (aka "the best fic you're not reading right now but should.") Technically, I like the smoothness of this icon and the look of a handtinted photograph but I suspect it works better without the text (alt 22).

4) Winner, 3rd Place and Most Creative: Buffy's profile in the abandoned hotel as she looks around at the walls covered with polaroid images of Joyce was the single image I spent the most time with, alone and in combinations with other characters, the emphasize their interconnectedness: the top banner, entry 4, alts 10 - 13, & 16 - 21. (I have a thing for Sarah's oddly timeless profile.) I intended to enter 11 or 12 and changed my mind at the last minute. I'm pleased with the clarity of the smaller image of Buffy, which is hard for me to achieve, and I really like how the library books and the polaroids echo each other. I think that unifying element of pattern-making helped put this icon over the edge for me over the other variants.

5) Winner, First Place: My first first-place win at

slayerstillness and I hope I'm not sounding arrogant in repeating that but it makes me all kinds of happy, and thank you to everyone who voted for it! I also mentioned in my prior post that the inspiration for this icon was entirely

clockwork_hart1's recent Buffy icons that combined soft color and light effects with shots of Buffy in motion. This icon isn't as blurred as her's; I ended up sharpening the features of her face a bit to contrast with the whirl of hair. #23 is the more "naturalistic" version without the colored light leak effect; usually I go for subdued colors but Lucy's example inspired me to push the color. I'm surprised how well the icon turned out, given the darkness of the cap. There's the irony of the prettiness of it, of the "hairporn" and the direness of the situation, of Buffy's fear and desperation in that moment.

6) My personal favorite of my WE set; I wanted a Wiffy Helpless cap but couldn't get it to my satisfaction, see #32 below. I like the chalky flatness of 32 but I the clarity and sharpness aren't the best so I went with the closer crop. As the theme of the round was springtime and I already had the flowers in #10 - 12 it seemed appropriate to hv

8) I finally made a Cordy icon! See also 34 below. Not a lot to say about it, except that I was inspired by

kwritten's beautiful work especially her recent The Freshman Category set when I made this one and # 9. I'm not Cordy's nor Charisma Carpenter's biggest fan by any means; but that moment is one of Cordy's finest in BtVS; when a distraught Buffy asks for a ride home and her reply is "Sure". No questions asked. (Has anyone ever written fanfiction about that car ride home? Has anyone ever speculated on what might have been said - or not?)

9) Winner, Mod's Choice. I wanted to play with this image because of the unusual cropping (that's the way Sarah's face is cropped in the screencap, as Buffy talks to Angel); I really didn't expect this to be the favorite of voters among my WE entries but thank you for the votes and feedback! I worried that it would come off as "she slapped on a texture and called it a day" so I'm glad it doesn't come across like that.

Alts and extras:

10 -15

I call # 13 "The Needle and the Cross". I don't any of these need further explanation. I like the snarkiness of #15 but also the way the text actually looks as if it's part of Giles' sleeve. If this is "a father's love" then somebody call Social Services. No wonder the poor girl has relationship issues.

16 - 19

20 - 26

27 - 31

My alts for

whedon_elite Challenge 116:

32 - 36

...for her time, feedback, ideas, generosity, patience, gentle wit, marvelous penetrating insights and for her keen Eye (intangible, unexplanable, indispensible) and above all, for helping guide me to my very first 1st place award (!!) as well as 3rd place and Most Creative honors at slayerstillness Challenge 43; as well as a Mod's Choice's Award at whedon_elite Challenge 116.

That particular beta-Muse would be named velvetwhip, of course; and I dare say she will deny her fabulousness; don't believe her for a second if she does. I've been beta for my friends who are writers for years, but this time I've gotten to be on the other side of the give-and-take and it's a rich and and fulfilling working relationship.

Teasers for awards banners inside.

And it's an entirely mutual one; I've been "special pencil" for her marvelous Joyce-centric fic Answering Prayers, set in the summer between S2 & 3, and our many discussions on Buffy, Joyce and Giles during that period no doubt provided additional inspiratiion for my Helpless artwork. I love the cross-currents between us as two artists in different but complimentary media.

Congratulations to sweet_lyri, tempertemper , and starry_night - three of my favorite fan artists and wonderful people, they are all well-represented in my userpic gallery - for their wins at slayerstillness and whedon_elite. And may we have a big round of applause for tempertemper's phenomenal banners? I just about died of happiness when I saw these:

Two of my goals for the year: Win first place at slayerstillness - check. (Best Color, I've got my sights on you.) Earn more awards banners made by other artists by which i mostly mean tempertemper - double check. And these are simply beyond perfect aren't they? Artwork like this makes me wonder why there aren't awards categories for "Best Awards Banner" because these truly are works of art.

The direct inspiration for my first place winner was clockwork_hart1's gorgeous Buffy S4 icons (#11-12) and her experimentation with light, blurs and motion. For the other icon I started with Buffy's profile in the hotel room where Kralik has taped multiple polaroids of Joyce, then did multiple versions layering her with Giles, Joyce and Kralik, inside her silhouette but ended up chosing this one. I really like how the patterns of the library books and the polaroids echo one another, sublty hinting at and reinforcing the connection between the two.

Banners by tempertemper. (Now if only I can get her and other banner makers to remember to sign their work...)

I stayed with Helpless for my whedon_elite entries when I finished the SS set and realized there were other images I still wanted to play with. Thank you fassy for the Mod's Choice honor! The specific inspiration for this icon and my Cordy one were kwritten's Artist Choice set for Round 7 of btvsats20in20, "The Freshman (Buffy)" although I've admired her way with delicate layers and textures for three years. Once again velvetwhip deserves a thunderous round of applause for her beta-Muse-ings:

Banner by yours truly; check out the banners for starry_night and sweet_lyri here. The base image is a photo I took a couple of afternoons ago of daffodils in my yard because they especially suited the "Springtime" theme of the challenge.

My entries for Round 115 of

whedon_elite, "Blondes Have More Fun". Congratulations (rather belatedly) to the winners

fassy,

rua1412,

xlittledreams and

sweet_lyri! I'm fond of several of the icons from that round but decided to snag

xlittledreams' warm and softly glowing Tara "Family" icon for myself *points to userpic*.

Link to winners banners for that round. One of the nifty things about being the "official banner maker" for WE is that I can prepare in advance. I found a photograph of a woman's blond hair spread out fantastically around her (I suspect digital altering was at play) and used that for the base; I like the contrast of the somewhat rough antique wood frame around the fine silken hair. (Click images for full-size)

My own entries for that round:

1 - 4

All the times I love playing with Buffy hairporn - but leave it to me to de-emphasize her blondeness for this challenge. Which no doubt cost me dearly in the voting (why do I do things like that to myself?) For some reason I decided that that fact of Buffy's blonde hair is a given whether or not we can see her hair in the image (I'm stubborn); but I wanted to deconstruct the challenge theme as well. "Blondes have more fun" - when I think about Buffy during her seven years in Sunnydale, "fun" is not much in evidence in her life.

And perhaps any "fun" she had prior to that was something of a mask for the deep unhappiness within her family: We're going to look like a normal happy family and have fun even it if kills us. The few things she took genuine pleasure in were slowly sheared away - her dad taking her to the Ice Show, for instance. (Was she ever able to look at a bouquet of flowers again without thinking of the day she found Joyce's body? Am I overthinking the subject of Buffy Anne Summers?)

I'm less than thrilled with #1 - I realize the use of the inverted portion is a bit unsophisticated and passe. I do like the brick wall texture behind her and yes that is an added texture; the original cap didn't offer much detail. I like that 2 reminds me of a 1970's record album cover art, but that I also managed to preserve the tears in her eyes and her shocked expression.

3 is my one-person campaign to turn the entire Buffyverse into a series of ancient, crumbling frescos or decaying manuscripts. The texture makes the icon look like it's being peeled away from the way, suffering rot and decay (in reverse of that moment in Bargaining when her decayed corpse is reanimated.

4 Has nothing to do with the other three, as I actually went for conventional pretttiness for once, but with a twist. This image is from Tough Love; I wanted an icon of Buffy and Willow (whom she is trying to prevent from attack Glory) but couldn't get both of them in the image to my satisfaction. I focused on Buffy's profile and added the blue coloring and at least two textures, water drops and the spiral in the foreground, plus some glowy-ness. I imagined Buffy as something of a water-sprite here but my wonderous beta

velvetwhip said it reminded her of Illyria. Many many thanks as always for her generous feedback and critiques.

Alts/extras:

5 - 10

11 - 15

16 - 20

Someday Buffy dear, I will stop torturing you for my own twisted pleasure. (I am a sick little puppy.)

21 - 25

I actually like 24 - 25; there's something almost "Klimt-ian" in the textures and gold coloring to me.

26 Yes, that is a reference to Florence Welch's song "Rabbit Heart"; the lyrics have all sorts of crazy-perfect applicability for both Buffy and Willow in The Gift and in Bargaining.

Don't forget to cast your votes in Challenge 116. (Only 12 people have voted thus far.) And then enter Challenge 117. I love the theme of this one, "The Summers Home". Sense of place is incredibly important to the Buffyverse; fans talk about whether they love the library or the Magic Box best, but the Summers residence is the heart of the series for me.

And FYI - the voting post for Challenge 43 of

slayerstillness appears to still be open if you can slide your vote in last-minute. If you've already done so, kudos and thank you!

Recently

tempertemper said she was taking a page from my book and promoted icontest voting specifically

otherworldlyric and

slayerstillness. I have to admit I had already stolen that book from

velvetwhip, who tirelessly promotes fandom activity of all sorts; but I'm very glad to be part of the chain. Shall we call it a library book and simply pass it around?

tempertemper also made a wonderful point about supporting icon/art communities that I think can't be said often enough. There are so many people in this fandom and so few voting at art competitions. As a visual artist I of course vote at fiction contests but I think writers oftentimes feel shy or uncertain about voting in art contests. Maybe a grade school teacher made a cruel remark about one's abilities. Maybe one has heard one too many "experts" insist that you have to have a particular sort of education in order to be able to "understand" art. This really shouldn't be so - art belongs to everyone and we all live, breathe, take in visual images every day. We are all incredibly sophisticated and well-educated simply by dint of exposure.

So in that spirit, here are some worthy art challenges in need of your vote:

Banner by moi for character20n20

slayerstillness Challenge 43 "Helpless" Wonderful work and one of my favorite buffyverse episodes - how do the entries end up so often looking go great and of a piece with one another as a group? I'm side-eyeing at least one or two in a "I don't know who made this but back off because I WANT this one" kind of way. *lol*

**

otherworldlyric Challenge 200 "Working for the Weekend" I really have to thank

tempertemper for bringing this one back to my attention. Some of my first awards were in this comm but I have not participated in a while, and have been very remiss in terms of voting and promoting it. This comm is also one of the most overlooked in terms of participation overall, which is a shame.

**

whedon_elite Challenge 116 "Spring Time" My love of the sepias and desaturated tones is well-known but it's nice to try something different and really welcome springtime in bright, light tones; the really interesting challenge is to come up with something "pretty and light" that also carries emotional weight. It's been a long, hard winter this year, hasn't it?

Finally, speaking of springtime, congratulations to all the winners of Round 68 of

character20n20.

setentpet asked meto make banners for those who had requested it:

roseemrys,

punk4life1315 and

spikesredqueen, and the gorgeous clear, springtime colors and the change of season inspired the colors and design of my banners. I indulged myself in a tie for Banner Maker's Choice:

spikesredqueen and

x_lostinthesun. Check them out here. I used a photograph I took in 2013 of roses in my landlord's yard as the base.

I've been woefully unable to produce anything new the past few days but fortunately I still have some hidden goodies to share. These are the banner versions of my "Family" icon for

btvsats20in20 Round 8. These images made me decide on Season 5 as my claim for Round 9 (and I have ONE - count 'em, ONE! - icon finished. Um...yay?)

Click all to see full-size. You'll like, I hope?:

buffywillowdawntaratoughlovespiralblendbannersignedbyrsd_873x576_april2015desaturatedsoftfinal.png

1 - 2

When I was working on my Family icon for the last round I happened to notice how nicely the images from Tough Love and Spiral happened to match up. Season 5 was all about Buffy, Willow, Tara and Dawn for me, so I loved the congruency and parallels here. At the very last I added Joyce's words to Buffy from Listening to Fear, which ties the image together visually, emotionally and thematically. (Joyce is so very underused throughout the entire series; ironic that her presence is more powerful in her absence after the Body.) It's a reminder of what tied all four of them together and bond them to each other - in blood and in bond.

I love the way Dawn and Tara's light brunette locks blend together as their hair falls past their shoulders; how Buffy's hand seems to be an extension of Willow's arm; the way red from the background of the Tough Love image glows like a spot of blood on the side of Dawn's head and Buffy's fingers (a happy accident for me), echoing Dawn's real wound, Tara's shirt, and Willow's hair.

*********

3 My icon for Round 8; I made it after I cropped the large banner and realized it could just fit the icon format. I can't decide which of the square banners below I like best - they each have their charms - , so I'll let you decide:

Click to see full-size:

toughlovespiratextlbanner1.1byrsd2015.png

4 - 5

6

*********

These image demonstrates how Season 5 complicated the roles of "heroes" and "damsels" (as it did so often); Tara was Glory's victim but also a hero, choosing to sacrifice herself, returning the favor Buffy and Dawn extended to her when they clamed her as their own ("Family"). Dawn enters the show as Buffy's damsel to be protected, yet defended her mother and fought the demon in "Listening to Fear", and was ready to throw herself from the Tower in Chosen until Buffy intervened. Conversely there are many times during that Season when Buffy and Willow, a powerful Slayer and Witch with years of experience fighting evil, are left to watch helplessly as people they love are harmed or die.

Yes, I got teary-eyes making these. I'd forgotten what Season 5 had been all about for me when I watched it: these four characters, my beloved girls, rag-tag heroes fighting against hopeless odds. The "femininity" and domesticity of Season 5, the sense of family; how happy I was to see Joyce get a bigger role onscreen and my hopes were ripped away. It was the season that my love for Buffy Summers became absolute; she passed from being a character I was interested in to being mine, a part of my heart.

I love all four of these girls fiercely - in part because of how fiercely they love each other. Not "perfectly", not in a LIttle-House-on-the-Prairie-Hallmark-card way; real, deep, messy "weird love".

All artwork here by me 2015; enjoy but do not hotlink, archive elsewhere without my permission, post to other sites or claim as your own.

And THANK YOU

tempertemper for the lovely banner to go with my First Place/Food Theme award from

btvsats20in20 Round 8!

Check out the rest of her wonderful banners for

spikesredqueen,

sweet_lyri and

teragramm here. (Her "grey" theme banner for SRQ is especially clever IMO.) As well as the entire winners slate for the round, lncluding

starry_night and

rua1412. Congratulations to all the worthy winners this round!

I'm very happy this icon won Best in Show because I have rarely worked harder or longer on an icon to get the image clear and keep the frame around it - sometimes trying to make an icon out of a banner can be a bit of a nightmare.

ETA: Many many thanks to the truly generous

velvetwhip for being my beta-Muse when I made this icon and the entire set - for not letting me give up and giving me motivation to keep going, for eyeballing my work, offering feedback and truly constructive critiicism. Every artist should be so fortunate.

* ENTRIES for Whedon Elite: icons for Challenge 115 "Blondes Have More Fun" are due today, Sunday the 19th at 3pm EST. The folks at WE don't mess around with deadlines, Gentle Reader, so last chance to get cracking. Do also take a look at the 16 wonderful entries already submitted; the easiest way to do this is simply to scroll down the main page as not everyone incldues the challenge tag in their posts.

* ENTRIES for

slayerstillness Challenge 43 "Helpless" (the episode) OTOH are not due until midnight on Friday April 19th. Which feels like a ways away - until it doesn't. If i submit anything I will most likely follow my usual pattern: procrastinate now, regret it later. Don't be like me, Gentle Reader; profit from my mistakes. But by all means do give it a go; Helpless is one of my all-time favorite episodes.

Speaking of

slayerstillness, thank you

starry_night for the Mod's Choice honors in Challenges 41 and 42, and for allowing me to make the banners for these round. Many thanks to the wonderful, supremely generous

velvetwhip for being the bestest Muse a gal could ever ask for:

Check out all the banners and the marvelous winning entries by

rua1412,

sweet_lyri and

tempertemper here and here.

All artwork above by your's truly, 2015; do not hotlink or archive on other websites without my permission.
ETA: Right-hand banner: Photograph of SMG courtesy of Nocturnal Light Image Gallery; photographer unknown.

Click for full size image :

A present for three of my Muses:

velvetwhip,

snogged and

kikimay
Always the Hours (Buffy/Willow, STSP) 2015 by yours truly.
Do not alter or repost without permission.

* Here be tiebreaker voting for Round 8 of btvsats20in20. Four in all, including a five-way for 2nd place category icon, so make sure you cast your vote in all four, unless your's is one of the nominated entries. (What is it with this corner of fandom and five-ways lately? Is this something I should consult my copy of Freud about?)

* Cast your votes in

slayerstillness Challenge 42, "Out of Character"; deadline tomorrow April 14th. Then when you're done check out the newly-posted master list of past challenges and suggest new ideas in the comments thread. Entries for Challenge 43, "Helpless" (dedicated to one of my favorite episodes) are due Friday April 24th. I don't imagine I'll improve upon the heartbreaking Helpless icon I snagged from

teragramm (2014) but I'm game to try.

"Sorrow" theme icon by

teragramm for

btvsats20in20 Round 2, 2014. Isn't it gorgeous?

* And speaking of

teragramm, I was about to mention that there was still time to vote in

seasonal_spuffy banner challenge for Round 18. (

teragramm happens to be a moderator for the comm...and that just might be the worst segueway I've ever written, but here we are anyway.) Except it's on British time and so the voting is now closed and the winner is banner # 3 by

kazzy_cee. Congratulations!

I'll post my own entries (6 - 12) plus extra icons here shortly but I want to give a shout-out to

comlodge's lovely Banner #5. It's elegant yet warm, the layering is sophisticated and it tells a complete and satisfying story. I adore the way she has different scenes interlaced but especially Buffy's hand grasping the Scythe placed just beyond the image of Buffy and Spike lying in bed together, as if Buffy were simply reaching out from where she is laying. I also love how the artist included the circle of Buffy, Faith and the Potentials dripping the blood from their hands over the Hellmouth, reminding me that it's all connected, one of the central themes of Season 7 to my mind.

I meant to include these in my last post in celebration of the fact that

bangel_4e has kindly extended the voting deadline of

btvsats20in20 Round 8 until tomorrow (Sunday the 12th), and LJ simply would not let me. So let me try this again:

Banners above and icons therein by your's truly, 2015. Image of Alyson Hannigan courtesy of The Chosen Two.com Gallery. Click images to enjoy full size. All banners in this post by me, icons by their respective creators. If you wish to share please credit and enjoy. Don't rip off my stuff or post it on some other site without my permission, capisci?

What follows is much verbiage and more banner images; forewarned is forearmed:

Yes, that was 3 (4?) months ago. It feels like both a forever-ago and just yesterday that I was ready to throw up my hands and drop out, and the wise and wonderful

velvetwhip provided the gentle encouragement I needed to keep going. And where would I be the last 6 months or so without her? Mired in a puddle of my own hopeless, frustrated tears, that's where. And

tempertemper was likewise a phenomenal beta-muse for when I was making the banners.

Full disclosure: when my babies don't perform well in competition I weep and wail and wonder "Why not? I don't get it." When they do well and are honored as they were in Round 6, I wonder "Why? Other folks' stuff is so much better. I don't get it." Starry's Harmony set, in particular, nearly caused me throw in the towel; it's just so damn gorgeously pretty and I loved how in lieu of actual holiday episodes for Harmony she created a gorgeous sparkle-y holiday feel with superb use of textures. So you, Gentle Reader & Voter, cannot win for losing.

I wish I could credit the photographer of the image of Aly because it's a fanartist's absolute dream of a photo to play with; besides being an attractive image the clarity and image resolution are stunning. There is absolutely no "meta" aspects or intellectual thought to these three banners except "Ooh, pretty! Why haven't I seen this image used in other fanarts before?" and "How do I set the icons and text across it without looking like snot is dripping out of her nose?" I originally used the other half of her face for the banners and had to redo them because greenish text and a large icon dropping out of someone's nostril is not an attractive look. Profit from my experience, Gentle Reader.

The normal ettiquette with 20in20 awards banners is apparently to make them only for folks who request them. I decided to throw convention to the wind: banners for everyone, barkeep! Which was essentially my excuse to play around and try to stretch myself a bit in terms of techniques. For instance, I discovered accidentally that if I had two images the exact same size, one with text, icons, etc and one without, I could layer them in texture mode and "transfer" whatever visual elements I wanted from one to the other without having to everything all over again from scratch.

****

I made the Willow banners last of all; the first one I made was for

sweet_lyri's second place Bangel category icon. She hadn't requested it yet so that was pure playtime for me. I found a promo photo I liked and decided to go with promo photos for all of the other banners as well, all of them from The Chosen Two Gallery. This banner is probably the first traditionally romantic, unironic Bangel fanart I've made; I took the "Christmas/ magical snow" context of the icon and extended it to the entire banner. It was a bit of a puzzle at first how to do that - Sarah's wearing a strapless dress and the photo was clearly NOT set in wintertime, but by cooling the color tones with a blue-ish "waterdrop" texture, a second "lace stripe wallpaper" texture a snowflake frame for the icon and a snowflake "paintbrush for the outer border, I think I got a reasonable approximation.

I was going to leave Sarah's skin tone a touch warmer to emphasize Buffy's humanity in contrast to Angel's non-human status but decided it just detracted attention from the icon itself. (Since that round I have become a huge fan of

sweet_lyri's work; check out my userpic gallery for confirmation or better yet, go directly to her Round 8 Dawn set.)

****

tempertemper's had an interesting genesis in a Jangel icon I was attempting to make for

velvetwhip's extremely awesome fic Answering Prayers. Take a promo image of David for btvs (or ats), cut it out and place on dark background, add a starscape/universe texture and one of my own cloudscape photographs to cover the edges of the mask and voila! Again, no meta statement re:Angel going on except - whatever you want to read into it. Angel as an immortal creature yadda yadda bitty blah and all that jazz. I was a little puzzled at first how to do a banner for all of her very worthy Themes winners, six in all So I decided to treat them as if they were a "set". I suppose if I'd tried harder I could have put all of her winning entries onto one banner. All the awards banners I'd seen up to that point kept the icons at their original size; I didn't know that you could reduce them to fit the banner. (Since then I've seen banners at other 20in20 comms where they actually do size the icons down.)

Her Reason icon is a thing of GENIUS, y'all - it never fails to make me smile. And her Category set is another fantastically clever solution to the problem of creating a "holiday" category set. To my mind it's not only more clever, it's wittier and more inventive than my set because I had a holiday, ready-made, to work from; she had to create one from whole cloth.

FINAL_v1_AngelthemesbannerfortempertemperJan2015byredsatindoll_zps48a9ea45

FINALtempertemperCatgeorysetbanner_byredsatindoll_Jan2015

FINALv2_tempertemperACsetbanner_byredsatindoll_Jan2015

****

I already mentioned that

starry_night's Harmony set nearly caused me to quit Round 6 before I'd even made a single icon because they were simply so beautiful and accomplished and I knew I couldn't come within a mile of them. (I still can't, IMO.) That it took much hand-holding from

velvetwhip to get me to complete mine? Starry's icons are so gorgeous and elegant, I wanted the banners to suit them - and I kept coming up with images of Mercedes McNab showing lots of skin that looked like they were meant for men's magazines. Now I am all for a woman's right to display her own body as she chooses but that wasn't the look I had in mind for the banners. The image I found on The Chosen Two was a rare exception, very restrained and classical, almost "Renaissance".

It needed a little something extra though and my landlord's yellow rose set to difference/subtract/invert (one of the three, I don't recall which) to turn it black like Mercedes' dress was just the thing. Never underestimate just how handy a casual outdoor snap you've taken can be. I tried to keep the rest of the color scheme as close to the various shades of pink/mauve/purple found in the icons as possible. All of these icons are lovely and her Category set is a knock-out; I snagged her 3rd place Category icon because I simply had to have it.

Harmonybannerv3.1_starrynightthemesACwinners_byredsatindollJan2015

finalbannerstarry_nightcategorywinnersbtvsats20in20rd6Jan2015_byredsatindoll_v3

****

The Spuffy banner for

oh_cheezit's wonderful AC set from "Sleeper", an episode I love, was the last one I made aside from the Willow banners and in some ways the most difficult. I came into this fandom an S7 Spuffy shipper and by the time I'd made these banners, "Spuffy" had become an uncomfortable and even painful place rather than a comfort zone. I found it difficult to re-access my original love and enthusiasm for the pairing and perhaps this banner was above all else an attempt to reclaim my love for them on my terms. (I very nearly didn't make this one at all.) I was going for the sense of Buffy as the sun, as moral compass, a guiding presence to him in her life and in death but also, perhaps, a ghost or memory. My first try (below right) is very pretty and the icons pop but something's missing I think, it lacks overall unity and is a bit bland.

I cropped Sarah's face closer on the second try, pushed the blue-green color from the photo of James in the "crypt" and didn't notice until after I'd layered them that the roots in the crypts intermingled nicely with Sarah's hair so that they seemed intertwined. The image of James was actually of rather poor quality in some respects and I had to do a lot of blending around his face; it ended up more washed out than I wanted. I made several tries at the font colors with this one and never got it quite right; her name in particular looks too bright too me now. I'm still not sure that the banner doesn't overwhelm rather than compliment the icons. The final version is on the left and the alt is to the right:

I arranged the icon set a little differently to the other banners because for some reason they wouldn't line up in an exact line. When I staggered them a bit I thought it created a nice sense of both dimension and movement that I think suits the icons. There is a very cinematic feeling to this set;

oh_cheezit alternated long, medium and close-up shots like an expert cinematographer, but always with an emphasis on the varied emotions of the scene and Sarah and James' wonderfully expressive faces.

So that's my story and I'm sticking too it - what say you, Gentle Reader?

****

And apropos of nothing: I'm watching Episode 1, season 1 of the Rockford Files, "Backlash of the Hunter: Part 1." (Circa 1974)I haven't watched this show in decades (my mom was a huge James Garner fan back in the day.) Eleven minutes into the episode and we were just getting our first glimpse at the protagonist, Jim Rockford. There's such a leisurely quality to the storytelling that feels absolutely foreign today. And it's still the BEST OPENING CREDITS SEQUENCE AND THEME SONG EVAH.

My sweetheart said at the end of the episode "I don't think I want to watch that very often." Me? I'm thinking OMG James Garner is funny, charming, adorable and handsome in a rugged lived-in way and what happened to real leading men like him? And I do mean MEN, not the boys fobbed off on us nowadays. MOAR please.

A.k.a. "Someday Sister Red will figure out how to write titles that aren't completely redundant to the content of the post or something to that effect"

After much time, effort and headache,

bangel_4e has resolved the Photobucket wonkiness that kept some Round 8 icons from appearing properly and has graciously extended the voting deadline until Sunday April 12th. So if you haven't voted yet or want to double check your votes you have time to so. (Also one more day to tell your friends.) Thank you muchly

bangel_4e for the extension!

Remember there are three voting polls: Themes, Category and Artist's Choice.

And don't forget to follow the links to the artists' original posts and offer effusive words of love. If you're snagging for personal use, let the artist know, it's always nice to hear that someone wants to use your icons. We make them to be used not just looked at. A lot of time and effort are spent on these beauties but as visual artists we don't tend to talk about that (in comparison to writers talking about their craft) so they all seems to pop out magically and instantaneously. So the craft of making an icon or banner isn't properly valued and neither, I think, is the artwork itself.

Now goest thou and vote!

Firstly: A joyous Easter to all my friends who celebrate the holiday!

As I don't have any easter rabbits lying about, here's a decidedly different sort of bunny. My Mono+Text icon for Round 8 of btvsats20in20 started as a banner when I had intended to go with an overall "Buffyverse in Wonderland" theme for my Wiffy set. Several variations, actually, but this one is my favorite, dedicated to the lovely

velvetwhip,

kikimay,

snogged, and to all the Alice in Wonderland and/or Wiffy fans in the house:

Teaser:

Click images to enlarge:

buffyandwillowinwonderlandseason1banner1000x439_v2_2015.png

Prophecy Girls in Wonderland, Season1, (2015)

Original White Rabbit Illustration by Sir John Tenniel for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, 1865

Prophecy Girls in Wonderland, Season5 (2015)
Original Alice in Wonderland Artwork by Harry Roundtree, 1928

All artwork by your's truly; do not steal, hotlink or post on fanpop or other archives.

Please don't forget to cast your votes in Round 8 of

btvsats20in20 for Themes, Category Sets and Artist's Choice Sets, then sign up to join the fun in Round 9. And for heaven's sake if you haven't visited the artists' individual journals to check out the sets in their original context and give feedback, please do so. Awards are great but feedback is coin of the realm; and the icons often look very different in their original sets than when they're sitting cheek to jowl with the work of other artists (and vice-versa).

If you have done any or all of the above, thank you!

Congratulations to

fassy,

rua1412 and

sietepecados on their gorgeous entries!

Banners after the cut:

3rdplacetierua1412banner533x338_byrsd_WErd113_final.png

(Teaser)

3rdplacetiesietepecadosbannerforWErd113_533x338_byrsd_FINALVERSION2.png

The theme was "concealed" - a face had to be concealed by an object (hand, hair, etc), and I extended the theme with one of the final images from "Anne", when Buffy's face is half-revealed as Joyce opens the front door. The plain space of the door was a perfect field for text, but I added a woodgrain texture and let part of it cover Buffy's face as well, so she's concealed twice-over in the image. The woodgrain on her face looks more like a torn piece of gauze curtain.

I think I'm getting faster at these - I knocked them out in a night; the hardest part was not the textures or the text but the frames around the icons themselves. I wanted a touch of "elegance" in the frames and font style to contrast the coarse woodgrain.

ETA: My entries for Round 8 of

btvsats20in20. I forgot to link back to the comm when I posted this last night/this morning, sorry!

I had initially meant to stick to a "Buffyverse in Wonderland" theme but my guiding inspiration this round turned out to be the Pop Art theme and the Category theme "movie genres". My Category icons were inspired more by movie posters than by the films themselves.

MANY kudos, kisses and roses to my wonderous Muse,

velvetwhip for all her help, ideas, support and inspiration. I can't begin to thank her adequately.

TEASERS:

10 Themes
Pop Art	Family	Food	Grey*	Duplicate

Name	Stolen Claim	Wild	Monochrome+Text	Evil

5 Category \|MOVIES
Cat 1 Sci-Fi Thriller	Cat 2 Romantic Comedy	Cat 3 Bergman Drama	Cat 4 Slapstick Comedy	Cat 5 Indie Prestige Drama

5 Artist's Choice
AC 1	AC 2	AC 3	AC 4	AC 5

One of my goals this round was to include images from all seven seasons of the series. I don't ship "Wiffy" (or "Billow", take your pick) sexually / romantically - but if it's a choice between that and hatin' on the ladies, I'll chose the love. (It's astonishing to me how often fans of one character hate on the other.) I certainly "ship" their friendship - the most important friendship in the Buffyverse - something fierce.

* The look of my "Grey" icon was inspired by

spikesredqueen's gorgeous entry in her Lorne set.

"Stolen Claim" can be considered "Chosen" or "Bangel", works either way.

Some alts, not including banner versions:

1 - 4
4 was almost my Stolen Claim entry; I went back and forth on that one a lot. I don't do many romantically het shippy icons so I'm pleased with how it turned out.

5 - 9

10 - 14
I loved making these "movie posters". For the "prestige drama" I wanted to include text from the movie "The Hours" (Always the years, always the love, always the hours) but couldn't get it as I wanted. I like #5 just as much as my Cat 1 icon for the clarity of Buffy's face, but the entry version is more "atmospheric".

15 -18
My Evil icon could have fit very nicely into the movie genre set as "Horror film" (think schlocky 1980's slasher flick VHS graphic art.) "Dark Willow" seemed too obvious a direction to go for the Evil theme.