This post will be updated frequently.  I'm including some examples when possible because a picture is worth a thousand words.

UPDATED 05 July 2016:


TEXTURES:
colorfilter - Their big 40 pack of icon textures (download link at Facebook here) is still the one I use most often and I haven't begun to scratch the surface of the hundreds of textures within. Also check out the pack of larger 800x600 textures. You can also find the sets posted individually on their journal. I've posted a few more examples of my icons using these textures in the comment thread here.

             1-7


             8-14



texturize - (Many thanks toteragramm for rec'ing this community) One-stop shopping for anyone interested in creating and sharing textures. Be sure to read the comm's very informative "Bible" (guidelines) before posting or snagging. Most of the artists post links back to their graphics journals or to Deviant Art.

lookslikerain at soaked. I've used more of their textures than anyone's except colorfilter's:

          15-20


whitebamboo:

      21-23


jordannamorgan at wolfbane_icons

24


scoobyatemysnax at burnedbreads - includes tutorials.  A tremendous variety of textures including soft glow, grunge, frames, abstract and geometric patterns in any one given set. I like their medium (300pixels) square textures for icons.

      25 - 30

 * broken_places The graphics journal of akilah92

* Evey-V at DeviantArt I like Ericka's soft, painterly, abstract textures, gradients, and text brushes:

31

 * sweetiepebbles Gallery of icon textures and bases at DeviantArt
 * Yeonseb at DeviantArt Vast supply of textures and application resources
 * spiritcoda - creativehangout is their LJ graphics gallery, or check out their DA gallery; some exceptionally pretty textures

FRAMES:
 * FRAMEs & BORDERs for use - Flickr image sharing group
 * Your Picture Frames - Most of the icon frames in my awards banners come from this site.
 * Victorian Frame Company - Mostly HQ photos of antique-style wood frames with carved detail, includes unusual shapes such as rounds, oblongs and hearts:

  32 - 33

SCREENCAPS for Buffyverse
slayerstillness has a list of Screencap Resources for BtVS and AtS, including all the ones I use most frequently; if you know of
any not on the list, send the links to starry_night. Some of my favorites from the list:

  * Pretty as a Picture complete screencaps for BtVS and AtS plus promo photos for Buf (ETA: 12/21/15 site currently defunct)

  * Bloodqueen has all seven seasons of BtVS complete, is one of my primary sources

  * Leave Me the White by _jems_  Spuffy-centric so no S1 or S3 caps and the remaining seasons are incomplete; but some of the best quality
     caps of the series I've found. (S2 is the most complete with 14 episodes capped.) Includes Dailies for Smashed and Dead Things.
     S7 is spread out over three albums including two Miscellaneous albums.

 * Buffy in HD ON Facebook Fan analysis of the problems with Fox's recent "HD remaster", galleries of screencaps, edits, comparisons

 * Shadow of Reflection also has all seven seasons; quality if variable. The early seasons caps compare favorably with
     Bloodqueen's; the later seasons are strangely distorted.

 * Screencapped.net WiP; S1-2 of BtVS are complete; plus one file of promo shots from S1 and the screencaps for Bargaining.
     Appears to be using a new cleaned-up source for it's caps (the so-called "high deflnition" version.) Has a lot of screenshots that
     may not exist elsewhere, but can appear slightly compressed or distorted.

  * The Chosen Two Gallery high-quality promotional and marketing images and magazine shoots of all the major and most of the
     minor characters/actors in BtVS, AtS and Firefly.

  * Kiss Them Goodbye Seasons 1 - 2 complete, partial season 3; also appears to be working off newer DVD's or Blu-ray sources but
      the images tend to be more pixilated than other sources.

  * promo-pictures on tumblr  

  * Buffy Universe and Angel DVD caps

Individual Cast Members Fansite Galleries:
   * Sarah Michelle Gellar France - What it says on the tin. One of my favorite fansite galleries for all things SMG and constantly
     updated. Photoshoot albums sometimes identify the magazine and the original photographer.
   * Glamorous SMG - online since 2003, another fairly comprehensive source.
   * Captivating SMG - relatively new (since 2013), it divides the Photoshoot section by years, which few sites do. Galleries for Sarah's other tv
     series still incomplete or empty as of this writing.

   *Marc Blucas Source
  * Michelle Trachenberg Web

For other fandoms:
  * All movie/tv caps on Leave Me The White. Extensive collection including Grease, Amelie, Dangerous Liasons, Terminator; Parks & Rec, Veronica Mars etc.
  * Genre Caps HQ screencaps for several fantasy series: Jessica Jones and other Marvel series, Doctor Who (New Who); OUAT, Outlander, etc

OTHER IMAGE SOURCES
* The British Library offers over one million royalty-free digitized images from their vast archives going back to the 17th century.
* The Brooklyn Museum of Art happens to be one of the best art museums I've ever visited. If I had to choose between a visit here
   and the Met, go to Brooklyn. In the meantime, their online collection has a stunning array of images.
* The New York Public Library Digital Collections Thank you petzipellepingo for the heads-up!
* The Graphics Fairy and the Background Fairy - the wonderful team at Graphics Fairy provide thousands of free large HQ images
   adapted from antique and vintage greeting cards, labels, valentines cards and assorted emphemera, DIY tutorials, craft projects,
   etc.
 * morgueFile
*  Archive.org
 * StevenJamesMorris at DeviantArt

TUTORIALS & GUIDES
 * good_tutorial What it says on the tin. The last post was 2013 but still plenty of useful information



 

And back from my perpetual AWOL-ery....

Tonight is the deadline to vote in Round 17!

Don't forget there are three posts for voting: Themes, Category Sets, and AC Sets;

There are only 14 - 16 votes cast so far in each post (there are always people who miss one, it seems), and for the most part I pretty much agree with how the vote is going; there are no egregious errors, no "wtf, people?"

The one exception is that I am surprised that the Content theme isn't more evenly spread; I thought that was one of the most difficult to decide among. (I confess  I really like debris4spike's Bangel icon from What's My Line? The "medieval" stained glass background is so richly and intensely colored, in contrast to the relative neutrals of Buffy and Angel's skin, hair and clothes. The dark shadows cutting across Buffy's torso and around the figures give them depth and solidity in contrast to the flat background, but the shadows also link the figures visually to the leading in the stained glass. It's a deceptively simple little icon but there's a lot of "there there" the more I look at it.

And don't even get me started on crazycordy's beautifully subtle Faith AC set.

Some of of my icons are doing fairly well and I confess that makes me happy; after so many gen icon sets, doing a Buffy set was like a homecoming.  When I was making the icons I had a "concept" for the AC set and put a lot of energy into it, but ironically the Category set, which I spent relatively less time on, is doing better, as it should. I think it came out more interesting and it's one of the better Category sets I've done.

Yes, there are ties that need to be broken at whedon_elite but  setentpet has cleverly decided not to reveal what they are. She's simply requesting more people vote at the original post, which only heightens the suspense in my opinion.  Well played, indeed. Now goest thou and vote. ASAP.

Speaking of voting, only 13 ballots have been cast at Round 16 of btvsats20in20, which is kind of sad. Do you understand what that means? Never mind the long hours spent slaving over a hot stove in front of a computer making icons, that means only 13 or so people have appreciated bangel_4e's super-adorable Lorne banners for the round, and that just ain't right!

 So I'll make it easy for you to join in the fun:   THEMES       CATEGORY ICONS & SETS   ARTISTS' CHOICE ICONS & SETS

BTW, the rules forbid me from promoting my own work so I wouldn't and won't. However there is nothing to technically forbid me from saying that Set #1 in the AC sets deserves more looks than it's gotten. And I don't know the artist all that well beyond a few exchanges here on LJ and I won't even say their name. I just think it's a nifty set. And this is NOT to take anything away from any of the other wonderful sets. The rest of the competition?  I'm pretty cool with so far. I'd always like to do better than I'm doing but hopefully that will just push me to improve. (Once again I feel I've hit that "brick wall" stage of things. Or maybe I just keep running into different parts of the same damn wall.)

Weirdly enough, I am actually allowed to promote my own work when it comes to voting for Viewer's Choice at the rwsawards but I really haven't because...I like my own poster for "Closure" and am thrilled that it was nominated, but boiiko and Restfield's (aka rbfvid) entries deserve to be in the lead. Both of those posters are the total package in terms of aesthetic and technical merit.

I have no opinion to offfer on the Reader's Choice section - there is a list of terrific work, many by people I know, love and respect, and really not a bad one in the bunch. So you're on your own there. But do vote while you have the time. It takes but a minute.

Feb 3rd is the deadline to send nominations to darkgoddessgege for Round 11 of  the rwsawards, so it's your last chance to nominate your favorite authors and artists in buffyverse and SPN fandom.  Check out the list of current nominees here.

I noticed that at the moment there is only nomination in the "My Marker" (best beta) category, foxstarreh. It's possible that there are other nominations pending in that category but if you have a muse who has shaped your work to be the best it can be, by all means give them a little love with a nomination. Betas are unsung heros, serving as muses, editors, collaborators, teachers, sounding boards, task masters and selection committees.

I wanted to nominate velvetwhip in this category for all the work she does as a beta for my icons and artwork, but she has already maxed out on the number of nominations she can receive. As well she should. But it's worth pointing out that art betas are just as eligible to be nominated in this category as writing betas. (And yes, I have confirmed that with darkgoddessgege.) I am well-nigh certain that I'm not the only person using a beta-muse for help with my artwork because all artists (visual artists, writers, etc) need feedback. Art doesn't exist in a vacuum.

....because HERE be 3 tiebreakers for Round 15 of btvsats20in20. And we all know how feliciacraft feels about tiebreaker voting but darn it, it's a happening thing and if it leads to more of her brilliantly satirical stanzas I make no apologies.

And HERE be voting for Challenge 135 "Red Heads" of whedon_elite; 33 - count' em, 33! - gorgeous icons to choose from for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, Best Crop, Best Color and Most Creative.  Most rounds of WE lately haven't gotten enough entries to warrent the full voting slate; this time everyone came out to play and they brought their A-game.

Voting is such sweet sorrow.

And totally off-topic:

* I've read Buffy comic S10 #23 and overall I quite enjoyed it.  I may at some point even choose to discuss it.

* Things I didn't know I needed in life until I saw them: I came across two Orphan Black/Buffy videos today on YouTube by Orphan Crack:
  -- Orphan Black credits Buffy-style by Orphan Crack; spoilers for all three seasons.
      I love how the credits list the characters rather than the actors. (Although it would be funny to see "tatiana maslany" repeated)
  -- Orphan Black + Buffy musical episode sets the OB characters into the episode "Once More With Feeling", specifically the number "I've got a
     feeling" and it works suprisingly well. The biggest giggle is Felix being assigned Xander's lines.

I actually have a message I hope you'll hear regarding some icontests that need your attention - and the poster has nothing to do with anything, I just wanted to bribe you show off share a pretty with my peeps. (And now I've got a mental picture of marshmallow chicks and bunnies sitting in front of very tiny computer screens getting sticky yellow sugar all over their keyboards. You're welcome.)

Voting posts are now up for Round 11 at btvsats20in20; deadline to vote is August 22nd:

THEMES                 CATEGORY SETS             ARTIST'S CHOICE SETS

You know what to do, Sweet Baby Jane. There are only four artists to choose from this round. Should make things easier, no? No. No, it does not.

Not that I mean to influence the vote because that would be wrong but - how on earth is the Inside theme a three-way tie? How is emmatheslayer's killing_kurare's*  brilliant interpretation of the theme not leading the pack?

Just sayin'.

*And this is what I get for posting at 4:30 something in the morning -  thank you emmatheslayer for pointing out my futz-up!