sexy mood music (original) (raw)
05 January 2017 @ 12:02 pm
HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE! MAY 2017 TREAT US ALL BETTER THAN 2016 DID! :P
My laptop broke completely outta the blue last year, so for now, I'm borrowing my sister's Mac. I don't have Photoshop on it so no new icons from me, but I'm trying to start socializing on LJ again so I'm joining the fun at the comm linked below. If you wanna explore the past year in icons yourself, I encourage you to hop on over there and nominate your fave pieces for the makers participating!
ICON NOMINATIONS - JOIN IN! | MY THREAD
I'm not even sure how to feel about my first 
10in30 batch. I can usually tell the difference between muted and vibrant coloring, but after working for hours on lots of this stuff, I honestly could no longer distinguish if anything I made counts as vibrant. Pretty problematic considering it's the focal point of this month's challenge. I guess I'll just be excited over the fact that I managed to finish something early this month! The Rachel McAdams and Lost stuff are entries I made for the7days and jjabrams_ic, respectively. (If you ever want to understand how my mind works, look no further than that one row of Rachel icons with the exact same crop. I'd been getting better at the "cutting down on alts" thing til THAT happened.) Anyway, I quite like a lot of the stuff here, but others' tastes may vary, so I'm down for feedback and concrit, as usual. Despite reading tons of tuts about it over the years, including back in January when I was coming off my break, coloring is not my strong suit, so the "muted vs. vibrant" thing was a major challenge for me. I'm aware a lot could be improved, but I don't necessarily know how to make the right changes happen, so tips and tricks would not be remiss or unappreciated. Thanks for taking a look, y'all!
Before, I go, I'd like to dedicate this post to 
crucified, who I got a lotta these Clive Owen images from cuz I had originally intended to fill her requests for theiconthrone. Consider this my delayed way of doing that, dude. Hopefully, you think some of these are worth looking at and that I did justice by one of your big faves. If not, I'm sorry for failing, but hey, you can at least get a good laugh or two, right? That's always worth something in my book! ;P
( gettin’ funky on the mic / like an old batch of collared greensCollapse )
PLEASE: COMMENT & CREDIT // DON'T ALTER // ENJOY!
Alright, in the hopes of pumping some much-needed life back into this shabby comm, how's about a friending meme? Everyone loves making new pals, right? Riiiight??? Guess we're about to find out...
I added a TV show question to the list, thanks to 
alorarose bringing that omission to my attention. I am sorry I fail at modding and memes, y'all. But we have all known how bad I am at those things for a long time, yes?
It's been 3 years since one of these went up, and I'm sure this will go nowhere since LJ is pretty much dead nowadays, but I'm gonna try to reinstate this idea just in case might still be helpful to anyone! :)
Know of an awesome comm that needs more members? Looking to add friends to your lovely flist? Well, you've come to the right place! This post is strictly for pimping purposes so feel free to comment with a promotion for any comm or post you want others to know about, or for your personal journal if you wanna find new people to chat with. PIMPIN' AIN'T EASY BUT SOMEONE'S GOTTA DO IT!!!
Rules & Information | Join us for Round 17!
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16 February 2016 @ 07:59 am
Up until this past January, it had been over 1.5 years since I opened Photoshop. I tried to enter the inaugural round at 20muses, but I just got so frustrated making icons that I had to stop. Plus, grad school really began kicking my ass, which didn't help matters at all. But now, I'm halfway through my winter quarter and miserable as fuck, so iconmaking has once again become an alluring siren that beckons me to put off the stressful and boring stuff for days hours at a time, which is exactly how I've managed to finish my batch for 20muses this month!
As is par for the course, I'm fluctuating between liking and hating my stuff. I think it looks pretty much the same as my old work, which makes sense cuz I haven't practiced since sometime in '14. I basically had to re-learn how to do even the most basic shit, like cropping down to 100x100, y'all! It probably shows, too, so I'm super curious to know what others think, good or bad. As has always been the case, any feedback or constructive criticism is likely to be rather eye-opening and most definitely appreciated, so please share your thoughts! :D
I dedicate this post to vetica, who I know is also trying to get back into the game but was having a tough time working with caps. That's basically the story of my life cuz I will always suck at coloring. Hope you finish your set, Jorgen, cuz I'm sure lots of people are excited to see it!
( there’s no more use in running / this is something i gotta faceCollapse )
PLEASE: COMMENT & CREDIT // DON'T HOTLINK // DON'T ALTER WITHOUT PERMISSION // ENJOY!
21 September 2013 @ 08:24 am
After two months on hiatus, I got back to banging around on PS last week, and good fucking grief, it was an uphill battle bringing this batch to fruition! This is mainly due to the fact that I was dumb enough to challenge myself to use all the words and textures provided in the inspiration post (focused on the four elements: air, earth, fire, and water), which actually hindered a lot of my creativity. I gave up on the texture portion of the challenge after utilizing half of them cuz the process just felt like such a drag when I was forcing myself to work with things that weren't fitting in organically. It didn't help that PS was being so damn impossible and wouldn't open on my computer despite repeated reboots and plenty of enraged howls and relentless cursing. (I almost threw my library book across the room in frustration, but somehow managed to refrain from doing it.) Anyway, I did manage to shape every icon upon one of the inspiration words (some far more loosely than others), so the idea wasn't a complete bust. There are a handful of pieces that I truly love right now, and there are also definitely a few that make me shake my head in regret, but I was running very low on free time as well as battling a non-responsive technological dinosaur, so I'm glad I finished this insane task at all. Besides, there's always stuff I love and hate in every single post, so I suppose this is really just the norm for me. Here's hoping you enjoy these many icons of the latest Man of Steal My Heart Steel, also known to most lowly mortals as Henry Cavill!
I hereby dedicate this post to the obscenely talented neversleeps. Mikell, laughing with you about male celebs in our conversations at
ghostspoons brightened up gloomy days at work this year, and if I weren't too lazy to check out LJ more often, I would totally pester you all the time for more hilarious chitchat! Can you please stop producing icons though? I need one less maker to envy, and your coloring and text work have been making me weep bitterly for years. Please and thank you.
Let's keep it real, this is far from my best work, so any feedback or constructive criticism is tremendously useful and certainly appreciated. I have a knack for obscuring subjects to the point where they're difficult to make out or comprehend, which sounds senseless to most normal people, but I gravitate toward it like a moth to a flame. (Only did it once or twice here though...I think.)Feel free to ask me what the hell is going on in any of these icons if you can't make heads or tails of it! :P
NOTE: When you snag something, please credit me and the comm, so people won't friend my personal journal when they're merely searching for my graphics. Many thanks!
Henry Cavill
( starlight in the middle of the ocean / opens up my heart tonightCollapse )
PREVIOUS ENTRIES // RESOURCES // PROMOTE
PLEASE: COMMENT & CREDIT // DON'T HOTLINK // DON'T ALTER WITHOUT PERMISSION // ENJOY!
It feels like quite some time since I posted anything, but I had a grueling 1D battle this past month, so I finally have new things to put out there. Half of the images I submitted were godawful to work with, and I did have difficulty getting myself started on the battle itself, but ultimately, it proved to be an excellent challenge, and I'm really grateful to my lovely partner, anassa_anemou, for organizing the activity. Please feel free to check out the actual battle post here and show some love for her as well cuz this whole thing was her idea, and she certainly did all the heavy lifting to make it happen! Some of the last few rows of icons are pieces I entered at rainbow_elite and as little gifts for my brilliant fellow makers at ghostspoons!
Who else could I possibly dedicate this to, but anassa_anemou? The only reason I made anything in the last few weeks was cuz I made a commitment and didn't wanna let her down, so thank you very much for fangirling with me, Gih, and getting me off my lazy ass to create new things! <3
It goes without saying that any and all feedback, constructive criticism, or general icon chitchat is extremely appreciated. Believe me, I never mind being told what I can improve upon cuz I know there's plenty of room to grow and strengthen my skills! Just please be gentle if you don't like something cuz time and effort did go into producing this stuff. :D
NOTE: When you snag something, please credit me and the comm, so people won't friend my personal journal when they're merely searching for my graphics. Many thanks!
One Direction
( the ground, it started shaking / the bombs are falling / we could’ve walked away / we had a warningCollapse )
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I can't adequately express just how much fun I had making this batch for the Pass-It-On round at 20inspirations! Basically, every icon has to connect somehow to the one preceding it and then also involve an additional element to be incorporated into the next piece. For example, my first icon is pink, so my second icon is pink and involves the theme of claustrophobia. Then the third icon focuses on claustrophobia as well as another visual or interpretive theme or effect. I thought it sounded daunting, but I actually didn't run into any real difficulties tying anything together. Plus, my subject is bizarre as hell, so it was easy to let my imagination run wild with her daring and dramatic photos. Just a few months ago, I could barely stand Lady Gaga, but ever since I saw her live in concert (cuz my mom didn't wanna go alone), I've come to adore her music and the spirit of defiance and freedom and unabashed confidence that she exudes. Proud monster right here, baby. What up!
I'm dedicating this super weird collection of icons to the one and only 
messdestruction, whose work I've admired for years and whom I've known longer than just about any other maker. Amaya, you've always shown such amazing creativity and thoughtfulness in your work, and when it comes to manipulating textures, I think you're pretty much the gold standard today. I bow to you and your bold, striking texture usage. Remember that Maroon 5 icontest you used to mod? Man, those were the days! You were kind and pleasant to chat with then, and nothing's really changed in that area cuz you're still as warm and supportive as ever, my dear! <3
Any feedback, concrit, or Lady Gaga squee will be gratefully received and acknowledged! I'm trying to be more mindful of preserving image quality when I add gradients and Curves layers to my work, so if anything here looks like it's got quality issues, please let me know and feel free to throw out any suggestions you have on how I might fix the problem(s) you've spotted! BTW, does anybody know why coloring in an icon might look really different in Photoshop than it does when I post on LJ? The "orange + text" entry doesn't look orange at all here, but it definitely had orange tones in PS. Do I have to change a certain PS setting or something? Any help is appreciated! :D
NOTE: When you snag something, please credit me and the comm, so people won't friend my personal journal when they're merely searching for my graphics. Many thanks!
Lady Gaga
( what's so amazing / that keeps us stargazing / and what do we think we might seeCollapse )
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For the latest round at 20inspirations, the mods decided to throw a strange curve...by having all participants complete a traditional 20in20 batch! We were provided with 10 interpretative themes as well as a category theme for a set of 5 icons (in this case, obscure crops) and then given free reign over the last 5 pieces, known as artist's choice icons. You might think that it would be harder to stick to themes rather than making whatever you want, but I enjoy having guidelines, so making the AC set tends to be the stranger part. Not really a big fan of my AC icons, and I'm a bit dismayed by the overwhelming recurrence of pinks and purples throughout this post. I don't know why I tend to settle on those hues when I'm coloring. but I'll certainly continue trying to improve in that area. I truly enjoyed working on the obscure crops cuz cropping has never been a strong suit of mine so I got to stretch myself to the limit there, and I'm rather pleased with that set!
I think it's sensible and fair to send this batch out to ionizable, a fellow maker whose hyperactivity amuses me to no end and whose icons have been blowing my mind over the last few months. Jen, I know we don't exactly know each other well yet, but that hasn't stopped us from sharing plenty of laughs and flailing over tiny 100x100 boxes together. I'm never around to comment much anymore, but I want you to know that whenever I see your work, I'm always thrilled and awed by your wacky compositions and your coloring, especially the wide range of blues you constantly achieve! <3
If any of you has thoughts or opinions on the stuff you see here, I'd gladly accept any feedback or concrit you can lend! As I said, crops aren't a particular strength of mine, so I feel that I hit the mark with my category set, but you may think otherwise, and I welcome your assessment. Also, any tips about how to break out of my odd pink/purple coloring prison would definitely be appreciated, too! :D
NOTE: When you snag something, please credit me and the comm, so people won't friend my personal journal when they're merely searching for my graphics. Many thanks!
Louis Tomlinson
( you may not understand it / sooner or later / baby, you will learnCollapse )
PREVIOUS ENTRIES // RESOURCES // PROMOTE
PLEASE: COMMENT & CREDIT // DON'T HOTLINK // DON'T ALTER WITHOUT PERMISSION // ENJOY!
It's been two whole months since I posted any icons so I'm quite overdue. I honestly hadn't even thought I'd make anything in April, but the latest round at inspired20in20 just captivated my mind and so did a peek at my old Megan Fox image folder! This month's theme was "Masquerade," and the idea was to obscure the subject in every icon through heavy texture use, close or strangely angled crops, shadows and silhouettes, etc. Obscuring images is one of my fave things to do, so I had a fantastic time with the theme even though I did run out of steam by the time I was down to the last four pieces or so. I've used plenty of these photos before, and oddly enough, I ended up unconsciously achieving pretty much the exact same coloring in one of them as I did in a previous icon I made back in December '11. I found that so crazy considering you can go a bunch of different directions with this particular image since it's not a tough one to work with. Anyway, I hope I did a proficient job of maintaining an air of mystery in every piece. Ultimately, it seems like my claim is Megan's lips since that's all you can see in most of these icons! :P
I am proud to dedicate this batch to hamarakissa and iamabadwolf, two very awesome friends of mine who happen to appreciate Megan's face as much as I do. Val, we've been friends for years, and I'm constantly awed by your personal strength and how you always push through no matter how exhausting and painful your life gets. You deal with so much crap that you don't deserve, babe, but you're a warrior so keep up the good fight. And as for you Meg, consider this a belated birthday present, my dear! You've also been through a lot during the years that I've known you, but you're a fighter, too, so you never give up. I hope you both know that I'm always rooting for you and ready to lend a shoulder or an ear like you've always done for me. <3
To anyone kind enough to impart some feedback and/or concrit, I thank you very much for continuing to help me improve with this funky hobby of mine. I do this just for fun, but talking with y'all makes it feel that much more exciting and worthwhile! :D
NOTE: When you snag something, please credit me and the comm, so people won't friend my personal journal when they're merely searching for my graphics. Many thanks!
Megan Fox
( feeling like i am now / lighting up the hall / i was used to standing in the shadow of a damaged heartCollapse )
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11 February 2013 @ 05:18 am
WARNING: IF YOU SEE RANDOM LINKS IN THIS POST, PLEASE DON'T CLICK ON THEM. I HAVE NO IDEA WHY, BUT ONE KEPT POPPING UP WHENEVER I TESTED THIS PAGE IN MY JOURNAL EVEN AFTER COMBING THROUGH THE HTML FOR ERRORS.
I can't believe I'm barely getting around to making my first icon post of the year, but I'm trying to take it easier instead of constantly pressuring myself to make stuff so I guess there will probably be bigger gaps between batches for awhile. Anyway, the latest round at 20inspirations got me really amped up to create some icons, and I happened to have a ton of One Erection images lying around on my drive (not cuz I'm obsessed or anything), so here's an outpouring of pathetic puppy love for a boy band that I wish had been around back in high school when this sorta affection would have been far more appropriate. Look at those faces, y'all! Aren't they just the cutest things? It was bad enough when I only knew their music. Oh, how I wish I had never watched that damn "One Thing" video!
I suppose this post could really only go out to daleksaresexy, who knows the pain of having one's mind eaten by that British rascal, Louis Tomlinson. Thanks for putting up with my ridicule when you dared to leave the 1D fandom, Karin. You came back in record time, naturally, and
I will never let you live it down we have plenty of serious fangirling in our near future, my dear. I really appreciate your enthusiasm for the boys and for iconmaking, so thanks for making me laugh on boring mornings at work. I look forward to seeing your own 1D pretties this year. I have no doubt they'll be splendid and plentiful! If not, I'll just shun you forever. That works, too. <3
If you have any feedback, concrit, and/or general icon talk to get outta your system, I'm glad to hear it! If any of my color choices seems weird to you, feel free to ask, and I can explain my own thought process and why I decided upon that certain hue. :D
NOTE: When you snag something, please credit me and the comm, so people won't friend my personal journal when they're merely searching for my graphics. Many thanks!
Band (One Direction)
( forgive him when his tongue lies through his brain / even after three times he betrays meCollapse )
PREVIOUS ENTRIES // RESOURCES // PROMOTE
PLEASE: COMMENT & CREDIT // DON'T HOTLINK // DON'T ALTER WITHOUT PERMISSION // ENJOY!
28 December 2012 @ 07:56 am
Because I couldn't bear to fail on living up to my "post once a month" resolution, I hesitantly signed myself up for the first activity at bestof_icons, wherein people could choose icons of mine that they wanted to see me remake somehow. I'm really glad I decided to join in cuz I actually ended up getting excited to open PS again, and it afforded me the means to use lots of new textures that I've accumulated in the past few weeks! Rather than reuse the original images featured in the icons people picked, I opted to integrate certain aspects of the old pieces into new works. If you're curious as to what, in any of the remakes, was translated from the original icon, just ask, and I'll explain what aspect(s) I attempted to recreate in some manner. And just so you know, the first few Matt Bomer and Lost icons are entries and alts from cusped and jjverse challenges that I hadn't gotten around to posting yet. Also, for those that aren't aware, I've recently grown quite fond of One Direction at the ripe old age of 27, so I finally decided to try and use some of their photos for my own fangirly purposes. There is shame in my game, but not half as much of it as one would reasonably expect.
I feel it only makes sense to dedicate this post to the kickass mods at bestof_icons cuz without them, I'd have only a few old scraps to show all of you. shadadukal and deternot, thank you so much for giving the entire icon community a handful of wonderful activities to look forward to at the end of each year! I sincerely hope that you both enjoy hosting the activities as much as I and so many others enjoy taking part in them! <3
Though I'm sure you're all conscious of this fact, it bears repeating that any and all feedback, concrit, and/or general icon talk is very much appreciated. There don't seem to be as many lengthy exchanges between me and the members of this comm anymore, and I'd like to change that in the coming year. Hopefully, y'all are down to do the same!:D
NOTE: When you snag something, please credit me and the comm, so people won't friend my personal journal when they're merely searching for my graphics. Many thanks!
Actors (Matt Bomer)
Band (One Direction)
TV (Lost)
( oh, i still dream of a simple life / boy meets girl, makers her his wife / but love don't exist / when you live like this / that much i knowCollapse )
PREVIOUS ENTRIES // RESOURCES // PROMOTE
PLEASE: COMMENT & CREDIT // DON'T HOTLINK // DON'T ALTER WITHOUT PERMISSION // ENJOY!
30 November 2012 @ 05:18 am
My muse is slowly but surely dropping dead. I can barely get myself to open Photoshop anymore, guys. Maybe I'm just burned out this year cuz I had such an astonishingly prolific months-long run when I got obsessed with Leverage back in February. Anyway, this post is composed mainly of entries I submitted to rumblr, capchallenge, and jjverse over the past 2 months. I meant to make more icons of so many of these fandoms, but I just haven't felt much inspiration or urge to create anything. Hopefully, you'll enjoy traveling through this endless sea of variations and alts though! If not, that's alright, too. You'll probably at least have a good laugh at something! (For the love of god, there's a Supernatural icon that actually says "SPN" on it. Not clever, I know, but I just love how those letters look together in that font, and I think it actually works for that particular piece. Just pretend it stands for "Sam's pretty nipples" or something if it bugs you! *no nipples actually shown*) :P
I really feel the need to give a shout out to outoftime, who partially revived my latent muse last weekend through the icon challenge over at jjverse! Rebecca, you're just about the most perfect land comm mod known to mankind, and I'll never be able to thank you enough for enabling me to forge deep friendships with some of the most incredible LJers out there! You're a major part of why I have the best flist ever, and as a fellow iconmaker, it's also been really awesome watching you grow and develop your wonderful skill set throughout the years as well as fostering creativity and productivity in the icon community this year through iconflashes. I haven't gotten to comment on much of anything you've done or made these past few months, but you should know that you make a tremendous impact on so many people throughout LJ, and your hard work is always noticed and appreciated! <3
Y'all know that feedback, concrit, and/or general icon talk is never anything but welcomed here, so please share any thoughts you have with me! I'm always down to talk
Photoshop with any and everyone! :D
NOTE: When you snag something, please credit me and the comm, so people won't friend my personal journal when they're merely searching for my graphics. Many thanks!
Actors (James McAvoy, Archie Panjabi)
TV (Battlestar Galactica, Supernatural, Sons of Anarchy, The Hour, The Good Wife, Fringe)
( getting bigger and sleeker / and wider and brighter / we bite and scratch and scream all nightCollapse )
PREVIOUS ENTRIES // RESOURCES // PROMOTE
PLEASE: COMMENT & CREDIT // DON'T HOTLINK // DON'T ALTER WITHOUT PERMISSION // ENJOY!
29 October 2012 @ 05:26 am
Lately, I've had the urge to iconize shows I've never watched or have seen but didn't actually enjoy, which probably sounds weird to lots of you. rumblr and capchallenge have given me ample opportunities to dive into new fandom material, and it's been a grand adventure figuring out how best to work with images from such wildly different series! For example, Battlestar Galactica has such grim colors and dark lighting, so it's proven a big challenge to focus on those screencaps. I'm sure that's rather obvious in my small handful of pieces, but I plan to continue tackling that beast. On the other hand, I might be in love with New Girl caps, which tend to have great lighting. I managed to pull out some muted tones, and that's exciting cuz that's been a goal of mine for a very long time now!
I really wanna send this batch out to jsfunction, who I first encountered earlier this year and who happens to be one of the most irrepressibly delightful and uplifting people that I have the pleasure of knowing. Tommi, the feedback you've given me and so many other fellow makers is invaluable and something that can never be appreciated enough. Thank you for always being so bright and good-natured, my friend. The LJ world needs more awesome guys like you, and since you're a BSG fan, I hope you'll like the few icons of it that I churned out! :)
Any feedback, concrit, and/or general icon talk is forever cherished, so please let me know what you think, both positive and negative. Since it's my first time working with caps of all these shows (besides Misfits), it would definitely help to know how my coloring looks to other people. A bit of criticism never hurts and can only lead to further progression and improvement!
NOTE: When you snag something, please credit me and the comm, so people won't friend my personal journal when they're merely searching for my graphics. Many thanks!
TV (Misfits, Battlestar Galactica, Once Upon A Time, New Girl)
( you keep making me weak / yeah, frozen and can't breatheCollapse )
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PLEASE: COMMENT & CREDIT // DON'T HOTLINK // DON'T ALTER WITHOUT PERMISSION // ENJOY!
24 September 2012 @ 07:04 am
Because I recently began worshiping at the altar of Michael Ealy's face, I fell in love with a little series called Common Law. (Warren Kole's face is rather adorable, too!) And thanks to that love, I have this mishmash post of oddities to present. I've been working with this show's caps over the past month, and I think the icons are pretty much in chronological order of my having made them, so hopefully, you can see the coloring steadily improving from the first to the last pieces. Some of the first blue ones look super washed out, which is odd because they look more vibrant when viewed in PS. It's been happening a lot lately, but I don't know what's going on there, so whatever. Is it obvious that I kinda flail wildly about while creating icons? I hardly ever have a clue what I'll do with an image when I initially open it in Photoshop, but I do constantly focus on improving my weakest points. One of those is definitely extracting subjects from their backgrounds, so I've been trying to improve upon that lately, and the results aren't always visually arresting. I'll confess that #23-26 really didn't turn out as cleanly as I'd intended, but it's hard for me to scrap something that I've put so much effort into, so I'm including those pieces anyway for the sake of posterity. If nothing else, they're kinda funny to look at, and I'm sure they'll grow more hilarious as time goes on. Sharpening is also quite a problematic area for me, so I need to keep practicing different techniques to achieve more balanced crispness. Anyway, I hope y'all enjoy the icons and will check out this awesome show, too! WES AND TRAVIS FO' LIFE!
This batch goes out to the fabulous deny1984, who is a big fan of Common Law and whose screencaps made these icons possible! Denitsa, you know I've been a fan of your work for ages and that your coloring never fails to blow my brain out the back of my head. It's so very YOU and something I could recognize even if you ever posted your work anonymously for any reason. Also, I've been using your gorgeous textures for ages, including in one of my fave icons of this post (#18)! Thank you for providing amazing resources to hoards of makers out there and for giving me something to aspire to, coloring-wise. Keep up your incredible work, my dear! :)
Any little snippets of feedback, concrit, and/or general icon talk are very much treasured and appreciated, so please do share any thoughts you have on my work! I never mind criticism as long as its given in the spirit of helping me evolve and strengthen my skills.
NOTE: When you snag something, please credit me and the comm, so people won't friend my personal journal when they're merely searching for my graphics. Many thanks!
TV (Common Law)
( cuz light strikes a deal / with each coming nightCollapse )
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31 August 2012 @ 08:10 am
My muse is coming and going, but for a good couple of days, the power of Matt Bomer's face kept it on a tight leash, so here are the results! I can't say I'm in love with everything I've made, but it was certainly worthwhile to get back into the swing of using photoshoot images, and there are quite a few things here that I feel truly proud of and excited about. If nothing else, I definitely got to hone my coloring skills a bit more, and that's been a big focus for me this year!
I'd like to dedicate this post to talipuu, who continues to grace LJ with some of the most flawless and gorgeous celebrity icons around! Natalie, despite all your tremendous talent, you're one of the humblest makers I know, and you've always been so gracious and kind whenever I've dared to ask how you colored something or when I ramble about your work like a crazy person. Thanks for being such a quiet source of awe and inspiration in the icon community! :)
Of course, any and all feedback, concrit, and/or general icon talk is greatly appreciated, so if you have any thoughts on these icons, feel free to share them with me! It's always fascinating to read about people's differences of opinions and to compare others' thoughts with my own.
NOTE: When you snag something, please credit me and the comm, so people won't friend my personal journal when they're merely searching for my graphics. Many thanks!
Actor (Matt Bomer)
( i don't know where i belong / i don't know where i went wrong / but i can write a songCollapse )
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PLEASE: COMMENT & CREDIT // DON'T HOTLINK // DON'T ALTER WITHOUT PERMISSION // ENJOY!
I haven't had the inspiration or energy to make much of anything this month. At the last minute though, I forced myself to participate in the icon_talk anon battle, so I'm glad there was that small spurt of productivity, so I could at least make a tiny post this month! This is probably the teeniest batch you'll ever see me present, but it's better than breaking my icon resolution and not posting at all, so it'll have to do!
This batch goes out to mergana, who I've come to consider a wonderful friend over these past two years. It was fun playing along with you at hungergamesland, Beth, and ever since then, you've been a source of joy and fangirly enthusiasm in my LJ life, so thank you! :)
I'm sure y'all know that any bit of feedback, concrit, and/or general icon talk is gladly embraced, so don't hesitate to speak up if you've got any thoughts on the work, positive or negative!
NOTE: When you snag something, please credit me and the comm, so people won't friend my personal journal when they're merely searching for my graphics. Many thanks!
TV (Leverage)
( so many things that i wanna say / you know i like my girls a little bit olderCollapse )
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The ever popular Ask the Maker activity is currently taking place again over at icon_talk, and since I don't have the energy to write lengthy tuts or guides, I figured I'd just present another Q&A. I got asked a ton of awesome questions when I did this last year, and I hope to receive a bunch more this time around! You can ask me anything general about my work or icon-making process, but if you've got a query about a specific piece, that's wonderful, too, and I'll try my very best to guide you through the creation of that icon. For anyone who's unaware, I'm always down to talk about graphics even outside these Q&As, so anytime you're curious about something I've made, don't hesitate to let me know via PM or a comment anywhere you see me around. Major thanks in advance to those who leave me thoughtful questions! :)
It's been one hell of a month in my life, and there was absolutely no desire or inspiration to open Photoshop for the past few weeks. Kinda terrifying if I'm being honest. But then I forced myself to try and make at least one measly icon on Wednesday, and before I knew it, I'd whipped up 7. The drought is officially over! REJOICE! I finished up 13 more yesterday, and now I can present my entries for the final 20inspirations round ever. This month's theme prompted each maker to create 20 pieces that would tell others about him or herself as a person or fan or maker. I chose to take the more intimate route, so each of the following icons says something about who I am or who/what I love. There wasn't much time to think up a personal challenge for myself, but getting through my creative slump was enough challenge for me anyway! :P
Of course, there's always a dedication portion to my ramble, and speaking of rambles, this post goes out to my wifey, Nia, better known to many of you as likealight. I've known her for years, and she's one of those people who just never fails to put a smile on my face whenever I see her around. Without a doubt, you're one of the most exuberant, welcoming, and supportive friends I've met online, Nia, and you've helped me navigate uncharted waters recently, so for all of that, I am sincerely grateful, my dearest ninja. NOW GO MAKE ME SOME GODDAMN PARDISON ICONS, BITCH. AND THEY BETTER COME WITH HARDCORE RAMBLES ABOUT ALL THE CRAY CRAY FEELS THAT ATTACK YOUR HEART SIMPLY BECAUSE OUR BELOVED DUO EXISTS. I WILL ACCEPT NOTHING LESS. <333333333
Any feedback, concrit, and/or general icon talk is very much welcomed! :)
NOTE: When you snag something, please credit me and the comm, so people won't friend my personal journal when they're merely searching for my graphics. Many thanks!
TV (Misfits, Awkward, Leverage)
Actor (Christian Bale)
Musician (Kanye West)
( and if anyone should cheat you / take advantage of or beat you / raise your head / and wear your wounds with prideCollapse )
PREVIOUS ENTRIES // RESOURCES // PROMOTE
PLEASE: COMMENT & CREDIT // DON'T HOTLINK // DON'T ALTER WITHOUT PERMISSION // ENJOY!
NIA, NEVER FORGET THAT WE ARE: