*squeebounce* Look what my best friend gave me!!

Okay, it's a new header for my journal, so you'll have to go to amidala_thrace to see it. But WOW, it is made of AWESOME!!! All my OTPs, plus minor ships, plus my girlfriends, plus TIS references all in one!! Katie is the most amazing person EVER, you heard it here first. :D :D :D

And just so this isn't another pointless squee!post, here'a a fandom wishlist meme stolen from firestar28. I had been planning on doing the general wishlist one, but this one's fandom-specific, so it's better for this journal.

Fandom Christmas Wishlist
1. Make a list of ten fandom requests (fic/videos/graphics/mixes, etc.) instead of gifts.
2. Post to your journal.
3. Friends read, comment, and possibly fill.
4. Friends, repeat in your own journal. It's fun to spread around the holiday cheer and the gift of giving!

( My ten requests under here )

In other news, I'm working on a sort-of dilemma involving my personal journal and fandom journal and what to do about the fact that I don't reeeeally like having all the multiple accounts, but whatever. I haven't decided anything yet, so we'll see.

You would think, after spending five hours this morning staring at Photoshop while at work, that the last thing I'd want to do after coming home would be to stare at it more. Well, not so. Instead, my long-dormant icon muse poked its head up, sniffed the air, took a look around and went "Heeeeeeeeeeeeeey, let's make icons!!!!" *facepalm* Yeah, don't ask me to explain it either. Anyway, the result is some 120 icons, mostly Padmé (actually, 85% Padmé - I mean, you'd think she was my favourite character or something! XD). There's Anakin/Padmé too, but with a bit of Obidala and Battlestar Galactica sprinkled in there. I'll post the first batch today and the second hopefully tomorrow.

Of note about these icons: I'm not pleased with all of them, and some still look downright amateurish, but my skill as an icon-maker has grown by leaps and bounds with the discovery of the Filters section of Photoshop. All you expert artists are probably snickering behind your hands, thinking to yourselves, "She didn't know about filters? How can you not know about filters?" But believe it or not, I didn't. I'd heard the term bandied about before, but I had no idea where to find these filters or how to use them until I was fiddling around with PS this afternoon. These are the results. As I said, some of 'em are awesome, some of 'em aren't - but I'm proud of almost all.

PREVIEW:



( I will not condone a course of action that will lead us to war )

RULES:
- Comments are much-appreciated and encourage more pretties!
- Credit to amidala_thrace is essential.
- NO HOTLINKING. It's EVILE and I will send Lee Adama to hunt you down if you do it. And trust me, you do not want him to come after you. He'll emo you to death. XD
- Textless icons can be used as bases, but drop me a comment just so I know what you're planning to do with them.
- Enjoy!

So, I could be finishing up my journalism assignment right now. Yes. Sounds like a plan, does it not? The fandom-y side of me didn't agree, however, and convinced me that instead I should make my new Padmé icon stillness community.

I am of course powerless against the whims of my subconscious, and so into being comes padmestillness. I'm still dealing with setup and so forth at the moment, but for all intents the comm is up and running and ready for anyone who's interested to join. Only if you want, obviously. XD When the first challenge is held depends on how many members we get and the general level of interest. So, tell all the Padmé fans on your f-list! It should be a lot of fun.

And yeah ... I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel a bit guilty about creating another Padmé icon community when one already exists, but the existing one hasn't been updated since January 9. Heh. I'm hoping that people won't mind, and that if the older community does become active again, the two can coexist fairly peacefully.

Dear Icon Maker,

Pimping your icon post to a Star Wars icon community and then friends-locking that icon post - and telling people to join your community if they want to see the icons - is probably not the smartest idea you've had this year. I was pretty pissed-off when I clicked on the link only to have LJ present me with a "You are not authorized to view this protected entry" page. So I hit the Back button, but DAMN, I wanted some of those icons.

So you know what I did?

I joined your community, snagged the icons I wanted, and then punched the "Leave community" button.

All in all, I was probably a member of the community for about fifteen seconds. And I couldn't help wondering how many of the 20 members had only joined to do what I did, take the icons and then leave. I also wondered how many people wouldn't even go to the trouble of joining, would just click, see that the post was friends-locked and then scroll right on by.

Look, I understand you're probably leery of people stealing your icons. But there is absolutely nothing to prevent a potential icon stealer from doing precisely what I just did. Unless you start requiring moderated membership - in which case most thieves will probably stop bothering - you're just going to turn away and/or frustrate a lot of people who would otherwise gladly use your graphics.

Needless to say, I've just added another "don't" to my list of things NOT to do if I ever start my own graphics community.

No love,
A PMS-y Liz

In other news, I snagged Season 2.0 of BSG this weekend from Future Shop! I wasn't even planning on going in there, but I had to get groceries anyway, so I figured hey, why not. They didn't have it on the shelf for some reason - I had to ask a clerk to dig up a copy - but I now own Seasons 1 and 2 in their entirety. I'm also working my way through Season 3 on the Space channel every Sunday night, and am feeling a lot more comfortable overall with canon. I'll probably be able to start writing serious stuff for it soon.

I've spent the past three or so days working on a mood theme for my hockey journal, so haven't had a whole lot of time to focus on my fics. I'm hoping to get some good work on them done tonight, along with an ever-growing pile of beta reading. I've got a new idea for the plot of TIS rattling around in my brain, which I will also hopefully discuss with Katie tonight. And there's my app for Kara waiting in the wings. Thankfully it's almost finished.

Last but not least, I need to make a writing schedule. Or attempt to, anyway. I'm not sure how well I'll follow it, but oh well. Can't hurt to try.

Continuing to work through tonight's to-do list after I was interrupted by a phone call from my aunt (my apologies to those of you with whom I was chatting on AIM ... she can be rather verbose at times!), the next thing I have to do is dump some graphics here. These were made for the 12 Days of Obidala Christmas at the Obidala Fan Forum, and I am quite proud of most of them! Note to dialup users: these graphics are LARGE, and will eat your connection for breakfast. So click with caution. XD

3 Obi-Wan/Padmé Calendars
1 Obi-Wan/Padmé photomanip
1 Obi-Wan/Padmé (mainly Padmé) header
2 Obi-Wan/Padmé icons

( What about Obi-Wan? )

Rules:

- Comment if you're taking anything.
- Please credit amidala_thrace.
- NO HOTLINKING.
- Enjoy!

Somehow - I'm not exactly sure where I found the time or the energy, but nevertheless - I managed to whip up some Harry Potter graphics for myself today and I thought the Snape fans on my f-list might be interested. What's posted below is a Friends-Only banner, an About banner and a Credits banner, for your userinfo and journal. I made a few others as well, you can check out my personal journal's profile to see them. Comment here if you want any of the banners that aren't posted here, and I'll provide them. :)

( The bravest man I ever knew ... )

Rules:
- Comment if you're taking anything.
- Please credit amidala_thrace.
- No hotlinking.
- Enjoy!

Guess who is now an icon-maker! Yep, I never thought I'd be able to do it, but thanks to some of my savings and a raise at work I now own Adobe Photoshop. I installed it a couple of days ago and promptly started teaching myself how to use it. It's not as difficult as I'd originally believed, actually! (I say this as someone who first tried using GIMP to make graphics. What a catastrophe that turned out to be.) I immediately made some icons, all of which were terrible and none of which you will ever be seeing. The next day I made more (also terrible), and today I think I finally have icons that I can show y'all without cringing.

To be sure, I'm not happy with all of them. Some look downright amateurish - or maybe all of them do, I don't know! - and the aspect ratios are a bit messed-up in a couple. I haven't yet mastered the use of layers in Photoshop (that's what I'll be working on next) and so there's probably a way to fix these issues that I just haven't found yet. But I wanted to get some icons up.

Most of them are from Episode III, Revenge of the Sith, although there's a couple Attack of the Clones sprinkled in for good measure. Both Anakin/Padmé and Obi-Wan/Padmé are featured.

01 - 02 Obi-Wan/Padmé
03 Padmé
04 Obi-Wan/Padmé
05 - 06 Anakin/Padmé
07 - 11 Padmé
12 Anakin/Padmé
13 - 16 Obi-Wan/Padmé
17 - 18 Padmé
19 Anakin/Padmé

Preview:



( So this is how liberty dies ... )

Rules:
- Comment if you're taking any.
- Please credit amidala_thrace.
- NO HOTLINKING.
- Textless icons can be used as bases, but drop me a comment just so I know what you're planning to do with them.
- Enjoy!

PHOTOSHOP FINALLY CAME IN!!!!!!!! WOOOOOOOT!!!!!!!!!!

Going to pick it up right now!!!!!! The learning curve will probably be somewhat steep, but I'm prepared. Look out world, there's a new icon-maker on the scene!!!!!!!

(This pointless post brought to you by the letters L and J, the exclamation point and an entirely unhealthy amount of coffee this morning.)

Eeeeeee guess who's getting Photoshop tomorrow!!!! *bounces* I am so excited!!!!

Just spent a half hour phoning around to different computer stores asking what the availability was and their prices, and I can get a nice student rate at the store where I bought my laptop. So I'm going to get it tomorrow, right after work!!

I can't wait to start iconing and manipping, I've seen so many good ones out there and I want to get to the level where I can use a lot of icons I make myself. That's not to say I'm completely swearing off using other people's icons, just that I want some more that I can take credit for and hopefully distribute through this journal and iconing communities.

And don't worry, noobianrose, I'm still really looking forward to that header you said you'd make me! I won't stop using my friends' graphics just because I'm starting to make my own. Also, when/if you come online tonight I want to talk to you about another idea I had for the header ... remind me if I forget. ^_^

UGH. My kingdom for some halfway-decent photo editing software.

All I have is my crappy little Paint program and IrfanView, which is slightly less crappy but still can't do exactly what I want it to (I think ... shall have to tinker around with it some more after I'm done ranting). I found a cute little Obidala manip and would like to turn it into a new header for this journal, but probably won't be able to without it looking like it was cut out of a magazine and glued onto construction paper. *begins to pull out hair*

Although ... I've just thought of a way I might be able to do it. Stay tuned.

I swear once this month's credit card bill is paid off I'm getting Photoshop. Enough of this, I want to make icons. And manips. And headers. I think I've reached the end of my rope here.

And yes, this is a pointless rant. Don't worry, I plan to write a long involved post about To Ignite the Stars and some of the issues I've run into with it lately. NOT to say I'm stopping - ohhhhh no, the characters would never in a billion years forgive me if I did - just that I need to work some things out while I'm still writing Chapter 10.