anotheryear

So I got a "nudge" on here yesterday from wavingcat5. I appreciate the gesture, and it's nice to know people still notice I was sort of here once upon a time. I actually haven't forgotten about this place or the fandom. Nor have I actually gotten a life or anything. I've just been, as usual, overwhelmingly distracted by my LJ and my other fandoms that I post about on there.
I've been checking in and reading over my flist here every few days, so even though I rarely comment, I'm still around...sort of. Although I guess if I don't participate it doesn't matter much if I'm lurking really!
I wish I could be a better part of this fandom, and I really do sort of love IJ at this point (especially after the clusterfuck LJ has gotten itself into lately), but my fandom interests right now are pulling me in a different direction usually. I don't know how I can positively contribute to the fandom on here very well, but I don't want everyone to think I've abandoned this place completely.
Anyway most of that stuff isn't really interesting. Just wanted to check in since I got the friendly nudge from wavingcat5 (thank you!) and say I still love you all and this fandom, even though I am really quiet lately. I will definitely make an effort to try to participate a bit better than being completely silent as I have been.
(And on the off chance anyone is interested, if you want my LJ name just PM me, and you can see all the scifi fandomy stuff I've been engrossed in on LJ!)

Made twenty icons from Torchwood, Season two for fandom20in20 .




( Bloody Torchwood. )

Started making some icons tonight for the challenge at iconics and it definitely helped put me back in the QaF mood. I love that it's still relatively active around here, even though I rarely participate, I usually try to read the majority of stuff.
Alas though, I have nothing interesting or relevant to share at the moment!

For the True Blood Fans around here.....

This is just a collection of all the icons I've made since the last time I posted some on here. Pretty much all of them were made for iconics so there's nothing really new, besides a bunch of variations on ones I submitted. I just wanted to try to get all my stuff organized and have all the icons I've made on here. Also there's a couple banners I won too, yay!

Also I made a couple of Doctor Who icons for dwicontest which are behind the cut as well!


       

Wow there's seriously a lot of stuff to catch up on here on IJ! I don't have time tonight to read everything (and maybe even comment!) but I will definitely be digging in sometime this weekend. Also excited to see all the entries for the iconics contest this weekend!

In response to Xie's sunshine challenge I made a couple of quick icons tonight. I might try to make more later, but I wanted to contribute something little at least! And I plan to check out everyone else's in more depth later this evening too!!

eta: A video rec Brighter Than Sunshine over on LJ

So I was messing around with Photoshop tonight and decided to try making some QaF icons for practice. Again they are offered for critique if you are so inclined. Otherwise, I hope you enjoy my meager attempts! Making them has also helped me want to get back into the show more than I have been lately too! Yay!

(I was going to write more. But really, if I don't post this now, I never will.)

Watching a show as a shipper seems infinitely more difficult and stressful to me.
Qaf was the first show I really felt invested deeply in the main ship (okay maybe also The Office to an extent) but I discovered how emotionally wrought it can make a fan. And I didn't have to go through it in real time. I don't know how you that did survived it!

Recently I've been re-watching one of my other favorite shows, a show with a huge ship that, if not the majority, a significant amount of fans seem to be completely enamored with. I watched this show during its initial broadcast on tv. I love both characters in this couple, and I enjoy the couple. But I don't think I would have ever called myself a shipper of that couple. I didn't watch the episodes hanging onto their interactions and their relationship (even though they were often a main focus). I watched the show as a whole and prized all the characters and their experiences nearly equally. If the main couple were broken up or being extra angsty, I wasn't any more upset than if the suspense in the main action was going the wrong way and the characters were going to be caught or if another one of the characters was having similar emotional problems.

With Qaf I discovered what it felt like to be seriously and completely invested in a couple. And don't get me wrong, I love the whole of the series, but my strongest emotions were usually determined by Justin and Brian's relationship.

I also personally don't understand showrunners desire to keep the main couple apart and put up sometimes convoluted problems to keep them apart. Why is the idea of a couple together without things keeping them apart and angsty such a bad thing? Even if a couple is together there can still be lots of drama, romance, sex, fighting, angst, and even...happiness! There is so much Qaf fanfic around, it's insurmountable. But I find the ones that I personally read the most are the ones where Brian and Justin are together and happy in them. They still have problems, of being geographically apart, dealing with other people in their lives, illness, the regular complications that normal life brings, etc. And guess what, I really enjoy those! I want to see my couple happy and in love and enjoying each other. And being in love and intimate with someone can often be really complicated and makes for some amazing stories!

I've started looking for fanfic in a few other fandoms lately. And to no surprise the majority of them are about the main couple in the show. For me though, since I'm not such a huge shipper in those fandoms, I find it hard to find more gen fic, which is what I want in them. So while I now understand fans desire to write so many fics about their main ship, I also understand it when people say they just want gen fic, because sometimes that is awesome too!

In summation, this post has no real point, except that fandom is awesome and I'm glad I discovered how great fanfic can be!

Just wanted to give a little greeting to everyone and let you all know I'm still around. I've been distracted...by other fandoms (tsk tsk, I know!) but I've been trying to read most of whats been going on here lately.
I am looking forward to the next challenge at iconics and the scavenger hunt when it starts up as well (especially because I've never participated in anything like that before). I guess I've just been distracted from QAF lately, but I haven't stopped loving it, that's for sure. Hopefully I'll start getting back into the groove again!

Icons of Astrid Farnsworth, from Fringe, made for chromaticvision




( The rest are here! )

Just a quick update on the Constance McMillen prom stuff from earlier.

I have been working on Photoshop a lot lately, but I haven't really improved much. I have a few Qaf icons to share. I'm not too happy with them, but given the amount of time it took me to do them I am sharing them anyway! Any advice is welcomed!

I have an icon coloring related question. If anyone is around and wants to explain this to me...

It may be a bit of a newbie question, but as I am one, I am not too worried.

What is the difference between using selective color and color balance. I mean, I know there are differences, but do they sort of achieve the same thing essentially? Is one better than the other? Or are they not really similar at all and I'm just all confused?

Some amazing, kind and anonymous person has bought me a permanent account on here!

Imagine my absolute surprise when I got the message about that. Thank you so, so very much to the generous person who bought this for me. I've already found so much kindness and friendly welcoming since I've joined this fandom, and this on top of that is quite overwhelming!

I wish I could better express my gratitude about this, so I will just say again, THANK YOU so much to the gifter! You have made me very happy and made me feel very welcome and appreciated. More than I would have imagined when I joined this site!

Now I am off to fill up some user icons (yay!) and see what I can do about making my layout looking somewhat better.

You guys are all the best and I am so grateful I found this place!! &hearts

So I'm trying to figure out how to make a picspam, because I signed up to do one at chromaticvision. Over the course of trying to figure stuff out, I thought I'd try my had at a Qaf picspam. My first ever picspam of sorts, so don't get excited or anything. (You all are getting my firsts of everything, it seems!)

I picked semi random pictures from the fourth episode of every season. I basically did the same stuff to every picture, and it didn't turn out too badly, I suppose. I still don't know how to make the images not all grainy looking though.
I did this partly as a practice run so I can do better next time, so any advice or concrit anyone wants to share is more than welcome!

Since I got so much positive feedback and encouragement when I made my post about starting to make icons, and everyone else is sharing their first icons, I thought I'd share some of mine as well.
That I made in the past few days.
They are mostly not Qaf because the only caps I could find for the show were difficult for me to use (funky colors, low quality). So I just used ones from other fandoms (sci fi shows, don't be scared!) I enjoy that had higher quality caps, and I just basically tried to make the colors look better. Nothing fancy, but fun.

Also I have an idea for a drabble, but I'm not sure if I'm ready to try to write something for the public. I tried writing it and it feels so weird and awkward; I'm really not much of a writer! It's not B/J though - I'm too afraid to try to write for them! - but it's Lindsay/Melanie.

Just saw this article and it reminded me of Qaf, in a very sad way.

So I have finally started attempting to make icons in Photoshop. And it is frakking hard! I've been trying to read tutorials and guides online, and I'm already overwhelmed by talk of layers, curves, brushes, filters, etc! This is nonsense, and I'm really not one for teaching myself, so it is going to be very slow going I suspect. Also I am super picky so I will probably never be satisfied with anything I make anyway.
Once I feel like I am not making totally pointless, bland or boring icons I will start sharing them, but that will probably take a while. It took me this long to even start trying to make icons in the first place after all.

Also I think there is definitely something wrong with me, because I actually considered attempting writing a drabble for all of about 6 seconds earlier this evening. (And I hate writing!) What is this fandom doing to me!?!  (I love it!)