Graphics by Ai

Pimp!

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 14:45:32 GMT

I have entered round 2 of firefly_rumble!

Sign ups are still open, so come on and join in. It's a really great type of icontest, shock full of love and fun!

Update of inside_kinnetik

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 22:48:28 GMT

I updated inside_kinnetik today. With a HUGE tutorial! It's in three parts.

Header tutorial - Part One: Does size matter?
Header Tutorial - Part Two: So what about technique?
Header Tutorial - Part Three: So where do I stick it?

Self indulgent post

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 06:29:45 GMT

The result of the last and tenth challenge in the first round of firefly_rumble was announced today!

Lookie here:

*SQUEEE*

...this is me wanting to have this whole thing in one place.

Icons:

01. 02. 03. 04.

05. 06. 07. 08.

09. 10.

All icons are snaggable. Additional notes in sidebar. ;)

A re-post from inside_kinnetik

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 12:09:43 GMT

A while back I put up a poll at inside_kinnetik where the members could request a specific tutorial. This is the tutorial that came out of that poll. 'Text in icons'

While making it I more than once thought to myself: "What the F*uck was I thinking? A TEXT tutorial???".

This will most probably be even more scattered than normal, but I'm gonna try to let you in on how I'm thinking while working with text on icons - and larger graphics as well.

Before we begin let me make one thing clear: This is how I do it and how MY mind works. This is NOT in any way a "Do it like this - or else..." because like anything, text and the way you use it is totally subjective. It all comes down to personal taste. But maybe you can get some inspiration or at least a good laugh at my expense. :P

Ready? This is VERY image heavy.

Here goes....

Using text in icons

Depicted above are the fonts I use the most at the moment. Most of these are default with Photoshop, but a few I've downloaded from daFont.

The fonts in this example are all written in 14 pt size, tracking 200 and the Anti-Alias set to Crisp. Before I even start with explaining 'tracking' and 'Anti-Alias', let's make sure we're on the same page! Or at least have the same crap opened up in Photoshop.

The Text Tool

The text tool is filled with different cool stuff, but I'm gonna concentrate on just a few of them. The rest I'm sure you'll be able to find yourself.

If you haven't this tool opened on your work space it's easy to find in the top menu under 'Window'.

To get the Text tool just make sure that 'Character' has a tick beside it - if not, just click it.

This is what will pop up on your work space:

...and these are the main things that I'm gonna try to show you.
Size: Pretty selfexplanitory....
Space between...: ...as is this.
Tracking: Space between the characters in your text
Color picker: Font color
Anti-Alias: Helps you produce smooth edged characters that 'melts in' with the graphic.

Anti-Alias

I personally always uses Anti-Alias. Text to me is part of the graphic - just as a texture or a brush or any other element, so it has to 'fit' and not off set the balance. Confusing? Check these two examples out:

In the left icon the text is more or less a separate object - in the right it's much more unified with the rest of the graphic.

Tracking

Tracking and size goes very much together for me. It all boils down to What Do I Want To Say. Tracking isn't just for making sure the text will fit, but can also be used to convey a feeling in the written word. Check this obvious example out:

The caption I want is 'distance' and there's a million and two ways of doing that, but I'll settle for showing you two. In the left icon the text is put there mainly 'to be there'. I want the word. I like the font. Ergo: I type the word in. Done! Or? To me that text doesn't really say much more than 'Hey! I know how to type a word here!'. By playing with the tracking, size and even the anti-alias and color I get an effect that in my view enhances the feeling I'm trying to convey.

Misc Tips 'n Tricks

So. Fonts. There's probably MILLIONS of different fonts floating around out there, so which one do I use?? Again - it's a matter of taste. I usually know if I want a serif or sans serif font for any particular graphic. But that's about it. Serif fonts has these little "edges" on them - like Times New Roman. Sans Serif doesn't - like Verdana or Arial. I think the serif fonts are more strict and 'somber' while the sans serif ones generally are more playful. But that is not an absolute truth or anything. Best way to figure out what font to use at any given moment is to just try out a bunch of them until you find the right one. I know some of you where sort of hoping for a 'recipe' for this - but I'm sorry. There aren't any.

What about color? A lot of new icon makers don't pay too much attention to the color they put in the font. A simple trick is to actually use one of the colors that are already there in the icon itself. That way you get a font that is automatically more in harmony with the rest. Click the 'color picker' square in the text tool and a bigger color pick window pops up. When you move your mouse over your icon your pointer will transform into a eye drop tool and you can pick up colors from the icon and try them out.

In this example the font uses a light blue picked up from Justin's cheekbone.

But lots of times you'll notice another problem....
WHERE DID THE TEXT GO???

By using the colors in the icon it's very possible that the text will 'vanish' into the background and be hard to see. But of course there's ways around that too! One is like I did in the 'distance' example. I simply used a darker color - also picked from the icon - and made a square on a separate layer behind the text.

Another trick is to blur the background behind the font using the blur tool (Explained here), set to a medium strength and a small soft size.

The result is very subtle, but sometimes that's just what you need.

The trick I use the most is Outer Glow. A lot of people uses a Drop Shadow to get the text to 'pop', but I find this gives a much better result.

With the text layer activated click the 'Add a Layer Style' symbol in the layers palette: and choose Outer Glow from the drop down menu. In the window that pops up, play with the Blend Modes, Opacity, Size, Spread, Color... etc.
This is what I decided on in my example below:

Usually I try to keep the caption down to max three or four words, anything more than that and it tends to get cluttered and overbearing. Again - text is one element of an icon, not the whole thing. Unless it's a text-only icon that is. :P

When you have more than one word it's fun to mix it up a bit. I do that a lot using different fonts and different colors. I have a couple of personal preferences when it comes to fonts though. Like, I almost never use the same font for many consecutive words, and I (almost) never use scripted fonts only. Like this:

Usually I mix font styles, and I try to come up with fonts that work well together - again, 'try and try again'.

A general rule is to only mix scripted with non-scripted fonts. But that different non-scripted fonts can work together.

I also almost never use capital letters in the beginning of a sentence. I either settle on all capitals or not (the exception being the word 'I'...).

Text should also in my view 'be connected to each other'. That is - not too much space in between the lines unless there's a purpose for it.

For 'tiny text' I actually write it myself most of the time. I set the size to 2 pt and write something. Then I try out different fonts, color, tracking and anti-aliases to get the effect I'm after. I find this almost always works much better than using a tiny text brush.

Some examples of text-y icons I've made that uses a lot of the tricks I've described here:

(yeah, yeah - I know. That last one is SPN, but I haven't done any QaF ones using the same technique yet...)

As for knowing what to say and where to put the text.... that's something every person has to find out for themselves. Sorry.

Hm. That's all I'm gonna say about this for now. This is all naturally MY way of looking at text when I make stuff. I am in no way saying this is The Law about it because we all work differently and want different things from our stuff. This is just me.

Hope I didn't confuse and or bore you to death with this!

All icons in this tut is naturally shareable. Credit me and if you want to see my resource list there's a link in the sidebar. No hotlinking and... I almost said that 'textless icons are not bases', but there isn't much of that in here, is it.... :P

OK!
Over.
Out.

New layout. Again!

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 09:08:17 GMT

I changed my layout again at ai_graphics, both here and on the IJ sister-site. This one I'm thinking I'm gonna keep for a while now, it turned out really well. ;)

Gale Harold for celeb20in20

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 21:08:15 GMT

Under the cut is my latest challenge-endevour. I entered celeb20in20 which is 20 icons in 20 days using a celeb that you claim. I claimed Gale.

Teasers:

10 THEMES

action	blank	carefree	circle	playful


pose	square	unusual	upsidedown	my mood

5 CATEGORY - LESS THAN 100x100px

category #1	category #2	category #3	category #4	category #5

5 ARTIST'S CHOICE

Arist's Choice #1	Arist's Choice #2	Arist's Choice #3	Arist's Choice #4	Arist's Choice #5

An insipiration shout-out to awmp for the "movie posters"!

Resources-link in sidebar | No hotlinking | No altering - textless icons are not bases | Comment=♥

QaF mood theme!

Fri, 23 May 2008 18:06:44 GMT

Two days ago, my dear friend furriboots posted a Brian mood theme at whatsup_qaf that is utterly beautiful. I've been wanting a general non animated qaf theme for quite some time, and I've even started working on one myself. When Furri posted hers I finally got my ass into gear and started working for real!

And now it's DONE!

Thank you Furri for the inspiration, and Sam for her never ending support and grace!

Teasers:

Annoyed

Happy

Thoughtful

You can view my general qaf mood theme HERE

If you want to use it yourself you can upload the rar file from HERE (megaupload). Or HERE (sendspace).

Usual things apply: comments are loved, don't hotlink - upload to your own server or host and credit is most appreciated.

Now I'm just gonna have to find the strength to upload it to ai_graphics as well.... *headdesk*

Multi fandom icon post!

Sat, 10 May 2008 18:43:38 GMT

Behind the cut there are some new stuff and some old icontest entries.

It's a mix-match of a lot of stuff:
Queer as Folk (Duh...)
Whedonverse (BtVS/AtS and Firefly)
Supernatural
...and even a couple of stocks.

Queer as Folk (US)
01. 02. 03. 04.
05. 06. 07. 08.
09. 10. 11.
12.

Whedonverse
13. 14. 15. 16.
17. 18. 19. 20.
21. 22.

Supernatural
23. 24. 25. 26.
27. 28.

Stock
29. 30.

Resource-link in sidebar.
Don't steal/hotlink/alter.
Comment is love.

Some of these are from icontests. And I've even won me some banners. *preens* And yeah - this part of the post is just me stroking my deflated ego, feel free to ignore.

bj_icontest

iconstillness

firefly_rumble
(it's like a lims contest - but without the "lims"-part. We're currently in challenge six out of ten)

ulttvchallenge

I even got me a banner from the first round on iconics@IJ, made by my prettiful Ilaria - youbetterwiseup!

for this icon:

Thank you, ~~who ever it was~~brianslave68 that nominated it!

Wallpaper (requested by Ny)

Sun, 04 May 2008 22:16:54 GMT

not_yet_defined posted a wish-list over at her IJ not too long ago. One of the things she wished for was a Rage/JT & Brian/Justin wallpaper.

Since I'm in a wallpaper mood lately I made her one. And with her permission I'm now posting them for sharing. ;)

1024 x 768

1280 x 1024

- Don't re post as your own.
- Resources in sidebar.
- Comments are loved!

Wallpaper

Sat, 03 May 2008 19:22:56 GMT

I've been browsing around on the net and felt inspired!

So I made a wallpaper. Two sizes once again! I am truly spoiling you guys ROTTEN!

1024 x 768

1280 x 1024

- Don't re post as your own.
- Resources in sidebar.
- Comments are loved!

Layout change!

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 19:07:36 GMT

I tend to forget about my ripway account so finally it gave up on me. That's why my layout here at ai_graphics has been sort of non-existent for the last couple of days.

I've been meaning to change it anyway so this just gave me the kick in the butt I needed.

NEW LAYOUT!
ai_graphics
ai_graphics
ai_graphics
ai_graphics
ai_graphics

Thanks to minty_peach! ;)

I'll be changing the one on my personal journal soon too.... ;)

Brian x 100!

Sun, 13 Apr 2008 20:16:15 GMT

LAST BATCH!

Teasers:

The completed table behind the fake cut!

Another batch of Brian!

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 19:44:50 GMT

This is it for a while. The last twenty I will take my time with. I still have nine and a half week to go of this claim and even if I don't think I'll be using all of it to make them, I'm at least gonna use some of it.

80 icons in four days should hold you for a while. :P

Teasers:

Table this way...

Another 20!

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 17:59:03 GMT

60 posted. 40 to go....

Teasers:

This way to the table...

Another 20!

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 16:55:55 GMT

I've updated with another 20 icons on my Brian-table!

Teasers:

Follow this fake cut to the table!

One hundred Brian Kinney's....

Sun, 06 Apr 2008 18:19:03 GMT

After what seems like an eternity of waiting, I have finally gotten approved for my Brian Kinney claim over at icons100!

This will be my fourth 100 icons table. The first three you can find here:
Queer as Folk(US) - General TV-show
Queer as Folk(US) - Justin Taylor
Queer as Folk(US) - Brian/Justin

I will be posting in batches of 20, and since I have pretty much the whole lot done already it will be a pretty speedy pace.

Hope you like them!

Latest batch is "highlighted"!

01 : Alone	02 : Magical	03 : Embrace	04 : Sunshine	05 : Sorrow

06 : A Dreamer’s Dream	07 : Colorful	08 : Brightness	09 : Rain	10 : All Is Wrong

11 : All Is Right	12 : Lost	13 : Wicked	14 : Smile	15 : Laughter

16 : Misery	17 : Secrets	18 : All That I Am	19 : Soul Food	20 : Love

21 : Fire	22 : Ice	23 : Glory	24 : Full Of Regret	25 : Green

26 : Blue	27 : Red	28 : Forgotten	29 : Snarky	30 : Mmm Yum!

31 : Hush	32 : Reminisce	33 : Why	34 : Time	35 : So Close - So Far Away

36 : Joy	37 : Kiss	38 : Beautiful	39 : Hope	40 : Desire

41 : I've Been Bad	42 : Fury	43 : Companionship	44 : From Now On	45 : Mine

46 : Trouble In Paradise	47 : Tears	48 : My Drug	49 : Flowers	50 : Water

51 : Artist's Choice	52 : Artist's Choice	53 : Artist's Choice	54 : Artist's Choice	55 : Artist's Choice

56 : Artist's Choice	57 : Artist's Choice	58 : Artist's Choice	59 : Artist's Choice	60 : Artist's Choice

61 : Artist's Choice	62 : Artist's Choice	63 : Artist's Choice	64 : Artist's Choice	65 : Artist's Choice

66 : Artist's Choice	67 : Artist's Choice	68 : Artist's Choice	69 : Artist's Choice	70 : Artist's Choice

71 : Artist's Choice	72 : Artist's Choice	73 : Artist's Choice	74 : Artist's Choice	75 : Artist's Choice

76 : Artist's Choice	77 : Artist's Choice	78 : Artist's Choice	79 : Artist's Choice	80 : Artist's Choice

81 : Artist's Choice	82 : Artist's Choice	83 : Artist's Choice	84 : Artist's Choice	85 : Artist's Choice

86 : Artist's Choice	87 : Artist's Choice	88 : Artist's Choice	89 : Artist's Choice	90 : Artist's Choice

91 : Artist's Choice	92 : Artist's Choice	93 : Artist's Choice	94 : Artist's Choice	95 : Artist's Choice

96 : Artist's Choice	97 : Artist's Choice	98 : Artist's Choice	99 : Artist's Choice	100 : Artist's Choice

As always:
Comment is LOVE
Want? Take! Have. Credit. How-to link in sidebar as well as additional "rules".
Resource link in sidebar as well.

This table is now complete as of April 13, 2008

inside_kinnetik updates

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 05:45:45 GMT

I have personally made two more extensive tutorials for inside_kinnetik lately

First one where I'm going....
Then one where I'm going....

There are a bunch of other tutorials on there too from jameserin, sanami276 and furriboots so it's worth checking out!

click banners to go to the community

Whedonverse extended wallpaper

Wed, 19 Mar 2008 23:22:32 GMT

Again - two sizes! I'm spoiling you ROTTEN!

For those of you that recognize the subject - yeah yeah... I'm well aware of the fact that I got the scythe a bit wrong and the colors of her clothes are probably off too. But she's drawn from memory.

It's pencil drawn, then scanned and colored digitally before "mounting" the wallpaper.

1024x768 | 1280x1024

I would love comments - but please be nice if you do, this is the first time I offers out something I actually drawn myself so I'm a bit fragile.

New community!

Sun, 16 Mar 2008 17:02:55 GMT

From time to time I get asked - like any other graphics maker out there - for tips or tricks of "the trade" and this got me thinking...

Queer as Folk has notoriously dark and difficult screen caps to work with when making graphics. This along with the fact that more and more people wants to get into graphics making in our fandom gave me an idea.

There should be a graphics tutorial community specialized in Queer as Folk!

Why, you no doubt ask. Well. Since I've been at this for a while now I know how hard it is to find tutorials that specializes in the particular problems that we run into when working with QaF screen caps. So why not have a place that is certain to have tips and tricks for those exact problems?

Now we do!

inside_kinnetik

Tutorials
Tips
Tricks

So far there's not much there - but starting later this week you'll see stuff happening.

If you have any questions you're welcome to ask them here. ;)

Cropping - the way I think....

Sat, 08 Mar 2008 22:04:35 GMT

This is not a tutorial per say. This is just a post explaining how my mind works when it comes to cropping an icon.

This is the image we're going to be working with:
click image for original size

Let's just get something clear right from the start:

I'm NO expert. Nor do I claim to be. This is just a post explaining how my mind works when it comes to cropping. The reason for the post is to maybe get some feedback from others what their thoughts about this is - users and makers alike - and maybe to give other makers some inspiration.

Ok - let's get started.

Almost to prove a point I haven't done anything to the cropped images but crop them. The last image is made into a base using the tutorial I posted a while back here.

Ok. Let's get on with this.

Again - this is how my mind works - and I am not in any way saying that anything else is wrong.

Cropping to me is crucial. It gives me an "in" on how to work the rest of it and it - when it's done right - tells a story all by it self.

The image I chose to use is from when Lindsay comes to the loft to talk to Brian about Ted who's in "The Coma" (omg... I can't help but snicker when Teddy's mom refers at it in that way...). It's a very emotional existential scene where Brian is in pain over the fact that Ted has given him POA, and this cap clearly shows to me that he's really torn up by it.

An icon from this scene to me should reflect that feeling.

There are many ways to crop this and I've chosen to show you six different choices and to put my own personal thoughts on each of them.

Straight up, to the fact. To me this is just a rendition of the image. I.e. this is just a thumb of what information the still view given by the screen cap, and the screen cap can in it self never tell the whole story of the scene in it self since it's taken out of context. This is more a portrait of Brian - and works very well as that. The main problem for me with this cropping is that my eye is drawn to his forehead. Since we as humans have an eye that normally is trained to focus our attention to the upper third of an image (in real life when looking at a face, this is where they eye's are situated) this cropping feels "flat" and somewhat off balanced to me.

I feel this is a better choice. It's still more or less a portrait of Brian that doesn't tell much about the scene it's taken from , but sometimes that is a good thing and what you as a maker are after. The eyes are in the upper third of the image (to cut out the top of the head is ok). I get a more depth feel of this image.

Let's venture into more fun ways of cropping. Using "negative space" to try to convey...well... at least something else but just an image of Brian standing looking pouty. :P
First glance - where's he going? *lol* His eyes are directed outwards to the right from our POV and this crop emphasise a "movement" in that direction. Not much, but still.... It looks like he's just on the verge of "falling out of frame". Again - totally ok if that's what you're after.

Here we're really got the "negative space" thing going. This time Brian isn't just starting to move off frame - he's already well on his way to go get something. Water? Poppers? Next trick... We don't know. If this is what is intended of the icon then it's a really good crop. If not - it's probably a bad slip of the cropping tool. Been there. Done that!

Let's crop it the other way around. The scene is very introspective in its feel and to convey that you might want him to look into that empty space instead.

...and maybe do a tighter crop to really get in his face about how troubled he really is about this choice.

For conveying the feeling of the scene in canon, my vote is for the last two. But that's not saying that somebody else thinks differently - it's just what I think. Cropping is only part of what makes an icon an Icon so there's still coloring, textures and text to consider and that can change everything. The main thing I have found in making a good icon (at least what I feel is good) is to have a plan. Formulate what you want to do and say and go from there.

Since I know I would hate to leave a post with only dark DARK QaF caps I fixed one of the cropped caps. Using the base tutorial I posted a while back.

I honestly hope I didn't come off as all knowing and self centered - because that was never my intention. I just wanted to open up the "floor" for discussions and views on cropping. So please tell me what your thougts are!

Firefly wallpaper part II!

Sun, 02 Mar 2008 11:08:53 GMT

I DID IT AGAIN!!

Omg.... I'm spoiling you rotten, aren't I?

I commented to jans_intentions in the previous post that:
...looking at it now I would have liked to have Serenity on it too - like in orbit over the planet... oh well, maybe next time.

So. Welcome to "Next Time"!

> 1024x768 < ------ > 1280x1024 <

Link to resources in my sidebar.
Comment is love!

Firefly wallpaper

Sat, 01 Mar 2008 21:57:18 GMT

*gasp* She made a large version!!

Yeah, yeah... I know. The reasons for it is multiple and has many layers but we'll just settle for - the fiance has a bigger resolution and he needs River. *nods*

Oh - and the planet, sun and space thingy? I did it myself! From scratch! I'm so silly proud of it!

> 1024x768 < ------ > 1280x1024 <

Link to resources in my sidebar.
Comment is love!

Massive round-up...

Sun, 17 Feb 2008 15:48:09 GMT

This post contains:

[19] Queer as Folk
[06] Grey's Anatomy (the Gale Harold eps)
[06] Torchwood
[04] Buffy the Vampire Slayer
[12] Movie icontest entries (Memoirs of a Geisha, Closer, Marie Antoinette)

A couple of QaF headers and banners.

Not much here is "new", most if it is requested stuff and icontest entries. I just wanted to post it all in one go to be able to start fresh. Like a spring cleaning!

Icons

Queer as Folk
01. 02. 03. 04.

05. 06. 07. 08.

09. 10. 11. 12.

13. 14. 15. 16.

17. 18. 19.

Gale Harold on Grey's Anatomy
01. 02. 03. 04.

05. 06.

Torchwood
01. 02. 03. 04.

05. 06.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer
01. 02. 03. 04.

Movies
01. 02. 03. 04.

05. 06. 07. 08.

09. 10. 11. 12.

Headers

A little while ago I got an idea into my head about a collaboration with a fic writer. The idea was, I make "blank" fic banners and the fic writer writes a fic using the banners as inspiration. I contacted my dear friend jans_intentions, since I knew that she's very image driven while she writes and I thought that this "challenge" of sorts would suit her really well. She jumped at the chance and I put five banners together for her.

The fic she wrote is called Shattered Bones and she wrote it for the Worlds Apart challenge over at neverenough_bj. Check it out! For each chapter she posted, she put up the "blank" banner. Once I've read the chapter I re-did the banner she had picked and she re-posted the revised banner. So by reading the - brilliant, I might add - fic you can at the same time see the revised banners. ;)

Aaaand finally....

Banners from icontests

Resources and info in the sidebar as usual.

♥

Another wallpaper...

Fri, 15 Feb 2008 22:32:39 GMT

In other fandoms you might be pressed to put nudity or sexual situations behind a cut and with lots of warnings. In QaF - not so much...

BUT. There are a few things that will prompt a warning and a cut...

Behind this cut is a wallpaper I didn't want to post with the others. The reason for it is that I'm very well aware that not many people share my love for the final scene in 513. Yes. I said love.

If you feel the way I do (and I'm not expecting many of you do), you're welcome to "come inside"

I have always felt that Brian on the podium was such a powerful image of strength and of "arriving" that I've often felt very sad and distressed when I've encounter the...well... there's no other word for it really - hate for the same scene just about everywhere in fandom.

I'm still holding on to the love for it though.

So I made a wallpaper.

Please, please, please - I'm so tired of defending my view of this scene, I would really appreciate if this post could be free of comments against it. If you don't like the ending and still clicked on the cut, I would appreciate if you didn't comment about how much you hated it, here. There are other places for it.

Thank you so much! ♥