That you do, my friend. That you do. =) Mmm... I know about the salt water thing... I had to do that for weeks when I first lost my voice, but then my lips started getting sooo dry and flakey. I stopped doing it because my lips would bleed, and also, it didn't seem to be helping my situation at all. Anyway, enough of that. Glad you're feeling well enough to actually get some decent sleep. =D Yeah, I didn't figure there would be such a thing there as snow if they get hot rain. I hate coughing, period, but I don't think I've ever developed a knot in my tummy because of it. It just hurts my throat a lot, sometimes my side if I have a coughing fit. Oh, I thought that one view was when you get redirected to your topic so you can look it over. Makes sense that way too though, but I noticed that the views take a while to register... Wonder why that is? Reminds me of that one thread in H/WG that Ruin started about every time you look in this thread, you gotta post. xD (Yeah, Family Guy isn't that funny. The Simpsons got to a point where their show wasn't as funny as it used to be, but I hear it's getting better.) Thanks! But I'm actually not working on anything. =P I just have those in my program just in case I get the urge to. Where do you go for your new brushes? Just random Google search? I wanna live in Colorado now. Seems like the people are friendlier there too. I suppose time will tell. Hope he stays though. There's too many people leaving already, or making welcome threads, and then never posting again. >.> I suppose that's normal. I know, I am too. I actually am not that competitive, so I don't "play to win". I like to have fun, but some people like to win ALL THE TIME. Those types aren't fun to play with at all.
Naw, not perhaps, for sure. I have good memory for completely irrelevant stuff. X3 The bed did help a lot, but it's only been recently that I could actually even fall asleep. XX The medicine helped, too, and gargling saltwater soothes the throat and makes it less sore. =) That same place, there's no snow, either. =3 You know what my least favorite part about having a cold is, though? You get a cramp in your stomach whenever you cough. >> See? xD Those bots are so incredibly nosy. That's why after you make your topic, you get zero replies but one view. Hahaha, hey, that's a good one! ^_~ (What I like so much about The Simpsons is that they have intelligence in their humor and not just crap...like Family Guy. >>) Oh, I need new brushes, too. =O The ones I have are getting kind of old by now. Good luck on whatever you're working on. =D I guess people care more about the spaces there? In Colorado (and where I live, especially), no one really bothers. My cousin parks in one of those spaces all the time for convenience. x3 He's just lazy. But you see handicapped people, and they don't even park there; those spaces are mostly always empty. Then again, we're the most active state, so that makes the people healthier. =3 Naw, I think he is. =) He has great taste in music, too. Haha, nope, I'm not discouraged, and of course I know it's all for fun! ^.^ I'm much better at contest online than in real life, to be honest. I've never been competitive on anything unless it was video games outside the Internet. =P
Hmmm... Perhaps I have. I really need to keep my mouse cursor off of the post message selection. xD Yeesh... Sounds like you should stay in bed and rest up. Well, I suppose if the tea makes your throat feel somewhat better, then it's better than nothing. I agree that the lemon and honey would probably help more though. Hmmm...hot rain. I don't think I would enjoy that... :/ The rain is about the only relief from the summer heat that we get (even though it's not summer yet. ;P). Don't know what to tell you about the air conditioner. I hear that it is better for you to stay bundled up and sort of "sweat out the sickness" when you're feeling under the weather, but I honestly don't know. Sounds like you're pretty miserable though. Heh... Maybe they didn't like my first topic, so I made another one. This time I did catch one of those bots "reading" it. xD When someone says "Well, curiosity killed the cat" to me, I always respond "But satisfaction brought her back!". ;P (Been forever since I watched it. It plays on Hulu, so I might catch up on some episodes sometime.) Yeah, I just DL'ed a bunch of new brushes to see if maybe I can kickstart some creativity, but I may just be too frazzled right now to really do anything interesting. I'll try it out though. =D Hmm... I suppose so. Most people I've seen with a HC license plate do park in those spots if they're available. If someone without one parks there, they throw a FIT. I remember my boss had to walk up to a customer who was in the middle of his meal to tell him to move his car or he would have to call the police. Only reason it was brought to my boss' attention was because a handicapped guy said that the customer was parked there illegally. Well, that's if he sticks around for it. I noticed that he made a welcome back thread in April or so, and then disappeared, and then made another welcome back thread not that long ago. I agree about his banners though. They're very good, but I hope you don't get discouraged. Besides, it's really just for fun anyway. Pretty sure you knew that though. =)
Dodie, my random memory kicks in again and it tells me that you said this exact same thing so me some time ago. XD Yeah, it really does suck. I woke up in the middle of the night (morning, really; it was five) and it felt so numb I couldn't move. When I tried, my throat ached, and when I coughed, it hurt so bad. >> I'm taking medicine and drinking tea to help, though I'm not sure how effective the latter is without honey, lemon, and cloves. Where I grew up, we had hot rain. =) And hot body temperature helps fight the cold, right? I wanna turn on the air conditioning, but I don't know if I should. That's weird. xD I'll try it sometime for you, because those bots always look at my new threads for some reason. Hahaha, curiosity killed the cat? And my friends always say I look like a cat. x3 (Do you like The Simpsons T.V. series? ^_~) Maybe you should try abstract? That's always been one of my favorite styles, and one that's pretty much impossible with transparency unless you can place it right. It doesn't need to make sense; it just needs to flow well. ^_^ I think you'd be good at it. Then, just put the render in the banner and cover it up with abstract on top. Interesting person, nonetheless. And what I don't get is why they have handicapped parking. Honestly, handicapped peoeple don't even park there; they park in normal spaces because they want everyone to think they're "normal." Only people driving the handicapped really park there. xD They should make it free-for-all. It depends on what you want with the banner, though. Some people like to leave black voids for effect, since covering everything looks kind of busy at times, but it's basically the goal. =P Hahaha, I didn't really like it much, but thankies! ^.^ Naw, when the contest here starts, I'm not gonna be able to win; Omega Weapon, his name was, is really amazing with banners!
Haha... I sent you a VM without finishing it first. xD Can't remember what I had wrote to you, so here's the best I could remember: Ew... Sorry to hear that you're not feeling well. You're supposed to be on summer vacation too, yeah? Sucks to start out that way, but I hope you get better soon! It's surprisingly not that hot down here in Arkansas, but it will probably get that way. We had a lot of rain, but when the sun starts to shine, that humidity is going to skyrocket. Hehe... Just made a new thread, and did what you said. Didn't see any bots checking it out though... Yeah...even though it's in public view, it's still spying on other people's business, but oh well... (Nope. You lost me on that one.) Well, I thought about what I should do with it, but I'm not having any inspiration come to me. I really like the one I have now, so I might just scrap the idea altogether. Yep. I did that when I was trying to make shadows on that banner I made for Psiko. Then I figured out that when I do the shadow effect, I have to anchor it down so it doesn't "float" on top of the render. xD The more you practice, the more you learn, I suppose. Meh. It was alright. He was an adjunct professor, so he really didn't care about teaching that much, but I did manage to learn a thing or two. Yeah, I agree. I think it has to do with the fact they have to learn to work around their "disability" whereas those that don't have those problems tend to just take it for what it is. The thing with rectangular banners is that you have to find way to cover the entire area, whereas working with transparent ones, you can sort of skip out on doing that, since the effect seem to pop out of the work area. I think you new banner in your sig looks really good. Great colors! Ah well. At least you're getting in the practice for when TFF starts doing it's own contest. Then you'll smoke the competition and be VICTORIOUS! =D
This sucks; I have a huge cold and it's hot. =( The next time you make a new thread, here's something you should do: right after you make it, view the online users list and one spider/bot thing will be viewing that new thread. xD Well, it's sort of public, so it's not like you're gonna see any, "My address is 132 Fake Street" or the likes. xD (Loool, can you guess the reference?) You're going to wait over a little over three months for one banner? xD Speaking of duplicating layers, you should always make a copy of your main render and hide in as the bottom layer, in the exact position. But I think you already know that? ^_~ Really? I just thought most guys had sucky color choice. ^_^" And wow, that must have been an interesting class. Is it just me, or do the people with some kind of...erm, oddity, tend to be better than we "regular" people? I completely cropped it off of the cover for Lithium. ^_^" I think I'm gonna go back to making transparency, though; I'm not really good at these kinds. And I'm losing the contest, haha! xD
Oh, those silly bots. I remember that I was viewing who was online not that long ago, and I caught one of those bots in my online journal! I thought it was kind of funny. =P I used to spy on people, but then I got bored of it... I also felt bad after viewing people's convos, because it's not my business. I'm glad you can see it. =) I tried using it on a banner, but you could barely tell that there was a glow... >.> That a good idea about duplicating the layer though. I'll give that a try, and when BBS comes out, I may be sporting around a new banner. Yeah, I just gotta figure out how to use 'em. Most guys also are more prone to color-blindness, too. There's varying degrees of it, but it would seem like you don't any problem with that whatsoever. One of my art teachers was colorblind. I thought that was odd....but he did well enough that I still learned a lot from him. I suppose you just adapt and deal with it over time. I love the font where you typed out "Lithium". That's pretty awesome. The grid-like background is a nice touch too, because it's subtle, but it still adds in visual interest. She looks like she's in a snowfield or some fantasy setting, which is really nice. Good job! And good luck to you when you enter.
i've always figured that it was because I talk a lot, so that makes the people who I talk to view my profile along with the bots they bring. xD Eavesdropping is fun, you know? x3 I do it, too? =P Ah, I can see the glow. That's like the Photoshop glow, too, isn't it, in that it doesn't follow the colors of the render but a single one that you pick? When I use blur to glow, the colors of the glow changes in accordance to the edge color of the render, since that's how I like it. =S Maybe you could duplicate the glow layer to increase its thickness? Oh, blend modes are the best! =) You do have a good eye for color. ^_~ I've been told that, too, for which I'm glad. ^.^ And it's kinda strange since most guys generally just go with bold colors that seem "cool," but I have to have colors that work well with each other (due to my Photoshopness). ^_^" I sharpen image that don't need sharpening as a sort of style, too. Oh, and I made this for one of the contests on that forum I told you about: http://i45.tinypic.com/m7h3d.jpg
It's the air of mystery that you put forth that attracts sooo many people to your profile...or maybe it's because you're interesting to talk to, and they like to eavesdrop on your convos! Wouldn't put it past a lot of people to do just that. We have some nosy Nellies here. xD Yup. That's what I use to get the glow around my renders too, though I wish I could make the glow look "thicker". Here's an example of how I do it: CLICK! I think I'll get the result I want once I work with it some more. Oh, and I found out that GIMP does indeed have Lighten, Screen, Overlay, and Soft Light (you mentioned those things in a previous VM...). I haven't used any of that stuff yet, but if I get the urge to create again, I'll see what I can do with that stuff. Color is fun to work with, period. If there's one thing I'm proud of, it's that I've always had a pretty good eye for color. I haven't worked with too many images that needed sharpening, except for my pics that come from my webcam... I really need a better camera...
Hahaha, I don't doubt that, but I don't share too many personal details about myself, so I'll be all right. xD Oh, that leaves with another question, too. Does the blur effect work in GIMP? Because that's how I get outer glows around my multi-colored renders and shapes. That's what I had on the advice thing, I think. =S I know it's possible to have outer glow in GIMP, though, because I know someone who uses GIMP and he made a banner with an outer glow once. I think color is one of the most important thing to change in your avatar, along with sharpening. If you have a blurry picture, sharpening it just once can give it more of a rough texture that stands well against intense colors.
Hehe... Stalkers, eh? I suppose that number is quite a bit high, so you very well COULD have a stalker or two! Hmm... Well, I don't think I really have an answer for you on that, so I guess Overlay would be something rather different. Though I think it's possible to do if you lower the opacity of the top layer so that the color of the bottom layer shows up in the top. The only time I really used layer effects was when I wanted to get a glow around my renders... Didn't work out too well for me though, but I'm still practicing! You have a point there. I've used opacity, color change, saturation, and bevel on my renders, but I'll try out lighting the next time I get the urge to create.
Yep, after i saw that message from you, I found the 9,999 on your profile, refrehsed, and took the screenshot for 10,000! xD I fear stalkers now that my number is so high, though. X3 Well, blend mode is typically this. =S Very useful for colors, especially. ^.~ How do you merge the colors of two layers in GIMP without merging the layer themselves, then? Hahaha, aww, don't worry, basing your style off of something else is still your own style. ^_~ I got mine off of a lot of other ones. =S Well, something you can do for starters for your renders is change the lighting. =) It makes it look far more natural and intense. Hey, experimenting is always good! I've always heard that the little unreadable texts below another text in avatars gives it a good look.
OMG! You got the screencap! Awesome! And congrats on getting your number that high. I'm a little under 1/3 of what you have. Hmm... I had to open up GIMP to see what there was. Didn't see any of those specific names, but I did see a option called "Softglow". Haven't used it yet, so I have no idea what it does. Overlay would probably be done just by manipulating the layers, and Lighten sounds like a color adjustment option. I have no idea with the GIMP equivalent of Screen would be. Yay! I have a signature style! Even if it does borrow rather heavily on what I see you and VMM do/did. =P I wanna work more on manipulating the renders that I use, so it doesn't look like I just cut out one and pasted it to a work. I can use Opacity pretty well, now that I know where the option is located in GIMP. xD Haha... I still basically slap letters on my works and call it done. xD I guess I just don't try and mess with all the options there are, though I am getting a little bit more experimental. =D
You mean this? xD OMG, I got 30,000 the other day! =D I have a question: Does GIMP also use blend modes? Like Lighten, Screen, Overlay, and Soft Light? =S I've always wondered about that since it's one of the more important things about Photoshopping. Whenever I see animations I think of you xD Maybe it has something to do with the file size of the thing? Do you get that stupid uneven white stroke outside your banner when you GIF it? It's lame. =( Interesting combos, for sure, but finding a place for them is still a job to do. Yep, I totally get you. I used to think that it's just a slap on some letters and that'd make it okay, but after experimenting with fonts, I found out how hard it was. You want something to either stand out of fade in, depending on the banner. =S
5 more visits until I hit 10,000 page views!!! Yeah, it works like a patch, and it's pretty nifty. It still doesn't offer all the things that Photoshop can do, but it's better than just a vanilla install of GIMP. Well, maybe people don't know what to add in. Thanks! Yeah, I tried finding something that would say "Yep, that looks like something Dodie would make", and I like animations, so I figured I would try my hand with that. Gif really did a number on a few of my banners, but some look fine. I have no idea why it happens like that...but it's kind of annoying. Yeah, I like the one where the capital letter is blurred. And I agree. Text is one of the more surprisingly difficult things to get just right. So many things you can do with it, but having too much choice can also lead to the inability to think of what you want to do. If that makes sense.
