Kalie. 27. california born and bred. english literature graduate. photoshop enthusiast. i'm a simple person who likes comics, complaining about television that I watch, and the aesthetics of negative space and bright colors.
omggg re: attending the london premiere, how amazing. HOW BEAUTIFUL WAS EVERYONE IN PERSON. i must ask.
EVERYONE WAS 1000000X MORE BEAUTIFUL IN PERSON, NOT TO MENTION SUPER DELIGHTFUL. Everyone was so charming. Words cannot adequately describe, to be honest. And most of the cast of Rogue One were there as well. I was lucky to get there early enough to find myself a place near the main stage area that they had constructed for interviews. This was a goldmine, because not only was I able to get prime face time and photos, but I was also close to the non-press entrance for those going into the viewing so I able to see/meet other famous people that were fans. The only cast members I didn’t get the chance to greet were Oscar and Lupita, because they breezed past so quickly, but I got really embarrassing around John and Daisy in particular (I’M BREAKING OUT IN HIVES JUST THINKING ABOUT IT), so perhaps that was for the best. I had a great time in general. Nothing can deter the good vibes all around!
ALSO, DISNEY GAVE EVERYONE FREE LIGHTSABERS THAT LIGHT UP AND MAKE SOUNDS, SO. It was a win-win. I can’t decide what I got more enjoyment out of: walking down a stretch of the red carpet twirling my lightsaber after going through security or the looks I got from people on the tube as I traveled back to my flat with it. If I ever decide to go back to the States (and my plan is to find employment here in London), I have no idea how I’m going to pack it, but for now I’m content with simply having one.
TL;DR GREATEST DAY OF MY LIFE TBH TOP LONDON EXPERIENCE
You all probably thought you’d seen the last of me, right? Oops. To be fair, I’ve been active on other social media so it’s not as if I dropped 100% off the grid (just this specific grid). I’m not a fan of leaving things open-ended, though, so here’s the deal.
Since September, I’ve made my home in London where I’m doing my postgraduate work. It’ll be my home for at least the next year and perhaps beyond if I manage to accomplish all that I’ve set myself up to accomplish (to have a working goal, that’s refreshing!). But even before that, I haven’t posted here since May. I’m still making my own screencaps and tooling around in Photoshop like a sad creature of habit. I still check in here now and again (oh wow, Tumblr, I see you’ve implemented more changes designed to make your website even more user unfriendly, incredible). Maybe I will post again soon. Maybe I won’t. I can’t lie and say that my distancing hasn’t been a bit alleviating, but I’m beginning to get that itch again and who knows where the hell that will lead.
With that said, I did mention above that I hate leaving things open-ended. I’ve been trying to keep my Instagram fairly active in the meantime (although it could stand to be more so), so anyone is free to follow me there if you’re interested. I’ve still got my media blog which also sorely needs an update. But I’m around. I STILL EXIST, FRIENDS. London hasn’t swallowed me whole yet.
I really REALLY love your Doctor Who graphics :) They honestly look so amazing! I honestly want to be able to make my own graphics as well, but my ideas or how it turns out looks bad... Any tips for graphic designing? I need all the help I can get!
So this is super overdue and for that apologize. it’s been a rough few weeks, honestly. However, I would feel remiss if I didn’t express my thanks and answered your question! I haven’t really made any Doctor Who-related things in ages (not even at all this year, which is a first for me, I’m sure), but it’s one of those shows that I always enjoy making things for even when my interest wafts and wanes every couple of years or so.
As far as tips go, I have a few general ones. These aren’t so much “Do this to achieve this” type of tips that I usually answer, but more “This could be helpful in the long run if you’re just getting started” type of tips. Your own mileage may vary and what works for one person may not work for another, but I hope that you find some of this useful.
Experiment, experiment, experiment. The biggest tip I could give to anyone is to play around with various settings and tools. Try messing with opacity levels and layer modes (screen, soft light, etc.). When I first started messing with Photoshop, people didn’t regularly give out PSDs the way that they do now, so I learned a lot through step-by-step tutorials or just messing with tools I’ve never tried to see how they work. It’s been more helpful to me than any PSD I’ve ever downloaded, to be honest. Just by trying things out, you may find a particular tool, setting, colorization, or look that really works for you. I do recommend using Adobe Photoshop, but I used Paint Shop Pro when I first started making graphics and it was also a nice introductory program (and cheaper, but this is the internet and there are obviously ~ways around that).
SAVE EVERYTHING. You can always clean out your files and keep only the ones you want to re-use in the future, but there’s a deep, abiding pain in being thrilled with something you’ve created and then Photoshop crashing on you in the end to where you lose it all.
If you don’t like it, scrap it. I Photoshop because I genuinely enjoy it. I only make things of stuff I get enjoyment out of. I don’t post to gain followers or notes and I don’t tailor what I post according to what will gain me the most followers or notes. If I stop liking something, I stop making graphics for it. It’s simple. The moment this becomes a chore is the moment I stop posting altogether. Personally, I feel so much more chill in following this rule of thumb.
Keep an inspiration folder to look at when you’re feeling stuck or having a difficult block.
Browse through the graphics you see that you do like. What is it about them that you like? Are there any specific makers out there you gravitate towards? Do they have a resource page or tag that you can sift through for tutorials, textures, or related questions? Is there an aspect in particular that stands out? Make a goal to work on one thing at a time instead of trying to accomplish too much too quickly.
Which brings me to this: don’t rush yourself. Take your time. I’ve been going at this for over 10 years (god, I’m old). It wasn’t an overnight process. I worked at it, I learned, and I made plenty of mistakes (hell, I still do). I’ve made some graphics where I initially thought, “Wow, I really like this!” and yet I look back on them now and think, “Gross.” You’ll do yourself a favor in the long run if you let yourself evolve naturally.
Taste is subjective. Art is subjective. What looks good to you might not look good to someone else and vice a versa. It varies. You do what you think looks good and let that be your priority.
Tell us your thoughts on Daredevil! Who are your fav characters and the best/worst aspects of the show in your opinion?
Apologies for the late response! So, here’s the thing. Since I finished watching the show about a week ago now, I’ve been mulling over a larger post categorizing my closing thoughts into a pros and cons list, because that’s the level of nerd I’m at with this right now (sorry if any of you guys thought I was cool or had some chill or anything). It ended up evolving into a THIS IS WHAT I ENJOYED type of post over at my blog with tiny mentions of the aspects I didn’t care for. IT IS LONG, though, as I had been writing it in increments since last Saturday.
At this point, I’m not ready to talk about it critically in any type of coherent detail, because I’m still living in the honeymoon phase, though there are valid criticisms now out there. I’ll get there eventually probably maybe. For now, I’m feeling content with loving everyone (really, everyone is my favorite, even though I do have favorites of favorites). Having grown attached to the universe through reading both of Mark Waid’s runs earlier this year (which I cannot recommend enough to anyone who wants to jump into reading the comics), I was already predisposed to enjoying the show. How much I ended up attached took me by surprise, as is evident from that ridiculously long post of mine I linked to above. Marvel got me again :(
They made a race of it, dashing headlong across the yard and past the stables, skirts flapping, whilst knights and serving men alike looked on, and pigs and chickens scattered before them. It was most unladylike, but Alayne soon found herself laughing. For just a litle while, as she ran, she forget who she was, and where, and found herself remembering bright cold days at Winterfell, when she would race through Winterfell with her friend Jeyne Poole, with Arya running after them trying to keep up.
Alayne I, The Winds of Winter (George R.R. Martin)
hi kalie ! sorry to bother but i had a quick question on how to achieve the coloring of the top cap in this /post/106426789032 post ?? sorry if i'm being really stupid and there's just a specific mode to set the layer on to get that >< (i combed through your asks and i haven't seen a similar question) if you answer this question thank you ! in advance & have a wonderful day !
It’s not a bother at all! There's not really a specific Photoshop tool or anything that I utilized to achieve the coloring (smoke and mirrors, tbh). All I did was add a black/white gradient layer on top of the image (doing this doesn’t lose the contrast of the image the way desaturating does), followed by the paint brush tool to make the background completely black so I could focus on just the hand, and then used one of floatedheart’s textures set on multiply. I did do some small tinkering like using curves or brightness/contrast because that’s my editing bread and butter (and I think I also altered the colors a little on the textures that I used), but all in all, all I did was slap a black/white gradient on the image and then throw a texture on it :)
It’s fitting that Parks will take its final bow tonight while I’m in the process of getting over a bout of pneumonia that I was hospitalized for last month. After all, it was being sick that brought me here in the first place. Not to mention the fact that it’s remarkably close to the four year anniversary of my Netflix binge. Four years. Sickness. Parks. This journey has come full circle and it’s time to say goodbye. And I'm not ready for it.
"5,000 Candles in the Wind" popped up on my iTunes shuffle this morning and I had a really emotional reaction that took me by surprise (offense, that's rude, iTunes). So I ended up writing a thing about Parks and Recreation on my blog because that's how I choose to work through my feelings this time around. Feel free to read, if you're interested! I'll just shuffle off here to the corner and try to pretend like I'm totally chill about this. I'm far too sad for someone who believed the show should have ended a little while ago. But I've really enjoyed this season so let me have my hypocrisies and conflicting emotions.
