omg chi it's like you're PSYCHIC.

[cimorene]

because this is a totally different story but it does the exact same thing with music. i just know that SOMEWHERE out there is a calm, reasoned paragraph about how duncan or methos has enjoyed the evolution of the backstreet boys, or evanescence.

Searching through the ample collection, he stopped on a Nick Cave album. It had been years since he'd last heard Cave; possibly since the time he'd seen Wender's Wings of Desire. Now that wasn't a bad film at all. The image of the singer made him smile. Did the man have a Messiah complex or something? The title intrigued him. Let Love In.here

okay, well, late queen isn't all THAT different from evanescence; it's just consciously, not unconsciously cheesy. with better lyrics. oh queen. ♥ there is ... uh... not THAT much evanescence on my highlander playlist. okay, maybe there is. shut up.

but i really liked that story, a lot. watch me! i'm reccing it. see?

adagio amidst the ashes, by illuferret; d/m, nc-17, post-series. a leisurely, lovely, very peaceful novella from duncan's point of view--my personal favourite mood and flavour in a story, sun-drenched and contemplative, slow and confident and inevitable. solidly, deftly written with some few small weak spots. never overly mushy: incredibly tasteful.

Comments

[morningfine]

Didn't make this one myself, but I'm quite fond of it. Except for the 'millennium' because something about it pokes me in the eye. Not enough to make it unlovable, though.

And, of course, it makes me giggle. Giggle is good.

My own icons tend to turn out a bit bland, but I kind of like them that way.

[cimness.livejournal.com]

i suppose "bland" is a word one could use for that color scheme, but that wasn't what i meant. i meant the low contrast and the evenness mean you don't really have a specific place to look at in that icon. it's just all over the place. it's the cap, really. i fiddled a lot with the ones of that scene, trying to fit both faces and make their features pop out more, and it didn't happen.

i think it's the outer glow on the word "millenium" partly. it overlaps his face, which is almost always a bad idea in an icon.

[morningfine]

the low contrast and the evenness

In me-speak, that's bland ^__^.

you don't really have a specific place to look at in that icon

Which is technically bad, I know (formative years spent learning art theory, mostly forgotten now...) but it's also a matter of personal preference. I thought this icon lacked depth and definition in terms of composition, but I just inexplicably like it. Not the first time that happens, either.

Also, about the bad hair day icon: what you said. And not only that: I know both the fonts used are pretty simple, but I still would have stuck to one font, or used an even simpler one for the 'hair', or most likely chosen to set the word 'millennium' apart: as it is, it has both 'hair' and 'millennium' set apart, which possibly makes the text a bit too choppy.

It certainly doesn't look like an icon I would have made (mine would've most likely had pretentious texture, too) but it's great in its way. Just... I want to move the 'millennium' the two millimeters that would matter.

[cimness.livejournal.com]

i don't say that it isn't bland, just that that wasn't the significant feature i was seeking to highlight. the lack of a focal point probably contributes to the blandness, but they're not mutually inclusive.

i think i'd change millenium. i just like the "hair" there so much. although i might make both the words a bit smaller, if they were both going to be large. otherwise, i'd make only one noticeably larger than the rest of the text, probably.

does "wrote the book" have a pretentious texture? i have failed to detect one, as yet.

[morningfine]

It has a fine-grain texture brush on 25% opacity. If it didn't, it'd look like this:


I actually opened the .psd file to check and get you a copy without the pretentious texture. Although when I say 'pretentious', I mean more like what some of my older icons have. This one is tame. I only used the brush to get it blurrier and lighter, not to add actual texture.

[cimness.livejournal.com]

there are so many ways to blur and lighten. it's odd that that effect's classified with the textures.

...i don't really use brushes.

[morningfine]

Well, if we look at the known effects on that icon... there's background copy on 100% screen, then there's the usual lighten and brighten and a dark blue fill set on exclusion. A gradient fill in orange-yellow. A curves adjustment layer. A hue/saturation layer I used to lessen the saturation in reds and yellows. Then the brush and the text plus the text effects. And the border. I've probably forgotten something (like, usually I do some airbrush work somewhere), because naturally I merge down as I go, but it still had 8 layers when I saved the final version.

Not that all this work necessarily shows in the end product. But I have fun while tweaking. Because I'm insane.

[cimness.livejournal.com]

i only do that sort of thing with the intent of acheiving a specific effect--like, usually, MORE contrast. but i think we both are crazy by normal standards. ;)