Writing my Own Story

Listening to music and heard a song that NEEDED an icon. Or maybe I just needed an icon of it. Either way, I made one!



It comes from the song Wicked Women by The Hound + The Fox. They are an amazing folk duo that everyone should listen to. Here is the song referenced, for a taste.

Wicked Women by The Hound + The Fox have a link since dreamwidth won't let me embed the video.

I finally got PaintShop on my laptop! I had tried using GIMP, but it just feels so clunky and I don't like it. I still have to re-download all my fonts and brushes and things, but I have the program itself, so I made a few icons I had made before that came out a little off.

Amazing Devil lyric icons:

   

Tori Amos lyric icons:

 

Did another prompt! This one was just a quick little story. More of a scene than a full story.

The prompt:
A witch cursed your name to be hated for all of eternity. So of course, the first thing you do is willingly give it to a fae.

My Story:
Days after being cursed by a witch for your trickery, you happen upon a powerful Fae. You ask the fae for a favor, something grand, but not too extravagant as to make them question the favor.

They narrow their eyes at you, taking you in. "And what shall you give me in return?"

You pause for dramatic effect, as if contemplating. "Oh, I don't know. I don't really have much."

You see a glint in the Fae's eye, their lips parting in a fiendish grin. "Your name then, it's such a small thing."

You close your eyes, silently calming your glee. "I don't know, my mother gave it to me, it's all I have left of her."

You suppose that's true, you never actually knew your mother. You watch the fae's reaction to this new information. Their pupils dilate, and you swear their nostrils flare just the tiniest bit. You fight back a laugh, covering your mouth as you clear your throat.

"I shall ensure my gift to you will last as long as you live. All you need to do is give me your name." You can hear the excitement in their voice.

You take a deep breath and let it out in a great burst as if in defeat, "Alright. It's a deal."

"Wonderful." The fae's eyes are nearly black and their face all teeth as they lean toward you, "Now, what is your name?"

"Um, my gift? Don't I get my gift first? And no harm to come to me by you after we finish the trade." You raise an eyebrow at the creature before you.

"Right, right. It is done," they waive their hand impatiently. "Once the deal is done no harm shall come to you from me. Now. Your. Name."

You quickly state your name and turn and flee, shouting over your shoulder, "No backsies! The deal is done!" Cackling, you run as far as you can, assuming a new name with the gifts given you by the fae.

I haven't written any new ones in a while, life has gotten a bit hectic and stressful. But I realized I hadn't posted these yet, so here are the last few I wrote before I lost the time/inspiration.

NSFW( Poems )

Discovered something new and kind of fell down the rabbit hole a bit.

Scrolling through Tumblr and stumbled across some smutty poetry. While I'm not at all surprised it exists, I had never seen it before. I don't typically write in first person, I find it awkward and usually have to write in third person and then edit it to first. But this just flowed right out like the simplest thing I've ever done.

*Fair warning, they are explicit* ( Poems )

Staying busy is best, so I went back to my craft schedule and did some painting. Stopped at Dollar Tree and they had these cute little bird feeder kits. I decided to make it look like a fast food place.

Annnd, more fanfic...! I tried to not write this. I waited a week before sitting down and writing it. It wouldn't go away! But I had so much fun writing it the first day and then I had to finish it.

Riddles on AO3 and on FF

It's a Gotham fanfic. Zero plot, just Riddler/Lee. And fun with riddles, word play, innuendo...

So I've been watching Emerald City on NBC and the colors and scenery are amazing along with the characters and story. I hate waiting for Friday to watch a new ep. :(

BUT all the prettiness has inspired me to start making icons again! I've posted some banner sets on Tumblr, but since it likes to stretch images, it really isn't a good place to post icons. They come out all pixelated and weird. I'm sure there's a setting to fix that, but I don't know where it is.

I also figured out how to add more/new fonts to my graphics program! So I actually have some variety in my font choices now! Incidentally I also figured out how to add new brushes, textures, etc. Now I just have to find some that are compatible with Corel, not sure if the ones for Adobe will work or not. Of course, I should probably figure out how to use the brushes, textures, etc. I already HAVE before I get new ones...

Anyway... Here are some icons!


I was inspired by the challenge at total_icontest of "mirror". I don't know that they're anywhere good enough to be in any kind of challenge, but it gave me some much needed direction!


I think the last one is my favorite. I know the font is a little too small for icon size, but it's so perfect for her and for this image, I can't help it.

And these are the sets I've already posted on Tumblr, so I apologize if you've seen them already.
( Large Size Sets )
And while I don't expect it, since I'm leaving this post open to the public...if you'd like to use my icons, you can, just please leave a comment and credit me. :)

I downloaded a bunch of images from the British Library yesterday (they have lots of new free images from books that are out of copyright) and spent today playing around with them a bit.

I have no idea what to do with this, but the titles of these booklets needed to be put together. Trashy romance novels of 1892!



I didn't do anything except arrange them in what I thought to be a fun order. :)

I found a few illustrations that just begged to be colorized, so I played around a bit and figured out how to use the watercolor tool! It would work much nicer if I had a fancy drawing tablet, but I thought they turned out pretty nice.


Ha, didn't realize that there was a giant hole in the middle of the dragon one. Oops. It kind of looks like a heart though!

And then I did them in actual icon size. The dragon one loses some detail, so I don't think I'd ever use it as an avatar icon, but the kitty looks super cute in any size!

Trying to play around with my program some more and learn how to better do some things.

( Killjoys icon set )

Song lyrics are "Dark Paradise" by Lana Del Rey
Screen caps from yamiinsane123