BtVS Icons

[debris4spike]

Being without internet meant I wondered if I would get to download the screencaps I needed to finish this set of icons.  Luckily I had already done a few, so I could start, and hope.  Then I got my pc sorted, the internet back (YAY!) and managed to d/l the final caps to make the last few icons.  They were made for round 2 of btvsats20in20 and my theme is that of BtVS season 1 (I had chosen Oz as an alternative)

Hope you enjoy!

Here are the 3 teasers -

   

10 Themes
HairPorn	Guess Who	Plus One	Second Claim	Hands
Sorrow	First	Scenery	Looking Up	Levels
5 Category - SAME PICTURE
Cat 1	Cat 2	Cat 3	Cat 4	Cat 5
5 Artist's Choice
AC 1	AC 2	AC 3	AC 4	AC 5

As ever, all are snaggable, although credit would be appreciated. For credits of some of the backgrounds/textures used and for the screencaps, please go to my icon journal - d4s_icons



I am going to now try and catch up with my replies to comments etc (although most are now historical in nature!

Comments

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

First things first - AC 5. I love your use of borders and bands in general and here you've not only color matched to her sweater - you've matched the exact color and pattern of the BANDS on her sweater which are barely visible to the eye. You have ONE HELL of an eye, m'dear!

Your Willow icons are always very fine; I'm waiting for you to do a whole set, I think they'd be marvelous,

Of course the Joyce/Jenny one thrills me (more, please? I can see you doing a joyce or jenny set easily.) Scenery - I'm envious but not surprised, as I know you're quite good at "wide shots" and the pale pinkish color of the walls and the warm light are so palpable I can feel them, I love the color and effect in Catagory 5. It reminds me in color and tone of your Spike/Intervention background without the shapes but with subtle "brushstrokes". (I am a sucker for brushstroke effects.) And this is perfect - I love the transitions from light to dark, and how the light seems to be coming from the dance floor, just as in the original cap, contrasting with the monotone and deep darks of Buffy and Giles.

Small confession - I don't always like the effect you're using in Cat 3 BUT- I LOVE IT HERE. Ususally you do it in black and white, but something about this brings it to another level. The colors lend a subtlety to it, and you've co-ordinated all the pink tones perfectly. And that touch of grey in Giles' jacket is a just-right touch to anchor the composition.

You used that effect in AC2 for a Slayerstillness icon of Giles from The wish that I quite liked; (very vintage advertising art feel to it); how do you do that?

[debris4spike]

Glad the colours worked ... GIMP has a "colour match" tool so I could match the bands for the frame.

I hadn't realised that I had done that in the Cat 5, getting them looking down, via the use of the background.

Cat 3 is a GIMP tool called photocopy. Yes, it does sometimes work well. In this one once I had done it I selected certain sections and tinted the white. I used it on this icon, as well.

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

GIMP has a "colour match" tool so I could match the bands for the frame.

You can do that? *pretending I'm not jealous.* and I like the photocpy effect VERY much, oh gosh I'd be abusing the heck out of that effect if I had it. *lol*

And this is a bit later (ok not much) but the one that I'm noticing now? First - the image of Buffy and Cordy looking at a textbook together, when Cordy was still considering Buffy as a potential "Cordette". It wouldn't have worked of course because Buffy had been Cordy at Hemery High and two queen bees in the same nest is rarely successful (and HELLO to the foreshadowing of Faith, yes?)

But it's a soft, subtle image so I overlooked it before (my bad); but also, another rarely used image. I think one of the best things about your icons is how you came at Season 1 with fresh eyes; I've seen very few of these images in icons before, and the one you chose for First seems really small and intimate but also very important in terms of the larger scheme of the series. (sharing power, women's interrelationships, how Cordy's arc will echo Buffy's on AtS, etc.)

And the background effect is just nifty how it's out of focus but not in a way I noticed at first, and the pretty, pretty peach coloring.

[debris4spike]

The colour match tool is great - and not just for me ... but you know that you have the right shade.

Glad you liked the images .... I always try to pick slightly different images, as the shows I do are popular, so there are loads of images out there.

Cordy & Buffy had a great storyline overall, didn't they? I like that image of Buffy as it is her as "the girl" ... which she spent the next 7 years wanting to get back that normality and peace.

One thing that struck me is that you like the image because the more you look at it, the more you see. I think it tends to be pictures like that that adorn my walls ... whether you like a scene/person or not, it is good to see something different each time you view it.

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

Cordy & Buffy had a great storyline overall, didn't they? I like that image of Buffy as it is her as "the girl" ... which she spent the next 7 years wanting to get back that normality and peace.

They're Everywoman, with all the burdens women normally bear and then some.

I didn't like Cordy at first because she reminded me of the girls who used to harrass me in school, but just as she began to become really interesting in her own right, she left for AtS. (Part of the reason I haven't rewatched S3 is because of what was done to her and Xander cheating on her with Willow - really, Xander? Really? I'm as hard on him for that as I am on Riley for cheating on Buffy. NOT COOL.)

One thing that struck me is that you like the image because the more you look at it, the more you see. I think it tends to be pictures like that that adorn my walls ... whether you like a scene/person or not, it is good to see something different each time you view it.

YES! That's it, exactly. Is there any "there there", to borrow from Ms Stein. That icon is a meta in miniature.

[debris4spike]

Oh don't get me started on Xander! One thing he is (++++) is two-faced ... and that is something I hate. He cheated on Cordy with Willow yet got upset when she dumped him. He wanted Buffy, even while with Anya, and wouldn't let her be herself. .... Shall I go on??

He is the type of person who bullied me ... add that to the Cordettes, school was hard.

As we all say, that's what makes BtVS (and other shows) graet ... we see good and bad, we see our problems and worries exist in other people.

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

Shall I go on??

PREACHING TO THE CHOIR, BABY - but if it makes you feel better, do. Or don't, either way I'm good.

I don't know if I mentioned to you when I was looking at the btvs_hush caps for the Becoming prompt (that you won an award for if I recall correctly for your lovely image of Willow in the hospital bed), the scene where Xander tells Buffy that Willow said to "kick his ass" (ooh, another reason I get mad at him - damaging Buffy's relationship with Willow, way to be a coward, dude *not*)

it brought to mind When she was bad and how Xander said to Buffy, "If Willow dies, I'll kill you" - and at the end of season 2, she's committed symbolic suicide by walking away from her life, rejecting her identity and her name, trying to quietly murder "Buffy Summers". Thank goodness it doesn't take (that time) but I couldn't help linking the two events together and thinking, "Be careful what you wish for."

school was hard.

*HUGS YOU TIGHT* I hear you Deborah - school was an absolute nightmare for me, except that I got good grades but the harrassment from other kids was never-ending; until midway through high school and that's a long long time to build up scar tissue and and horrible sense of self-worth. (Add the nightmare of my life at home and the only place safe was my imagination.)

[debris4spike]

That's an interesting link. I hate how he went onto always moaning about Spike being evil, and never allowing him a chance to get the support he needed. He pushed Anya in the background when it suited him, including his classic "wedding" ... then hated that she wouldn't take him back.

Oh yes, school was hard (for me till I was 18), but I was lucky to have a close family to cushion me. Although that has given me other tensions over the years! For me I still hate being in a group of people ... even if I know them all. Next week I am going for a day trip with my Bible Study group, but I can already feel myself dreading the "general times"

I think the sad, but interesting, thing is that there are many people out there who have had similar scars that they are having to deal with in some way.

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

Oh, my sweetie and I both have problems being in groups or crowds, or even parties with people we know (co-workers for instance). I think I have a slightly easier time but I have "put on my face" (not makeup, but psychologically - it's a performance, you know what I mean?)

So you have my empathy for your day trip - I'm sure you'll be fine but I know that "I'm doing fine but get me out of here now, thank you" feeling. Where are y'all going?

the sad, but interesting, thing is that there are many people out there who have had similar scars that they are having to deal with in some way.

Indeed - but there's also hope in that: none of us is alone, although we've been taught to believe most of the time that we are.

[starry-night.livejournal.com]

These are great! I love the colouring and your solid/textured backgrounds always look really beautiful. My faves are hair porn, guess who (great image choice), plus one, sorrow (the dark colouring really draws the emotion out),, first, cat 2, cat 3 (love the artistic effect here), cat 5, ac 1, ac 4 and ac 5 :D

[debris4spike]

Thank you very much - I had never worked on season 1 before, so I am glad that the hard work payed off!