daidoji_gisei (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
daidoji_gisei) wrote2007-03-14 07:46 am
daidoji_gisei) wrote2007-03-14 07:46 am
Climbing the Third Stair
The one year anniversary of my starting a LJ is coming up soon. This probably seems like an odd anniversary to mark, but I've tried keeping a diary several times in my life and without much success--for this one to have lasted a year is amazing. I'm not sure why this one took, but it's possibly because this is something of an added-value diary: not only can I record various memories, my friends can check up on me and even add their own comments. L5R has resulted in me having friends on various continents, so this is somewhat handy.
I elected to get a paid account because I thought it would help encourage me to use the account and because I generally try to pay for resources I use. Also, more userpics, and userpics are pretty. This morning I considered upping my userpic limit but decided that the upgrade wasn't worth the cost. It seems odd to even think of adding more when I haven't used up all the slots I have now, but I've had to let a number of nice ones go by because I didn't think I had room for them. On the other hand, a few months ago it occurred to me I could just save them to my own computer and rotate as needed. Some days I don't know what I use for brains.
One of the interesting things about hunting through the various communities looking for icons is that I've become more aware of my own design sense. (Or, what passes as my design sense. I've never shown much skill in visual arts.) The first thing I realized was that I had absolutely no use for those itty-bitty lines of text that are completely unreadable due to having letters the same size as a screen pixel. Why, icon makers? Why? If your icon needs a line there, put in a line! Unreadable words are the worst kind of cutesy. I'll confess I do have some icons that use them, but that's because the rest of the icon was good enough to overcome my annoyance.
I've also noticed I like simple icons. In fact, a number of my icons were put put forth as bases. I like them the way they are. In a 100X100 square there's no need for multiple layers, textures, or images. I'm also not big on animated icons, though I have seen a number that have amused me. My one and only animated icon was irresistible due to the fact I grew up watching those old L'Oreal commercials. Do they still use that slogan, I wonder?
As it is, I have five more slots to fill before I have to start dropping icons. The first to go will probably be Partners--it's a nice icon, but it carries the same associations as Phantom Hand, and Phantom Hand uses art done by my friend Brent. In fact, it's from his manga version of a fanfic story we co-wrote, which makes it doubly better. I found out last week that Brent has icon fu, so I'm going to ask him to make me a few more. Also, when I get the Big Project that is currently devouring my life finished I'm going to treat myself to an icon-hunting expedition. Yes, I am easily amused.
I elected to get a paid account because I thought it would help encourage me to use the account and because I generally try to pay for resources I use. Also, more userpics, and userpics are pretty. This morning I considered upping my userpic limit but decided that the upgrade wasn't worth the cost. It seems odd to even think of adding more when I haven't used up all the slots I have now, but I've had to let a number of nice ones go by because I didn't think I had room for them. On the other hand, a few months ago it occurred to me I could just save them to my own computer and rotate as needed. Some days I don't know what I use for brains.
One of the interesting things about hunting through the various communities looking for icons is that I've become more aware of my own design sense. (Or, what passes as my design sense. I've never shown much skill in visual arts.) The first thing I realized was that I had absolutely no use for those itty-bitty lines of text that are completely unreadable due to having letters the same size as a screen pixel. Why, icon makers? Why? If your icon needs a line there, put in a line! Unreadable words are the worst kind of cutesy. I'll confess I do have some icons that use them, but that's because the rest of the icon was good enough to overcome my annoyance.
I've also noticed I like simple icons. In fact, a number of my icons were put put forth as bases. I like them the way they are. In a 100X100 square there's no need for multiple layers, textures, or images. I'm also not big on animated icons, though I have seen a number that have amused me. My one and only animated icon was irresistible due to the fact I grew up watching those old L'Oreal commercials. Do they still use that slogan, I wonder?
As it is, I have five more slots to fill before I have to start dropping icons. The first to go will probably be Partners--it's a nice icon, but it carries the same associations as Phantom Hand, and Phantom Hand uses art done by my friend Brent. In fact, it's from his manga version of a fanfic story we co-wrote, which makes it doubly better. I found out last week that Brent has icon fu, so I'm going to ask him to make me a few more. Also, when I get the Big Project that is currently devouring my life finished I'm going to treat myself to an icon-hunting expedition. Yes, I am easily amused.