#i am worried 2 is like. a bit too vibrant for the darker section but also. a lot of the colours im pulling are pretty vibrant

[arsenicflame]

lighthouse quilt fabrics round one: the greens

hello all welcome to another edition of nyx using democracy to make decisions in their sewing projects, today you will be helping me finalise my colour options for the quilt! this is gonna be by far the easiest round, i only have 3/4 colours here and im pretty confident in my choices!

here are some pictures of the painting in various lightings for your reference:

and this is my particular plan, with all my labelling- ive split the three green sections into two colour sections (16 and 17)

and the fabrics! i tried to make this as colour accurate as possible but theres probably some slight variation!

i pulled the 'official' colours of these fabrics but personally id say by image is a bit closer (at least for the actual pieces i have): One, Two, Three

there is also an option to find a different colour fabric (i believe there is a very bright green fabric in the scrap bin- its approximately this colour:)

the poll lists the lighter colour first (16) and the darker colour second (17), and the fabrics as numbered (top to bottom)

[mysticsparklewings]

Ziggy Crossing

Still not quite sure I'm 100% back into the swing of things (posting regularly and being more present) yet, but time will tell. For now I'm testing the waters. Anyway. In the time I've been away, I ended up talking to some friends about (to the surprise of absolutely no one) Animal Crossing, and in that conversation, the idea of drawing my cat, Ziggy, as an Animal Crossing villager came up. I'd toyed with it before after seeing some other people draw their pets as villagers, and that conversation more or less sealed the deal for me to at least try it, even if my attempt didn't pan out and see the light of day. Obviously, things went pretty well because here I am posting this. The first step, as it is 90% of the time for me, was to come up with a sketch and go from there. I primarily used Olivia and Lolly [pre-existing Animal Crossing cat villagers] as my references--Olivia for the pose and eyes, Lolly for the stripes and some details regarding the ears and face--but I also checked certain things across the various cat villager models so that details could be consistent where they needed to be. I think if I missed the mark anywhere, it's probably in the proportions. Namely the size of the head and length of the body. But I think it's close enough that unless you compare it directly to Olivia's model that I referenced for the pose, the proportions aren't so off that it's distracting or off-putting. I did originally have trouble figuring out what pattern to put on her shirt though because the real Ziggy doesn't really have anything I could pull a pattern from. These days she does wear a white and silver collar, but that's not a whole lot to work with. So I left that alone while I pondered how I wanted to go about coloring the whole thing. My plan at the beginning was to use this sketch as a test piece for some acrylic paint markers I recently acquired (which you will be seeing me talk about in the future), but once the sketch was finished and I went back to check the colors I had (you know me; gotta have a swatch chart for everything), it was pretty obvious that if I want this to be my dear Ziggy and not just a random tabby cat, I needed to figure out a different coloring method. I could have just done regular acrylic paint, but that sounded like a chore and thus I was not interested. Same with gouache. Colored pencils were on the table, but the main problem I have with those is that they can be pretty slow and personally I think their texture really lends them better to replicating the 3DS/Animal Crossing: New Leaf style, as opposed to the look of New Horizons, and that's not what I was going for here. That left me with two main options: Watercolor, which was a hard pass for this kind of art (at least for Ziggy herself), and alcohol markers, which I did use quite a bit on the last Animal Crossing artwork I made, and they had worked out fairly well. Alcohol markers it was! Of course, even after that decision was made, there was the issue of how to handle the lines of the drawing. When I was planning on using the paint pens/acrylic markers/whatever, that seemed a lot simpler because, in theory, I could just use the same pen I wanted to color with to do the outlines and then fill them in. And because that would be using mostly opaque paint, if I needed to I could just cover up any overlap with relative ease. Alcohol markers don't play by the same rules though, so I had to re-think all that. In the end, I pulled out a pale warm gray Polychromos pencil close to the main color of alcohol marker that I had picked out that I figured would also be light enough to blend in everywhere else. That way I could have the defining lines that I needed without having to worry too much about them being visible in the final product. [For clarification: I picked a Polychromos because once sharpened they tend to hold a point longer and better than the other colored pencils at my disposal and I really needed to keep a sharp point as long as possible to do the lines here.] In retrospect, I do think it might have been to my benefit to pick out a pink for doing the inner ear lines, but the end result there isn't so awful that it single-handedly (paw-ed-ly?) ruins the drawing for me. It's just something to take note of for next time if there is a "next time." Once I had my lines (including doing the eyelashes and mouth with one of my usual black fineliners), the next challenge was the actual coloring. Mostly because I had to be very careful around the edges so that the marker ink didn't feather out too far (as alcohol markers do on any paper that isn't marketed as "bleed proof" because that's what bleed proof in paper actually means--not that it won't bleed through to the other side, though that is less common with that kind of paper, but that it won't "bleed" across the page), and I also had to be a little careful and choosy about how I did any blending or shading. Again, my blending and shading plan was going to be different had I used the acrylic markers. The main thing I ended up doing here was trying to find areas that needed to be layered so that the one-color shading could act as a line/barrier between sections. Best example: Where the ears meet the head, I shaded the bottom portion of the ears. You can also see this a little bit where Ziggy's tail meets her body and where the legs intersect at a few different points. By no means did this turn out perfectly, considering that I really wanted to stick to use as few colors as possible (which means pretty much all the shading is just layers of one color to darken it) which means there isn't as much distinction or variation as there could be. And I feel it necessary to note here that I was worried when I first finished the lines that the eyes looked wonky, but after coloring pretty much everything else in that concern dissolved because 1. It's harder to tell and 2. Even if they aren't exactly the same, it makes visual sense because it looks like her head is slightly turned, meaning the eyes wouldn't be identical anyway. Never underestimate the power of coloring your work in! Speaking of which, you might be wondering about her shirt by now. Well, after toying around with some ideas I got it in my head that a good way to tackle that problem might be with washi tape, as I've used it in this manner before and worked out pretty nicely. Even though it wasn't a lot to work with, I did like the idea of the base color for her top being white like the real Ziggy's collar, and that narrowed down my tape options considerably. Of the options I had that I thought would be suitable, I ended up having a choice between one with small rainbow-colored polka dots and the decidedly less vibrant small triangles that you see here. The polka dots seemed a little too peppy for Ziggy, so I went with the triangles. And this, I must say, is one of those artistic decisions that I feel even better about the longer that I see the end product.   The main issue I have with using washi tape, and thus why I don't use it in this way that often, is because cutting the washi tape to fit a specific shape is a process that doesn't get much easier even with practice.  And even if it did, that wouldn't eliminate the very real possibility of cutting or indenting the paper underneath while you're cutting the tape. Of which, I have not yet figured out how to totally avoid short of forming the washi tape on a separate piece of paper, cutting it there, and then moving it to the final piece. But that method comes with its own problems too, so... Still, I made the decision to go through with it here and just accept the rough edges/lack of precision and all that. Before I put the tape down though, I did do a little shading with some light gray markers that I was counting on showing through the tape to give it a little more dimension. Seeing it now, I do think I could've stood to go a little darker, but again this isn't something that totally ruins the end result for me. Just something worth noting. After all of the above, I was left with one lingering problem: The background. Which I've noticed seems to normally be a "problem" area for me in that I don't always have a solid idea for what to do with it. I did consider what exactly I wanted to do earlier on in the process, before I started on Ziggy on the final paper, even. Briefly, I thought I might cut her out and put her on a separate background as is sort of a go-to background method for me. Something just didn't feel right about doing that here though and it feels like I've done that a lot lately (you know, when I've not been drowning in mandalas for NaPoWriMo...). So it was at this early stage that I locked in the idea of adding in the background in later, probably doing something kind of loose to give a general idea that hopefully wouldn't take too much time or effort. We've already established that I wasn't super keen on the idea of using acrylic paints or gouache for this drawing, and that remained true for the background too. Although, I don't really like using alcohol markers for backgrounds either because it can be tricky to keep things smooth and consistent. That left me with colored pencils and watercolor. Colored pencils are usually hard pass for backgrounds for me for a number of reasons. So! Watercolor, hmm... I drew Ziggy here on my darling Strathmore 400 series mixed media paper because I love how it handles markers and it has enough weight and texture to it that it handles a lot of my other go-to options with little fuss. Watercolor is really the only thing I have trouble using on it, the main problem being that sometimes (not always) the paint doesn't like to blend out super smoothly and certain watercolor techniques don't work the same on it. This doesn't mean it's useless for watercolor (at least not for me), that just means I have to be more careful about how I choose to work with watercolor on it. In this case, the blending issues lined up with the idea I had of letting the background have more texture since Ziggy came out a lot smoother by the very nature of alcohol markers. Somewhere in all this, the idea struck me to use my Gelatos to leave behind some crayon-like texture. That idea seemed fitting to me since Animal Crossing is a fairly light-hearted and child-friendly game, themes that crayons go along with. The gelatos are water-soluble but not every color dissolves completely when activated with water. This should be pretty evident here because I didn't try to hide it. I wanted quick and easy, and without a doubt just letting the texture do whatever it wants is the quick n' easiest method to use with the gelatos. Once I'd done a bit of back and forth with two greens and two blues to give me the solid suggestions of a sky and ground, it still felt like it was missing something. Ultimately, it seemed like a good idea to me to try and mimic the triangle pattern/texture that New Horizons features. (In past games you could get squares or circles for a grass pattern at random.) And while I as per usual I had to think on how to go about this, in the end, the best solution I could come up with turned out to be drawing the triangles in with alcohol markers. Truly, I'm surprised to be reporting this because I fully expected the creamy nature of the gelatos to make using alcohol markers on top feel disguising and unproductive. But not so! At least not with the limited gelato use here. The creamier areas do soften the color of the marker, but I think that worked to my advantage. Although, I did end up using a little bit of my yellow Moonlight gel pen because I felt like I needed some yellow triangles for balance and I knew transparent yellow markers wouldn't do what I wanted. But that brings us to the final product. I'm happy with it. And I do really like how the grass ties in with Ziggy's green eyes. It's just a nice little touch of visual cohesion in my book. As I always say, I'm sure it's not perfect and there are some missteps here and there or things that could be improved. Nevertheless, it was a fun experiment and serves as good encouragement for me to continue playing with the lineless look, among other things. I do have to note though that it feels super weird to just leave the eyes like this with no indication of shine on them! I made the choice not to since it's not a common trait with the official character models (at least not for eyes in this same style) but part of me still feels like it's incomplete. As I've said before recently and I'll probably say again, I can't promise I'll be getting back to a regular upload schedule now, but it's on my mind. I want to get to that point soon. I do have the acrylic markers I mentioned to talk about and another supply in the mail, and some other art in my backlog. So if you can be patient with me a while longer, there will be more from me to look forward to. In the meantime, please be kind to yourself and others. ____ Artwork © me, MysticSparkleWings ____ Where to find me & my artwork: My Website | Commission Info + Prices | Ko-Fi | dA Print Shop | RedBubble |   Twitter | Tumblr | Instagram 

[wongfeifei-blog]

Tonight I had a wonderful interview with the lovely Byeron ( @localho.e ) with @vervexmagazine for Verve x fashion , a section on the upcoming new magazine issue , Tonight Byeron asked me questions about style and fashion that opened my eyes to how greatful I am to be able to have a choice in fashion and style and to be able to express them freely , I would like to say thank you to Byeron for taking the time out to interview me and for being so nice , and I would also like to thank vervexmagazine for making this possible and for being such a amazing page , please follow Byeron @localho.e and @vervexmagazine to stay updated and get info about the new magazine issue :) Byeron: awesome, tyt loading and when you do you can come over to the couch, click the dot closest to the edge kaomina: **hiressnap kaomina: oh lawrd Byeron: lol, it's okay Byeron: so you ready for the question part of this? kaomina: yes ~ nods ~ Byeron: okay, well thank you again for your time :-) kaomina: thank you for having me Byeron: so, okay, let me get my document open real quick. Byeron: sorry, it's late at night i'm scrambling to get some work done kaomina: its okay i understand , deadlines have to be met somehow right ~ giggles ~ Byeron: haha, yes completely Byeron: and trying to cram in so much before i spend my day out tomorrow Byeron: plus getting a toddler to bed, it's wild rn Byeron: z kaomina: oh my i can only imagine , sounds rough Byeron: So go ahead and start with your name and where you're from. Byeron: Tell me a little bit about yourself kaomina: my name is kaomina fei wong , Im a model , editor and singer with trillcouture magazine  and labmachines records , i debuted with my first single ," you want this " last week at its reached 1k play within the first 4 days , im also in the works of my first full length album , ive been a model for about 2 years now working for several agencies such as , sinful money modeling , est , and verdant , with each agency teaching me bit by bit wonderful editing skills and modeling skills  i due owe it to them , in about mid 2015 ive left imvu for awhile to take some time away , i came back in october of 2016 only to fnd out my modeling agency at the time has gone out of bussines , leaving me without a agency i was forced to freelance model , i became more active on my insta and tumblr pages with upload of my edits, i kept up with the daily grind until i saw an ad to become a singer for labmachines record , did the audition passed was given a modeling job with trillcouture and here i am today kaomina: sorry if this is long kaomina: or beats around the initial question Byeron: it's good, the more descriptive the better aha Byeron: congratulations on all your accomplishments btw Byeron: quite the list Byeron: how would you describe yourself? kaomina: hmm how would i describe myself ? very determined and quite the workaholic , im very unpredictable when it comes to creativity an idea say for an edit or work would just pop in my head outta know where and i'll just write it down and later make it happen kaomina: no* Byeron: sweet, sweet. what inspires your outfit choices? kaomina: what inspires my outfit choices , would have to be whom i follow on instagram , when i scroll and i see another model with amazing appearal i say to myself ," i have to get some of what there wearing and piece it into a outfit " so it would be the fashion bloggers i follow on instagram Byeron: so what would you say makes your fits, well essentially, represent you? kaomina: what makes my fits and what represents me in the fits i wear is , definatly how im feeling within that day or week , if im having an amazing day and i feel happy i'll wear something real bright and vibrant to show my expression through clothing , and when im sad ill whear more darker colors ,  so my fits represent my feeling my emotion what i want people to know about me in the inside that they wont be able to tell about me from the outside Byeron: ooo, that's interesting with your mood influencing your choices with your attire. Byeron: So this piece is basically set around a quote. Byeron: i'm going to tell you the quote and i want you to tell me how you feel about it and how it applies to you, okay? kaomina: okay ~ nods ~ Byeron: “Style is a way to say who you are without having to speak.” - Rachel Zoe kaomina: To start off , this is an aazing quote how i feel about it, is a sense of security within myself and whom i am and choose to be later on in life , when my style changes or anyones style to put it a that , it comes from what they feel in the inside ,perhaps how they where raise , the struggles they went throught in the past or still in the present ,style can express that deep inter emotion in these times , style is a get away for some people whom cannot speak out on there emotions in fear of being judge , so when i hear this quote it makes me feel greatful to have a freedom to wear what i want and a freedom to express my feelings through fashion and style cause in some religons this is forbidden, there not able to show whom they are with clothing nor with there mouths and this saddens me , im very greatful to have a choice in style because it is what expresses your and i totally agree with Mrs.zoe's quote kaomina: amazing Byeron: that's a wonderful take on it. Byeron: was quite the answer as well, i'm not sure many would respond the way you did but it was a great hearing that. kaomina: thank you , it too long enough ~ slight giggles ~ kaomina: took* Byeron: haha, it's okay no worries Byeron: i think that's all i needed for the question interview portion of this. Byeron: did you still want to get the picture together? kaomina: yes please Byeron: you can go back to that stand spot Byeron: yeah kaomina: okay , thank you so much for having me tonight Byeron: of course, thank you as well for your time. Byeron: was a pleasure meeting you kaomina :-) Byeron: take care and have a good rest of your night. Byeron: feel free to dm me if you have any questions. kaomina: it was a pleasure meeting you too , tkae care and good night Byeron: oh, wait. are you famililar with our Byeron: group page? kaomina: hmm no , ive seen it on the insta page but ive never clicked on it Byeron: http://www.imvu.com/groups/group/Verve%2BX%2BMagazine/ Byeron: you can go there, and add yourself to the group. there's a thread that says "subscribe" or such and Byeron: you can get the issue sent to your inbox when it releases. :-) Byeron: under recruitment you can put my name as well if you decide to. kaomina: ohh how neat , and ill be sure to do so Byeron: awesome, alright well i think that's all for now :-) Byeron: thank you Byeron: goodnigth! kaomina: good night take care

[wongfeifei-blog]

Tonight I had a wonderful interview with the lovely Byeron ( @localho.e ) with @vervexmagazine for Verve x fashion , a section on the upcoming new magazine issue , Tonight Byeron asked me questions about style and fashion that opened my eyes to how greatful I am to be able to have a choice in fashion and style and to be able to express them freely , I would like to say thank you to Byeron for taking the time out to interview me and for being so nice , and I would also like to thank vervexmagazine for making this possible and for being such a amazing page , please follow Byeron @localho.e and @vervexmagazine to stay updated and get info about the new magazine issue :) Byeron: awesome, tyt loading and when you do you can come over to the couch, click the dot closest to the edge kaomina: **hiressnap kaomina: oh lawrd Byeron: lol, it's okay Byeron: so you ready for the question part of this? kaomina: yes ~ nods ~ Byeron: okay, well thank you again for your time :-) kaomina: thank you for having me Byeron: so, okay, let me get my document open real quick. Byeron: sorry, it's late at night i'm scrambling to get some work done kaomina: its okay i understand , deadlines have to be met somehow right ~ giggles ~ Byeron: haha, yes completely Byeron: and trying to cram in so much before i spend my day out tomorrow Byeron: plus getting a toddler to bed, it's wild rn Byeron: z kaomina: oh my i can only imagine , sounds rough Byeron: So go ahead and start with your name and where you're from. Byeron: Tell me a little bit about yourself kaomina: my name is kaomina fei wong , Im a model , editor and singer with trillcouture magazine  and labmachines records , i debuted with my first single ," you want this " last week at its reached 1k play within the first 4 days , im also in the works of my first full length album , ive been a model for about 2 years now working for several agencies such as , sinful money modeling , est , and verdant , with each agency teaching me bit by bit wonderful editing skills and modeling skills  i due owe it to them , in about mid 2015 ive left imvu for awhile to take some time away , i came back in october of 2016 only to fnd out my modeling agency at the time has gone out of bussines , leaving me without a agency i was forced to freelance model , i became more active on my insta and tumblr pages with upload of my edits, i kept up with the daily grind until i saw an ad to become a singer for labmachines record , did the audition passed was given a modeling job with trillcouture and here i am today kaomina: sorry if this is long kaomina: or beats around the initial question Byeron: it's good, the more descriptive the better aha Byeron: congratulations on all your accomplishments btw Byeron: quite the list Byeron: how would you describe yourself? kaomina: hmm how would i describe myself ? very determined and quite the workaholic , im very unpredictable when it comes to creativity an idea say for an edit or work would just pop in my head outta know where and i'll just write it down and later make it happen kaomina: no* Byeron: sweet, sweet. what inspires your outfit choices? kaomina: what inspires my outfit choices , would have to be whom i follow on instagram , when i scroll and i see another model with amazing appearal i say to myself ," i have to get some of what there wearing and piece it into a outfit " so it would be the fashion bloggers i follow on instagram Byeron: so what would you say makes your fits, well essentially, represent you? kaomina: what makes my fits and what represents me in the fits i wear is , definatly how im feeling within that day or week , if im having an amazing day and i feel happy i'll wear something real bright and vibrant to show my expression through clothing , and when im sad ill whear more darker colors ,  so my fits represent my feeling my emotion what i want people to know about me in the inside that they wont be able to tell about me from the outside Byeron: ooo, that's interesting with your mood influencing your choices with your attire. Byeron: So this piece is basically set around a quote. Byeron: i'm going to tell you the quote and i want you to tell me how you feel about it and how it applies to you, okay? kaomina: okay ~ nods ~ Byeron: “Style is a way to say who you are without having to speak.” - Rachel Zoe kaomina: To start off , this is an aazing quote how i feel about it, is a sense of security within myself and whom i am and choose to be later on in life , when my style changes or anyones style to put it a that , it comes from what they feel in the inside ,perhaps how they where raise , the struggles they went throught in the past or still in the present ,style can express that deep inter emotion in these times , style is a get away for some people whom cannot speak out on there emotions in fear of being judge , so when i hear this quote it makes me feel greatful to have a freedom to wear what i want and a freedom to express my feelings through fashion and style cause in some religons this is forbidden, there not able to show whom they are with clothing nor with there mouths and this saddens me , im very greatful to have a choice in style because it is what expresses your and i totally agree with Mrs.zoe's quote kaomina: amazing Byeron: that's a wonderful take on it. Byeron: was quite the answer as well, i'm not sure many would respond the way you did but it was a great hearing that. kaomina: thank you , it too long enough ~ slight giggles ~ kaomina: took* Byeron: haha, it's okay no worries Byeron: i think that's all i needed for the question interview portion of this. Byeron: did you still want to get the picture together? kaomina: yes please Byeron: you can go back to that stand spot Byeron: yeah kaomina: okay , thank you so much for having me tonight Byeron: of course, thank you as well for your time. Byeron: was a pleasure meeting you kaomina :-) Byeron: take care and have a good rest of your night. Byeron: feel free to dm me if you have any questions. kaomina: it was a pleasure meeting you too , tkae care and good night Byeron: oh, wait. are you famililar with our Byeron: group page? kaomina: hmm no , ive seen it on the insta page but ive never clicked on it Byeron: http://www.imvu.com/groups/group/Verve%2BX%2BMagazine/ Byeron: you can go there, and add yourself to the group. there's a thread that says "subscribe" or such and Byeron: you can get the issue sent to your inbox when it releases. :-) Byeron: under recruitment you can put my name as well if you decide to. kaomina: ohh how neat , and ill be sure to do so Byeron: awesome, alright well i think that's all for now :-) Byeron: thank you Byeron: goodnigth! kaomina: good night take care