#my photoshop skillz are the best ok

[kronenclown]

madtown valentines day cards you can send your bae 

[ieromoon]

gif tutorial

here is a very long tutorial showing you how i made this gif:

i use photoshop cs5 and KMPlayer to make my gifs. KMPlayer you can download here and you can probably find a photoshop download if you do a bit of completely 100% legal searching...

this is not the only way to make gifs, there are probably much much easier ways to do it but this is the method i learned like 5 years ago. it may seem long-winded at first but with practice it becomes much easier and quicker

i apologise in advance if this is hard to follow, and also please remember to save after like every single step. photoshop has a habit of randomly not responding.

anyway, without further ado......

so first of all you need to create a new folder somewhere (i just put mine on the desktop so it’s easily accessible) and name it something like ‘caps’ or ‘screencaps’

then make sure you’ve downloaded the video you want to make the gif from

open the video in KMPlayer

press ctrl+g to open the frame extraction window which looks like this:

first change your extraction location to the folder you just created (caps/screencaps/whatever you called it) and then choose your settings.

these are the settings i use when i take screencaps. the only thing i ever tend to change is the number of frames to extract. i like my gifs to be smooooooth so mostly i extract every frame, however changing it to every 2 frames looks just as good and your gif will have more ‘action’ in it (because you’re extracting from a longer period of the video - if that makes sense?? lol)

once you’ve found the scene you want to gif, make sure the frame extraction window is open (ctrl+g) and then press ‘start’ when you want to start capping and then ‘stop’ when it’s over. (when you press ‘start’ the frame extraction screen might disappear. it’s still taking screencaps, just press ctrl+g to open it again to press ‘stop’)

now your screencaps are done you can close KMPlayer and open photoshop.

first, go to file>scripts>load multiple DICOM files

when this window appears find your caps/screencaps folder, select it and press ok

this is what photoshop looks like after pressing ok. you need to go to the bottom right corner of the timeline and press the button with 3 squares on it (convert to frame animation):

then after it’s changed, press this thing:

and then choose ‘make frames from layers’:

now it should look like this:

now delete any frames you don’t want/need by selecting them in the frame animation timeline thing at the bottom and dragging them over to the trash bin:

then go to this bitch again:

and click on ‘select all frames’. they should all be highlighted. click one of the little black arrows on any frame and choose ‘other’:

and choose what you want your time delay to be. i tend to go for 0.05s

now when you press the little play button in the bottom left it should move. wow, we’re doing it!!

if you want the gif to loop click the arrow next to ‘once’ and change it to ‘forever’:

now we’re gonna crop and resize this baby. the recommended post width for tumblr is 540px if you’re uploading one gif. (268px if it’s two gifs side by side)

so go to image>image size

and when this box pops up change the width to 540px:

now that it’s the right width i’m gonna crop it to get rid of those ugly black bars from the top and bottom of the gif. (this step is probably unnecessary in most cases tbh)

go find the crop button on the toolbar:

then just crop the image like so:

it looks great!! yay us. nearly done, i promise.

now we need to go back to the bottom right corner of the frames and press this funky lil button (convert to timeline animation):

and now it looks like this:

next step is to select EVERYTHING by pressing ctrl+alt+A so that it’s all highlighted, and then go to layer>smart objects>convert to smart object

to check it’s worked press the little play button again. if it’s moving, congratulations you now have a gif!!!! 

you can immediately save it but i recommend sharpening and colouring it first.

to sharpen it go to filter>sharpen>smart sharpen

these are the settings i used, but it differs from gif to gif depending on the quality of the video:

then you just need to colour it if you like: 

and then save it.

to save go to file>save for web and devices. you can change the settings if you like to see what looks best. just make sure at the bottom it says ‘Forever’ under Looping Options instead of ‘Once’

oh, and make sure the file size is under 8mb otherwise it won’t upload to tumblr properly.

and voila! you have a gif you can upload to tumblr and make everyone jel of your mad skillz.

if you made it this far and it worked, congratulations, well done and i’m so sorry this tutorial was so convoluted and bad. there’s a reason i’m not a teacher. if anything’s confusing or doesn’t work just message me and i will try to help lol

and if anyone wants to know how i coloured the final gif then just let me know too! i ran out of space on this post.............

[sushigal007]

Goth-Lothario Household

Over to the Uberhood! Now this spot in the rotation was Don’s round, but he married Cassandra at the end of the Goth round. As I played them quite recently (and by recently, I mean September 2019), I thought about putting their round after the main Goth household, but then I remembered Donna Lothario’s still happily single in my genderswapped uberhood, so it would be easier to sync the two hoods up if I kept Don earlier. Plus it spaces out all the Goths a bit.

tl;dr, Goth-Lothario household.

You may or may not remember that I moved Don and Cassandra into Shoebox Mansion at the end of the Goth round, but when I found I couldn’t fit a double bed in any of the bedrooms, I moved them right back out again. So now they’re living in Willow House, which is just a despookified, rotated copy of The House Of Fallen Trees. Oooh! Aaaah!

...I may have fucked up the portals though.

Cassandra: Welp. That’s my husband. That’s your husband! Not having second thoughts, are you?

Don: *flirts* Cassandra: Not any more.

Oh right, yeah, she’s pregnant. I forgot that.

Do you know what that is behind you? It’s a changing table. Nanny: Don’t worry, I’m gonna throw the dirty nappy in the bin anyway. Really? In that case then, carry on.

Nanny: I’m not a maid, you know. Cassandra: And thank goodness for that. Nanny: I don’t have to clean the counter. Cassandra: Never asked you to.

But I do want a Bonehilda servo at some point, and Cassandra is also a Bot Fan, so I brought her a robot station to play with.

And this is why I started dabbling in swimmable lakes!

Don: Help.

Sorry, Cassandra’s busy.

Nobody was interested in throwing a party, but I invited the other Goths over anyway for baby Vera’s birthday.

Alex: Throw this!

Cassandra: Wanna eat my husband. We don’t need to know your kinks, thanks.

Toddler Vera! Obscured by confetti!

And here she is madeover. She’s got little hairbuns, just like her mother.

Who is currently being decapitated by her father. Cassandra: DAD WHAT THE FUCK! Mortimer:

Seriously, I have no idea what got into him, his relationship with his children is fine, he’s got no bad traits or memories that might have caused him to lash out.

Bella: Best you stay out of it, Don, if you think about it, he actually has a motive to lash out at you. Don: I’ll pay you whatever you want, just never mention what happened on my deck ever again. Right, I think it’s time the visitors pissed off home and never came back.

So here’s Vera, just quietly scribbling in her room.

And here’s Bella, very clearly not going home. Don: I’m not paying you again.

Cassandra: Ooh! Bella: Congrats. Don: Zzz... not paying...

Postman: I can’t just give you his mail. Bella: It’s fine, he’s my son-in-law. Postman: It’s still a no. Bella: OK, but did I mention that I’m Bella Goth? GO HOME, BELLA.

I never usually use high chairs, so I wasn’t expecting the nanny to feed Vera proper food.

Cassandra: It’s time.

That’s right, it’s potty training faces!

Followed by adorable peek-a-boo faces.

Followed by walking skillz.

Followed by Don potty training faces. Don: Eugh, this stinks. I need some fresh air. OK!

Oh. Nina: What a coincidence seeing you here! Don: Such an accident! As I know I didn’t set up a meeting between these two and they’re really telling the truth, I just have to sit here and glare.

Don: Um, OK, I didn’t do this autonomously.

Actual picture of me fulfilling Don’s want to slow dance and grope ass.

Don: You are the sunshine of my life, ooooooooh, that’s why I’ll always be around- Nina: Don’t you have a pregnant wife at home? Don: Yeah... I should probably. Not do this any more.

Yeah. So! Moving on!

Possessed potty training face.

Cassandra: You left the icon in. The wall’s patterned, makes it harder to photoshop out.

And Vera learns to walk!

Cassandra: Ugh why can’t I just make Servos already?

Um, what are you doing here? Nina: I just happened to be in the area.

Nina: Oh, fancy seeing you here! Don: Yeah, fancy!

I swear, they’re just saying hello, HONEST!.

Cassandra: This is fine.

However, after their hello snog, Nina just,,, leaves and Don goes back to fatherhood. Don: Teddy! Vera: If you say so.

Is that wise? That doesn’t seem wise. Don: It’s fine, I think they blacklisted me anyway.

Cassandra keeps churning out crappy robots and Don wants a mechanical skill, so this is a win-win.

Also I don’t know if I mentioned it before, but Don randomly has an Equestrian trait, so I got a rocking horse for him. Don: You mean for my darling baby girl. Yes, but really it’s for you. Don: Thanks! Oh, and speaking of buying me things, I have a request.

Well gee, I would, but you see that karaoke machine? I literally just brought it for you to fulfil your previous “buy a stereo costing $1800″ want.

Don: Fine, I’ll dance instead.

I like that even though Don and Cassie splurged and brought all the protective upgrades, there’s still a chance the power will go out.

Vera: I don’t want food, I want SLEEP.

Yeah well good luck sleeping through this racket.

It’s a boy! I decided to stick with V names and named him Vincent!

Nanny: Excellent, that’s my job safe for the next ten years. Cassandra: Not if you die.

Don: Zzz... not sure performance-enhancing milk is really safe for my children... zzz...

Not that it matters right now, ‘cause Vera’s learned all her toddler skills.

Also she’s about to grow up.

Don: Hey sweetheart! Ready to see our baby girl all grown up?

Cassandra: Just cut the fucking cake Don, I’m dying here.

Looks like Don is too.

And here’s child!Vera! The first thing she did was run off to read a book. A child after my own heart. Vera: TV’s broken. Shut up, nerd.

Don: Groovy tune, Cass! Cassandra: Thanks! It’s ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.” Don: And you make it rock.

Meanwhile, here’s Vincent, just chilling away.

Vera still loves drawing, but the table’s gone kinda glitchy and the skill bar keeps resetting over her head.

So I let her play chess on her balcony instead. Games is her OTH anyway.

Then she abandoned her game and sprinted down three flights of stairs to hug her mother. Aww.

Vera: I think I will just stand here and creepily hold the teddy for half an hour.

Vera: Change of plan.

And it’s time for Vincent’s birthday. And no, we will not be inviting Bella and Mortimer this time.

Relax Spike, he’s de-beared now.

Don may not be the absolute best husband, but he is definitely a doting dad. I think I’ll give him a reward!

A little woo, a little hoo.

OK! So, you might have noticed that the blanket animations on this bed don’t work, so be prepared for some truly cursed woohoo images!

Starts off fairly benign with some invisibility...

...And quickly turns into nightmare fuel.

Don: Worth it.

Vera: Daddy, what would you wish for if we had a genie lamp? Don: I’d wish to turn back time to before I started eating this mouldy mac and cheese.

Cassandra: Speaking of wishes! Eh, why not. There’s still a spare bedroom, after all.

Vera: Bitch. Don: What was that? Vera: Nothing daddy, love you!

Townie: Oooh, who’s that handsome fellow? Don: Why hello- Townie: Not you.

At least Cassandra still finds him attractive.

Townie: You OK, dude? Don: Fine! Just wonderful! I definitely did not hear any chimes!

Vera: Cheer up daddy, watch me do this! Don: Perfect, amazing, ten out of ten! Don: But there’s really not enough space in here for athletics. Let’s go outside!

Vera: DAD I AM HAVING SECOND THOUGHTS.

Much better.

So far this guy is the only person who’s touched the karaoke machine.

Don: Tickles! Vincent: Fatherly affection!

Don: Mr Teddy says time to get dressed! Vera: Dad, what the fuck? Don: You’re right, this was a stupid idea.

Seriously though, I may rag on him a little, but Don is a fantastic father who showers his children in lots of love. He’s also stopped rolling cheating wants.

Which is good news, because Cassandra is definitely pregnant again!

*ten seconds later* Cassandra: BLARF.

Don: We’re gonna stay here and learn a nursery rhyme, well out of the line of fire.

And in the meantime, Cassandra takes Vera out to Magic Land.

Server: See my hand? It’s magic!

Vera: Hi Uncle Alex! I’m just surveying the men in the family to find out what they’d wish for if they had a genie lamp. Alex: Uh, dunno. It’s usually money, but we’ve got plenty of that.

Cassandra: And here’s Daft Punk’s ‘Get Lucky’. It’s the sound of the summer.

Awww.

Thanks to all that scribbling as a toddler, Vera’s now at nine creativity points.

Family dinner.

Ignore the sky, I toggled ceilings off by accident and didn’t notice.

Vincent:

Vincent: I have regrets.

And the week ends with Don still hunting for his LTW job. Thank you for tuning in!

UBERHOOD INDEX

[monkey-li]

could you make a guide of how you make your art please? thanks in advance

Hello dear Anon ^3^~♥,

bless me backpipes /U///U\, that assumes I have a plan what I'm doing *cough*Unfortunately, I don't save all the steps between drawing something. I try...

I am far from professional or even efficient. I'm sure I still waste a lot of time on unnecessary steps, but drawing, like everything else, is an ongoing "learning by doing" process. It really never ends. I doubt there is even one artist or writer or anything else in the world who works creatively who says: Ok, now I am perfect, I can't improve any further.

Most of the time new ideas come at the worst moments, like at work, so in a few seconds I scribble something on the next best note so I don't forget the compilation. From my newest picture I still had the "Ideas Sketch" lying around...

Yes, that's what it looks like and yes all my pictures start like this... You can already see that a lot has changed in the arrangement to the finished motif.

When I am at home and can start drawing, the rough pose is sketched. From this very first process I have no more drawings, because I always use the same sheet and erase, draw, erase... until it is a picture... For the first poses I have now put something on to make it understandable.

This later became this:

The roughest intermediate step I have left is from a WiP. I think this gives the idea how a drawing of me comes into being.

I try to draw poses out of my head, like here now. But I also like to use TONS of references by googling the pose idea and looking at the photos. Or use screenshots or comic panels.

Never be ashamed to use references! Even people who have worked on huge projects like "Into the Spiderverse" do it! Use photos or have someone pose for you, draw your mirror image... There are no limits /^^/

A FINAL drawing from me looks like this:

You can see exactly how much I erased and changed. In the last step, vectorizing, you can still make small changes.

That brings us to the next part. Outlines and Coloration. I don't use a graphics tablet. I draw with pencil on paper, scan the image and use the free program "Inkscape" to make a vector graphic out of it. Because I love this way and I can create wonderful images that can be enlarged infinitely, for t-shirt printing and so on...

Okay, I'm still exploring this program. I taught myself everything through tutorials. Since I started vectorizing in "My little Pony - Friendship is Magic" Fandom, most of the Tuts came from there. Here for example is a collection

And I'm afraid there's no way around getting into tutorials if you're not lucky enough to know someone who already uses the program and is willing to be your teacher.In "Pony Fandom", Inkscape was the most regular program used to create images. I don't know what it's like in Duckverse fandom. I think many work with Photoshop or other programs. But I don't know anything about that.

Inkscape and vector is what I do. Everybody has to find out for himself what he prefers ♥ The main thing is that it is fun!!!

And to show that practice definitely helps. Here my first Dimeshipping picture versus my newest one:

Change in Artstyle cause I fell completly in love with the Ducktales Reboot Artstyle ♥0♥

Despite my constant nagging about the show THIS is something I will alway defend. I LOVE it! (same with the music ♥)

That doesn’t mean I don’t like the Comic artstlyes. I love them all! I just personal prefer to draw this way! Some say its easier to draw. I say it always depends on the practise put into it *shrug*

Ok, I really hope this answeres the question somehow. I will not be able to create an Inkscape Tutorial. Neither do I have the time nor the skillz. But there are already so many out there! Just give it a try and start \^0^/

Using Inkscape is btw the ONLY way of coloring I ever enjoyed. I hated coloring since I was a child lol. But now its fun ^^

[allhisdays]

10 October 2018

dear diary

today was a quieter day than i expected work-wise. 

my morning didn’t start as early as i’d have wished. i got up at 930, which isn’t terribly late and definitely better than 12(!!), and i was only ready for work at 11, not 10. i didnt feel too bad about it as i tend to be a little more tired than usual the day after ive seen the physio, so i wasnt too surprised. i didn’t rush anything though and took the time to sit down with God (tea, bible, prayer, drawing, singing, more tea) and so i was happy. :)  i did start working on that nyc church’s book sample but quite frankly it’s pretty vague and i’m not sure i like their theology... tbc!

i wrote something down in my special notebook, words i came across during my quiet time and that kinda stuck: 

(^heavily and badly photoshopped due to it being night time and my lack of skillz)

when i choose to obey God in the first thing He shows me, says Chambers, he will instantly open up the next thing, the next truth to me. this is spiritual growth - not that i’m seeking to grow into a relationship with God by little obedient steps (i already have a relationship with Him) but through obedience, i will grow in truth and knowledge and hope and perseverance and love (not necessarily in that order...!) and ultimately Christ-likeness. i like the picture those words paint in my head - heaven and God’s truths opening day after day, one obedient step after another. :)

so what else happened... 

today was also mum’s day off. she saw her rhumatologist in the afternoon who told her AGAIN that she should stop working. i think she and he are going to try and find a way to get her a “disabled person”’s status, so she can stop working without it affecting her retirement fund. to be continued.

i wonder how ‘disabled’ i’ll be at her age. i know many things can happen in the next 30 years.... and who knows, God might heal me! or i might develop something new and/or worse!! it’s a good thing that i don’t have access to that kind of information, i much prefer leaving it all to God!

also, speaking of health and ability/disabilities, today i decided that i wanted a baby. i know, big stuff right. lol

^ babies have been on my mind a lot, especially those last 2-3 years. it’s not an easy thing for me to talk about because i never thought i would ever have one and i’m fine with that. to some people this attitude might seem “cold”, “selfish” or even “unchristian”... i don’t believe God will love me less if i don’t make babies, so to those people i want to say “thanks, but no. bye.” i’m not anti babies or anti children... never was! i think they’re great and that we need to love and nurture and care for them to the best of our abilities. i am pro life, i am pro babies. people, go and make babies - they’re so soft and cute and they smell great! well, except when they throw up and poop. :p

my point is, i love children. i love God. God loves children. God loves me. i am His child. nothing will separate me from His love - i believe that when the bible says “nothing” it also includes a lack of little ones coming out of my private parts. hope thats not too graphic for ya, diary. Christ is enough. He always will be. i cannot find fulfillment anywhere or in anyone else, not even my own potential child/ren. the bible tells me so.

but today i decided that i would probably want to try if i am still able when/if the time comes. this is a huge shift in mindset for me... really huge... as most of my life i never really saw kids in the picture or even considered them, as i figured it’d be too dangerous for me/them to even allow the thought of a pregnancy to enter my head.

but now it has. 

and i haven’t ignored it. in fact, i have thought/prayed about it more than i have let on. over the past 15 or so years i’ve heard, listened and read all of my friends’ (and there have been MANY) stories of pregnancy/birth/postbirth/motherhood. friends of all ages, from all sorts of backgrounds, whose children came into this world health, some not so much and others who didn’t make it at all. a mixture of heart-melting, heart-breaking, terrifying, gut-wrenching and many many wonderfully beautiful experiences too. ive prayed for them. ive mourned with them. i’ve felt their pain, i’ve also felt their joy. i know parenthood isn’t easy and comes with both rewards and at a certain price.

there was also this time last summer when i had mustered up enough courage to cautiously pick my physio’s brains on pregnancy for scoliotic people. i wanted to know his thoughts. i can’t remember if i mentioned it here but i never really shared the details of that convo with stv at the time, or anyone else except God. i just needed to ponder those things quietly in my heart and let God do His thing. it was many many weeks ago but i never stopped thinking about everything physio said - about how the female body knows what to do and how to prepare for a pregnancy; that yes, i would most likely need to see a specialist and be monitored closely as pain management might be the main issue (can’t really take anything for the pain while pregnant), but overall he was pretty positive, dare i say cautiously encouraging? he didn’t say “no you can’t”. his positiveness was shocking. i expected him to tell me what i’ve been telling myself my whole life: “ NO WAY, TOO DANGEROUS”.

so this process, those conversations, all led me to this point: God, i want a baby. at least i’m GOOD and ok with the idea of having one if that is Your will for me. i am willing to carry a little person in my womb. i am willing to create life together with You. i am willing to feel his/her little limbs kicking against my tummy and praise You for it. i am willing and excited to see the look on his/her daddy’s face when he first sets his eyes on his son or daughter(s). i am willing to discover and know that kind of love that is so very unique and that may give me strength i never thought i had. yes, my body will probably be a bit of a wreck (!) but i believe You can do anything and You will prepare and heal me, so i needn’t be scared. i needn’t worry. 

and God, i am also still ok with the idea of not having children. but when and if comes the time when You believe i’m ready and that it is something you have in store for me i say “ok”, i say “yes, let’s do it”.  You’ll be here with me, as You always have been and always will.