#the pictures are originally all on one canvas with a gradient but I don't think tumblr can handle the canvas size lol

[yodomimo]

Long time reblogger, first time poster. I hadn't planned on posting this, but someone at work encouraged me to show my work more and I'm nervous as hell but here we are! What better then starting with skystar angst I guess haha (I can't get them out of my head. Doomed yaoi my beloved <3)

With all the fanart I've seen of skystar (or even megop) and having them reflect on their holo-memories from before? Breaks my heart and I wanted to give it a go haha. (Apologies if the text is hard to read, like I said, I never really expected to post this and I cbf making it more readable, otherwise I'll never post it lmao. I put the dialogue in the description, in case it was too hard to make out lol.)

Alt Starscream without the holo lighting below.

[ryanyflags]

How do you make your flags?

I use inkscape, though I've also use krita for adjusting colors.

Click to read a longer explanation.

I have flag templates set up in inkscape. Like some settings, grid size, and canvas size. All of my flags, except demi, use a 2:3 ratio. I also export them all in 3000 x 2000 size, typically with antialiasing turned off. I only export with aa on when there's a shape/gradient, and the flag isn't just straight stripes.

For the colors, I don't usually make any new colors actually. All the flags just use the original flags' color. So for example, if there was a blue stripe on one flag and a yellow stripe on another, then the combo flag would have both a blue and yellow stripe, instead of a 1 green stripe. I think this is better, since I don't have to worry about color meanings. So the new flag has the same color/stripe meanings as the old flag.

For the actual flag making (lol I've rambled a lot), I have "snap to grid" and "snap to guide" on. With the grid set up in such a way that it divides the canvas into equal pieces (so a 7 stripe flag has 7 grid spaces). Then I just use the rectangle tool to make the stripes. If I have too many/little stripes, I just select everything and change it to fit the canvas at the same time (so the stripes all have the same size). The colors are just using the eyedropper tool on reference pics, while having the shape I want to color selected.

Also, a weird thing about vectors is that sometimes they'll export the picture with lines between the shapes? So I have to group and duplicate twice when I'm finished making it, and then export it. There are other solutions, but this is the easiest for me, since I don't have much shapes (so no lag concerns).

There are other little things as well. Like color overlays, gradients, combining similar colors, creating icons (like a heart shape). I do have svgs for the shapes, so I don't have to remake them every time. But that's basically it.

Oops I said a lot. But I did put it behind a keep reading cut, so it's won't clutter anyone's feed.