New Banner - in progress

[strangetomato]

I'm working on a new banner, which I've title the "headshot banner" in my working images folder. You can see what I have so far at the top of the page. The focus is on the central characters, who are all roughly the same age. They're all pictured in a pose that I imagine they might take if someone was taking a photo of them.

I really need to play around with the page formatting. It looks okay in Firefox, but it's not great. At least you can see the navigation bar, but I'd love to be able to move that around for better placement. I'll force myself to learn this yet.

Anyway... just felt like it needed a change.

Comments

[minotaurus.livejournal.com]

Mmm Fwancez J. I think you can kind of gauge their personalities from those headshots. :)

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's the idea. I'm glad it comes through. Frances was one of the harder ones to come up with something for (Johnny too). For Frances, I needed something that was awkard but also haughty. I think I came pretty close.

[music-simbol.livejournal.com]

Nervous looks like he needs a hug. *bear hugs him*

Like simonym said, these shots are pretty good at showing their character, which is kinda cool.

Is it September yet? :P

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Nervous does need that hug, but he'd probably resist it. Like having his picture taken, touching makes him uncomfortable. Poor guy. He's going to be making some progress soon, though. I'm in the process of fixing up the Specter Estate, which comes into the next chapter.

Thanks. It was a fun little project to get me back in the simming mood (like that was so hard :P).

September isn't too far off. ;) I have some reservations about trying to make the story progress in the right timeline, but I have an idea for dealing with it (oh, so many balls in the air)... I'm going to take a different approach to the events of the YA's senior year. Instead of doing it all sequential and showing what everyone is doing (in recent chapters, it's been slowed down to almost week by week), I'm going to pull back and cover more ground, and maybe devote each part to one character or set of characters, instead of jumping around so much. Hmmm... yeah, that's sounding like a plan.

The next chapter is rearing to go now. :) I'm just waiting for some free time to devote to it.

[hannahspring.livejournal.com]

Love it I love it I love it! These pictures are really adorable! I love their faces, they definitely show what the characters are like. I like it much more than the previous banner. :)

Also, I wanted to ask one thing: the default replacements for eyes are made by you? Any luck you'd share them? I'd like to use them in my game and story, because it's also has this Maxis-kind-of-look...

[xel-squirgle-ox.livejournal.com]

I think she's still using the lyran eyes, actually.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Thank you. :) I like it better than the last one too. I liked the concept of it, but I never really achieved what I was aiming for, and the composition was annoying me more every day. Either way, a change is good. This is so much more my style. I'm such a sucker for a grid.

Those are Lyran's eyes, as xel_squirgle_ox said. I am working on my own, though, and I'll keep you updated on that. I think they'll end up being a little more cartoony than Lyran's. I'm using a lot of cartoon and comic references.

[treesahquiche.livejournal.com]

I really like the new banner, especially the solid color backgrounds; they match the characters' personalities very well. I just love Ripp's and Frances's headshots. :)

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Thanks. :) Glad you liked 'em.

I'm all about solid colours. Things like gradients and filters make me break out in hives (well, most of them... if they're used sparingly and tastefully, I don't mind). I prefer really straight-up designs.

[xel-squirgle-ox.livejournal.com]

Everybody looks amazing! And seeing Nervous and Frances like that makes me want to hug them. Like others said, you've definitely captured their personalities. When Ripp does that goofy smile I just have to smile too.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I love that big open mouth grin for Ripp. Ripp really strikes me as someone who's mouth is rarely closed... it's usually in use. ;)

[smjoshsims.livejournal.com]

Wow, they all look amazing- I love Frances shot, he looks so... unsure... Idk, I love it. :D

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Thanks. :) That's Frances for you - always a little unsure.

[franwi.livejournal.com]

I squeed at seeing FJW3 up there. Great poses from them all! *stares*

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I love how you called him FJW3. That's pretty awesome.

[dothesmustle.livejournal.com]

This is amaziiiiiiiiiiiing. FRANCES AND NERVOUS. Weeeeeeeeeeee.

If Buck was on this I think I would have went insane with fangirly-ness. (By that I mean The Beatles fans-like squeeing (SCREAMING?!) XD

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Please don't ever change your icon. It just kills me every time I see it. :D

Glad you liked it! I'm thinking of doing another with Buck, Jill, Lucy, Beau, Bottom, Hal. I could add it to my user info page and do one big grid. I could do the older generation too, though I'm way more interested in this generation of sims.

[aledstrange.livejournal.com]

Wow, I love it!! <3
The shots are perfect! :)

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Thank you. :)

[simfinite.livejournal.com]

I finished catching up, and man, am I ever glad I did! You've got such an awesome story going. Like everyone else said, the new banner really captures their personalities well. Work that eyebrow, Johnny!

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Well, thank you for making the effort to do all that back-reading. It was a lot to get through. I'm glad to hear you liked it so far. :) Now I have to try not to disappoint.

It;s great to hear that the personalities come through. That was yet another brow pose for Johnny (I keep finding new ones - score!), and I like how it's a thinking pose, but he also looks like he's posing for the camera. It's a little dramatic and silly, which Johnny is, when he's not busy being serious. Yeah, I think about this way too much...

[zepheera.livejournal.com]

I don't know if it's intentional or not, but the backgrounds seem to suit the person in the picture. The drab olive green for tank, somber brown for Frances, and even Nervous's background seems to suit his personality in your story.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

I did try to pick the colours to compliment the characters, so I'm glad you saw that. Tank just has to have his military green, right?

[cindyanne1.livejournal.com]

Very nice!

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

[abbycat900.livejournal.com]

I like it! I squeed when I saw Nervous ^^ His pose is just... nervous XD

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Nervous is nervous. True story. :)

Thanks. Glad you liked it.

[x-illegal-x.livejournal.com]

I liked the old banner a lot, but this is really, really nice!

Also, btw, it looks good in Internet Explorer.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I did like the old one, but was never fully satisfied with it either, and change is good.

Oh, well that's good. I suppose I could just fire up my own IE to check it too, huh? Sometimes I just don't think of these things.

[simgarooop.livejournal.com]

The banner works fine on Firefox 3.0. I usually have trouble seeing banners (I couldn't see the one from simstorytellers for a while), but I have no problem with yours.

I like how all of them look in character, like Johnny's raised eyebrow :D. And because these are head shots, we can now see their expressions clearly, though I also liked how you placed them according their relationships in your old one.

:)

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm glad to hear that. The formatting isn't perfect, but it seems like most people are able to see it just fine, so that's good enough for now.

Thank you. I was surprised to find so many poses that use the arched brow in some way. It's fun to find new ones for Johnny, since he's develoved that as a personal quirk. :P The other banner was a little better for showing character dynamics, but I did place the portraits in this one to hint at the relationships too. Each character is placed next to others that are significant to them.

[simsbarbie.livejournal.com]

((I'm so happy to see you again)) I love that shot of Tank. His jaw, chin....dayum... LOL

I think the banner itself is an awesome idea.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Awww, thanks. :) It's good to be back.

Tank is looking rather fetching there, isn't he? He's a handsome guy.

[muslemura.livejournal.com]

Great idea! Love their facial expressions :)

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Thank you. :) What would I ever do without those animation boxes from Jaydee? They're so useful for stuff like this (and the story too, of course).

[pixelcurious.livejournal.com]

I love it. It really does show their personalities. And it looks really sharp and clean. I love the background colors, and that you didn't make it entirely symmetrical. Awesome job. ^_^

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Thank you. ^_^ I'm glad you think so. I admire your design skills, so that really means a lot to me.