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Strange Tomato ([personal profile] strangetomato) wrote2008-11-07 09:39 pm
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Strangetown Extras: Jill paintings (and a great cc find)

Since my last drabble post, which mentioned Buck's nude paintings of Jill (an idea I've been working with for a while, behind the scenes), [livejournal.com profile] beyondheroism__  has been busy drawing me some really great pictures to use with the custom painting feature on the easel. One of them was in a landscape orientation instead of portrait, and I really loved it, so I went hunting for a way to make it work. There's the drafting table, but that adds a filter effect (I'm not a fan of this feature, since it really LOOKS like a filter, and they could have just included drawings that look like blueprints instead - it seems really lazy to me). Another option was recolouring a painting from the buy mode catalogue, but most of those have frames, and frameless is much better for a student art show. So, my hunt continued...

What I found was really great: the Maxis More Functional - Painting Easels Superset by AnnoeskaB at TSR. This set gives you options for different easel sizes, including a table-top easel and a kid-sized easel, and also three new formats - a landscape rectangle, a square, and an oval. All of these work with the custom painting feature that has been included since Pets, and frames can be added if you have FT or AL. It also includes a "continious painting and selling" feature if you want to start up an art-type sweatshop, and there are new paintings included for the default paint mode (even a few grilled cheese). I can't vouch for the quality of these new paintings, because I haven't tested them, and I'm leaning towards skeptical until I see them, because I'm super picky about art. 

AnnoeskaB is a featured artist, so you know what that means, and where you should go to get these. I'd most likely donate to her if she hade her own site and freely offered these, because they're awesome, but I'd never subscribe to TSR.







See, Johnny? They aren't all nudes. Some of them are lovingly crafted portraits.

(Now I just imagine Johnny walking through the gallery and seeing the "safe" paintings first, and he begins to feel relieved. Then he turns the corner and BAM! Smut as far as the eye can see. The look on his face would be priceless.)




Here's the oval canvas. This sketch fits the frame well enough, but the stretcher shape is just too unlikely for me. As someone who builds her own stretchers (like many artists), the oval canvas would have to be stretched over some sort of piece of masonite or other flat board that was cut to shape with a jigsaw, and the stretching would be a nightmare. I'm sure people do it, but I prefer the more traditional square or rectangle.

Heehee. I can see Jill's bum.

I mean... *cough* that's a very nice figure study, Buck.

(You're supposed to take art very seriously, don't you know. *wink*)




I'm very excited about the horizontal frames, and the large square frames (which are this wide, but just as high, so they make nice big paintings). I need to get an image in the right format to test those out, so I don't have an example to show you right now.

This drawing is so cute with those heartfarts. I love how bold and graphic this one is (arty graphic, not sexy graphic... it's quite tastefully sexy, I think), and it has a great composition. The sim realism of the heartfarts just makes it even better.

Jill does spray those hearts constantly when Buck is around, so he was really just drawing what he saw.


 

[identity profile] showercapfrog.livejournal.com 2008-11-08 03:37 am (UTC)(link)
I live to serve ;)

I had the same thing with wanting to move easel paintings, and MATY is one of the best sources for fixes like that.

[identity profile] simgarooop.livejournal.com 2008-11-08 03:42 am (UTC)(link)

Those are amazing pictures! I really like beyondheroism's style ^^ (my favorite is the last one).

I've had that set for a while, but I haven't had the chance to use it in my game yet. Be careful though, one of Anoeska's files at the Booty is corrupted and will crash your game (the "more slots" for the free time desk, which you really shouldn't get, considering there's Lord Darcy at MATY with an amazing set of "extra slots" for ALL the desks, tables, end tables and even TVs and fridges!).

It's a pity that Anoeska, MsBarrows, Mustke and SimAddict are all FAs. Their "Maxis-match" sets are amazing (and my favorite) and they are all great creators. I actually have a short once in a lifetime subscription at TSR at the moment ( This is actually embarrassing to admit, I almost made a simsecret of this :P), because I wanted to get those files for my game without the bugs found at the Booty files (like many SimAddict's sets). So, in case you need anything from there that's not at the booty yet, feel free to ask! (I don't care if they ban me, for I already got what I wanted and hey, the more use I get out of the sub, the better).

[identity profile] redqueenofevil.livejournal.com 2008-11-08 03:44 am (UTC)(link)
Yay! These are all really nice! I love the composition of the heart fart painting a lot. It actually reminds me *just a little* of the Sandman art exhibit I saw last week.
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[identity profile] strange-tomato.livejournal.com 2008-11-08 03:44 am (UTC)(link)
Well, I'm very grateful for this kind service. :D

I always forget to hunt around MATY. Sometimes I go there and search, but I often get lost in all the threads. I guess that makes me sort of stupid, but hey - what can you do? :P

[identity profile] meetme2theriver.livejournal.com 2008-11-08 07:48 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, those are some awesome paintings. :D

Also, I had that tiny easel, but not the two others. Thanks for the find! And thank you, booty. <3

[identity profile] fafy94.livejournal.com 2008-11-08 09:32 am (UTC)(link)
Awww that's so sweet! I love Buck and Jill! And the easels are great, too bad they're only for FreeTime and i don't have got this EP ;_;

(Anonymous) 2008-11-08 03:55 pm (UTC)(link)
I love beyondheroism__'s drawings/paintings, my favorite is the last one, so very clean and stylish. Do you really think that Johnny would freak out because of this? nah! I think he knows better...
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[identity profile] strange-tomato.livejournal.com 2008-11-08 05:04 pm (UTC)(link)
Hmmm. That's interesting, but it almost seems like more trouble than it's worth. You'd have to get two images for the custom paintings to line up perfectly. I think the large square from this set would be a better option.

It's cool to have options, though.
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[identity profile] strange-tomato.livejournal.com 2008-11-08 05:07 pm (UTC)(link)
Hooray for cool downloads! :D I'm seriously pumped about those.

I agree. Jill is the cutest. She has such a simple, cute little face, and she looks good in all sorts of hairstyles. I'm definitely using that rockabilly ponytail that Phobia recently retextured on her in the future. She's sassy enough to rock it.
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[identity profile] strange-tomato.livejournal.com 2008-11-08 05:10 pm (UTC)(link)
She's doing a wonderful job with those. :) I like them very much, and I'm lucky to have them for the story.

Oh, well that's too bad. They only things that should rely on FT are the grilled cheese paintings and the frames. It would have been nice if she had offered a pre-FT version too, but maybe it wasn't possible, and it's probably a lot of extra work (I'm sure this sort of thing takes time).
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[identity profile] strange-tomato.livejournal.com 2008-11-08 05:15 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah, it's cute for children, and most of my sim kids paint, so I'm sure I'll use it quite often. It's perfect for Buck. He was always a painter in my game too. I think it really suits him, like Ripp with music, and Tank with fitness and military things.

I haven't tried out the table-top easel yet. The paintings are quicker to paint, according to the info with the download, and I guess they bring in less money (which is not good if you have one of those fears of selling anything less than a masterpiece).

The smaller size could be useful for variety too. Now I'm thinking of a grid of smaller paintings. (The Art School Solution TM: Everything is better when you make a TONNE of them and arrange it all in a neat grids. LOL)
Edited 2008-11-08 19:54 (UTC)

[identity profile] missgan.livejournal.com 2008-11-08 05:19 pm (UTC)(link)
Buck & Jill!! :D:D

The last painting is definitely my favourite, especially the floating hearts. I don't think Johnny would freak out very badly over these, though he'd probably be quite uncomfortable at first, right? I expected them to be more, um, explicit (ZOMG, NAKED JILL!! was the first thing that ran through my mind when I read your last drabble because I still kinda think of her as a young teen), so these are really very gorgeous and classy to me.
Anw, I think it's incredibly sweet that Buck loves Jill so much that she plays such an important role in his art! :)

[identity profile] ikichi.livejournal.com 2008-11-08 05:44 pm (UTC)(link)
Yea, I only considered it because I wanted a large painted portrait (since I can't access SimPE). I just dealt with normal < a href="http://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x63/ikichinoz/jenny/J126.jpg">paintings instead.



[identity profile] leskuh.livejournal.com 2008-11-08 05:48 pm (UTC)(link)
Haha, some of them are a little more sexy than these. So Johnny might have a fit with a few. XP

[identity profile] smjoshsims.livejournal.com 2008-11-08 05:56 pm (UTC)(link)
I LOVE the Rockabilly ponytail, and the Phobia retextures make me want to rub her CC all over my body as well. Jill will look tres adorable in it for sure!
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[identity profile] strange-tomato.livejournal.com 2008-11-08 06:00 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, I want to rub it all over my body. *snicker* You might even say that I made that secret. (Shhh... don't tell. XD I really do LOVE her cc, and I thought it would be funny.)

[identity profile] smjoshsims.livejournal.com 2008-11-08 06:08 pm (UTC)(link)
LOL, that was YOU?! *dies* And here I thought I was the only one making random secrets. (I didn't make any this time, though the I'm A Believer one was delicious.)

And don't worry, her CC IS delicious- I think I downloaded all of it. xD It's too good.
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[identity profile] strange-tomato.livejournal.com 2008-11-08 06:22 pm (UTC)(link)
I often make random secrets on a whim, but I hardly ever let on and own up to them. I did that simlish one that called everyone nerds too, way back when. Heehee.

I'm not worried, since people took it as a joke like I intended it (I was hoping it didn't have a creepy stalker vibe, but you never know). I gush about her stuff on her journal all the time, so she'll probably figure out it was me (my last comment was a bit of hint too). I really love her stuff.

[identity profile] smjoshsims.livejournal.com 2008-11-08 06:33 pm (UTC)(link)
I remeber that, I wasn't able to figure out the last word! xD

AND SO YOU SHPOULD. It's really some of the best CC I've seen in a while- I like Maxis Match Clothing, but I was always "eh" about hair- until I discovered her (and Neena Needles at GoS). It's really amazing CC, and I love it to death.
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[identity profile] strange-tomato.livejournal.com 2008-11-08 06:41 pm (UTC)(link)
Well, I guess you're not a nerd, then. :P

I agree. Those Maxis-match textures by Neena (which Phobia uses too) are a very good match, and much better than most official EAxis stuff these days, which doesn't even match, and looks like poo. They pick really nice meshes too. They're usually meshes I really loved anyway, like the Raon ones, but didn't use because of the shiny textures.

[identity profile] smjoshsims.livejournal.com 2008-11-08 06:47 pm (UTC)(link)
I completely agree, the textures are just too amazing. The ONLY gripe I have is that the red is a bit too "red", and not orangey like the Rissa one which I have grown to love. Maxis cannot make up their mind on what red they want, so I understand, and I laughed when you said they looked like poo. And yes, the meshes are really, really amazing- Raon's textures are a bit shiny, so I am so glad she chose these. I especially love the short one with the headband and the ponytail. (And the male one, I have much love for that hair.)

[identity profile] smjoshsims.livejournal.com 2008-11-08 06:48 pm (UTC)(link)
I meant Should*, GAH.
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[identity profile] strange-tomato.livejournal.com 2008-11-08 07:19 pm (UTC)(link)
The red is really bold, I agree, bit I think Phobia has been including two options, so one is less vibrant. I don't mind the brighter red on some sims, as long as it isn't burgundy.

I'm actually not really a fan of Rissa's red. It seems a little brown to me. I just never seem to end up using those hairs on redheads.

(Oh, and I love your alien in your icon. He has a cute Ben Long nose.)

[identity profile] smjoshsims.livejournal.com 2008-11-08 07:28 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah, I noticed that too- I use the lighter one on my Sims. The bold red works better with S4 Sims, or Sims with darker skin tones.

Really? I love it to death.

Thanks! His name is Xenophilius, he's Karna's son. *points to icon* For some reason he and Xander Pyle ended up as clones of their respective fathers, which saddened me. I wanted some alien genes!

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