[Aidara's Scrapbook] It's Real For Us

[Aidara]

What.... the hell is wrong with me. It started raining a second ago, and I'm sitting by the window, so I was able to smell the rain before it started to happen. I could hear the big, heavy droplets when they first started their patter against the leaves that hang right outside my window. And it made me cry. I just started crying... again... because it's raining.

[Jameson Kindle]

--Daniel

[Gossamer]

. Support .

[Caelum]

Sand kittens don't like rain either. They will frighten it away. Then snuggle you.

[Aidara]

The Plan I the first time I ever ended up talking to our dear Katie, I ended up spilling all my fears and insecurities about my writing and my characters. Because she is a sweetheart, she listened and tried to encourage me and give me some ideas. Later, she wrote an awesome guide in her scrapbook that really helped me put things into perspective. So here we go. Aidara's Goal was to be an Endal despite the fact that she was marked by Rek'keli, had severe self doubt and other personality flaws that would make it extremely unlikely that a Wind Eagle would ever choose her. But that goal has been met in finding Sira. So now she needs a new goal. I'm going to say that it is to find a way to better benefit Wind Reach as a newly risen Endal. It is hard, because Inartans, and the Endal specifically, are restricted to their home. Endal's cannot leave Wind Reach for extended periods of time because their eagles simply won't go. If they go without their birds, their bond will begin to unravel and eventually shatter. For a more overreaching goal, She is eventually going to get a taste of the outside world and get the travel bug, the problems being those listed above. Aidara's Traits Constant- Accepting (positive) and Rash (negative) Situational- Flirty (positive) and Overly emotional (negative) And now for the harder one.. Cailet's Goal is hard considering I haven't even played her in the present yet. But I guess that makes it also easier since the book is wide open, eh? Cailet seems to be leaning towards following the path her Night Stalking is taking her, rather than following the path of the Shinya. This gives her the opportunity to completely delve into the world that has been opened to her. Becoming consumed by shadows and secrets may sound like a bad thing, and it might be, but it could also bring her that much closer to Akajia. The problem I am having is Amanda, her ghost. I want to work her into the story with a plot as well, but I don't even know where to start. It's like playing two PC's in one. Is amanda just there for the ride, or does she want to ruin Cailets life? Does she plan on using Cailet as a tool to get what she wants, or is she hoping that she can live through Cailet? Cailets Traits Are different than when I originally made her. Consistant- Curious (positive) and Distrusting (negative) Situational- Eccentric (positive, though some may see it as negative) and quiet/shy (negative) Please, if you read this and realize that I have the traits all wrong and backwards, tell me. And since it is late and I am tired, that is where I am stuck for now. Goodnight

[Aidara]

Photoshop! It's starting to make sense. I made a signature thing today for another PC (not mine) and I have to say.... I think it came out effing awesome. Ooooh and Ahhhhh:

[Jameson Kindle]

Ahem.....

[Aidara]

Learning little by little... So I noticed today that a couple people have been setting up their posts and scrapbooks differently, and I think it's because of the templates. No more messing with codes means that everyone can put a title on their post every time (Like mine above) easily and without hassle! Not to mention awesome backgrounds are now being used more, since people don't have to deal with finding the url each time or dealing with word docs.... GP is making Mizahar's posts and people prettier one code at a time! I love it! I don't care if seven other people have a title and description on every one of their scraps, because I think it looks cool! If I had more time, I would add a picture for every one as well. So I've been practicing my photoshop skills more lately. Multiple people, but mostly Jen, have told me multiple times that it really isn't as hard as you think it is. Once you know what tools you are using for what, all the little buttons and drag bars and words like "gradient" and "stroke" begin to make sense. Jen was even so kind as to talk me through a step the other night that, after she showed me how, I was felt infinantly stupid for not having been able to see it myself. I had no idea that you could drag an image from one canvas into another. That little bit of info is going to save me a LOT of saving, re saving and reuploading. Thanks Jen! So, Tonight I tried my hand at putting an image on top of an image. Until now, I've been lucky in finding an image that I needed ready to go, and just added text. Kaiielle wanted her avatar on some snow with her name. Challenge accepted. Now, I eventually figured out how to take this picture: and remove the ugly red-carpet-background-thing, using that handy quick selection tool. I had to touch up a few parts of her hair, but I figured out how to also use the eyedropper to copy the color I needed. Thanks to Jens fabulous multiple-canvas trick, I was able to have the background set up in another tab, and just dragged the face over. I thought the head looked kind of akward, so I then just deleted it and shrunk the image down and retried until it looked kinda-proportionate. But it looked cut and pasted over the top of the mountain, so I TRIED to smudge the edges, and also used blur, to try and soften it a little bit. Name was a peice of cake, I got that down pat. And here is the finished product with all of Kaiielle's requests: I know it isn't perfect. Any suggestions?

[Talbot]

Suggestion: don't blur the edges. Either you chose the wrong image or when you used the selection tool it might've cut some of her head off.

The way I select and cut images is a bit different and time consuming. I outline the image I want to cut out with the Freeform Pen Tool, then I click on the Paths tab and in the drop-down menu, I click "Make Selection." Then I rasterize the image and merge it with the layer I want to cut the image from, then I either drag it on top of the other image or cut & paste it manually.

That's quite a bit to consume and probably doesn't make much sense so you can PM me for a better explanation if you really want to know more about that...

Another thing you could do to make the image look a little less flat and boring (not to shit on your work or anything, just saying), is you could use actions and/or patterns and textures. You can find these all over Google with a quick search. Once you choose a texture and/or pattern, place it over the image in Photoshop then play around with the layer blending mode until it looks good. Alternatively, if you choose to download an action, just go to the action tab and click the one you want to use. They're basically presets of colors and filters if you're too lazy to do it yourself, lol. If it doesn't suit the image, you can change it back to the original picture with the history tab.

I'm no Photoshop expert, but I have a general understanding of the programme I suppose. That's just my two cents -- hopefully it will help you. Good luck

[Aidara]

Thanks, Tablot. I took a look at those actions, and found a page where there was hundreds of them. Once I figure out how to use it, I think they'll be fun to play around with. In the meantime, My lovely Sira asked for a new signature, so I said I would try and am pretty pleased with the results. Because I didn't like the look of the head on top of the mountain in the last one I did, and Sira wanted her face in the signature as well, I decided to go about it a little differently.