Snowflake Challenge - Day Seven

[ithildin]

Fandom is filled to the brim with all kinds of talented people. From writers of both stories and meta to reccers to artists who have some awesome skills. Some of us have a blast creating, but might not be as vocal about wanting fannish things.

Today’s the day to say “You know what would be greatness? If someone made (blank) for me.”

I have a hard time asking for stuff, which is probably why I've only participated in this sort of thing a total of once before. But I'll screw myself up to do it today.


I'm not an artist, or good enough at graphics, and one of the things I've wanted for a while would require me being. [points to icon] My character, Charlotte Sparrow, is based visually on a nineteenth century opera singer, Lina Cavalieri. There's a fair amount of photos of her in period opera costumes, which is terrific for historic images of Charlotte, but I have nothing for modern day. Okay, so this is farfetched, but doesn't hurt to ask, right?

An Avengers fan mix - if everyone had a most played song on their MP3 player, what would it be? And speaking of Avengers, someone with mad banner making skilz making a banner for avengersblend. That would be awesome!

Last, I think would be cool to read what happened when Loki joined the Halloween party after my story, Variations On A Theme For Cowboys, ends. I'm pretty sure others could come up with much more fun scenarios than I could. Female!Loki and Natasha perhaps? They'd sure be pretty together!

Okay, I did it. Now to hit post....

Comments

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

But I just changed it the new one! LOL But, okay, I'll try and find something else. Problem is that the free ones are rather limited.

I actually don't know what the dimensions would be. Banners are not my forte. I'm no help, I know. I just think whatever looks good :) Same goes for ideas about the banner: I'd just love to see what someone talented at the art of banners - like you - would create. But if you need more specifics, let me ponder.

Well, I think I thought of hand drawn art, not that I'd turn down something photomanipulated either. But hand drawn seemed more likely to be 'modern' in my mind.

[valiha.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry! I's just that that the thin diagonal lines used for the background area really hurting my eyes. ;_;

Do you have any actress/singer/whoever in mind when it comes to clothing style, body type and such? So I can see about getting some photo references. :)

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

I've tried a half dozen so far - see how you like the one up currently.

I will ponder :)

[valiha.livejournal.com]

It's this image that's creating problems for my eyes: http://l-stat.livejournal.com/voxhtml/weston-blue/bg-body-shadow.gif?v=1. When you scroll, it kind of starts... flashing? I guess.

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

Ah, okay. [curses the free LJ themes!] I shall tinker some more [g]

[valiha.livejournal.com]

you can simply do a search for the image and just delete it from the css style. the background-color of your #container is background-color: transparent; so that should probably be changed to a color (e.g. background-color: #000000; will give you a black background).

You can choose a color and copy the hex code from http://genopal.com/ which I find very useful.

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

Errr.... okay? Well, I've changed it another six times and not sure I remember where I was LOL

[valiha.livejournal.com]

Well, in any case, just let me know which theme you used, and I will figure out the css necessary to add a header.

(It just occurred to me that you probably didn't go to the edit css tab but used the stock layouts; that's fine too - I'll check a few design comms I frequent and see what the appropriate codes are for the layout.)

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

I'll try and tinker with the code tomorrow and see what I can do.

Thanks again!

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

Okay, looks like you don't have access to the CSS if you have an unpaid account. You go to the CSS tab and there's nothing there.

Later: now I'm wondering if we can even use a banner on an unpaid account. Well, foo! Maybe will have to start paying for it to get it like I want :)

[valiha.livejournal.com]

No, you have nothing there because you haven't made any changes to it. Mine is a free account, and I am constantly tinkering with my layout. I go to a design comm, look at all the wonderful user made themes, choose one, and maybe tinker with it, then paste the css inside the box, an I have a layout based on, say default Flexible Squares, but looks completely different from it.

It's when it comes to custom layers that free users can't make any changes, but they involve a special LJ language called S2. I only dealt with it once, long ago, when someone gifted me with some paid time.

Design comms will usually spell out all the instructions to you, e.g 1. copy this code, 2. go to your edit css tab, 3. uncheck use layout's stylesheets (or leave as is) 4. paste the code. thefulcrum by grrliz is an excellent comm for very customizable thems, where you can search layouts according tp style, color, flexibility, images etc.

(I'm probably overwhelming you; sorry, that wasn't my intention!)

((And I should probably get to bed since it's already well past midnight here. i might have some banner ideas for you later today.))

ETA "Later: now I'm wondering if we can even use a banner on an unpaid account. Well, foo! Maybe will have to start paying for it to get it like I want :)"

Absolutely no need. Have a look at one of thefulcrum layouts, let me know which one you think might work and I'll edit it for you. There's no reason why you should limit yourself to stock LJ offers. :)

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

I'm actually watching that comm, but thought it was only useable if you had a paid account. I did see some there that looked really nice. I'll poke around tomorrow and see what's there.

Thanks for all the trouble :) I did settle on a theme for now - no patterns!

[valiha.livejournal.com]

Usually I have no problem with patterns, but that one was really giving me headaches. Maybe it's because it's getting time for me to go on a check up to see if I need another pair of glasses. I'm so sorry for putting you through all this trouble!

Oh no, paid accounts can edit custom layers by using the S2 LJ programming language, and free accounts can edit the CSS to their hearts' content. Sometimes that results in unrecognizable differences between the LJ stock and the CSS layout.

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

I'm so sorry for putting you through all this trouble!

Hey, once you've had to try and help me install a custom theme, I'll have more than paid you back [snicker]

I don't know why I thought free accounts were unchangeable. I think I misinterpreted something I read on a theme community.

I messaged dragonsinger to let her know I'm planning on demolishing the comm. She isn't around it much, but wanted to give her a head's up. Would it be okay if I moved this to email? Probably more efficient means of communication :) My address is ithildin at ondragonswing.com

[auntyk.livejournal.com]

an alternative is to view in your own layout style. Add ?style=mine to the end of the url to see if it suits. If so you can alter your settings to view all layouts in your own style.

something to consider

[valiha.livejournal.com]

Yes, it's just that I like seeing all the different layouts used on LJ. I realize ithildyn is under no obligation to change her comm to suit me, which is why I prefaced my request with "favor to ask" and "would you consider". If she's not satisfied with any layout she finds, I'll be quite happy for her to tell me, "I couldn't find any that would suit me" and I'd then find a way to adapt it.

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

Okay, the character of Addison Montgomery from Private Practice comes to mind as far as style. I found some links with images, with mostly from the show pics, but some of the actress mixed in.

Here (http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=A0PDoS235AhP128AaDuJzbkF?p=addison+montgomery+private+practice+images&fr=moz2-ytff-msgr&ei=utf-8&n=30&x=wrt&y=Search), here (http://photobucket.com/images/addison%20montgomery/#!cpZZ1QQtppZZ20), and here (http://greysanatomy.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Images_%28Addison_Montgomery%29). I think this one (http://greysanatomy.wikia.com/wiki/File:AddisonMontgomeryS3.jpg) is a good visual of how I see Charlotte when she's going to some event with Tony, and this (http://greysanatomy.wikia.com/wiki/File:AddisonM.jpg), a more casual style. Definitely not as tall as Kate Walsh, I don't think she's more than 5' 6", black hair above shoulder length, fair, pale blue eyes.

I've never thought about this as much! LOL

[valiha.livejournal.com]

Would this image be what you think of when it comes to the length of her hair/casual, at-home style?



And I can look up some more glamorous styles for her outings.

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

Yep, that works! It's long enough for a pony tail, which is what she does with her hair when she's at the winery.