#guide graphics

[cheezitofthevalley]

a guide to internet graphics and my blog

I'll try to make this entertaining, but we have a lot to cover!

Q: Sooo... What are blinkies? Or buttons?

A: Blinkies are a type of graphic that was popular 15+ years ago on personal blogs, often on a web host called Geocities.

Geocities no longer exists, but lovers of the indie/old web use other platforms, such as the new Neocities, to make their own old web-inspired blogs. They often decorate these with collectible graphics.

Q: You haven't really answered my question. What's the difference between all of these graphics?

A: Well, there are a lot of different kinds of graphics. For the sake of time, I'll only talk about the ones I post.

Blinkies are usually 150x20 pixels, but many creators like to improve their quality by making them 300x40, or even larger. There are also some oddly-sized blinkies, like this one:

However, most blinkies adhere to the standard dimensions. Most of them also have "blinking" borders, and usually feature text.

Let's talk about buttons. Buttons are, well, buttons. This button specifically is 88x31. This seemingly random size was the standard for Geocities users back in the day, who used these buttons as a portal/advertisement to their website, as well as a way to say pretty much whatever they wanted. Lot's of companies used them as well. Here are some examples:

Not all buttons share this standard dimension, though. Here are some other possibilities:

There are variations of these, too. Some buttons look pretty weird:

...and there are blinkies called "chain blinkies" that look like something else entirely:

Q: Ok, cool. What about stamps?

A: Stamps are a bit different. They're a slighter newer thing, and were made popular on Deviantart in the early 2010's. They are traditionally 99x56 pixels, and can be used to decorate any blog or website. Here are some examples:

as you can see, they can be made with a variety of borders.

I would love to continue, but I think this is enough for today. I'll have a part two up within a couple days! Stay tuned for explanations and examples of dividers, favicons, fanlistings, web etiquette, and more!

part two!

[suosage]

SHIDOU RYUUSEI & ITOSHI SAE | Japan U-20 National Team #13 & #10

NOW WE'LL BE ABLE TO LEARN THE REASON HE WAS SELECTED WHEN NOBODY IN BLUE LOCK KNEW HOW TO HANDLE HIM. WHAT KIND OF EGOTIST IS ITOSHI SAE AFTER?

[vinceaddams]

It's really cool that so many people have written books on how exactly to do their very specific jobs.

I'm looking through books on archive.org to see if maybe I can find some cool fonts in any of them, and there are books with names like "The complete carriage and wagon painter : a concise compendium of the art of painting carriages, wagons and sleighs, embracing full directions in all the various branches, including lettering, scrolling, ornamenting, striping, varnishing and coloring, with numerous recipes for mixing colors" (1903), "Elements of lettering and sign painting" (1899), and "The expert sign painter" (1911).

I have no intention of becoming an Edwardian sign painter, but it's comforting to know that there's such a thorough introductory course available at any time should I ever change my mind.

[vigilskeep]

huge fan of one of my rooks whose only distinguishing features are his face (beloved) and my overwhelming inexplicable certainty that he was found somewhere with visible autopsy scars and complete amnesia a couple years ago by whatever faction leader i feel like handing him to, and approaches everything with zero thoughts and a kind of golden retriever “just happy to be here!” mentality

[kirby-the-gorb]

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Bowen McCurdy and Jordan Morris’s “Youth Group”

NEXT SATURDAY (July 20), I'm appearing in CHICAGO at Exile in Bookville.

Youth Group is Bowen McCurdy and Jordan Morris's new and delightful graphic novel from Firstsecond. It's a charming tale of 1990s ennui, cringe Sunday School – and demon hunting.

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250789235/youthgroup

Kay is a bitter, cynical teenager who's doing her best to help her mother cope with an ugly divorce that has seen her dad check out on his former family. Mom is going back to church, and she talks Kay into coming along with her to attend the church youth group.

This is set in the 1990s, and the word "cringe" hasn't yet entered our lexicon as an adjective, but boy is the youth group cringe. The pastor is a guitar-strumming bearded dad who demonstrates how down he is with the kids by singing top 40 songs rewritten with evangelical lyrics (think Weird Al meets the 700 Club). Kay gamely struggles through a session and even makes a friend or two, and agrees to keep attending in deference to her mother's pleas.

But this is no ordinary youth group. Kay's ultra-boring suburban hometown is actually infested with demons who routinely possess the townspeople, and that baseline of demonic activity has suddenly gone critical, with a new wave of possessions. Suddenly, the possessed are everywhere – even Kay's shitty dad ends up with a demon inside of him.

That's when Kay discovers that the youth group and its corny pastor are also demon hunters par excellence. Their rec-rooms sport secret cubbies filled with holy weapons, and the words of exorcism come as readily to them as any embarrassing rewritten devotional pop song. Kay's discovery of this secret world convinces her that youth group isn't so bad after all, and soon she is initiated into its mysteries, including the existence of rival demon-hunting kids from the local synagogue, Catholic church, and Wiccan coven.

As the nature of the new demonic incursion becomes clearer, it falls on Kay and her pals to overcome these sectarian divisions over the protests of their guitar-strumming, magic-wielding leader. That takes on a special urgency when Kay learns why the demons are interested in her, personally, and a handful of other kids in town who all share a secret trait.

I confess that as someone who lived through the 1990s as a young man, there is something disorienting about experiencing the decade of my young adulthood through the kind of retro lens I associate with the 1950s or 1960s. But while the experience is disorienting, it's not unpleasant. McCurdy's artwork and Morris's snappy dialog conjure up that bygone decade in a way that is simultaneously affectionate and critical, exposing the hollowness of its performative ennui and the brave face that performance represented even as the world was being swept up in corporate gigantism.

McCurdy and Morris are really onto something here, implicitly asking us why the 1990s gave us Buffy and Sabrina (and The Coven, etc etc) – what was it about that decade in which Reaganomics and globalism consolidated the gains of the 1980s, where the climate emergency took on its undeniable urgency, where media monopolies mastered the art of commodifying counterculture faster than it could mutate into new forms?

Morris's writing really shines here. If you enjoyed Bubble, his earlier outing based on the post-apocalyptic comedy podcast of the same name, you will love this one:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/08/21/podcasting-as-a-visual-medium/#huntr

Morris is also half of Jordan, Jesse Go!, the long-running podcast where he and Jesse Thorn do a weekly ha-ha-only-serious goofball schtick that never fails to smuggle in really clever and insightful ideas amidst the poop jokes.

https://maximumfun.org/podcasts/jordan-jesse-go/

John Hodgman calls nostalgia a "toxic impulse." Church Group deftly avoids nostalgia's trap, managing to be a period piece without falling prey to the Happy Days pathology of ignoring the many flaws and problems of its era. And of course, it's a hoot and a blast.

Support me this summer on the Clarion Write-A-Thon and help raise money for the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers' Workshop!

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/06/16/blight/#the-dream-of-the-nineties

[sunlit-mess]

I envy your art style 😭

Ok, take this. You're welcome

For those who want inspiration from my art style. ::")

No, this is not a tutorial but some key points from my style you can try and practice to explore yours!

PS. I am not a professional artist, nor an art expert. I still have A LOT to practice/improve, especially since I just got back to drawing. One could say my skills are just average!

[necroangelz]

☆ ❛ STREAM ALERT !! ❜ NECROANGELZ is streaming ♡ ⁓⁓ Come watch ?

❛ i'm a mess in distress but we're still the best dressed. fearless, say yes, we don't dress to impress. ❜ —- EVE, PSYCHE & THE BLUEBEARD'S WIFE.

♡ NOW WATCHING : Needy Streamer Overload Graphics ☆ ⁓⁓ Enjoy the stream !!

—- semi-requested by @lavendergalactic

—- OH MY GOD. IF ANYONE WERE TO ASK ME WHAT GRAPHICS I HAD THE HARDEST TIME EDITING I WOULD SAY THESE GRAPHICS. THESE WERE IN THE MAKING SINCE A MONTH AGO AND I PROBABLY SPENT 10+ HOURS TOTAL ON THEM. THESE WERE SO HARD TO MAKE BUT THEY'RE NOT THAT BAD I THINK. ANYWAY I'M GOING TO CRY NOW.

—- alts under the cut.

—- "angel why is one of the graphics a different color-" we don't talk about that. (i had a hard time making it with the color palette i decided, ok. i toiled for four hours, ok. i had to change the colors or else i would die, ok.)

—- likes and reblogs are always appreciated. thank you for supporting the angelic streamer.

[wildstar25]

MiqoMarch Day 28 - Favourite City

In collaboration with the Board of Turalism and at the behest of the Vow of Resolve, a limited run of postcards featuring Eorzea's very own Warrior of Light was created in hopes to better the image of Tural across the salt.

[m1ckeyb3rry]

Series Synopsis: A series of (mostly) unrelated one shots, featuring Oliver Aiku somehow getting involved with the love lives of various Blue Lock characters — whether he wants to or not.

SHOEI BAROU | AO3

SAE ITOSHI | AO3

TABITO KARASU | AO3

REO MIKAGE | AO3

SEISHIRO NAGI | AO3

EITA OTOYA | AO3

KENYU YUKIMIYA | AO3

OLIVER AIKU | AO3

[indy-500]

Yuki + 🍄 for @gaynfl

[cheezitofthevalley]

Part 1

Hi! Sorry this took so long (new job). Let's get right to it.

Q: What are dividers?

A: Dividers are any graphic that is used to divide two things, usually bodies of text. They are useful for breaking up blog posts and signalling the end of a topic. You might not have noticed, but many websites feature dividers of some kind. Bloggers, however, tend to be a bit extra about their dividers. Here are some good examples:

Q: Ok, cool. It probably wasn't necessary for you to put that many examples, but it does make it clear that dividers can be pretty much anything. Still, I think there are more graphics that you've posted. What about those tiny thingys?

A: You mean favicons? Yeah, let's talk about those.

Favicons are tiny images that represent a website or company. Any easy example is probably right in front of you, if you're on a laptop. Look at the Tumblr tab you have open; do you see the little "t" icon? That's a favicon. Favicons were originally 16x16 pixels. They can be animated.

That being said, lots of people use the term to refer to any small pixel art. These can also be called pixels.

Q: Wait. Why call pixel art a pixel? Aren't pixels single points on a screen?

A: Well, yes. And favicons are supposed to have very specific dimensions and uses, but here we are. "Pixels" can sometimes refer to tiny pixel art, usually between 16x16 and 32x32 pixels (I know, confusing) large. These pixels are often animated. I use favicons and pixels to refer to the same thing.

Q: Ok, I think I get it. But what are pixels used for? Are they essentially icons, or trademarks, like favicons?

A: Sometimes, but usually not. They are often used like bullet points in website directories or lists. I've also seen them used as emoticons, buttons, and decorations. Some people like to simply collect them.

Here are some examples of pixels/favicons:

Q: oOoOO. I like those. Is there anything else people collect?

A: Yep! Pretty much all graphics are collectible. That being said, some lack any use except to be displayed. Fanlisting buttons, for example.

Q: What are fanlistings?

A: Fanlistings were a way for fans to connect online before social media really took off. They were basically online bulletins listing contact info of the fanbases members so that you could connect with like-minded people. They aren't much of a thing now, but they do exist. People who love Spacehey and Neocities are likely to use them. You can register for some and take a button to put on your blog to let others know you're part of that fandom. It also links to the fanlisting itself for others to join. Here are some fanlisting buttons (I haven't joined any):

They are usually 50x50, but don't have to be: they can even be other graphics, like 88x31 buttons! Some other common dimensions are 75x50, 100x35, and 100x50.

In part three, we'll finish up with a couple odd graphics, some interesting old websites, and useful posting tips.

[smashpages]

Here's a look inside the 1982 DC Comics Style Guide by José Luis García-López, which Standard Manual will publish in August.

[pheonixcola]

2025 goal is to make more art and flex my creative muscles outside of work.

So here is a poster in honour of one of my favourite pieces of media, I grew up listening to the BBC radio plays on cassette tape and now have them as audio books and still listen to them.

Don't panic.

[auraisereigh]

The empyrean dragon chart (Onyx storm version)

Here is a chart with all known or mentioned dragons and/or riders. This chart holds the name of the dragon, its den, tail and ancestral line, Its rider and their signets. Do note: for some dragons we don't have all informantion. For some we only have a color and tail. or only a rider and signet.

DISCLAIMER: This entire chart was created by me. The background was designed by hand, and each name, den, tailclan, and other detail was manually added. This project took a significant amount of time and effort. Please do not copy, repost, or share this work without proper credit. I kindly ask that you respect the time and creativity put into this piece by acknowledging the original creator if you use or reference it in any way.

Masterlist ☆ Dragon guide ☆ Star's story ☆ Empyrean guide ☆ Support me

I'm so happy with how these turned out. It just gives staright Onyx storm vibes and i love it. This is just the vision i had in mind and its been a while since i had a clear idea or vision so im over the moon. <3 This will be the first of many posts that I’ll be updating as Onyx Storm continues to develop. For smaller updates, I’ll simply add the new information to the archive sheet and edit the original post accordingly. If the update includes a significant amount of new content, I’ll create a separate post for it. In both cases, I’ll always reblog or clearly mention when the archive sheet has been updated!

[sophiastagsegel]

Milliways Logo / The Restaurant at the End of the Universe / Pixel Animation by Stagsegel