I love how I was like "I'm probably not gonna update again before the new year" and then decided to fuck it up, because I got lost in Photoshop and wanted to brag about it :D

ANYWAY. Back in 2011, I decided to get back into making freebies/requestables/customs/whatever the hell you wanna call them, because I was feeling overworked and nostalgic for a better time (the height of the GreatestJournal graphics scene, I guess). I had a good couple of months there before my laptop had a massive hard drive failure and I lost all the new stuff I'd made D:

SO THAT SUCKED.

and tbh it was a combination of that loss + working 80+ hour weeks in the hell of food service that took me away from making icons in general. My early 20s were rough, y'all!!! This was also when I wasn't writing much and basically on an unintentional hiatus from a lot of fandom things besides attending 1 or 2 cons a year to see friends. So that also sucked.

Anyway! Because of all that, I switched over to pretty much only making fandom icons/graphics/etc, because I had limited free time, the LJ graphics scene was slowing down, and I just didn't have the inspiration for anything else anymore. But since I am burdened by the gift and/or curse of nostalgia, I eventually got back into making sparkle icons last year~~~

AND SOOOOOOOO that leads us to today. I'm finally removed enough from the heartbreak of losing the originals...which only took 13+ years....whatever, I'm cool XD I decided to try my hand at recreating one of the icons I lost, and honestly? I'm pretty damn proud of it!

2011		2024
	→

I think I got very close to the original, even if it's not a picture perfect copy. I have a bunch of others I'd like to tackle, but this is a good start :D

AND WITH THAT, HAPPY NEW YEAR FOR REALZ THIS TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!

...........on the internet, at least XD I've been updating things over on killiansicons and I'm very pleased with what I've gotten accomplished. I finally made a resources post to credit where I've gotten brushes/textures/etc, though it's kinda depressing to see how many dead links there are now ;w; I did my best to track down what I could!!!

And then, because resources were on my mind, I reposted all the ones I've made, with updated preview banners (because I love making sparkly things). I dunno if I'll ever make brushes or textures again, but it was nice to share the ones I did make.

And THEN, since apparently that wasn't enough, I wrote an icon tutorial today, for the first time since 2010. I was midway through making one and decided that yeah, I should continue to share my techniques. I also posted it on tumblr, complete with different graphics...because anything 100x100 gets horrifically resized over there. I'm really pleased with it!!!

I also feel rewarded, because someone in one of the enstars discord servers I'm in ended up following the tutorial and shared what they made ;w; I love helping people, even if I never hear from them, so having someone actually come back with that they did is a lovely treat ♥

Oh!!! In other good news, I got 1st place in an icon contest over on LJ!!!!!!!! It's not my usual style of contest - you start with pre-selected bases and they're mostly stock photography - but I managed to make something really unique. I didn't expect to win, because my style isn't the usual "stock icon" look, so I was pleasantly surprised. It's nice to know that people still like what I make~


I entered both of these and the first one ended up winning!
Tomorrow, we're going to Anime USA!!!!!! It's an impulse decision, but like.......yolo, babeeyyyyyy!!! I've been sick for over a week and only started feeling better today, so the best thing to do is go to an anime convention XD I haven't been since 2015, when it was part of my honeymoon, so it'll be good to be back.

ESPECIALLY cuz it's back in its proper location, the Hyatt Regency Crystal City. I did not like when it moved to Marriott Wardman Park, so I'm glad that whole hotel has been demolished for wronging me~

Anyway! I'm currently watching Pat sew armsleeves so he can cosplay Karkat for the first time in a decade, but soon I gotta get up and work on my Madara wig so Liz and I can be Double Face again. I don't like how the bangs came out, and clearly 11 at night is the best time to start working.

uhhhhh what have I been up to? Besides farting around the house...

Oh! Less housework this week, if only because I had some bad pain days. I did do a big grocery run on Friday. Me and Chi hit four different stores and I got basically everything we needed. And I did make dinner yesterday, even if it was something simple. I was on voice chat with a friend I made at Otakon - because that's a thing I do now???? - and managed to do a bunch of dinner prep while chatting.

Maybe I should try to talk to friends more??????? Like not just online, but on the phone/voice chat/whatever, so that I'm less lonely during the day and it inspires me to get more done. I always do more if I'm not alone. I dunno. I used to talk on the phone all the time, but now it's less of a thing...except for jumping into voice chat on discord is sort of a thing now, I think. I dunno. I sometimes feel old and out of touch, and I'm not even that old XD

I've been picking away at the layout for this journal, but I'm struggling? I dunno. I haven't been happy with a lot of the grunge-y stuff I've done lately, and I don't really know how to fix it. I've gotten back into doing some sparkle graphics recently, partially because I've been doing a backup of them over on InsaneJournal- which btw was a whole saga to get into. But yeah, I'm slowly putting up every freebie/requestable I've ever made over on killiansicons. I suppose I could do that here, but it would completely overtake my graphics journal...I've done close to 200.

ANYWAY. Apparently, my original IJ was deleted & purged for inactivity. I went digging and found the email...which was from when I was in culinary school and didn't have consistent access to a computer. So, I see what happened. But now IJ is fucking invite only - the bane of my existence and why it took me so long to get both LJ and DW accounts - and I don't have friends on journaling sites anymore. And I went around online trying to find someone giving them out, which of course I couldn't. So I made a tumblr post looking for one...which someone replied to today, almost a week later. As if I have that kind of patience XD I paid $5 for a month of paid time so I could get one.

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE. I couldn't register my original username, because it was deleted and purged. Because fuck you, I guess. I would have to buy a rename token. And I already had to pay for an account, so...I ended up using one of my old GreatestJournal usernames ;D I'm kirrianu over there, and it's been really great to use a whole shit ton of my old icons from GJ. I'm glad I back them all up before the site went up in flames!!!

Anyway. I'm currently waiting on the tree people to come by and give me an estimate for cutting back our neighbor's fucking tree, because they certainly won't do it. And then we can work on dealing with the roof leaking, before that whole side of the house gets fucked up.

Oh, right, I also napped on the couch this morning and had a weird dream. Considering I almost never dream...it was weird :T

Today, I've done homework the exact same way I did in high school: by making sparkle icons


I DON'T EVEN HAVE ANYWHERE TO POST THESE BECAUSE BASICALLY NO ONE USES THEM ANYMORE but here I am!!! I suppose it's only one icon but like. look. I can post it on my graphics journal if I so desire and confuse all the like 3 people who still follow me anymore.

I'm not even upset - or like, no I'm a little upset that the world has moved past sparkle graphics for the most part - I'm just living in a wild fucking time where I no longer have a massive following desperately waiting for new icons to request. Which mostly means that I can't procrastinate my theatre homework any longer; I can't make a bunch of icons for people instead of doing homework XD

But like. Yeah. Here I am, I guess. Having another chunk of nostalgia in a Korean bakery/cafe while my wife infodumps about Kino's Journey at our roommate, which is just what being in my 30s is, I suppose!! :D It's not bad. It's just a time that is happening to me.

ps- if anyone does like my freebie name icons, I'm always happy to customize them for friends!!! plz plz plz just ask :D

Can I just say how glad I am that the art of icon making has not been lost and is in fact, still doing pretty well here on DW? It's inspiring me to actually share the icons I make instead of just....using them....and never posting them elsewhere.... I'll probably make a few more before I post them but like!!! It's good to see!!!!

Currently desperately trying to write, so I guess making icons is just procrastinating in a creative way? XD

Day 9 | Commit an Act of Kindness. In your own space, share or talk about what you’ve done.

I helped my best friend, arahith, set up his DW! I resized and edited some pictures of his art and cosplay for him to use as icons, linked him to some icon posts of fandoms he likes, set up an account for him at my personal image host, and taught him some of the basic HTML he'll need for general day to day use. I'm also gonna make him a custom layout once he finishes the art he wants to use for it.

A couple years ago, his tumblr randomly got deleted - thanks for nothing as always, tumblr!! - and so he's been lurking on and off in fandom spaces since. Dreamwidth is the first place he's wanted to really set up since then, but he was very nervous about starting a new blog. Back in high school I tried to introduce him to LiveJournal, but it never really worked out for him. So now that we're almost 30, he's trying LJ-style blogging again XD Hopefully with more success!!!

Day 10 | Create a fanwork.

I'd originally planned on working on some fanfiction for this challenge, but instead I made a bunch of icons XD I'm trying to get back into the habit of making icons/graphics/etc more regularly, so this was a good start! They're all of Line stickers - so not fandom, per se - and they're incredibly cute :D


Check them out here!

I've mostly set up my graphics journal here!!! I'm still cross-posting a few entries that didn't get imported from LJ (mostly because....I had them all over the place.....why did I have so many graphics journal on LJ/GJ??), but it's mostly done!

Proooobably gonna be doing mostly fandom graphics these days, and eventually requests? Maybe? I've been out of the icon making loop for so long I dunno what's in vogue anymore XD

Anyway!! Check it out :D

I'm still going through the thousands of icons I have saved between various external hard drives, but I'm pleased with what I've got so far!! I dug up some of my old sparkly icons from my dark past as a popular requestable/customs graphics and you know...I still love them :D I've mostly moved past that style, but they're still so good and friendly ♥

speaking of icon making, I'm slowly but surely setting up my graphics journal here!! I never got around to making one when I first joined dw, but now that I'm pretty set on moving back here, I wanna get back into graphics making. it's always been a hobby of mine, and it feels good to have killiansicons again. I've been using that username for my graphics journals since 2004...it's time to bring it back! :D

....I'm probably gonna focus more on fandom icons tho, cause I think the sparkle graphics phase has passed...sadly :C

pay day means it's finally time to upgrade my account here, because hot DAMN have I missed having more icons!!!!! the option to have multiple icons is probably my favorite feature of LJ-style sites, and honestly? it's so good to be back :D

now to spend my down time at work uploading a bunch...and making some of my ocs :D

But mostly because I'm bored. Opening up the LJ version of killiansicons. I registered the username back in 2008 when GJ started dying, but I just let it sit. I thought I'd grown out of making shiny sparkly icons when I graduated high school.

LOL NOPE XD

Go join & tell your friends. I have noooo idea how to get members here on LJ. halp.