Sigh.

I'm sorry for not posting for so long, I am on a class trip to Berlin right now. There's nothing wrong with the city itself, but the teachers make us walk so much! And we had to walk for over an hour just after we had eaten! I felt sick.

Also, a class trip is not the best time to get a cold. A bad one. My throat hurts and I almost didn't sleep the whole night.

So you might have understood from the text above that I'm having a very bad morning. :(

Idk if I'll have time to make more graphics or post anything before Saturday, if I survive till then.

Maria/mgirl07

If you don't know what this post was, it's just a quick update saying I'm still alive.

A hacker?

Several days ago, I got a guestbook comment asking to do me a makeover. And she promised to give me 10 sd. I know, you shouldn't trust people who offer you money but as long as she doesn't ask for my password, why not?

So I answered her with a polite 'yes'.
Her next comment was just what I expected: the I-need-your-password-stage.

Now she suddenly also promises gifts? In her previous comment she only mentioned the 10 sd. Another proof that this person is not to be trusted. Again, I don't say 'go away u r a hacker!' but politely explain to her that I'm not giving her my pass. She can do a makeover of me in my beauty parlor without my password!

Now she's disappointed that she didn't succeed hacking me.

With my reply I test if she really is a hacker or not and wait for her answer. If she really wanted to do me a makeover, she would say 'yes'.

Nope. All she wanted was my pass.

I am going to be nice and not show her name, but remember, don't be fooled by this sort of tricks! She is not the only one who does this!

Maria/mgirl07

First attempt at background?

Yes, the title says it all. I have tried to make a graphic of a beach, just for fun. I didn't use any reference image for the beach, only for the palm leaf. It's NOT finished yet because I think the leaves need some more detail (I was in a very lazy mood that day) and obviously a beach needs seashells and pebbles and stuff like that, but how do I draw them?
Here is the unfinished beach graphic:

If I ever finish it I might use it for a graphic.

As you can see, I've used many of my program's 'childish' functions that a good graphic designer should never use... you should be able to make the sand look natural and 3D yourself without using the 'textures' tool, and although a self-made gradient takes more time it looks better than when it's made with the gradient tool!
I still like it, although it's not perfect.

Maria/mgirl07

StarMinimon?

If you check my to-do list, StarMinimon is the next person who requested a graphic, but her account and blogger account is deleted! It's not fair to just ignore her request and start working on the next, but what else can I do?
Maria/mgirl07

Graphic from drawing!

This is the one that got deleted (see last post) but I made it again! It's made out of a drawing I made of my mom (she asked me to draw her new haircut), and I decided to make a graphic out of it!
The drawing (made by me):

A photo of my mom: (I did NOT draw after the photo, it was taken when I was done drawing)

And FINALLY the graphic!

What do you think? :D

Mari/mgirl07

No, no, NO!!!!!!!!

I was working on a new graphic and it was turning out really beautiful. I had just spent 2 hours on it. From the beginning, my program reacted slowly and I had to click on some things several times to get them to work. And suddenly... it closed down! All of it! My beautiful new graphic which was almost finished, and it just closed down!!!
I am so angry right now that I want to scream! (but I can't, my little brother is sleeping)
So instead, you'll get this (very quickly sketched drawing by a person who is trying not to scream)

Why does life have to be like that? It was like my best graphic so far!

Wildgabz's graphic - banner coming soon

Now I'm done with a graphic I have been working on yesterday evening and today at school... actually, that's quite fast for me!

Here it is:

It turned out sort of okay I guess. I don't like the shading on the t-shirt, and my first attempt at floral patterns on the pants didn't turn out that good. In fact those roses look like... dog poos.

On the other hand, I really like the hair and I like the technique I used for the necklace.

It's made in black, grey and white colors, it's full body and it's sort of chic. Wildgabz, that's the sort of thing you asked for, right? If you don't like the pattern on the pants I can remove it, it takes 20 seconds. Now all I need to add is the text.

What do you think?

Maria/mgirl07

Starting school...

You might have noticed that I haven't updated this blog for some time, and there's a reason for that. No, I'm not leaving or anything, but on the 13th of August, this monday, I've started at school in 8th grade and promised myself to take it seriously. And there's a huge difference between taking school seriously and doing what I did last year.
Another reason is that this year we don't have boxes to store our books in in the classroom, but have to take them all home every day. And my back hurts very much of it because I am not used to carry this much. That's why I put half of the books in a plastic bag and carry it in my hands. And you can understand, when every little book adds extra weight a computer would be too heavy to take with. Even though it's a MacBook Air. That's why I don't have the 30 minutes on the way to school and 30 minutes back in the bus. Now I have an hour less than before.
But right now I'm sitting in a bus on the way to school and I have my computer with. That's because I need to use it for several different lessons today and I don't have so many books to take with.

And yesterday evening I've started working on a graphic for the next person on my waiting list, wildgabz. And today after school I will have weekend so I have more time to work on it. It will hopefully be finished tomorrow.

That's all from me right now, I better work on that graphic while I have 15 minutes left in the bus! :)
Maria/mgirl07

New version of face graphic

Earlier today I finished a graphic of my face, and now I changed a couple of things. What do you think about the changes? Better or worse?

BEFORE:

AFTER:

The 'before' eyes were not very nice, but these look a bit creepy. The mouth is darker and looks more natural. I have changed the mouth shading a little but to make it look like I am smiling. Also, all the shading is brighter and more defined.

My first face graphic!

Yep, I decided it was time for me to try making real faces in graphics. But then, what face should I make a graphic of? I am not obsessed with any specific singer, model, etc. And chocolate cakes don't have faces. So I decided to use a photo of myself.

This is my graphical recreation:

I am very happy about everything but the eyes. If you zoom in, they are very rough and unclear. And for some reason it looks like I have a very sad "why don't I get a cookie? :( " face expression.

This is the original photo. I have darker lips (which is annoying because I wish they were as pale as on the graphic version), unclear skin, and ugly clothes. But at least I am smiling.

What do you think is better? The graphic version or the photo?
I would put up a poll but I'm too busy. I really need to hurry!

Maria/mgirl07

Contest results...

No, I haven't forgotten about the contest that I once made... the problem is, there was only one entry!
It's really beautiful, but the person who sent it in can't get a prize because there was no other entries to compete against!
Thank you for sending in your entry, Alana/ask510.

That's all for now,

Maria/mgirl07

New banner!

As you probably have noticed by the time you are reading this post, I decided to make a new banner out of the graphic I made earlier today and another one that I made just now.

What do you think about it? In my opinion, it turned out really well!
And here's the second graphic by itself:

I love the green top and the hair on this one!

Maria/mgirl07

P.S. Tomorrow I'm going to Copenhagen with my family for two days (it takes too long time to explain why), so unless I survive a big fight with my mom or secretly take my computer with and have a fight with her later, I won't be online until the day after tomorrow. Maybe I will take my iPod Touch with, so I can answer guestbook comments and stuff, but I can't do any graphics or anything!

Mint green...

Today I was bored so I decided to make a new graphic. I don't want to work on the banner anymore, because the first half was made with my old technique and it looks really bad, and I'd rather start something new than erase half of the old stuff. Maybe I'll use this graphic for the new banner?

It's cute, right? I really like it. The hair has turned out very well.

What do you think?

Maria/mgirl07

14 steps - Graphic Tutorial of darkshadow205's graphic

Hello again readers! Today I have the promised tutorial for you, the one for the 14 party!

If there's anything you don't understand or you want me to explain something in a more detailed way, feel free to ask!
I know there is a lot of text, but it's all useful and important, so if you are using this tutorial, read all of it!
*Warning: I didn't make this in one day, and by the time I did step 2 or 3, darkshadow205 changed her skin colour! I had to change it on the graphic, so don't be confused by the unexpected colour change!

Darkshadow205's banner - tutorial coming soon

Here is darkshadow205's banner that I finally finished. It's also the graphic that I will make a graphic tutorial out of!
Here is the graphic itself:

It has turned out great, much better than I expected! I'm so proud of it!

There are 2 versions of the banner, you can choose the one you like best.

This is the cropped version. It looks better, but you can't see the full graphic.

The full version. I am not very good at layout of banners, but I think the blurry edge was a good idea. I can also blur the first one, if you want.


What do you think?

Maria/mgirl07

P.S. The tutorial for this graphic is coming soon so you can learn how to make it!

Raffle results

Hello readers/followers!
I am in a very good mood today, because I won Medoll of the Month on USD!!! Seriously, I couldn't believe it!
Anyway, back to the point of this post...

The raffle was due yesterday, and I have got 9 entries. I know that's quite much... but if there were just two more entries, the Superstar winner would get 5 stardollars more!

The prizes were:
- 30sd and a cupcake gift if you want one for the superstar/royalty winner
- You will be on the next banner of this blog together with me and a cupcake gift if you want one for the non-ss winner.

There were 6 non-ss entries, and 3 superstar/royalty entries.
And now you will find out who the winners are.

*DRUMROLL* (I know I can add a drumroll to the videos below, but my little brother is sleeping and I don't want to wake him up)


The superstar/royalty winner:

The winner is Crystallam2000! Reserve something in your StarBazaar for 30 sd, I will buy it as soon as possible so you can get the money. You will get the cupcake when I have bought the reserved item.

The non-ss winner:

The winner is ask510! You will get a cupcake now (or as soon as I have time), and the banner will be up in some days (maybe a week)!

Congratulations to the winners and thank you for participating to the others!

Maria/mgirl07

P.S. If you have a question about anything, if you can't see the video, if I have spelled one of the names wrong or anything else please let me know!