Creativity of the day

[Gulliver]

This took a while to "get right", and I'm still not completely happy with it, but it's a first go.

To go for the "city transit map" look, you could try converting it to a vector image and smoothing the lines. I think you've got the colours right for that sort of thing... you're very good at making authentic looking things. Have you considered prop-making as a career?

Have you ever printed your money designs out? I imagine the paper would be hard to get right. Hand-made paper with a high linen or cotton content might give you a good result.

[vampireshark]

To go for the "city transit map" look, you could try converting it to a vector image and smoothing the lines. I think you've got the colours right for that sort of thing... you're very good at making authentic looking things. Have you considered prop-making as a career?

Have you ever printed your money designs out? I imagine the paper would be hard to get right. Hand-made paper with a high linen or cotton content might give you a good result.

That does sound like a good idea. I don't use a vector graphics program normally, but I'm pretty sure I could find a way to run a conversion and smooth it out (I have all summer, after all). This is also a bit of a precursor to retrying a public transit map and a possible big road map of the Federation.

And thanks... actually, I haven't even thought about prop-making or anything art-related. Mostly because of all the put-downs and the expectations of everyone for me to do science-related stuff. But part of it also is that I do a lot of paper stuff, but not much on the physical side.

As for printing money designs, my issue is that, if I were to do that, I wouldn't be satisfied with the result (as in, I would want to make an actual specimen of the banknote). Yeah, a good unbleached cotton paper, much like the Euro uses, would work wonders and print the designs well, but some of the design elements, such as fluorescing ink, intaglio, security threads, custom watermarks, holograms, and iridescent patches, would be difficult, if not impossible, to achieve without going to a dedicated security printer, and that would cost a pretty penny. Not to mention one of my designs is for BIAPP (polymer plastic), and acquiring that/printing on it would be a nightmare.
Still, though, it's a dream. And it might happen one day. (In any event, you look photogenic... want to appear on a banknote?)

[Gulliver]

Inkscape is a free vector image program. Personally, I think it falls into the "impossibly complicated obvious beta product" area of free software, but you may have some luck with it.

Regarding the paper... hmm... maybe a very dilute PVA glue wash and then very careful drying would give it the slight plasticity of many notes. If you used several layers of very thin paper, possibly on a linen or craft silk "skeleton" and used non water-soluble inks, you could probably create a composite image with things like a watermark by cutting through certain layers of paper with a craft knife, which would allow light to pass through in a controllable manner. This would also allow you to put in a metal strip if you're handy with a craft knife and a metal ruler. Or maybe paint the image on with baby oil or vegetable oil or something, as oil makes paper transparent. This would probably visible without holding it up to the light, though... Hmm

Obviously, this would be impractical for mass-production, but it might work as a kind of physical prototype.

[Risla]

I've been trying to compose con-music for a conworld or something. Here are some examples:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/19419654/friess.mp3
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/19419654/regicide.mp3
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/19419654/untitled12.mp3
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/19419654/timecube.mp3

I might want to get more into the music theory of it, I'm really just winging the melodies and harmonies and rhythm and... everything.

This is actually quite good. Props.

[din]

Made a new banknote for my concountry:



Tell me what you think

[vampireshark]

Made a new banknote for my concountry:

[...]

Tell me what you think

Money!
...okay, well, that's not a very descriptive response.

Anyways, I do like the simplicity of the motif. The watermark looks excellent, too. You've got some good underprinting as well, and that's a plus. Here's what I'd recommend doing, though:
1.) The bird's an eyesore with color-matching. Try to tint it to better match either your other overprint (the "10 thagn" in the upper corner) or with the background, i.e. make it a bit more green.
2.) Extend the underprint a bit more throughout the banknote, as complicated is harder to counterfeit.
3.) You don't need the name of the person listed beneath the signature. Keep the title there, though.
4.) The note seems rather barren... why not duplicate the bird, really lighten it up, and put it as a darkening layer to the left of it?
Still, though, it looks good and like it has a lot of potential. And this reminds me (no offense meant to you) that I should post the banknote "tutorial" I've been working on at some point... problem is, it doesn't feel like I'm happy at all with it.

[Torco]

I've been trying to compose con-music for a conworld or something. Here are some examples:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/19419654/friess.mp3
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/19419654/regicide.mp3
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/19419654/untitled12.mp3
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/19419654/timecube.mp3

I might want to get more into the music theory of it, I'm really just winging the melodies and harmonies and rhythm and... everything.

This is actually quite good. Props.

+1
the instrument kind of don't fit the theme, tho... it might be my western sensibilities speaking, tho. or the program used.
still, osom.

[din]

Anyways, I do like the simplicity of the motif. The watermark looks excellent, too. You've got some good underprinting as well, and that's a plus. Here's what I'd recommend doing, though:
1.) The bird's an eyesore with color-matching. Try to tint it to better match either your other overprint (the "10 thagn" in the upper corner) or with the background, i.e. make it a bit more green.
2.) Extend the underprint a bit more throughout the banknote, as complicated is harder to counterfeit.
3.) You don't need the name of the person listed beneath the signature. Keep the title there, though.
4.) The note seems rather barren... why not duplicate the bird, really lighten it up, and put it as a darkening layer to the left of it?
Still, though, it looks good and like it has a lot of potential. And this reminds me (no offense meant to you) that I should post the banknote "tutorial" I've been working on at some point... problem is, it doesn't feel like I'm happy at all with it.

1) You're right. I took a good look at it in daylight, and did something about it.
2) Good point -- would liven things up, too. I tend to favor simplicity, but I gave it a try, and liked it a lot. I ended up going for cross hatching or texturing in the direction of the 'beams' shooting off the central hexagon. It's very subtle, but it's there.
3) OK
4) I made everything a lot more dramatic, and I added 2 birds. You were right, again. I do prefer it. Not entirely sure if I prefer the addition of the gold in the bottom left over the green, but I'm sticking with it for now.

Thanks for the useful feedback!

Here's the new version:



Let me know what you think

[Jipí]

Cthulhu fthagn.

(Could not resist, sorry.)

[din]

Hah

It sounds more elegant than it looks, it's: /θa:n/, though in more conservative dialects it's [θaʁ̞n] or [θa:ˀn], which is admittedly a little more Cthulhu (or alternatively, Danish) sounding

[vampireshark]

Thanks for the useful feedback!

Here's the new version:

[...]

Let me know what you think

Looks even more awesome. (I'd want an actual specimen of it, if such existed.) And I say, while the gold may not be aesthetically pleasing for you, I vote it's a good addition and makes the banknote appear even more realistic. Good job!

[Cedh]

Here's the new version:
[...]
Let me know what you think

I like it a lot! One possible improvement I can think of: You could blend the gold into the green over a much wider area (e.g. full opacity only right around that little badge on the lower right, maybe half of the currently gold-looking area, but 5-10% opacity even near the middle (or even the tips) of the bird's wings). As it is now, there's almost no gold to the top left of the bird, and the transition looks too sudden IMO. Also, I would probably move the gold layer below the bird, so that the bird's head is not tinted with gold.

[din]

Thanks for your comments!

Cedh:
The bird's head is golden because I made it so It's the very top layer (out of, like, 40). I found a fully green bird too harsh facing the gold. Moving the gold inwards and upwards is possible, though I do want to keep the effect of the hexagon with the lines running off its sides,so I'm 'limited' there. I'll try fiddling around with it some more soon.

[Pinetree]

So, It's not like this is a finished product, not even close, and I don't know where it's going, but:

Herein follows the account of Tulsh Yágenid*, written in the 24th year that Khauta Shekhad was lord of the Tyalenash, that is, the Clan of Tyalen Shekhekulid, which sits above all others, being the 284th year since the death of Shekhekul The Fatherless and the forming of the clans.

In the 3rd year of the rule of Khauta Shekhad, and the 20th year of my life, a wanderlust took me, and I was compelled to enter the wild and wander far from my homelands, and so I left the house of my father, Yágen Nalnid, taking only a stave of kheder** wood and five loaves of bread***, and took an eastward course towards the Long Mountains. For three days and nights, I walked with neither rest nor sleep, taking bites of the bread as I needed, and drinking from the streams. At the beginning of the fourth day, my body was so weary that it stopped moving and I fell to the ground as one dead. My dreams were long and troubled, and I do not know how long I slept. When I woke, it was twilight, and the moon was on the rise. My legs and back ached, and my clothes were wet with dew. I stood, and, taking my staff in my hand, began to walk once more, and ate more bread. After that, I was more careful to sleep regularly. After five more days, I entered the village of $$$****, at the foot of the mountains, and was generously taken into the home of Gordáks Grotid for the night, for it was raining heavily, and I was wet through to my skin.

For three days, I stayed in the home of my host, and after that time, he graciously gave me three more loaves, and I went onwards, after making suitable thanks and farewells to my host, and ascended the mountains, making for a pass that I was told of.

*Shkuloik surnames are patronymic, with either <-d> or <-id> being the suffix (the vowel being present if there is a final consonant).
**Kheder: A species of tree that produces a strong and dense hardwood
***Probably a calorie-rich bread, full of nuts and dried fruit
****I haven't named it yet.

[vampireshark]

More revisiting old projects. This one for the new year.
Points to whoever knows what this is.

[Pinetree]

More revisiting old projects. This one for the new year.
Points to whoever knows what this is.

What is that, a parking pass?

[finlay]

car tax, or a motorway permit...

[Jipí]

It's got the motorway traffic sign on it, so it's a motorway permit sticker.

[vampireshark]

It's got the motorway traffic sign on it, so it's a motorway permit sticker.

car tax, or a motorway permit...

Yep, it's a vignette (motorway permit sticker), namely for Ilia; such a sticker is obligatory to use motorways. This one's an annual sticker, so it's valid for shortly before the marked year to just after it finishes. Unlike Switzerland's sticker, though, it also comes in smaller time intervals:

Monthly Sticker

Ilia Vignette 3B.png (150.54 KiB) Viewed 3878 times

10-day Sticker

Ilia Vignette 3A.png (164.52 KiB) Viewed 3878 times

So, yeah, awesomeness points to GP and finlay.

[Jipí]

Unlike Switzerland's sticker, though, it also comes in smaller time intervals:

One of the most annoying things when you go to Switzerland by car and plan to stay less than, what was it, a year?

So, yeah, awesomeness points to GP and finlay.

Thanks!

[The Count]

A sneak peek at parts of my map over Xhaimera (the southwest corner, behind the skull artwork Temyn). It has obviously been up for some days but I haven't noticed until now since I don't manage that FB page myself. Scroll down to the entry from the 19th of June.

http://www.facebook.com/Xhaimera

[Torco]

yo guise, check it out! I made a webshow kind of sort of thingamajig

It's in spanish, so you may want to use it for listening practice? added handicap of it being in informal registry.

[The Count]

A sneak peek at parts of my map over Xhaimera (the southwest corner, behind the skull artwork Temyn). It has obviously been up for some days but I haven't noticed until now since I don't manage that FB page myself. Scroll down to the entry from the 19th of June.

http://www.facebook.com/Xhaimera

Addendum:
Noticed that the full map is also (barely) visible in a shared photo posted today (27/6).

[Torco]

yo guise, check it out! I made a webshow kind of sort of thingamajig

It's in spanish, so you may want to use it for listening practice? added handicap of it being in informal registry.

xD lol clipboard fail
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-_9pRHK6ZI
there.

[vampireshark]

Yay for thread necromancy.