You're not holding anything up JF. Don't worry about it.

There are two things you can do; discard the Evenstar all together and maybe add something else to the picture that's easier (like Hobbits in the background for example, which we discussed before) - OR, if you really want the Evenstar there but you feel like it's too hard to do, maybe ask someone to help you out?

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.*+I'VE MET ANTIGONE, MONTANABOHEMIAN, RAIVYNN PHOENIX, BERIADANWEN & PIRATEOFTHERINGS+*.

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^ By me and my SS *squiggle hugs*

It depends how well you can blend the skin tones, I guess.

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.*+I'VE MET ANTIGONE, MONTANABOHEMIAN, RAIVYNN PHOENIX, BERIADANWEN & PIRATEOFTHERINGS+*.

(¯`•¸·´¯`·._.·[TRUE VAMPIRES DON'T SPARKLE]·._.·´¯`·¸•´¯)

Honestly, even with the unfinished editing, I think this already looks better

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by Lembas

I agree with Ana and Eru - don't worry about holding anything up! You're doing fine

I think this way of working with the Evenstar will work much better - would make it a little bit smaller right now, though. Again, look at a couple reference images:



It's actually pretty tiny, and the chain is pretty short as well.

If you can, try masking out areas of the chain and pendant at a larger size before importing it into the layout. You'll be able to work with the details more.

Ideally, the lighting on the Evenstar would the opposite, since the light's actually falling from the right of our screen on the layout picture and on Eru's picture it's from the left - but I think that won't be a huge deal Also, the light in the background is from the left, so...it's all good. And let me or anyone else know if you want any help!

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Well I am officially giving up for the night now. I've spent all day on it and my eyes can't take it anymore. I'm still having trouble getting it looking anything as good as it should do, so I'm going to try again tomorrow and then after that I think I might have to pass it onto someone else. Personally, I love the idea of having the Evenstar on the header, and I would be upset if we couldn't have it just because I can't make it work. So I'd rather someone else does it who knows what to do, than not at all. So don't expect any miracles tomorrow. The job could be for yooooou.

In the meantime, here is a rough draft of the header with a Hobbit or two in it. I've made them bigger and as it is a rough draft I intend to twiddle around with lighting if needs be. But I want to see whether people want them or not as thre is no point me adding them properly if no one likes poor Sam and Frodo. Bigger? Smaller? Different positions? Go away Hobbitses?



EDIT: And while I was at it, I thought I would see what the Hobbits would like with text there as well. Totally a sample BTW. Not sure yet of font, colour of font, or anything. But I thought I would try one placement of text anyway. Unlike the first header I did, there wasn't really room for Arwen-Undomiel.com to be all one line, so I like that we have that option here as well.

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^ By me and my SS *squiggle hugs*

Immediate thoughts: I love the hobbits there. But at the same time, I end up thinking, "what is Arwen looking at, that is more exciting than two hobbits walking past her?" Which doesn't really matter because we can't have her looking at them, that would make her turn her head away from us
Oh, and btw, it looks like Sam is about to walk into a tree

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by Lembas

I really love the Hobbits in the background, but yeah like you already said JF, they do need more work so that they don't look copy+pasted in.

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.*+I'VE MET ANTIGONE, MONTANABOHEMIAN, RAIVYNN PHOENIX, BERIADANWEN & PIRATEOFTHERINGS+*.

(¯`•¸·´¯`·._.·[TRUE VAMPIRES DON'T SPARKLE]·._.·´¯`·¸•´¯)

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^ By me and my SS *squiggle hugs*

Hehe yeah, I think if you just move him a teensy bit to the left it'll look better. His hand is almost inside the tree right now

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by Lembas

Or better yet, try to make his arm go behind the tree, it would look much more realistic then.

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.*+I'VE MET ANTIGONE, MONTANABOHEMIAN, RAIVYNN PHOENIX, BERIADANWEN & PIRATEOFTHERINGS+*.

(¯`•¸·´¯`·._.·[TRUE VAMPIRES DON'T SPARKLE]·._.·´¯`·¸•´¯)

Love the hobbits! The lighting should actually work pretty well with the forest scene, which is great for you I agree that Sam looks a little like he's walking into the tree, so that should probably be fixed. Both hobbits are a little more contrasty than their surroundings - Frodo especially, since he's walking through a shady patch. I'd just say pay attention to the darkest and lightest areas in the hobbit / forest images and try to make them match as well as you can. What do you think about having Gandalf leading the hobbits, since he's such a crucial part of the story?

I don't know if you're still planning on working with the Evenstar, but I can try my hand at it if you'd rather focus on the hobbitses.

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Personally I don't like the hobbits that much, I find them somehow a bit disturbing. Although the idea behind it is pretty funny.

For the rest it's doing just fine.

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With love, by Lembas.

'The rewards of flirting are more greater than the risks, be sexy and provocative.'

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^ By me and my SS *squiggle hugs*

Yes no maybe so?

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It only looks a tad bit blurry at the top of the actual pendant but DAYUM that's amazing!

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.*+I'VE MET ANTIGONE, MONTANABOHEMIAN, RAIVYNN PHOENIX, BERIADANWEN & PIRATEOFTHERINGS+*.

(¯`•¸·´¯`·._.·[TRUE VAMPIRES DON'T SPARKLE]·._.·´¯`·¸•´¯)