July 21st, 8th issue

This week, we have interviewed...


SHOTGUN

Before she started getting SOTDs, quite a large number of people have heard of SHOTGUN's name already. So what kind of person is Flinda (a.k.a. SHOTGUN) like exactly? You'll find out through this interview. As for me, I think that Flinda is a great person, principled and kind :D Enjoy!

1. How about some background info on yourself?

I'm Flinda, studying in Coral Sec.. I bet you've never heard of that school before but anyways.. I'm a female and I'm very random, I can't say a complete sentence without laughing.

2. How did the name SHOTGUN come about?

I wasn't sure what to name myself though I knew I wanted a simple one word username. And at that time, I was rather obsessed with Dougie Poynter of McFLY and came across this picture of him in this "SHOTGUN" shirt, so I decided to steal the name and make it my username haha. I later then used the picture as my profile picture and I guess that's why people used to think that Shotgun was a "he". Lol.

3. Why/how did you begin blogskinning?

I joined BS because I was curious about what people think about my skins. As for how it all began.. it all started when my older sister used to have her own graphics site during the Neopets era (LOL!) and I would watch her create all those graphics. Somehow I got inspired because everything seemed so fun and new. And at that point of time, people started blogging so I too jumped onto the bandwagon, but instead of using skins from BS, I tried making my own layouts and they were seriously a big disaster. They were either pink or purple everywhere and were just girly and full of swirlies brushes hahah.



4. You are very well-known for your stylish blogskinning style... so much so that people started imitating your stylf and using your base codes. Any thoughts on that?

Uhh, I'm not well known lol. Anyways, thanks, that's very nice!

I know I don't own the HTMLs and CSS codes myself, but I spent a lot of time editing the codes to make the whole skin and codes match so that it would look more "complete". So I'd appreciate it if people would credit me for using my base codes.

As for style, I don't have a fixed style like heroine's line art, I think mine are mostly just collages plus brushes and it's very common nowadays, so I don't really see it as imitation.

5. I've heard that a while ago, you met with this problem in which blogskinners used the pictures you posted on deviantART to make blogskins without creditting you properly or not asking for permission beforehand. Actually I don't really know the details, would you mind elaborating?

They emailed me, saying something like "HELP me, ppl are accusing me!! Tell them I'm not a ripper" and then claiming to have saved my deviantART pictures and made it into a blogskin but didn't credit me because they "simply can't remember where I got the picture from" until people started calling them rippers and telling them that it's from Shotgun's deviantART account. Being the nice person that I am *coughs*, I helped them clear things up and said it was okay. But it was true, I wasn't that pissed although I knew they didn't ask me beforehand, but I was still okay with it as they still credited and emailed me after knowing where the picture is from. I mean, some just steal the stuff and then later act like they didn't.

6. Your rise to "fame" on blogskins.com was one of the fastest ever, what do you think about that?

Really ? Hmm, I think it has got something to do with my name and skins, hahah.



7. Any comments on the recently implemented changes to the Blogskins.com layout/ system (e.g. the friends/enemies system, format of profile page)

I think it's pretty weird, though I like the fact that you're able to see the preview of your friends's skins in your own page. I don't really like the SOTD system, it's making people wanting to be the SOTD all the time.

8. How has Blogskins.com changed you?

Like more blogskinners, BS has made me more open to criticisms and critique. It made me realized that since art, or rather, design, is a really subjective thing, there are bound to be people who hates your stuffs, but you don't have to let it affect you so much. It's just a matter of different people having different views and we'd have to learn to accept that.

9. Any Blogskinning tips?

1. Don't be discouraged, every expert was a beginner in the first place. I'm not saying that I'm an expert, but the quote makes sense. And practice a lot, make a lot of stuffs, if you don't like it don't delete it, it'd be nice to look back after a while to see your progress. And find out what suits you best, figure out what you really enjoy making instead of looking around and "copying" others' work.

2. Be careful with your font choice, colour combinations, css and the quality of the image. If one part of the skin doesn't live up to your expectations (like maybe the graphic), probably you could try to cover or make it up by further improvising on the codes then.

3. Best is if you know your strength ( Collages? Brushes? Drawings? Line art ? Hand drawn pictures ? Good with colours ? ) and use it to enhance your work so that people wouldn't focus so much on your weaknesses.

4. If you want to use pictures from deviantART to make blogskins, ask for permission first. Ask nicely and state that you'll credit them, most of the time you'll just get their permission.

When saving the DA picture, don't rename the file name! The "What_What_Hell_By_Artist_Here" is there for a reason, it's supposed to be reminding where you got it from.

And don't forget to give a direct link back to their deviantART account. Unless you wanna be charged with copyright infringement.

5. Don't curse people silently for giving you a 4.5 stars or below. Sure it's ego-damaging, but if you really want to improve, be open to critique. Some may like your skins, some may not, you can't please every single person out there. It's always interesting to know what different people thinks about your stuffs. If you even want to join BS, must at least try to accept what other people think about your skins la, cannot always have people saying "wah lao so nice sia" at every single comment what right, like that so fake.



10. [randomly generated question] Do you like the colour pink?

I don't like baby pink but I quite love hotpink lol.

Signing off,
Elaine

Labels: interview, SHOTGUN