Fun with Photos, Reminders, New Poll, and Three Days to "Like"

 Everyone loves an interesting photo, and seeing photo illustrations is neat, too. You can do so much with pictures that the possibilities are endless, but I decided to have a little fun with some of my images.

Take my Balance character for example. Looks the same as any wizard, right? Wrong! You can't hold a mount or a broomstick, specifically the Horned Sweeper, and yet my character is clearly doing just that.

The trick is to place your mount in your house, and while getting a shot from above would've been easiest, I did it the hard way got each part and put the together. If my Balance didn't already have such a unique staff, I might have used this picture of him on the header. It's fun to show of your wizard in a new way - with their favorite broom!

As I said, you can do almost anything with photos. For a front and back shot, I put both sides of myself onto one picture and slightly blended them together. You can now see both sides in one picture.
Now perhaps you've always wondered if you'd be able to do magic outside of the dueling circle with your hands or wands.

With GIMP or another editing program, creating things like this is fairly simple. Take the below examples. First you have two of my characters fighting in wand-to-wand combat, although it doesn't look quite natural, I did it quickly. Next you have my death character using his hands to cast a spell. Use emotes to get your characters in different positions for pictures.

You might be curious as to where the magic came from. It was simple some faded white getting larger toward the center. The colors on each side and the sparks in the middle come from pictures of the different schools teleporting. With a simple smudge, you can create an explosive effect in the center, too.


If you're trying to place emphasis on objects like I was when I wrote a blog article about the Bazaar, you might want to lighten things up. I did this one with a picture of a sunrise and a white brush.

While it doesn't look quite right, it adds something to your picture and makes it more interesting, like most photo illustrations.

Using an eraser tool without a hard edge, you'll be able to combine pictures and create all sorts of special effects.

One of the most recent places I've used them is in my comic strip, "The Necromancer's Diary." Unfortunately, I didn't get a lot of feedback on the comic and it took quite a large chunk of time to create, so I wouldn't hold your breath for any more of those unless some unknown feedback mysteriously pops up (*cough* *comment* *cough*).

I thought I'd remind you of a couple of things to look for. Firstly, the Petnome Project has been added to our Links, so keep an eye out for activity and the latest talents for the five new pets. Next, be on the lookout for your Wyvern's Hoard Pack code in your email if you voted for Wizard101 and keep an eye on the Game Developers Choice Online Awards website for information on the winners in each category. If Wizard101 wins, you'll receive a code for a free pet that will be retired after the event! (Zombie Piggle?)

Now I've got a new poll for you to take a look at asking about the name of the blog. Do you think it should change? Now's your chance to tell us! The poll will close on the 31st of October, 2011, at 6:00 PM CST.

For those of you who aren't up to speed on the latest developments of the Swordroll's Blog community, Swordroll's Blog is on Facebook and when you "Like" us, you're automatically entered into a drawing for one or more KI Free Games codes. Last week's winner received three codes, and codes could give you anything from seeds, reagents, and pet snacks, to pets, housing items, minigames, and retired swords and wands! You have only 3 days left this week to "Like" us on Facebook for your chance to win!

Should I even add one of my overused introductions to this portion of the post? Hmm... Now remember to post a comment and vote on our poll, become a member of the blog, follow us on Twitter, "Like" us on Facebook and tell you're your friends, too! Thanks for reading!