In response to several recent requests, your ever-obliging GAPAs have decided to create a 2009 edition of the MB Signature design. You can view previous versions at Musery Loves Company.
In order to have them available in time for end-of-year holidays, we’re going to try working with a shorter deadline than usual: NOVEMBER 22, which is the Sunday before Thanksgiving. So spread the word those of you who know other MBers.
Here’s how to participate:
1. Create your signature, using whatever medium you prefer, traditional or digital.
2. Scan the results, if necessary (preferably at 200 or 300 dpi) A digital photo might work, also, if you have a steady hand.
3. Send by email to gapa @ musefanpage.com (except without the spaces)
OR if you have no way of scanning your signature, you may send it by U.S. mail to: Rebecca Lasley c/o P. O. Box 3, Jamestown NC 27282.
For those of you who email us PLEASE USE DESCRIPTIVE TEXT IN YOUR SUBJECT LINE AND FILE NAMES, e.g., “Lady Bunniful-signature.” Avoid generic phrases like “my signature” or “untitled.”
PREVIOUS PARTICIPANTS: You may send in a new design or request to reuse your old one. But we will not assume you want to be included unless you tell us you do.
SIGNATURE GUIDELINES
LINE WIDTH: Strong, bold lines will print best. Do NOT use pencil, fine-line pens, or their digital equivalent.
SIGNATURE SIZE: Make it big. Probably bigger than you think you need to. There are so many variables, it’s hard to be specific, but if the file size is smaller than 80k, there’s a good chance your drawing is too small. It’s much easier for us to reduce an oversized graphic than it is to enlarge one that is too small.
If you can, print a test copy to see how it looks. Most signatures should print out to at least a couple of inches wide and no less than half an inch in height. Do not judge size by what you see onscreen. Onscreen size does not coincide with reality.
FILE FORMAT: Most any graphic programs will support the following formats: JPG, BMP, PNG, or GIF. (Look under “save” or “export” in the file menu. If you’re thinking of sending anything else, please ask beforehand.
In general, keep your designs bold and simple. Subtle detail will get lost in the printing. Please DO NOT add tag phrases any longer than two or three words. If you do, we will delete them. They look too smudgy when printed at small sizes.
SIGNATURE LIST
Received:
Agrrrfishi
Alice
Armada
AvalonGirl
bluefire27
bookgirl_me
Cat’s Eye
CTN
Daisy*chain
Ducky
Enceladus
Errata
gimanator
Goldendoodle
gradster1
JJjetplane girl w/cats
JW
Koppar
Loreena Chatheng
mas0n
muselover
peary moppins
Rainbow*star
shadowfire
Silver Lining
soccer starr
speller73
SudoRandom
Thanks For All the Fish42
Zinc the sorceress
Repeat from last time:
Adeia
Beavo
Cat’s Meow
Jadestone
Kagcomix
kiwimuncher
Logogeo96
Luna the Lovely
Marfwarrior
Midnight Fiddler
Piggy
Purple Panda
Red-tailed HAWK
RoseQuartz
Tesseract
TNÖ
Please use the signature I sent in last time, SQ.
And many thanks for attempting to have them ready before GENERIC WINTER HOLIDAY.
Well, it’s/they’re not really a generic, more of a multiplicity.
Um, until or unless I send you a new signature, please use my one from last time. I’m considering trying to make a new one, but at this moment getting some school work accomplished takes precedent, so…..Might not get that done.
Thanks!
And, imagine that….School takes precedent, and yet…..Luna has already completed a new siggy. Gee, Luna procrastinating? I can’t imagine.
I wanted to put the tagline “Outside the government, beyond the police.” [For those of you–in other words, for most all of you–who don’t know, that’s from the voiceover bit at the beginning of every ep of Torchwood…….”Torchwood: Outside the government, beyond the police. Tracking down alien life on Earth, arming the human race against the future. The twenty-first century is when everything changes. And you gotta be ready.” or, for season 2: “Torchwood: outside the government, beyond the police. Fighting for the future on behalf of the human race. The 21st Century is when everything changes — and Torchwood is ready.”]
But, obviously, that was too long a tag phrase. The other one I would’ve liked was “The twenty-first century is when it all changes.”
Again, too long.
I also liked: “It’s the button on top,” but it makes no sense out of context……One of the characters was asking what was with Ianto (another character) and stopwatches, and Ianto goes: “It’s the button on top.”
Or I would’ve liked just to do anything with stopwatches, but, well, the whole subtext behind the stopwatch scene isn’t particularly suitable for the general viewing public…..Not PG.
So, I settled with “Death by Torchwood”, which just doesn’t sound near as good, but….Y’know, it’s what I’m going with for now, until I change my mind sometime between now and the deadline.
Could you reuse my old signature? Thanks!
Could you reuse my old one?
Hm. I think maybe I’ll make a new one this year.
Did you get mine? I think I sent it to you…
Everyone wants to have their old one reused… I, fortunately, am not in that boat, since I have no old one. Must get started. Instead of NaNoing, of course.
I will make one. What kind of distinctive subject line are we talking about? Just something like “SudoRandom’s Signature”, or something more?
That’s fine. Just so we know what it is. The first time, in particular, we got lots of messages and file names that were essentially identical (or looked like spam), making it quite confusing to track them. Then the computer would complain about already having a file of that name, and so forth.
I sent in mine.
Actually, mine isn’t very original/good. Maybe I’ll make a better one.
I sent mine! It is not as cool as the previous signatures that I have seen.. but oh well.
I sent mine, like, a half hour after I posted that, but it wasn’t worth posting again. Mine turned out fairly decently, but after I sent it I kept looking at the printed version and thinking about everything I’d change. Whatever. It’s fine.
I just realized I titled my signature file, oh-so-originally, ‘signature’, after reading the line that tells me to be descriptive, and misinterpreting it as telling me to title my email descriptively, and completely missing the part where it told me to title the signature as well. Extremely sorry, GAPAs. Would it be easier if I resent it, with a better name?
It’s not worth resending; don’t worry about it. The email subject line helps a lot, though. Thanks!
‘Kay. You’re welcome. Again, sorry about that.
Mine is a PSD right now. I’m not sure how to make it a JPG.
PSD is fine. That’s Photoshop’s proprietary format, and I use Photoshop. I didn’t mention it because not that many MBers have the software.
Please use my previous (and only) one. That’s still what my handwriting looks like (sadly), and that’s still the most creative thing I can think of for my signature (even sadder).
As for color, I do believe I sent a copy of it in black. It can remain black, or it can become a dark, dark blue or green if that would mesh better with the aesthetic requirements required by The Artist.
Not sad at all. In fact, it makes a nice logo.
I’d like to reuse mine still, please. I don’t think I’ll have time to make a new one, and I think mine looks okay as is. Also it is not worth re-writing/coloring, I have no idea where my calligraphy pen is anymore x_x
Mine’s sent. Is it big enough? I don’t have a printer.
Should I make mine with a pair of pilot goggles? Or should I put them on a cat? By the way, what’s a tag phrase? (Just for clarification.)
You should have a cat wearing pilot goggles.
What letter should be wearing my hat?
SFTDP just thought of this, is it a bad idea to have dark colors in our signature? Or is it fine?
Don’t worry about the colors. I can adjust if necessary — though I’ll ask if any radical change is necessary.
The “S”, with it cocked on the left side of it.
Ooh, sorry. I’m doing it on the “R” with it cocked to the right. And I’m liking it.
I am loving my signature. A lot. I’m using the colors from my old avatar, (Remember, the river kokopelli) except a bit more vibrant, for the letters, except for the “R”, which is purple.
I am really loving this signature. And I’m not sure why.
I want to put that quote from Zinc’s play on it, “I may not look like it, but I’m pretty speedy!” or something like that, but I’m not sure if I should, and I’m not sure where it would go.
Zinc, for starters, do I have your permission?
See the note in the instructions about no tag lines.
Oh, darn. I was iffy about it anyway.
Thanks for making up my mind!
I’ll probably make mine soon when I have more time. I’m excited to be a part of this!
Ooh, i have a new one. I’ll try and ink it and send it in. ^^
Ohyes. This. I made my new sig sometime last January… XD It’s way better than the last one, but I think I’m going to have to snail mail it again, because our scanner is really bad…what’s the address again, GAPAs?
The snail-mail address is at the top of the page after the 3rd step in “how to participate.”
Ah. Thank you.
Your school or library will undoubtedly have some sort of scanner that will probably be fairly high quality.
-A
Good point…. I’m not sure if the library will let me scan stuff into the computer, though. We shall see.
The twenty-second? But…. That’s in November.
-A
Again, did Lady B. get my signature?
No sign of it.
Please be sure your signature is attached to your email.
Rainbowstar and speller73 — nothing attached.
Errata — I’m not sure what happened, but your file won’t open.
I’ll start a list in “post 0” of what we have.
My computer was being stupid, so it sent it twice. The second one should have the attachment.
Odd. I couldn’t figure out how to change its format, so I just retyped the letters at the end and I thought it worked… I’ll go experiment.
‘Kay, so I couldn’t open it either. I figured something else out and resent it… Details in the email.
I’ll get to work on it soon, but if I don’t make it by the deadline, please use mine from last year.
Can it be a combination of digital and non-digital?
Sure.
That’s what I did last year. Drew the signature with a felt-tip pen, scanned it, and colored it via computer.
I think I’ll do it all digital.
Hooray! Signatures!
I’m making one right now on Photoshop…
What should the resolution be? Is 500 pixels/square inch ok?
It needn’t be that high. 200-300 dpi is fine.
Sent it!
Will you use my old one? Thanks!
Sent mine, which isn’t very good because of my complete lack of a scanner for scanning it, stamps for sending it by snail mail, or a program on my computer that does decent art at all. Adjust it at will to blend with the rest if you need to…
Actually, it probably wouldn’t be very good even if I did draw it by hand and send it in or scan it. But at least this way I’ve got an excuse.
Yay! More signaturey things!
Use my signiature from last time, I liked the simplicity of it.
Sent. Is it big enough? It is good enough? Is it-*shuts up*
I am making mine. It’s going to be awesome.
I made a new one. Sending it in now.
When I scan my signiture do I scan it as a photo or a written document, and is it just a black and white thing because mine is colorful?
SFTDP I sent mine. Is it OK?
SFTTP Have you got my signature yet? I need to no!!!!!!!!!
Yes.
Hello GAPAs! You can just reuse my old one!
I found a better way to make a signature. If I’m not finished by deadline just use the one I sent you please?
GAPAs? I’ve changed my mind…….Could you just isolate the “Luna the Lovely” and the black witch’s hat from my previous sig? Or would it be simpler if I just did so myself and sent it to you……?
No problem. Easy for me to do.
Great! Thank you!
Oh, drat. I need to get around to making mine… I’l prolly just keep it simple.
I’m going to make mine soon. I’m going to try to keep it simple though, I don’t have much time.
I’ve sent mine. How is it?
Should be fine.
I just sent mine in, but I CCed myself and I can’t seem to open it. I’m pretty sure you’ll have the same problem if I couldn’t, but let me know and I’ll try to resend if you can’t get it.
You’re right, it won’t open.
Alright, I’ve resent it. Hopefully it will work this time!
It worked if it’s plain text.
It wasn’t a standard font, (Like Times New Roman, I think the one I used was called Candara) but I would consider it “plain text.” My guess is that it worked.
Okay, I just opened my attachment (a photoshop file) and it worked just fine. Are you still having problems with it?
Can you work with this?
http :/ /grab .b y/Dr6
It’s very simplistic – which is the reason (I’m hoping, anyway) that it’s only forty-one kilobytes. I just wanted to get something simple on the board.
Oh- On white it’s fine as-is, I think. But I know you sometimes change people’s so they show up better on a darker background – if you do that to mine, could you please make it green and matrix-like? Glowing effects are fun, too, if you are willing. I’m not sure how to do that myself.
I have the original document, too, with the ASCII characters and all, if you have need of that. Also, if you don’t want to post that link, I can definitely send it to you otherwise.
-A
Could you thicken the outline of the duck in mine a bit?
If I can make a preemptive public service announcement, I doubt the GAPAs have enough time to modify or create each signature that comes in. I’m sure they’d love to help everyone as much as possible, but alas they are fettered with employment and the like. Of course, perhaps I’m being too presumptuous here, but I, were I in the GAPAs’ position, would feel this way.
Can it be scanned from a paper at a large size and then sent as a file?
That works.
(46, 47) Don’t worry, Ducky; if the lines need thickening to print clearly, I’ll thicken them.
The final image has to be readable within a range from roughly 3″x3″ (a coffee mug, for instance) to 10″x10″ (the largest t-shirt size allowable) and must show up on a variety of background colors, so I always end up making some minor adjustments to many of the signatures.
Thanks, Piggy. True enough. Plus it’s hard to keep up with miscellaneous requests. But we will do our best to make this look its best. Somehow it always comes together.
I thought I resent mine …
Howdy GAPAs,
I don’t mind at all if you re-use my signature from last year.
Lots o’ Love,
Kagcomix
Hi! Yeah, you can use my old signature if you want. I obviously haven’t added anything else onto my name.
Okay, so I’ve drawn mine. Now I just need to figure out how to send it….I’ll see if our scanner works, and if it doesn’t, I’ll send it in through the mail. I just hope it’ll arrive in time…
If you have to send it by post, just let us know that it’s on its way. It will get in.
Okay, so I just sent it. Like, in the last fifteen minutes. By mail. Because my mom didn’t understand that the deadline was Sunday, and didn’t mail it yesterday….but anyway. There’s probably a fifty-fifty chance that it’ll arrive on Sunday as opposed to Monday. Thanks for waiting (which I really hope you do).
That’s fine Armada. It probably won’t get here until Monday, but as long as I know it’s on its way, you’re in.
All right. Thanks a bunch. (If it doesn’t arrive by Monday, you can use my old signature, I guess.)
Don’t worry, we’ll use the new one.</I.
You can use my old one.
I’ve sent mine. The file is 2MB. Is that too big?
No, that’s fine.
I think I’ll repeat from last year, unless I get the awesome picture of my awesome phoenix pumpkin carving in time….
I just checked the Muserly Loves Company site, and it looks like you have a white and black variation of the signatures. If you do the same thing this year, I’m guessing you’ll have to modify mine so it shows up on the black background. If you do, would silver be an ok color? If there’s something that would work better, I don’t really mind. Just a suggestion though.
What is the GAPA email address again? I always forget.
It’s listed in the first section of the Rules.
Thanks!
I’m sending mine in…
I’ve just sent mine in…
Ironically, I neglected to make one last year despite my oh-no-way-I’m-a-neophyte-attitude. Now’s the moment of truth
Sending in, like, right now. I had to scan it and my dad’s working on it right now, so he’s sending it in..
-frantic nod-
Bah. I’m still not happy with my sig… but there’s no time left to redo it again. Pressure! Sending in the revised…
By the way, THANK YOU, everyone, for including your names in the subject lines and filenames. It’s been a huge help at every step of the way!
I just sent mine. (um, somehow it got sent before i finished writing. Sorry.)
Did you get mine?
Ah, whoops, just saw the list. Never mind.
I sent my signature from my dad’s email. Seems like it wasn’t received?
We got it. Sorry, seems I forgot to add your name to the list earlier.
Thanks, Rebecca-I was freaking out since I barely managed to send it in before I left.
-happy now-
put my old sign on!
Wow, I picked a good day to randomly reappear on MuseBlog for a moment or two. GAPAs, please use my signature from previous times – I sent you an e-mail about it too. ^^
Done. Hi, Meow! A pleasure to see you.
Meow! I haven’t seen you around here in awhile. *welcome back pies*
It’s being sent in right now.
Wouldn’t it be the worst if you made a typo on your signature?
I won’t have time to scan it in tonight, I probably will tomorrow. Is that okay, GAPAs?
How soon tomorrow?
Actually, turns out I can get it in tonight!
Great! That would help.
Sent! The colors are a bit off, but I’m fine with it if you don’t have time or whatever to fix it, I did send it awfully close to the deadline.
*Also appears from thin air*
Hi GAPAs!!!
I would be very happy for you to use my soaring Hawk drawing again for my signature. Thank you so much for getting this together in time for the holidays!!
*waves at RtH as he flies past*
Aw. Came back a day late.
Darned reality, sucking up all my time from what really matters.