Surprise!!!

I'm sure that everyone had thought that this blog was long dead, and there have been times that I have thought the same thing.  I do, however, occasionally get the drive to create something.  This little number here is the result of one of those muse inspired bouts of creative delirium.

Before you get excited at my triumphant return, I'm going to caution you.  I do want to keep making captions, but it's not going to be on a regular schedule.  I will cap when my muse smacks me over the head and says that I must.  (No, I'm not taking applications for the position of muse.)

Nip / Pluck: An Adventure in Explaining My Process

A recent challenge was made to have several captioners take a single source image and put an individual spin on it.  The idea is that by explainining the thought process behind the scenes that new captioners might benefit.  Since the request has come up recently on the blog as well, I'll open this post up to do my best to answer any questions on my captioning process.

Here was the source image everyone was given to work with:

 

The first thing I noticed with the image is that it's a lower resolution tumblr pic.  That doesn't leave much real estate for adding text without modifying the image to add some.  I chose to remove the blur of red in the top right corner and stretch the shadow on the right to make more space.

The image itself gave me the feel of Snow White and the witch's hand for some reason, so I ended up on a bit of a fariytale slant.  Somehow, I settled on a reverse Pinnochio theme...real boy becomes puppet girl.  I added a frame to the image to give the feel of the classic storybook illustration brought into real life.

That left the writing.  It's the most important part of the whole caption to me.  The words should mesh with the image just enough to tie them together while letting the image speak for itself.  The controlling shadow hand in this image is ideal for themes of control and loss of it.

Since D/s themes can sometimes become heavy, so I chose a lively and fun font to keep things light.  It may not be the most readable font, but it expresses the undertones of softness and femininty I want the hidden dominant to have.

I like to add a teaser title to captions when I can to give a quick taste of the full caption.  I will usually put that in some 'dead space' in the image where it won't interfere with the core focus of the caption.

Last, and hopefully least, I add a transparent watermark to the caption to help deter other people on the Internet from claiming credit for my words and artistic adds as their own.  If this hadn't been a problem in the past (see here), I wouldn't bother.  Sadly, there are schmucks out there who scrape and repost captions while claiming they did the work.

And here is the final result:

Have questions on something I didn't cover in my explaination?  Ask them in the comments, and I'll try my best to answer.

Everything old is new again

A discussion recently came up where captioners were asked to dig back into their archives for one of their first captions to show new caption writers that even some of the best artists started small.  Part of the exercise was also in taking that first caption and re-imagining it with our current skills.  These are the results of my efforts.

The original caption from way back in 2007:

This is my updated version:

So...what do you all think?  Aside from fixing the typos, is the new version better?

Checking In / Checking Out

I recently had a bit of time to caption for a change.  I had an idea hit me that just demanded that I make it into a caption.  I won't bore you with the details.  If you're still following my blog, you've waited long enough for something new.

The Artist: Comic-Conned?

I've had an idea for a caption series rattling around in my head for a while, and I finally had some time to create a caption worthy of introducing it.  'The Artist' will be making some repeat performances in the future.

Can You Keep a Secret?

I was bitten by the capping bug yesterday and decided to explore some new territory of formatting.  This cap is an attempt to achieve a clean look that doesn't include the standard rectangular image insert.

In case it isn't clear enough from the caption, the setting I envisioned is one where a couple of guys have just accidentally stumbled upon something that has turned one of them into a infinitely knowledgeable genie.  This is the conversation that occurs shortly after.

A Shameless Plug: The Library of Wonders

One of the many projects I have been working on during my captioning lull is closely related to TG captioning.  I got hooked on playing TG roleplays a while back.  It's been a nice creative outlet, but the site I cut my roleplaying teeth on has been drifting in a direction that makes letting go and just having fun in a game difficult.

The best way to foster the roleplay environment I want to play in was to build and moderate my own RP site.  Thus, the Library of Wonders (http://www.libraryofwonders.net) was born.  Several fellow refugees who value a good story with a plot over random, meaningless sex and violence have joined me.  Over the past year, we have laid the groundwork for the safe place where we all would like to play.

Until now, membership growth has been slow through private invitation and people who've followed the minimal breadcrumbs that I set out.  The time has come for me to set aside my dislike for self-promotion to encourage a new phase of growth for the site.

If you like writing creative and interactive stories while getting a chance to play out some of your fantasies in a safe environment, the Library of Wonders is for you.  We welcome a wide range of interests: gender change, mind control, light BDSM, and other physical changes.  The main goal of the site is to maintain a safe place for all involved.

Still not convinced?  Take a look at one of our active games (click here) to get a better idea of what we have to offer.

Treasure Chest

I was rummaging through some of my captioning folders and found a gem of a caption I had created for AnneOniMouse (http://aomouse.blogspot.com/) on Rachel's Haven that was never posted here on the blog.  Some of you may have seen this one before, but I'm posting it for those who haven't.

Prima Donna

I know it's been ages since my last caption, and I'll frankly be surprised if anyone is still following my blog by this point.  Life has been on a constant ramp up of things vying for my attention, and captioning has fallen by the wayside.

I'm still around.  I haven't fallen off the end of the world.  I just need a clone to take care of all the stuff I need to do so I get more time to do what I want to do.

Anyhoo.  If you're still reading to this point, I'm sure you want a new caption instead of my sob stories.  You're in luck.  I have one.

Post Exam Jitters

It's been a long time since I've had either the time or motivation to create a new caption.  Inspiration struck me earlier today from an image that I found a few days ago.  Simone has been wonderful at making captions for me to hit various fantasies of mine, and I wanted to give her something in return.

I may not have hit her buttons dead on, but I wasn't really trying to put extra pressure on myself to hit one out of the park.  That will come in time as I try to shake off the rust and get back into the swing of things.

Without further ado, here's something new.

Update:  I realized after I posted that the text in the caption looked a bit rough.  I went back and checked a few things, and I had forgotten to smooth it like I normally do.  I'll leave the old version up to show what a difference a bit of text tidying can make.

Fixed version:

Old version with pixelated text:

Turn the Page

This photo practically screamed at me to create a caption for it.  I decided to go with a different direction than the obvious one.  Hopefully some of you can appreciate where I took this one.

The Cold Shoulder

I had a bit of inspiration for the November caption contest on Rachel's Haven.  The rules for this month include a restriction that the captions tell the story through only dialogue.  Since the vast majority of my captions are done in that style, it seemed like I would be remiss to let it pass me by.  The result is this caption.

The Final Cut

It turns out that today is a double feature.  Not only do you get some guest captions to sample, you get a brand new two panel caption from me.

My thoughts have turned to Halloween with the month of October rolling in.  With it has come a creative slant toward a more horror genre...or at least a horror spoof.  I'm sure that anyone reading this caption will immediately know the source of inspiration that spawned it.

As soon as I saw the image of the long haired Asian girl with her back to the camera, my mind went directly to work.  You might say that it haunted me until I pulled together the pieces to loose it on all of you.

Read carefully, dear reader.  You never know if the spirit of the season might come for you.

Guest Caps by Dawn Carrington

I was recently contacted by a reader of this blog with an interesting proposition.  Since I've been busy fighting the good fight with real life recently, I decided to give it a try to see where it goes.

Dawn Carrington, a writer at TG World, came to me and offered up some of her own captions to be posted here.  After taking a look and seeing promise in them, I've agreed to post up a batch of her captions for you all to peruse.

Feel free to leave comments to let me know how you feel about me posting guest caps.  If you like what you see, leave some feedback for Dawn here.  If you really like them, go read her own caption blog: http://tgcaptions-metamorphosa.blogspot.com/

Gifts of the ... *Ahem*

Yesterday finally gave me the motivation to get off my butt an make a caption for someone.  It was the birthday of someone that spends a lot of time doing stuff for other people, so she was worthy of a caption to celebrate.

Pictures, Postcards, and Faded Memories

For the month of July, I was doing a caption shower and a fund drive for a friend and casual pet on Rachel's Haven.  While we didn't reach the goal that I was hoping for, I did make a caption to add to the many that were given.

An Appreciation for Fine Art

I managed to find time and inspiration today to make a caption that involves a favorite theme of some of my very best online friends.  Enjoy this one.  I hope to get some more time soon to browse my picture collection in search of another image that speaks to me.

Why Has My Captioning Slowed to a Crawl?

For those of you who have been following my blog for a while, you may remember the 'good old days' where I would churn out batches of captions one after another.  Those were fun days for sure, but there have been several factors that have contributed to the slowdown:

1. Work -- Work is the bane of captioners everywhere.  It's the thing that eats away at your free time, either in the actual time taken or the toll it takes on creativity.  I've been dealing with a shrinking development team and increasing workload for well over a year now.  It doesn't appear to be letting up anytime soon.
2. Family -- I have a family at home.  No.  I do not live at home.  I work.  I'm married.  I have kids.  All of them take time to do right, and I won't sacrifice family for my own bit of fun.  I get to caption when everyone else doesn't need me.
3. Play -- As I have mentioned a few times here on my blog, that I have a very strong interest in hypnosis.  Very strong.  As such, I've been pursuing other interests, such as helping friends experience the thrill of the feminine experience.  I've been helping quite a few live out waking fantasies of having the body that so many TG caption readers dream of.  I've been helping people too...using what I know to make a difference for those I can help.

Since it might be a bit until I get time to caption, I figure that I can open the floor to any and all questions you might have on the topic of hypnosis.  If there's something you've been itching to know if it can really work, just ask.  If there's a question you really want to have answered, this is your chance.

I'll start with a few obvious ones:
 

Can you be my hypno-Mistress?

See items 1-3 above.  I'm very busy and my dance card is pretty full right now.

I'm too strong for you to put me under.  I dare you.

Buck up, Sally.  You're as susceptible as anyone else to suggestion.  I could put you under, but your attitude would make you a horrible pet.

Can you really make me see my body differently?

Yes.  I've done it for quite a few people.  Unless I have a following of delusional yes men with lots of time to kill by pretending to experience stuff, I have made several people feel the joy of having their own set of breasts.

 

Waiting for a Call

I'm slowly getting back in to the swing of getting a few captions made.  It's still going to be slow going for the foreseeable future.  My attention is focused on other ventures at the moment.  I'll continue to post caps as I'm able to churn them out.

Join me

I've wanted to make a caption for Simone (http://misstresssimone.blogspot.com) for a very long time.  Every time I tried before, I always ended up scrapping a partially finished caption.  I finally found an ideal image and a story to go along with it formed.  Everything came together to make something I wasn't embarrassed to give to her.

Without further ado, here it is...