ShirlShocked Studios

Reworking ShirlShocked for 2013

Shirlz — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 21:33:04 +0000

As you can tell, I don’t post much on here. Most of the time, it’s because I have very little time to make a post that actually means something, but I want to change that. While I’m not accepting orders at the moment, I want to rework ShirlShocked so that it is a reflection on me and what I am doing in my life. I’ll post a few random graphics along the way, but I probably won’t take a bunch of orders until June at least.
Speaking of reworking, I’ve decided to take on Rosa Mendes’ Musclemania Challenge in a bid to lose weight in a healthy way. With my hectic lifestyle, Rosa’s social media campaign suits me to a tee, and I hope I can find success with it. I feel that I’m in the right mentality to get myself fit, and I will keep you posted on here and via my Twitter on how that goes. From Rosa’s tweets so far, I can tell her social media regime will be of great help to me, and I can’t wait to see what Rosa’s official website will entail in terms of the Musclemania plan.

Free Audrey Marie Layout Available!

Shirlz — Sat, 15 Sep 2012 20:02:09 +0000

I’ve added another NXT Diva premade to the site, and it features Audrey Marie. With her new gimmick, I figured a dark layout would best suit these photos. The layout is free of charge, so please email shirlz@shirlshockedstudios.com if you’d like to use it in someway.

Free Raquel Diaz Layout Available!

Shirlz — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 21:18:07 +0000

For some reason, I’ve been wanting to make a design featuring this shoot of NXT Diva, Raquel Diaz. I liked the concept of the shoot and hated the superimposed background, so I figured I’d make it into a design of sorts. It can be used for either Coppermine or WordPress and I’m more than happy to code it either way. The design is FREE, so just email shirlz@shirlshockedstudios.com with the subject “Raquel Premade”.

GIMP Tutorial: The “Dodgy Ice” Effect

Shirlz — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 19:13:28 +0000

I’m hoping you’ve downloaded GIMP so you can follow some of my tutorials, because I’m starting off a series of different image effect tutorials for you to try out! I’ve called this one the Dodgy Ice Effect, and it’s been something I use a lot in layouts to enhance a picture with a textured effect called (you guessed it)…ice! If you downloaded GIMP and you look at the Fill Options, you have 3 different fill types: FG colour, BG colour and Pattern Fill. For this tutorial, you will be using the Pattern Fill and have it set to ice.

HOW TO CREATE A DODGY ICE EFFECT IMAGE

Step 1 Pick the image you want to create your effect with.
Step 2 Click on the paint bucket, set your fill mode to Dodge (with 30% opacity),fill type to Pattern Fill and your texture to Ice. Make sure that the affected area is set to Whole Selection. (click here for an image of the correct settings)
Step 3 Click on your image to fill it.
Step 4 Sharpen your image by going to Filters > Enhance > Sharpen and sharpen by 40.0.

Tutorial- Why You Should Use GIMP For Graphics

Shirlz — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 20:36:49 +0000

I tend to get asked a lot about what I use to make my designs, and when I say GIMP, most think I’m saying they have difficulty walking. I then have to explain about what GIMP actually is- it’s a free graphic software! I discovered it back in 2006, but back then, I made a lot of horrid designs. They were shockingly awful, and I thought they were God’s gift to designs (click here to see what I mean). In 2009, I turned to Photoshop but I just didn’t like it as much as GIMP. After lots of experimentation I now feel like I’ve got a good grasp on the program, especially since people think I use Photoshop a lot of the time!

I want to help out fansites with their designs, and the tutorials I have are ideal for GIMP rather than PS. I know it can be hard to find a reliable full download for PS, and that is one of the main reasons why I’ve stuck with GIMP for as long as I have- you know it’s free and you will get a good product for it. You’ll learn with my tutorials that GIMP has a lot of the functionality that Photoshop has, and you can use ABR brushes in GIMP! I like to think I have my own style of designs, and I have GIMP to thank for that. Hopefully, you guys will follow along with my semi-regular tutorials, but you need to start by clicking the link below to download GIMP (first note- download 2.6 rather than 2.8)!

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD GIMP!

Site Revamp & Changes

Shirlz — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 20:04:05 +0000

Well hi everyone. Long time, no talk, right? I’m sorry I’ve been MIA with the site- have you tried to work 7 consecutive 11 hour shifts and be able to run a site to a Diva that’s practically everywhere at the moment? I have put the site to the back burner- I haven’t had time to do designs as of late, and I’ve been too tired with work to feel inspired to design. Now that I have a little bit of time before I go back to university for my final year (AHHHHH!), I’m going to do some random designs. As of now I don’t know if I’m going to open orders but it is unlikely- I’m going to use ShirlShocked as more of a showcase site rather than a full on design site.

I’m going to be writing a blog about what my tutorials are going to be about, and various other things as well. I mentioned the other day that I was going to write something for fansite owners to read. As I mentioned, I’m going into my final year of university, and that involves doing a final year project called a dissertation. This is a 10,000 word thesis about anything I want that’s related to my subject- Business Management. After some time thinking about it, I’ve decided to use fansites as the basis of my study. I want to look into the way fansite owners operate their sites- specifically who they choose to work with if they have a web team. I want to see if the way we work in teams at school or work influence the way we work on a website and how we interact with our “virtual team”. If you don’t work with others on your sites, I want to know if there’s something that has led to you working in this way. My main aim is to see if our mentality towards human work groups impacts the way you work in a virtual work group (aka your website team). Later this month, I will have a subsite open to run my study on, and it will involve fansite owners taking part in a survey I am currently devising.

I hope you guys can help me with my final year project- it’d be great if you let me know via Twitter if you are interested in taking part. Thank you in advance!

New Onliner: @WWEAJLee Twitter

Shirlz — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 19:54:06 +0000

This is my first design in a long while- my friend AJ Lee asked me to design her new Twitter background using pictures from her Evolution Of AJ photoshoot. Seen as she’s the RAW GM, I thought going red was the best option, and it suited most of the photos in her new shoot. I love the way it turned out, and thankfully so did AJ. If you want to view the background, click on the preview below. Hopefully it looks like the preview- I did it to suit my screen in hope most have a 15.6″ screen.

New Premade- K2 Navy

Shirlz — Fri, 18 May 2012 20:47:07 +0000

I’ve made a premade of WWE Diva, Kelly Kelly. It would be best suited on the main site, but I can adapt it to fit a Coppermine layout. Contact me in regards to cost.

Thank You Edge Project…Take 2!

Shirlz — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 20:48:10 +0000

Last year, I was planning on doing a Thank You Edge project as a way of saying thank you to Edge (DUH!), and alongside EdgeUniversity.Net, we had well over 300 messages ready to give to Edge. Unfortunately, the project didn’t go through for 2 reasons:

1) My friend Laura decided to freak out when John Cena came out on the RAW show the night before, and spilled Coca Cola over everything I owned…including the printed Edge messages.

2) We couldn’t find Edge! We found Christian though, but by that the time, my friend had already done the damage.

However, this year, I plan on doing the project again, only this time, I’m going to do it in Miami at Wrestlemania 28! What’s even better is that it will be done at Edge’s VIP Axxess because yours truly managed to get tickets before they sold out! So the project this year is definitely a go! I am beyond excited for this, so I want you guys to send in as many things as possible- I plan on going all out for this, so the deal is this:

1) Send your messages/pics to either edgeproject@shirlshockedstudios.com or edgeuniversity@gmail.com
2) Spread the word!

It’s that simple. You got until March 15th to submit your messages, so make them good! ALL messages will be going to Edge at the VIP Axxess, and I will keep you up-to-date on how it goes!

Explaining The Impact of #SOPA on Fansites

Shirlz — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 21:24:30 +0000

I know there is a LOT of talk today about the US government legislation, SOPA, and some people don’t understand what it is about and how it affects fansite owners. Here’s a basic definition of the legislation (from BBC):

The proposed legislation is designed to tackle online piracy, with particular emphasis on illegal copies of films and other forms of media hosted on foreign servers.

The bills propose that anyone found guilty of streaming copyrighted content without permission 10 or more times within six months should face up to five years in jail.

The US government and rights holders would have the right to seek court orders against any site accused of “enabling or facilitating” piracy. This could theoretically involve an entire website being shut down because it contains a link to a suspect site.

Whether we like to admit it or not, we use photos from WWE and media from WWE without their permission. Whilst in some cases, they’ve said it’s OK to use, there is always to worry in the head of fansite owners that WWE will contact them with a “cease & desist” letter. At Wrestlemania time, this fear hits all-time highs, as it is well known that WWE attempts to shut down fansites. If SOPA and/or PIPA is put in place, this would give WWE permission to potentially put us fansite owners IN JAIL for using their stuff without permission. Let’s look at it from a logical perspective- you could be IN JAIL for having a FANSITE. Does that seem fair to you?

Don’t think that because this is a US law, it will not affect people outside of the US. All the rest of us, whether your British, German, or whatever, WILL be affected by this law. They could potentially block your site from the biggest demographic we reach- America. We could be sued by WWE for MILLIONS of dollars if this law is put in place. Your site that you’ve worked your ass on would be gone without a trace. This is why I have put MelinaPerezWeb.Com & April-Jeanette.Org on strike today, and I suggest you do too. Install the SOPA Strike WP Plugin- it will put your site on strike for 12 hours. If you put it on your site, you can show your audience what COULD happen if the law is put in place.