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Links of Interest"I think I'd like to be on my way," you tell the dragonfly. Sky Dancer nods. "Very well." With a complicated gesture, he conjures a glowing cloud between his foretalons. "Look within, and choose your destination. Merely touch the portal cloud to be taken there." You peer into the mists and see a swirl of colorful banners... Links by Category
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Adoption Listings/Info
Bear Jests
Bear Jests is one of the great, classic cyberpet sites. Recently reorganized, it still offers a great cyberpet search engine, a few cyberpets, and one of the best explanations of cyberpet netiquette ever composed, among other things.
The Crystal Palace
The Crystal Palace, or Creature Creator's Forum (formerly the Cyberpet Agency Owner's Forum), is a message board for agency owners and artists, by agency owners and artists. Anyone aspiring to run their own cyberpet adoption agency or develop their artistic talents would be well-advised to visit here. Questions are answered, tips are given, and all-around fun is had. This link is not a direct board link, but will take you to the main site where you can learn about the board. Membership itself opens at irregular intervals, to keep spammers and such at bay.
MeganGirl has amassed a large, well-organized collection of adoption sites on the Net. If Skyhaven Adoptions doesn't have what you want, check here!
Art Galleries, Tutorials, and Help
J. Cathryn Feinburg crosses anime with more traditional characters and cartooning in her art. Not only is this a fairly extensive gallery of her works, but she has a nice tutorial section, as well. A couple of the tutorials have broken images, though most of them are up and running. She also has, under her Favorite Links, a very large collection of tutorial/instruction sites listed.
Artragous Designs
If you're looking for some basic art instruction, this site has a few fun step-by-step tutorials, plus DVDs for sale and some fun links. Ideal for younger artists.
Art Skill Trade
A Livejournal community of artists, this is a good resource for any artist of most any skill level. The only drawback is its overall lack of organization, but if you scroll through you should find something to pique your interest.
ConceptArt.Org
If you're serious about your art, especially if you want to know more about art-based careers and the people in them, go here. Anything you could possibly want to know about improving quality, output, and employability can be found at this amazing site. The forum base ranges from rank amateurs to retired pros, using everything from hand-ground oil paints to the latest in digital 3D software. WARNING: Some art here includes nudity, gore, and generally disturbing imagery, and a few forum threads venture into coarse language. Click with caution!
Elfwood
This sci-fi/fantasy art and writing site is an excellent place to visit if you're looking for general inspiration and some decent tutorials. I've heard stories about the picky submission process, the mods, and some of the posting population, however, so I would be cautious about actually joining up if I were you. That doesn't mean you can't poke around their extensive collection of writing and art instruction articles.
PolyKarbon
Though focusing on anime-style comic art, the tutorials are fairly thorough and easy to follow, covering subjects from figure construction and anatomy through advanced Photoshop special effects. Follow the links for more tutorials and comic art sites.
Backgrounds, Clip-Art, and Graphics
321Clipart.Com
As generic clip-art sites go, I've had better luck here than I have with many other places. They seem to have some different stuff, though most of it comes on a white background. A nice feature is the search function, which helps when you're in a hurry and know what you're looking for (not that they're guaranteed to have what you want.) They also have some textures and backgrounds.
The Absolute Background Texture Archive lives up to its name! This is where I got many of the textures used in various backgrounds and critters for Skyhaven. They also have some fonts and general graphics, but I mainly go here for the textures. An excellent resource!
Corel
(formerly Jasc, Inc.)
Paint Shop Pro
Paint Shop Pro is my favorite graphics program (and what I use to create the adoptables and graphics on this site.) It offers the power of PhotoShop at a fraction of the price! The original makers, Jasc, were bought out by Corel; I can't afford the new products, but they still look great! Go here to learn more about Paint Shop Pro, Painter, or Corel's other products. You can also download trial versions.
Dee Dreslough has some great original fantasy art available for sprucing up your website, plus occasional works/prints for sale and other goodies. (She does have a few tutorials, as well, but most of her site is dedicated to her free art.)
The Hubble Site
NASA's Hubble telescope has produced - and continues to produce - truly astounding images of the cosmos. They also offer some great astronomy-related links and neat wallpaper for your computer desktop.
Kyl's Medieval & Fantasy Clipart
Kyl's Medieval and Fantasy Clipart is a very extensive selection of fantasy and medieval graphics for personal or web page use. Since Clipart Castle became just another run-of-the-mill site, this is as close to good, general use, no-hassle graphics as you can get! (This site can be a bit iffy, vanishing every now and again.)
HTML/Web Site Help
The Master Dreamer provides HTML links as a service to Skyhaven visitors - she herself is virtually illiterate in HTML. If you have questions on site design and publishing that don't involve basic FrontPage 2000, try here!
HTMLGoodies.Com
A wonderful site on HTML/XHMTL and web site creation, written in plain English for those of us who haven't a clue about we're doing online. Go here for answers to your HTML questions, or to learn the stuff from scratch!
Domains, site hosting, e-commerce solutions, dedicated servers... you want it, they got it! I've had great luck with their tech support, and they're FrontPage friendly (unlike some hosts)! IPowerweb has been hosting Skyhaven ever since I got my domain, and I recommend them highly.
Photobucket
Like ImageShack, Photobucket lets you upload pictures and files to their server, where they can be viewed by friends and family or used for other online purposes. This, too, is free, though you can pay for more storage and bandwidth. (I use Photobucket myself on occasion, and have never had any troubles with them except for occasionally sticky connections.)
Names
Behind the Name
The
Etymology and History of First Names
Etymology is the study of a word's origins and meaning. This is a great resource if you're stumped about naming your new adoptee (or anything else in need of a name.) Sorted alphabetically and by gender, there is also a search function, plus many helpful links.
Merriam-Webster
(Dictionary, Thesaurus, and More!)
Believe it or not, sometimes you can get decent names just by using the thesaurus. At the very least, it can help steer you in new directions... Merriam-Webster also has a wonderful online dictionary, word games, and other ways to kill time.
Miscellaneous
Didn't see anything you liked in the Skyhaven Bookstore? Come to my other book site to browse nearly 500 book reviews, plus an online book & DVD store... and more! (New Address!)
(Formerly the Realm of the Bright Dreamers)
My "home" site, with links, original stories, a little art, etc. (New Address!)
Musings of a Lurking Dreamer
More self-promotion; this is my blog. If you want to
know what I'm up to between Skyhaven updates, look no further.
WARNING - This blog may induce head scratching, drowsiness, and
severe boredom.
If symptoms occur, discontinue use and seek mentally stimulating activites
immediately.
Link to Skyhaven!
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otherwise, are © TBW
ONLY adoptable creatures and designated awards or certificate
images may be taken
If you feel you absolutely must have a background or special image, please
ask first!
E-mail : tbweber (a) comcast.net (remove spaces, replace (a) with @ ) -
try to put Skyhaven in the subject line!