Alexandrie, the legenfary girl
Wednesday, October 24, 2001 by treetog | Discussion: WinCustomize Talk
Over 8000 downloads in just one single day? Boy, oh boy! This will be a hard record to break. 
I',ve being working together with Johanne for over then 10 hours per day, seven days a week, since the beginnig of this year.
She is never tired of working, emproving, testing, coding, skinning, designing, etc...
I begin this thread to recognize in public my gratitude and respect to this wonderful and tallented friend and partner.
From the deep of my hard, Thank you , pixxy.
Ah! and congrats for the amazing record!
I',ve being working together with Johanne for over then 10 hours per day, seven days a week, since the beginnig of this year.
She is never tired of working, emproving, testing, coding, skinning, designing, etc...
I begin this thread to recognize in public my gratitude and respect to this wonderful and tallented friend and partner.
From the deep of my hard, Thank you , pixxy.
Ah! and congrats for the amazing record!
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paxx
Reply #2 Wednesday, October 24, 2001 10:37 AM
Reply #2 Wednesday, October 24, 2001 10:37 AM
Oh yeah, I always thouhgt too sha was quite a legend-faery girl!
Frogboy
Reply #3 Wednesday, October 24, 2001 12:36 PM
Reply #3 Wednesday, October 24, 2001 12:36 PM
That's increcdible. You're right though. That's definitely a new record by far.
Frogboy
Reply #4 Wednesday, October 24, 2001 12:37 PM
Reply #4 Wednesday, October 24, 2001 12:37 PM
Just so we have the number here, 8,160 downloads in a single day.
Ruthven
Reply #5 Wednesday, October 24, 2001 12:58 PM
Reply #5 Wednesday, October 24, 2001 12:58 PM
Certainly an impressive feat, but legenfary? She posted 4 XP-based skins in 2 days -- is it THAT surprising this would cause a flood of downloads?
This is not to belittle the accomplishment, and certainly not the work. Alexandrie has a lot of excellent skins on here. I'm just constantly befuddled by the ongoing popularity of XP-based skins ... even when they're of my own creation
Okay, I have no idea why I'm babbling like this -- congrats, Alex!
This is not to belittle the accomplishment, and certainly not the work. Alexandrie has a lot of excellent skins on here. I'm just constantly befuddled by the ongoing popularity of XP-based skins ... even when they're of my own creation
Okay, I have no idea why I'm babbling like this -- congrats, Alex!
TheSkinsFactory
Reply #6 Wednesday, October 24, 2001 1:53 PM
Reply #6 Wednesday, October 24, 2001 1:53 PM
Pretend i dont own another design studio for a minute and i'm just a simple member of the community, which i have been for over 2 years now.
While i have no doubt Alexandrie has skillz and puts in ALOT of time skinning. I think its total BS that theres so much celebration about numerous color changes to an existing look (XP) that isnt even her own design. I mean please anyone can make a color change and a gradient change and name it what they want and right now it will be downloaded because win xp is in style right now. Take the "bluejean" one. Ever see Lorenela's blue jean skins? That LOOKS like blue jean material. Not some blue denim colored gradient. So you'll have to excuse me if i dont celebrate this big hooha about minor color changes to a design that isnt even an original piece of art except by the person who created it at microsoft.
Jesh
While i have no doubt Alexandrie has skillz and puts in ALOT of time skinning. I think its total BS that theres so much celebration about numerous color changes to an existing look (XP) that isnt even her own design. I mean please anyone can make a color change and a gradient change and name it what they want and right now it will be downloaded because win xp is in style right now. Take the "bluejean" one. Ever see Lorenela's blue jean skins? That LOOKS like blue jean material. Not some blue denim colored gradient. So you'll have to excuse me if i dont celebrate this big hooha about minor color changes to a design that isnt even an original piece of art except by the person who created it at microsoft.
Jesh
TheSkinsFactory
Reply #7 Wednesday, October 24, 2001 1:57 PM
Reply #7 Wednesday, October 24, 2001 1:57 PM
It takes me back to aqua days when a simple port of apple's look was heralded as the next coming. Sure it was cool as hell. But it wasnt original. Some artists at apple created it. I think theres too much emphasis on non-originality and less for originality. I'll take the greats like pordey, misery, everyone i work with on a daily basis over ports any day. They are the true artists here.
Frogboy
Reply #8 Wednesday, October 24, 2001 2:04 PM
Reply #8 Wednesday, October 24, 2001 2:04 PM
I don't think that's a fair comparison. If you look closely at her skins, they are original. She is just using the same style to them as XP so that there is some consistency. But she hasn't jsut taken an XP skin and recolored them.
It's all in the details. This is particularly true in the area of the Start bar which believe me, is a HUUGE pain in the rear to work on.
It's all in the details. This is particularly true in the area of the Start bar which believe me, is a HUUGE pain in the rear to work on.
TheSkinsFactory
Reply #9 Wednesday, October 24, 2001 2:17 PM
Reply #9 Wednesday, October 24, 2001 2:17 PM
ok i'm not saying there isnt work involved at all. Because i know there is. But while there may be work to do on them, where's the creativity? Theres not even a texture! I dont think a gradient recoloring is worthy of praise in the slighest bit. I think works of art like waht treetog produces are. Those are creative works that should be praised over and over again for originality and design. But you will never sell me on someone recoloring another artwork. Not when we sit here and spend hours upon hours working on original material. Sorry Brad that doesnt fly with me. Go back and look at Lorenela's jean skins for the box apps and then tell me that the denim xp even comes close.Its a farce. All i see is praise for the same skin being colored over and over again. No detail. Just a color/gradient change. Sorry i'm saying what i think alot of people are thinking.
Alexandrie
Reply #10 Wednesday, October 24, 2001 2:17 PM
Reply #10 Wednesday, October 24, 2001 2:17 PM
Jesh before critics someone else work without even tried to make one windowblinds skin, I think you should try to skin one time yourself. Ok it's simple, it's the way I like them, OS style. No it's not just colorize, just look carefully and try to put them side by side and you will see the gradients are not same place at all. I only use same shapes as XP, same arrows, same style. Yes I use the checkbox, radio and tabs. The rest is my creation. I just use them to keep it as feeling like Microsoft made them. I think I have win if you think I just colorize them. 
The Forest one I made is more just colorized but Jeans, Nature and Coppery are different. And between the XP bar I can not change the way it feels because Windowblinds just skin it, it's not adding features in, so it will always looks like an XP bar.
The Forest one I made is more just colorized but Jeans, Nature and Coppery are different. And between the XP bar I can not change the way it feels because Windowblinds just skin it, it's not adding features in, so it will always looks like an XP bar.
TheSkinsFactory
Reply #11 Wednesday, October 24, 2001 2:23 PM
Reply #11 Wednesday, October 24, 2001 2:23 PM
This is not to say she hasnt put out some outstanding work either cuz she has. The MediaStep for LiteStep theme is beautiful and clean, as is alot of her work. Its the recoloring of win xp that aggravate me. And thne to see "oh look how great she is" becuase she made a color change. That is my gripe, not her original work which i think should be applauded.
TheSkinsFactory
Reply #12 Wednesday, October 24, 2001 2:25 PM
Reply #12 Wednesday, October 24, 2001 2:25 PM
what i'm saying alex is this...
add textures, add something. great you moved the gradient. whats the difference?
I dont have time to skin on my own. I do it with the artists i work with everyday. We must be doing something right as we're busy as hell right now. But if you want i'll be happy to make a titlebar for you that looks like the denim one then tell how hard that is.
add textures, add something. great you moved the gradient. whats the difference?
I dont have time to skin on my own. I do it with the artists i work with everyday. We must be doing something right as we're busy as hell right now. But if you want i'll be happy to make a titlebar for you that looks like the denim one then tell how hard that is.
Alexandrie
Reply #13 Wednesday, October 24, 2001 2:28 PM
Reply #13 Wednesday, October 24, 2001 2:28 PM
the original I made was coppery I just give different colors STOP buggin on Jeans textures, and between this was an idea from treetog.
TheSkinsFactory
Reply #14 Wednesday, October 24, 2001 2:29 PM
Reply #14 Wednesday, October 24, 2001 2:29 PM
I dont need to create a skin on my own to be able to criticize like i dont need to be a politician to criticize politicians. You put your work in an open forum for review and downloading and i have every right to say how i feel. welcome to free speech at its finest. As far as my qualifications to judge, i think with all the skins i've had a hand in pertaining to the design aspect, i've earned that right hands down.
Frogboy
Reply #15 Wednesday, October 24, 2001 2:34 PM
Reply #15 Wednesday, October 24, 2001 2:34 PM
Guys.. stepping in here...
First - people make skins for themselves. Her skins are free. She made them for herself and shared them with people.
People obviously like them
Arguing whether they are original enough or creative enough is pointless because such things aren't quantifiable.
The fact remains that Alexandrie has created a LOT of original incredible skins in her career. Her claim to fame isn't XP skins. She's already been one of the top skin authors for the past year or so.
But there's no doubt about it - 8000+ downloads in a single day is by far a record.
I for one am glad she did them. I am really enjoying the coppery one.
First - people make skins for themselves. Her skins are free. She made them for herself and shared them with people.
People obviously like them
Arguing whether they are original enough or creative enough is pointless because such things aren't quantifiable.
The fact remains that Alexandrie has created a LOT of original incredible skins in her career. Her claim to fame isn't XP skins. She's already been one of the top skin authors for the past year or so.
But there's no doubt about it - 8000+ downloads in a single day is by far a record.
I for one am glad she did them. I am really enjoying the coppery one.
TheSkinsFactory
Reply #16 Wednesday, October 24, 2001 2:38 PM
Reply #16 Wednesday, October 24, 2001 2:38 PM
yes i agree totally. People obviously appreciate them. My argument was the fact that theres a thread basically saying look how great she is for all these downloads when i think they arnte very original. This isnt about her talent overall as i think she is talented. This is about the subject of the thread not anything else.
Alexandrie
Reply #17 Wednesday, October 24, 2001 2:41 PM
Reply #17 Wednesday, October 24, 2001 2:41 PM
I did not create the thread and this was not my idea, I just woke up and it was there.
misterME
Reply #18 Wednesday, October 24, 2001 2:45 PM
Reply #18 Wednesday, October 24, 2001 2:45 PM
Jesh,
Sorry, but I don't agree. This isn't like the slew of XP-based skins we saw a few months ago. Most of those were just direct copies, pixel for pixel, of WinXP, either colored differently or not. If you put the images that made those skins up against the images used by MS, they were (practically) identical (or a worse almost-identical copy).
Now do the same with the images that make up Alexandrie's skins. They're not even close. Sure, some of the shapes are similar (that's what she was obviously going for), but beyond that, there is little comparison. Add that to the fact that the skins come across with a completely different feel than the ones included with XP, while still maintaining a familiar shape and layout, and I think she pulled off something that no one else seemed to get right a few months ago: making an *original* XP-style skin (or several, at that).
Now, I'm still trying desperately to change the fonts she chose (why huge italicized Trebuchet I'll never know...), but otherwise I think they're smooth, gorgeous, and very original in their own right. And don't think for one second that that doesn't require talent, artistic vision, and a lot of hard work.
Sorry, but I don't agree. This isn't like the slew of XP-based skins we saw a few months ago. Most of those were just direct copies, pixel for pixel, of WinXP, either colored differently or not. If you put the images that made those skins up against the images used by MS, they were (practically) identical (or a worse almost-identical copy).
Now do the same with the images that make up Alexandrie's skins. They're not even close. Sure, some of the shapes are similar (that's what she was obviously going for), but beyond that, there is little comparison. Add that to the fact that the skins come across with a completely different feel than the ones included with XP, while still maintaining a familiar shape and layout, and I think she pulled off something that no one else seemed to get right a few months ago: making an *original* XP-style skin (or several, at that).
Now, I'm still trying desperately to change the fonts she chose (why huge italicized Trebuchet I'll never know...), but otherwise I think they're smooth, gorgeous, and very original in their own right. And don't think for one second that that doesn't require talent, artistic vision, and a lot of hard work.
paxx
Reply #19 Wednesday, October 24, 2001 2:52 PM
Reply #19 Wednesday, October 24, 2001 2:52 PM
Well, I thik those skins are very nice, but we have already demonstrated a little while back that simply placing the two letters XP to the name of a skin greatly increases the download count. The great number of downloads on those 3 particular skins are probably du to a combination of both the fact that they look great and that they have the two magic letters...
TheSkinsFactory
Reply #20 Wednesday, October 24, 2001 3:02 PM
Reply #20 Wednesday, October 24, 2001 3:02 PM
It is the simple variant color changes that bother me, without any change to texture or anything but a color change. But these are my opinions only. Hell i could be the only one who feels this way. Should i not say how i feel? or should i participate in the community and express my views? I think being part of a community, people should be free to express dislikes and likes. If i like something i will certainly say i do. And if i dont, then i will also say something.
But if i'm wrong and the similar styles are different then i will take back what i said about them being direct color-overs of the actual MS GUI. I still have a gripe with simple color changes. I've seen her previous work and know she could have made them a lil spiffier and different.
Anyways, taking brad's advice i'm going to drop it. I said what bothered me and theres nothing left to say.
But if i'm wrong and the similar styles are different then i will take back what i said about them being direct color-overs of the actual MS GUI. I still have a gripe with simple color changes. I've seen her previous work and know she could have made them a lil spiffier and different.
Anyways, taking brad's advice i'm going to drop it. I said what bothered me and theres nothing left to say.
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Reply #1 Wednesday, October 24, 2001 10:32 AM
And here I thought she was just legendary.
I love legenfaries!!