As always, I’ve been updating the site without really posting about it. Woops! School is busy as usual. I’ve gotten involved in a coed frat which means that a lot of my free time that I used to spend on the internet is spent doing pledge events. On the bright side, I’m having a lot of fun! On the downside, that means less time for me to spend on SGO. But don’t worry! Every chance I get, I post new material, even if I don’t talk about it on the update feed.

I’ve also noticed a spike in the number of visitors (presumably from Tumblr) I’ve been receiving lately. To all my new lurkers, hellooooo! I realize that a lot of you guys are sort of dropping by and taking my resources, which is great– just a reminder, please please please credit me when you do so (“Credit to Shotgun Opera,” for example, will do just fine). It really sucks when someone uses something you’ve worked really hard on and gets the credit for it instead. And don’t be afraid to say “hello” or, you know, “thanks” in the cbox if you take something you like!

Here’s what has been going on for the past month and a half on SGO in terms of updates:

Shotgun Opera’s April SOTM – Congratulations to SunnyWill at Fated to Pretend for being this month’s SOTM. I’ve always been an admirer of her art. Be sure to check out her site and the award info, linked in the sidebar!

1 New Affiliate – I’m so sorry that it took me forever to add him, but say hi to Steve from I Saw It On… !

New Gallery Layout – I finally got around to customizing a new “premade” coppermine layout that was available for download. I decided to make the header Spartacus: Blood and Sand because I wanted to pay tribute to the original (the best!) Spartacus, Andy Whitfield, who sadly passed away last year after a battle with cancer. His death really hit me hard and I’m still having trouble deciding why it did; in any case, hope you guys like the new look. You can check it out here.

New Tumblr Art – I uploaded some crackship art that I did for Tumblr. I also uploaded some old art that I had lying around on my hard drive.

2 Individual Textures – Two different variations of the same base. Here’s a preview:

1 Icon Texture Pack – “Carousel,” with 40 100×100 swirly textures.

3 Large PSDs – This is the first time I’ve offered large PSDs for download on SGO. Here’s a sample PSD pack:

1 Fanfiction – I added the multichapter fanfiction The Sound of Silence, which is for The Vampire Diaries and features Bonnie Bennett, Klaus, and Stefan Salvatore as the leads. You can read it over here.

All resources you can find in the “Goodies” tab.

Surprise! A new layout is up and running! I worked on it last night and managed to get it ready by this afternoon. I absolutely love it when I get inspired.

So, as usual I’ve been updating the site without posting updates. So consider this an update “roundup” post if you will.

New Layout [V.17: You and Whose Army? feat. Stefan of The Vampire Diaries] – Just in time for the spring months… a dark layout! Haha I know, so typical of me but I can only stand light layouts for a certain amount of time before I get bored. I created a fanmix a week ago using similar screencaps, and I got so inspired I decided to make a layout based on it. I was going to do it in monochrome (like the enter graphic), but I decided that was too blah so I kept it in color. And Paul Wesley/Stefan Salvatore is always a good muse of mine, so it was easy to work with that. Hope you guys like it!

1 Individual Texture – I posted this a while ago, but never got around to mentioning it. You can find this in the goodies section. A preview:

New Fanfiction -I added the first three chapters of a WIP fic I’ve been working on, The Sound of Silence. It’s a multichapter fic featuring Bonnie, Stefan, and Klaus from The Vampire Diaries. This is found in the Library.

Updated Tumblr/Livejournal Art – I added the cover and tracklist for a fanmix graphic set I created for my fanfic The Sound of Silence. You can find the full post, complete with lyrics, tracklist, and the .zip folder of the music posted here at my Livejournal.

2 Wallpapers – More art for The Vampire Diaries; I seem to be on a stint lately, even though I haven’t been watching the show. Widescreen resolutions.

“Witch” [The Vampire Diaries] featuring Bonnie Bennett – It’s been a while since I’ve done any Bonnie wallpapers. I wanted to do something light and pretty, but also mysterious and magical. I was really pleased with the coloring on this one.

“Battle of One” [The Vampire Diaries] featuring Stefan Salvatore – Oh, Stefan. He’s such a tortured soul, and Paul Wesley is a phenomenal actor, so I couldn’t help but make a wall of Stefan’s struggles with being a vampire/being a ripper. It didn’t turn out like I hoped it would but oh well.