Blogger Tricks Animal Jam Graphic Central!: July 2016

Sunday, July 31, 2016

CosmicCheetah's Commission Coupon

Hey guys, Cosmic here, and here is today's Commission Coupon!

And you can choose to redeem it with the Animal Jam Comet or with CosmicEdits, whatever floats your boat.

And, I guess that's it.

Ciao, and Comet On!

(Oh my, I haven't used that signature for a long time!)


Saturday, July 30, 2016

JamCon 2016!

Hey everyone! So today I went to JamCon!
There were at least 600 people. No joke. It was PACKED! Sadly, Twinkle0122 couldn't make it, but I don't know why. I took pictures with all the famous jammers that were able to attend including:

  • Aparri
  • WisteriaMoon
  • Julian2
  • Bepper
  • Snowyclaw
I got their signatures as well including the signature of Snowyclaw's sister, Proven. They were all very nice! The line for Aparri was HUGE! Snowyclaw actually knew who I was. She was so nice and did raffles! I won a little Animal Jam toy.

Probably one of the best parts is that I saw one of my friends I haven't seen in over a year! We've managed to keep in touch online. I was so happy to see her. Since she cut her hair short, when she was meeting Aparri, Aparri said this:
"Finally, another boy playing Animal Jam!" which was sort of funny, but we didn't correct him or laugh. Aparri was extremely nice and when the convention had settled down we had a nice chat with Momparri, who is also extremely nice!

Please comment below if you saw me there! Here are a few pictures I took from the event:
A picture with Aparri, AKA James. Such a nice guy!
My raffle prize from the amazing Snowyclaw Jamaa, the owner and one of the authors of the Animal Jam Spirit blog!
These are the signatures of the popular jammers that attended! I don't want to spam you guys with pictures, but if you do want more, I'll be sure to post! Here's a little description of the event:

When I got off the train, we went out to Boston Commons and saw the usual crowd of people. Here and there I pointed to a few clusters of people. "Maybe that's them!" but usually, it wasn't. I went to where the banner said it'd be at; the Tadpole Playground. I glanced around and saw some little kids. I hope I'm not attending JamCon with 5 year olds! which, I must admit, was harsh. I glanced to my left and saw loads of people. My mom suggested that that was JamCon, but I said it wasn't. Eventually we approached it, and sure enough, Aparri was standing nearby with a line of fangirls eager to take selfies with him!

It was a lot to take in. Even though these jammers have posted IRL videos before, seeing them right in front of you makes you overly excited and extremely happy. I started shaking whenever I got near any of them. None of them were ever rude. There was so much fanart! A table with nametags to write your usernames on was nearby and I stuck my nametag onto my shirt. There was an arts and crafts table with coloring sheets, paper, crayons, and more, along with a raffle table with snacks. 

We waited in long, long lines to meet the famous jammers, but it was all worth it! Constant screams of joy were heard. 

When the event had quieted down and barely anyone was there, there were some unclaimed prizes at the raffle table, so Snowyclaw drew out some more usernames. My name was chosen, and I got an adorable Animal Jam toy! There were tons of prizes. It was one of the best days of my life.

Sorry if this post seemed braggy. If you saw me there, make sure to tell me in the comments below!
Signing off, 



@Creatureluver123

Here is your header! I'll finish up your GMB soon!


I hope you like it! It took a long time to arrange the alphas correctly, and to find graphics from the same time period (around the beta days).

-Panda



@Cookycupcake

Here is your siggy!

I hope you like it!

-Panda


Tuesday, July 26, 2016

I'm back!

*UPDATE: I've responded to a lot of your comments and questions, so if you remember leaving a question on a page or a post, then make sure to check if I responded! If I somehow overlooked your question, then don't be afraid to let me know!*

Hey jammers! Panda here!

I just returned from my vacation, and I'll start replying to comments, working on commissions, and getting more into the swing of things tomorrow afternoon. :)

It's nice to see y'all again!

-Panda


Sunday, July 24, 2016

CosmicCheetah's Commission Coupon

Hey guys Cosmic here, and today I bring you another commission coupon! Now, here it is -- with a nice bamboo background!

And, you can choose out of two paths -- the short CosmicEdits path or the long Animal Jam Comet path.

And then, that's about it. Just follow the directions on the pages I linked.

Ciao, and Comet On!



Friday, July 22, 2016

Animal Jam Exciting Announcements! JamCon, Giveaway, and MORE!

Hey jammers! Today's Friday...any of the authors can post anything! So I've decided to put together a post. I want to give you guys something to keep you entertained throughout the summer!
We have a lot of stuff to talk about, so let's get started!

First of all, you may have heard of JAMCON, a special jammer meetup that will take place in Boston, MA. Here are all the details!
As you can see, Snowyclaw will be hosting the event, and Aparri, Julian2, Bepper, WisteriaMoon plus Twinkle0122 will be there! I'm going, so maybe you'll be able to see me there...Snowyclaw says that we'll be going by our usernames only, so that's an even bigger chance you'll know who I am! Comment below if you're going!

Moving on, I just wanted to say that I congratulate Skorm on returning to the AJ community! Check out his more recent videos for more details.

Now back to JamCon...I have an idea. Perhaps we, as a blog, could compose a letter! Each person who wants to participate can write 2 sentences in a document. If you want to do it yourself, you'll have to give me your email. But you can also comment below your sentences. I will give the name of the author (your username) so don't worry, I'm not claiming any work as my own. I'll give you guys a more detailed explanation later on!

Finally, here's the giveaway you've been waiting for! It's a very small, quick giveaway by the way. Just 3 RIMs for the lucky winner! What you have to do in order to win is:
Jam-A-Gram me on Animal Jam saying this message: "That is so cool!" Don't worry, nonmembers can say this by using the bubble chat selections. There is no special format, it just has to be that message. The first person to do it wins! My username is ineffable.

Alright, well this wraps up my post! I'll see you guys later! 
Signing off, 



Thursday, July 21, 2016

Sloths, Hummingbirds, Jamaalidays and MORE!

Hey jammers! Ineffable here. Today I'll be covering Jamaa's brand new update!

First of all, sloths have finally arrived! After a long, anticipated wait, these furry creatures have made their way to Jamaa. Personally, I don't really like their walking animation and I'm likely not getting one, but it's up to you to decide if you like what animal AJHQ has brought into the game.
And, as you can see, sloths are only 5 diamonds!

Second of all, pet hummingbirds are back! These tiny little birds come in a bright color variation and their accessories are amazing if I do say so myself.

Along with hummingbirds comes a new set of "armor"; the Princess Outfit! Make a complete girly look with this pink and purple based set of clothing items! These are available in the armor section of the Diamond Shop.

Also, jammers now can cool off in a festive way (lol what did I just say) because from July 24th to July 28th you'll be able to find the Christmas-based Jamaaliday Jam party on the party list! AJHQ also briefly mentions to adopt a cute little pet reindeer while you're partying!

Besides cooling off, you'll also want to make sure to try your hand (or rather, your paw) at playing Graham's Workshop! You can collect natural resources and use those resources to purchase unique, exclusive items! Also on this page is a little notice that if you see Adventure-like icons in your den, it means someone is in your den. This is a cool feature which you can enable and disable at any time!
To enable/disable the Player Icons feature, click on the little gear icon to open up your Settings. Then look for this setting: 

ZOOOOM! Bam, cheetahs are no longer in Jamaa! Of course, you can still play as your cheetah but jammers will no longer be able to purchase them as they have already begun their travels. You will be able to purchase them when they return! An animal that is doing the exact opposite of beginning it's travels are the kangaroos! Perhaps they'll arrive and bring forth a new land or discovery! Let's cross our fingers that their long absence was worth it. 


And now returning to the topic of sloths, here are some pawsome facts about these brand new animals! Which facts from this article did you already know? Which of these did you not already know?


Finally, here's a new pet you can get (hehe that rhymes) when you redeem an Animal Jam gift card! This has to be a code entered from a physical gift card, not one purchased by Animal Jam Outfitters. 

Well that wraps up this week's update! Be sure to check out more info regarding this topic when this week's issue of the Weekly Digest is released!
Signing off, 







Wheel of Edits #2: Blog Header

Hey jammers! I've scheduled a few posts to be posted while I'm away on vacation so that you guys have some stuff to read! ^.^ I think Cosmic might post a few times too!

Anyways... here's another segment of the Wheel of Edits series! I'll copy and paste the directions/rules from the last segment:

"So, I've decided to start a new series called "Wheel of Edits" where I spin a random wheel picker thingy, which picks a specific type of edit. I'll then show you step-by-step how I would complete that edit, so that you can learn how to make them yourself! Also, it'll just be a fun little challenge. :)

....

 I'll be making the edits as little gifts for some of my buddies, just so that I have some information to create the edit off of. It would be hard to make an edit for a nameless person I didn't know, right? :P"

There ya go! Those are the rules for me to follow.

But without any further ado... let's spin the wheel!


Oh boy. It's been a long time since I've made a blog header. XP

I'll try my best, though! 

I think I'll make a header for Lostfairy's Animal Jam Jumble (<-- a="" an="" and="" be="" because="" blog="" blogs="" by="" can="" click="" completely="" creative.="" doesn="" epic="" existing="" for="" go="" have="" header="" headers="" her="" i="" influenced="" it="" like="" link="" m="" make="" not="" p="" t="" that="" to="" without="" yet="">

This'll be fun! XD

So, I decided to make the header pill-shaped, because I think it just has a nice, friendly look to it. And for a jammer as kind as Lostfairy, I wanted the header to reflect her personality! :)


Then, I added the text "The Animal Jam" in the Tiki Island font.


But I didn't want the word "Jumble" to be the same font--so I looked through my font collection to find a scrapbook-y, jumbled up font. I finally found the one that you can see below! I'm pretty sure it was called "Easy Way" or something along those lines.

I then added some bevels to the text, graphics to the sides and slight drop shadows.


But something seemed off. The header was way too plain! So I decided to add a background, because backgrounds are cool, right? :P

Since Lostfairy loves books, I chose a library-like background and added a light purple undertone to it so that it would blend well with the rest of the header's colors.


Here is the finished product!


It turned out pretty good! :D Lemme tell you--it's pretty hard to come up with good layout, font and color ideas when you don't have someone tell you directly what they want! Well, I guess that's what's called "being creative," eh?

I hope you enjoyed this Wheel of Edits segment! If you have any ideas for future segments (we need more wheel ideas!!!) then please leave them down below! :P

Ciao!

-Panda


Wednesday, July 20, 2016

A Tiger's Charm (fanfiction) + Interview!

Hey guys, Ineffable here. Before I start this post, I would like to share condolences with the families and friends of recent police victims in Baton Rouge. In the past month, so many horrible, disgusting acts of violence have terrorized our world. So much pain has been caused. We need to do something about this.
I know the majority of people viewing this blog will be children or teens, but we need to accept that our world is far from perfect.
On a much happier note, today I bring to you a fanfiction and an interview!

Count Sunnypaw was a rather majestic tiger. His golden-orange colored fur decorated with regal black stripes gave him a reputation for being proper. Count wore a glittering chain of gold and silver with a diamond-shaped ruby charm accompanied with small flakes of sapphire.

One evening, as the tiger strolled down the banquet table, selecting sizzling meats with rich, buttery sides, he looked up at the bright sun, sinking behind the ocean. Light pink clouds that faded into purplish hues embodied it and the wisps of color looked as if they were gently scraping along the waves. But Count Sunnypaw noticed something strange about the sun. He blinked and saw a flash of blue on the body of light, but it went away within a second. He rubbed his eyes clumsily with his paws, while trying to hold his plate and went to sit down at a table.

The next morning was lovely. A crisp breeze blew through the open windows of Count's den and delicate rays of sunlight ensured he awakened feeling refreshed. He got ready and padded out of the door, waving his tail. Captain Melville's Juice Hut sounded like a great idea, so Count Sunnypaw bounded through the sand and pawed open the door excitedly. He eagerly walked over to the counter and ordered a mixed berry smoothie.

A few hours into the day, Count was roaming Jamaa Township when he stumbled into a friend of his.
"Nice necklace!" exclaimed his friend, a monkey. "Do you suppose I could borrow it for a special date I have with Juniper Berryfox?" Count  Sunnypaw was astonished. A date with Juniper?! His friend showed him their text conversations as well to prove it.
"Sure, big guy!" laughed the tiger as he slipped off the priceless array of jewels, gold, and silver. He gently tossed it over to the monkey who caught it with his paws, agile as ever. But as soon as the glittering gems touched his palms, he let out a screech of agony.
wow best cliffhanger ever i know
jk 
Now for a special interview with the creator and owner of this blog, Awesomepanda868!
Ineffable: So, awesomepanda868, what is the key thing you try to remember when blogging?

Panda: I always try to remember that my main goal as a blogger is to deliver what my readers want. Therefore, I strive to create the best possible content that I can. I also pay attention to any post requests my viewers make, so that I can deliver any and all posts/pages/information that my viewers want to see.

I: Wow, very thoughtful of you, Panda. You do work very hard. Moving on, were there any blogs that inspired you right from the start?


P: Definitely! Animal Jam Cheats and Codes was the first Animal Jam blog I saw, and it made me want to start my own blog. After I had started my blog, however, I drew inspiration from The Animal Jam Whip and Animal Jam Community.

I: I drew inspiration from this blog, actually (hehehe) and it's amazing that I am an author for it now. Now here is a rather touchy subject AJ-wise. What do you think about the Animal Jam community? What do you like and dislike about it?


P: I love how dedicated and kind many of the people in the AJ community are. There are so many talented people who play this game, and many of them are extremely caring and have your absolute best interest in mind. However, the number of hackers, scammers and "haters" in the AJ community is too extreme for my liking. I just wish everyone could be nice to each other!

I: I agree. Also, if you could change one thing about Animal Jam, not the community, but the game itself, what would it be?


P: Hmm... I suppose I would add more opportunities and features similar to the Masterpiece feature to the game. People can express their creativity by creating Masterpieces, and have their work be valued by other jammers. So perhaps more customizable and creative features?

I: Good idea. Masterpieces are taking AJ by storm if I do say so myself. Finally, if you were to spend the rest of your time on Animal Jam, what would you do?

By this I mean an activity on AJ (e.g. roleplaying, making outfits, etc.)

P: I'm not sure if this counts, but I'd have to say talking with my buddies! As a non-member, there isn't much outfit making or den decorating that can happen, and I find that it's much more fun to chat with my buddies than it is to obsess over rares nowadays.

I: That definitely counts. Thank you so much for joining me for this interview!

Signing off,

Tuesday, July 19, 2016

The Ultimate Guide: How To Grow Your Animal Jam Blog! (Part 1)

Hey jammers! Panda here! ^.^

So, a lot of you have been emailing me, or leaving comments on blog posts and pages asking me some of my tips for getting views on a blog. Although I wouldn't consider myself an expert by any means, I do have a few "secret" tips (LOL they're not secret at all, I just included that to sound cool ;D) for creating a blog that is successful.

Keep in mind that you will likely have to put in a lot of work in order to create a blog that actually gets views. I blogged every single day for about 4 months without anyone commenting on my posts. Was it discouraging? Umm... YES! But was it worth it? YES, YES, YES!


Also, if you're just blogging for the fame of it, then STOP. Please, just stop. Nobody ever got "famous" because they created cheesy, fake content, desperately hoping to become the next Beyonce. No, no, no. People become popular and successful by creating HIGH QUALITY STUFF and being 100% REAL with their viewers.

However, you are pretty much guaranteed a plentiful following on your blog if you follow these tips I'm about to share with y'all.

But enough of my rambling. Let's get on into the tips!

(This guide is going to be kind of a doozy, so proceed only if you're 100% interested in growing your blog. Things are about to get REAL. <-- am="" i="" lol="" p="" so="" weird="" why="">

Can we make it to 150K views?

Hey jammers! :D Panda here!

So, I have a few posts scheduled to be published this week while I'm away, but I wanted to pop in one more time before I leave tomorrow morning.

The last time we had a views goal, we reached it just in time--and it was SUPER EPIC!

But how cool would it be to reach another goal? Pretty snazzy, eh?

If y'all are interested, we can make it our new goal to try and reach 150,000 views by September 15th. Do you think we can do it? Will we be able to do it before September 15th?! ;)

Anyways, to help that cute lil' views counter go up, I'll try to post more, and I'll try to always provide the best and most valuable content for you guys.

What posts would you guys like to see on AJGC this summer/fall? I'm all ears!

Have a lovely day! Let's get to 150K!

-Panda


Sunday, July 17, 2016

Wheel of Edits #1: YouTube Thumbnail

Hey jammers! Panda here...

So, I've decided to start a new series called "Wheel of Edits" where I spin a random wheel picker thingy, which picks a specific type of edit. I'll then show you step-by-step how I would complete that edit, so that you can learn how to make them yourself! Also, it'll just be a fun little challenge. :)

If you have any other types of edits that aren't listed on the wheel below, make sure to leave them in the comments down below! I'd like to include some trickier ones (like, create a header using only shades of blue) so leave all of your ideas below!

Without any further ado, let's spin the Wheel of Edits!!!

Looks like we got "YouTube thumbnail." Hmm...

(Sidenote: I'll be making the edits as little gifts for some of my buddies, just so that I have some information to create the edit off of. It would be hard to make an edit for a nameless person I didn't know, right? :P)

I'll make a YouTube thumbnail for my good friend CosmicCheetah! You can check out her YouTube channel here!

So, I'll be making a thumbnail for her video called "Giveaway Results!" that she posted awhile ago! :D

First, let's open up a blank document in Photoshop with the dimensions of a YouTube thumbnail:


Now, it's time to decide which background to pick...


Alright! We're making some good progress! :P

Now, to make the text (which we'll be adding later) a bit easier to see, I'm going to lower the opacity of the background.

And since Cosmic has a purple theme on her channel, I'll be adding a purple undertone to the image as well.


Time to add the text! I like to add the text in separate layers for each word so that they are easier to reposition later on.


Now it's time to edit the text!


I always like to leave room for graphics and emojis when I make thumbnails, so that's why there's that weird empty space in the bottom left corner.

Time for my favorite part--adding the emojis! My favorite site to get photos of emojis for thumbnails is Emoji Stickers. Their emojis have a white border around them, making them perfect for edits!

Once I added the emoji, I played around with the text a bit more, moved it around, changed the fonts a bit, and came up with this final product:


It's not the greatest, but I have to go right now and had to cut my editing short. >.< I hope to do a better job with some of the other edits! :D

Ciao jammers! Make sure to comment down below your Wheel of Edits ideas, and also if you'd like to be featured in the next one! :D (Consider it a free commission! :P)

-Panda


@Cosmic REVISED #2

Here ya go! This time, it's exactly 2048 by 1152 pixels!


If this doesn't work, I'm not exactly sure what to do. >.<

-Panda


Lostfairy's Animal Jam Tag!

Hey jammers! Panda here! Sorry for the inactivity over the past week or so... I'm going on vacation this coming week, and I've been busy packing and making preparations. >.< Because of that, there wasn't a Weekly Digest yesterday, and there won't be one this coming Saturday (because I'll be away). I also won't be able to post or reply to any of your comments this coming week, because I'll be in Canada without my computer. (Oh, the suffering I'll endure without my Macbook baby...) Sorry! D:

But on a happier note...

Today I'll be answering Lostfairy's Animal Jam tag! I was tagged for this challenge by Cosmic Cheetah, of the Animal Jam Comet.


What is your dream item?

Hmm... I suppose a light pink headdress or a nature archway?

Who is your favorite famous jammer?

I'd have to say WisteriaMoon, because her recent videos have been so funny to watch!

How many friends do you have?

I currently have 132 buddies, but I just sent out 4 more buddy requests this morning to some kind jammers who JAG'd me. :)

Do you love rares?

I definitely used to, when I first started playing, but after I started blogging I realized that rares weren't all that important. When I eventually quit Animal Jam when I've grown tired of it or too busy to play it, I'll definitely remember the friends I've made through Animal Jam way more than the different colored pixels that I owned.

What do you do in your free time?

I like to write stories, read books (I just finished the Mysterious Benedict Society books and they were so good!), eat yummy food, blog, create edits/commissions and play video games (My favorites are Little Big Planet and Diablo III, but I also used to play Skyrim/Elder Scrolls for a bit. I know, such boy-ish games, right? :P)

How many animals do you have?

Umm... well, when I was a member I had 32 animals, but ever since I lost my membership (which was about a year ago) I've only had 2 animals. 

What is your least favorite thing?

This is going to sound awful and mean, but I'd have to say that it can be a bit annoying when buddies constantly follow you around for the entirety of your time on AJ. Of course I'd love to talk with all of my buddies, but not for an hour straight (unless we're doing an adventure or something like that).

What is your favorite thing?

I love getting JAG's from all of you guys! Every other day I'll get a JAG from one of you lovely viewers telling me how much you love the blog, or the graphics or something along those lines, and it just makes me feel so happy! Especially since I log onto AJ in the morning or early afternoon, reading those kind messages just makes my day! :) You are all truly the BEST! 


What an awesome tag, Lostfairy! I guess this is the part where I tag other people to answer?

I tag...

Ineffable
Arcticstar8404
Cookycupcake


Ciao!

-Panda


CosmicCheetah's Commission Coupon

Hey guys, it's Cosmic here, and welcome to another post! Today, I have a Commission Coupon for you all! Here it is.

Do you notice that the fonts are different, and so are the links at the bottom of the coupon? I decided to experiment with different fonts, and I would say that I like the font version above better. However, you may decide! Over on CosmicEdits, I have the poll set up with links to the new and old versions of the Commission Coupon, so be sure to vote!

Anyways... You may decide on what blog to view the instructions from. You may go over to the Animal Jam Comet's post or CosmicEdit's post, but CosmicEdits is the fastest route to ordering the commission, while the Animal Jam Comet fulfills you with the new item as well.

Also -- Today is World Emoji Day! If you go to Google, you have the option to create your own emoji of you!

And, that's about it for this post!

Ciao, and Comet On!