They're Pretty
Claudia Christian - August 2000
There was no internal election for the month of August. There never was going to be. For, on August 10, 1965, a girl was born in Glendale, California. Her name was Claudia Ann Teara Christian. This month couldn't not belong to her. The dark poison of my heart, I am who I am today because of her. I'll leave it at that. Originally, I was going to use a large head shot of her that I've had for a while. We'd have the logo in white with a black background and her to the right. Yet, looking at it, it was too plain. It didn't do her justice. So, I went through my files and then online. I needed something that captured her wicked sensual nature. Then, I found the picture used in the masthead. This is the second time I've seen the still. It's from the HIGHLANDER episode "Two of Hearts". Looking at it, it is pure Claudia. I couldn't not use it. When you first see it, unless you're a devout fan, you just see a women with a sword and a gun. The average man on the street won't know who she is. Yet, if you give the average man on the street a nice clear heat shot of Claudia, they still won't know who the hell she is. Sigh. I wanted to make a more jagged picture than I had with the past cover girls. I spent a few hours trying different smudges, feathers, and blurs. There's a fine line between a ragged edge and something just being sloppy. I made it look this way intentionally. It's more feral and wild. It's Claudia. And remember, God sent me.
- Peter Tatara
Famke Janssen - July 2000
I had a hell of a time with this one. I went through three versions of this masthead before coming to this. The first was a more X-Men themed banner with Miss Janssen as Jean Grey. Then, there was a lighter banner with a sultry Janssen wrapped in gossamer ribbon. Finally, there is this rather patriotic design. It's alright. Just some simply smudging and blurring to create the effect. As for the cover girl, she's here for several reasons. Personally, I voted for her because of X-Men, premiering later this month. Mr. Paige or Keegan will probably fill us in with more.
- Peter Tatara
Natalie Portman - June 2000
Born June 9, 1981, Miss Portman graces out masthead as our goddess of June. Collectively, DFFQI thinks of her once every seven seconds. It was once every three seconds in the months leading up to TPM. The image was created by taking a still from "Anywhere But Here", with some heavy smudging to draw out an edge and patch up from cigarette burns. Then, our logo in the pretty much obligatory Serpentine Medium was added. As a finishing touch, the letters were given a slight blur to go with the edging. I could say a lot about Natalie. I could say a lot. Thing is, what hasn't already been said? She's going to be something. She's going be standing with Rick Hunter, watching the Macross sink into the sunset.
- Peter Tatara
Everyone always says 'The Professional' was where Natalie first shone thru as a talent above the rest, but for me it was always 'Beautiful Girls'. As Marty, the adorably awkward teen who falls for 29-year old Timothy Hutton, she was absolutely radiant. Natalie made me fall in love with that character, and in so doing, made me fall in love with her. This is a girl with endless potential...but to me, she'll always carry
a little piece of Padme Naberrie with her.
- John Paige
Anime Girl 10 - May 2000
Starting during the Big Bang Project on May 26th, the first of DFFQI's cover girls went up. You can think of her as FFVII's Tifa... and perhaps it is better that you do. But, the Truth is that she is not Tifa but Anime Girl 10. She is a testament to perseverance, will, and drive. She was created by taking a larger image and cropping it down to size. Then, I simply added "DFFQI" in Andale Mono. It put it in another program to feather the image, but it didn't look right. Instead, I blured the edges, but there was a distinct blur line. Experimenting, I blured the whole thing to variable degrees. I tried leaving the eyes clear, but it just looked creepy. My only regret is that you can't see the detail of the water in the final version.
- Peter Tatara