#simblrarchivetag

hi simblr, fancy little anti ai tag game?

First, i want to give a shoutout to simblrsagainstai tag created by elderwisp where simmers are sharing their resources and tutorials on editing. This time i want to shift focus on our mindset. I’m going to say obvious things but ai being unacceptable in creative space is also obvious and yet we continue seeing ai generated stuff. Also i am not a skilled editor. I'm just a person with simblr who posts their ocs. I am still learning and my process is slow, so this is a reminder for myself as well.

Let’s think about our endless possibilities as individuals who can do much more than click one ai button to auto generate a “masterpiece” that distorts all meanings of the word “art”, steals your experience and small joys of achievement, a “masterpiece” that will never belong to you. I want to set our mind from “i don’t know how to do it” towards “i don’t know how to do it yet” when it comes to learning something new whether it’s simblr related or not. Entry barrier is much lower than it seems (especially considering that there are so many tutorials waiting for you to grab them). We also need to keep in mind the importance of curiosity that should be our driving force. Let it be your insatiable virus that is constantly asking for more.

You know what should be another fuel? Comparing your oldest and latest work. It is important to highlight: the point is not to say that picture number one is worse than picture number two but to acknowledge once again that the existence of the second picture is not possible without the first one and how once mysterious and scary things slowly became more familiar. Do you remember typing your first motherlode code and buying stuff that was always marked red before? Do you remember downloading your first cc and seeing it in game? Do you remember taking your first screenshots using pose player? Do you remember a bit of power you felt that time? I do.

About the tag:

I suggest rummaging through archives together as a part of anti ai tag game. There are no strict rules. Feel free to post as many pics as you want and write as much as you want or to be a person of a few words and just show those screens! I’m sure all of us have something to tell. I encourage you guys to share your experience and (!) it doesn’t have to be about editing only.

Let me share mine. My posting frequency is a bit sad. I posted raw ts3 gameplay screens (which is totally ok too!) on my first simblr in 2013 and i got more into editing only in 2025 so i didn’t have many screenshots to choose from.

Back then I remember that reshade/gshade seemed like something only tech nerds could understand, photoshop seemed super scary and complicated, srwe seemed like some magical and mysterious tool. Guess what? It took only a 10 minute video to help me understand how to install gshade and get the idea how interface works, then took one evening to look through all shaders to find something cool (need to do that again btw). Watched another short tutorial on installing relight. Then i started my switch from a random website where i tried editing to photoshop. I began clicking those scary buttons, most of them are still scary but i managed to get along with a few of them. Later i started learning how to draw shadows and highlights with a mouse, experimenting with colors, using a bunch of overlays at a time to see what happens. Also watched one random tutorial to resolve the mystery of srwe because i also wanted to keep my pc warm and cozy. I am still struggling, still having doubts before posting and still have a long list of what i want to learn.

…with yall’s dude flovoid ‘s journey in the sims community XD thanks for the tag @krisunbr this goin to be a reminiscing chapter of my life…

well where do i start… ive had one of the weirdest sims journey ever. my whole life with the sims franchise (especially ts4) was always gameplay to me, ive had tons of generationals families with a 1000+ screenshots still hanging inside my poor pc PFTTT just there for memories. i used to always take pretty screenshots even fun moments in my sims life n share it with my siblings only, it was a mutual thing ‘cause they do the same as me.

when it was ‘round the time i graduated high school, I started to infuse myself with the sims community, I’ve always known there is a community in this game, with people makin stories or beautiful edits that always made me go WOW whenever i download cc. in 2019 i opened my first simsta story account, funny ITS STILL EXISTS–i wanted to share a story with some special ocs, i used to write fun dialogue or fiction/novels in my teens, then i noticed everything i do: art, crafting, writing, was all an act of desire with me, wanting to tell a story through a character sooo its naturally became my thing to tell a story even through sims as well. 

at that time i remember, i didn’t truly care what my plan was or if imma commit, it was all a thrill of trying & learning a skill to me, and ig… i overwhelmed myself SO FAST, i only opened my account for a couple months and got closed off sooo fast, at that time, frequent human interaction or makin online friends was already too much to me due to… life. AAAA still, i started a 2ed account rp i think, that only lasted for a month n then i went “EHH i wont commit, so imma ghost this project.” and i went to college and i just. disappeared for years ⚰️. 

now that yall got flo little lore lol, lets circle back to the present, or lets say, when i’m finally back in the sims community. i genuinely never thought that i would be back, but throughout my college years, i was still playing the sims n keeping up with updates, not the community tho, only some youtube sims shenanigans n havin fun watching others beautiful styles.

so yeah guys! i think college n high school is the problem LMAO cuz the moment i graduated i got THE TRILL TO EDIT N LEARN STUFF AGAIN. I MISSED DOIN SMTH CREATIVE. so im back in the sims community in 2023 on tiktok first, I started doing cas fun challenges, I experienced so many different simstyle–that was my passion at that moment, and then, my first ever gameplay with interesting ocs with majima land n their fun little lore, then a story-series project flawtown where i wanted to explore so many difficulties with multiple views n characters–like, my blog was everything because i didnt want to corner myself with one approach n wanted to experience everything until i find my ground, find my “what flovoid going to be & comfortable with?” so i think i have decided, for now, that i want to center my stuff n thoughts with sims ocs, each have their own lore n personality so i can flesh out my writing with them, i can do edits, i can dump some scenes of them, tell their past n present, even different AU to imagine how they going to behave, and eventually in any moment, i will tell their story & be proud of them. 

★ i wanted to start with something very old i have more old stuff but this is what i found in my phone is with theo, my editing? his simstyle development? the whole thing? yeah as you can see left screenshot there wasnt no reshade or gshade NOTHING a clean screenshot from the sims in 2020, even theo wasnt posing lol. ngl i still like that shot, i have another one of him actually laughing with max (canon bff since the start🥹) in that same angle, and i wanted to take another new one to show yall the huge difference in my editing style but trust me, i will have soo many examples when Your Origin story starts, STILL the difference in editing is crazy, relight w gshade, srwe n the power of procreate, they do an insane glowup WHO WOULD BELIEVE THATS THE SAME DUDE…

☆ floyd & draco… theyve had so many edits that i think each time one of them is different, i circle back to ‘em from time to time n i just admire. they truly unleash my creative spirit, my love to them would never ever ends. i always thought of them as: “my og ocs” AND THEY ARE–my whole flovoid name is because of them n their intriguing storyline, and i wont lie, my simstyle development on them wasnt very insane difference, you could see they are still the same but maybe a bit mature, yet with adding shadows n highlighting some lines n adding colors on them does indeed makes them appear with a certain unique character to ‘em. tho if i would compare their personality from 2023 to 2026? so MUCH depth ive had developed into them, i feel like i have done so much with them & yet there is still many surprises in the future.

★ NOWWW MY FAVORITE PART YIPPEE is with showcasing story scenes! that first picture is crazy, would yall also believe that story still exists in simsta? SKSJSJ as ive mentioned before, i enjoy seeing characters talks, especially when its flows normally like a real life conversation, i experience alot when it comes to story scenes, trying different angles, different cropping, different atmosphere, different fonts–my absolute satisfaction in creating, now currently my most joy is having some characters have a specific font dialogue when they word an important sentence & ngl that alone made it so fun to read! I WILL mostly change my style with storytelling, and eventually learn so many cool methods when it comes to formatting, i feel im still processing with this skill & in a discovering state, it truly has is big field of shenanigans out there and im ready to swim in for eternity!

☆ last thing, so i can make it brief, me & spectrum colors? married for life, if it ain’t obvious already, who am i without colors? lightings, objects, in characters, in themes–MY ABSOLUTELY PASSION! you would without a doubt find every of my ocs with a specific colors that connects them, a single color could be so powerful, especially with a specific meaning to it, always a pleasure to me when i read fun theories about each spectrum. the moment i discovered relight, my friends, it changed me for life, its like the perfect final touches when it comes to my project, colors brings me life, even when i make more dark toned edits–you will find me adding a symbolic color element in my pieces. since i was a kid, I figured i enjoy RGB harsh neon colors over pastels, and working with them in editing does gives off a special characteristic, or cinematic feels. and with the recent years, i am happy with how bold i started to test my colors on my sims, and without them my game is just dull to me, i truly believe even with only one color in your edit, it could add a memorable feeling into your piece of art.

SHARKKKKS!!! yeah. i am very proud of who flovoid is now, my introvert-disconnected-ass is trembling i chose a path that little me wouldn’t believe that i’m actually… doing a big progress in so many different aspects of creative thinking. HECK, the moment i set my mind with “this journey doesn’t need to have an end.” it just, changed me. my shit-story doesn’t need to be complete or in a perfect lineup for me to call it ‘perfect’ i can literally start whenever n learn what i still desire to do!

I used to have an Instagram account where I posted my very early screenshots of The Sims 4, but I don't have access to that account anymore because I deleted it. Fuck Meta, am I right? So, they're just kind of lost to time.

When I first started on Simblr, I didn't post too much. I reblogged things here and there, but I was kind of afraid to post my own things like OCs. I saw amazing things on here from other people and I was so intimidated by it all. Everyone is so talented and clearly have been doing this for quite a long time—they knew what they were doing and I didn't—and stupidly, I was ashamed that I didn't know anything.

Eventually, I bit the bullet. One way to show how much I've grown my screenshot taking skills is to focus on one of my favourite OCs that have been with me for a long time—even before I started playing The Sims 4—Rhys and Derwyn.

Here's Rhys and Derwyn from 2022:

Around this time I was just taking low res screenshots with the built-in camera; I would crop it with just the basic Windows photo app and add whatever filtres came with the app. I suppose it isn't too bad, though. I believe I started using Canva quickly after this.

Now, here's a shot of Rhys from April of 2025:

This was around the time I discovered what Relight—after using Reshade / Gshade for awhile—was. I was still at the beginning stages of understanding it, trying to get it to work how it's meant to work. I also discovered SRWE, thanks to tuts from the amazing @pictureamoebae, so now I was able to take proper high quality shots and this changed everything for me. This was also around the time I was able to properly check out and use Photoshop. So, I taught myself how to brighten eyes and make shiny things pop more just by looking shit up and playing around with stuff.

This is one of Rhys and Derwyn from October 2025:

I wouldn't say around this time I mastered anything, but I think I was doing pretty good. *shrug*

Unfortunately, I don't have any recent shots around of Rhys and Derwyn, but now, I'd say I'm doing more editing in PS, but not too much. I've learned how to use overlays and different textures. Like I did with these shots of Hunter and Raxil.

I feel like I've learned a lot over time, but there's still so much more out there to learn. Whether it's PS, Reshade / Gshade, SRWE, Blender or whatever tools you have access to, it feels so much better to know how to do things yourself, rather than have a soulless machine do it for you. It may not seem like it, but screenshots and edits are art! And art needs humans to create it. Machines cannot make art. Machines cannot feel things when looking at art.

It may seem like it's taking forever to learn, but doing little by little every day helps. So keep trying, keep learning, make mistakes because sometimes mistakes lead to amazing things.

also tagged by @flovoid, @lavenfurs & @insanelayne tysm ma friends 😭💙🫂

⠀I've been playing The Sims since it came out on the Nintendo and since then I've been consuming sims content on tumblr, youtube, pinterest...when The Sims 4 came out, I played it on my mother's computer and spent hours inventing stories for the families, drama, etc. It wasn't until 2019 that I got my own laptop and started creating content on Instagram. My Sims had no purpose whatsoever; I just wanted to tell a story in a different way than I usually did. But later, in 2022/23, while reading a fanfic, I discovered an author who had a section for ocs made in The Sims, and that's what really motivated me to start publishing here on tumblr. ⠀I've always had terrible social anxiety, I didn't know how to interact or what to do, so I tried posting content on TikTok too, where there was already a musical base to work from. And it worked; people started taking an interest in my Sims and some of my ocs, which made them exist outside of my mind, and in March I started posting here again.

As I said, I played on my laptop, the same one I used for studying, so the custom content was limited: GShade with basic shaders I used in other games, and I edited on my mobile phone. I still had no idea what I wanted to do, but I figured this was like everything else: better to do it and perfect it later.

⠀Besides being on tumblr, I was already writing stories and fanfics on wattpad, but not only that, I also enjoyed making the graphics for those stories: covers, dividers, etc. I've always enjoyed editing and composing, without a doubt.

Many of these images are from 2018/2019, but I edited them the same way I do now, predominantly using blue tones and a handful of pinterest overlays that I then combined as best as I could.

⠀I did this just for myself and my friends, while on tumblr I started uploading cas pics of my sims. However, I felt like something was missing, and I started thinking: okay, if I can do this to edit my stories, why not do the same with The Sims? And I started experimenting.

I used the same procedure for my stories: the image, subtly adjusting the colors, adding some lights and finally many textures. Most of the time I wasn't happy with the result, but I kept forcing myself to learn and publish.

Back in 2024, I started figuring out what I wanted to publish and how to do it. I've always loved films, and I began thinking of my edits in that way, as if they were scenes from movies. Obviously, I still had and still have a lot to learn, but I've already started paying more attention to details, composition, which blending layers to use depending on the overlay, the lighting, etc. And in turn, I began my never-ending project: nowhere and everywhere.

In 2025 I finally decided to focus my account on my OCs, their stories, their backgrounds...Besides starting to edit in Photoshop, I began watching videos on both photo editing and drawing. I started focusing on improving while maintaining simplicity and what I enjoyed.

And it took me almost a whole year to get back to where I started with my blue colors and my gaussian blur. I was too worried about being repetitive instead of focusing on what I really wanted to convey. My stories are melancholic, simple, and tragic; whenever I think about them, I think of the color blue, so why try to force them to change?

And although in 2026 I haven't yet reached where I want to be, I know what I want to do and how to do it. So the rest is patience 💙

⠀My only conclusion is that it seems we'll never be happy with what we do, but that's no reason to give up, but rather to keep learning and to allow oneself to learn and improve, and don't forget to do what you love.

damn, i’ve been playing the sims for as long as i can remember - my interest would come and go, in this endless loop. back then, i didn’t take screenshots and had no idea there was even a whole community out there! i remember when the «get together» expansion pack came out. i remember seeing all those families, but for some reason, they didn’t impress me back then. i kept playing with my save file from the sims 2. it’s pretty rare for me to create my own characters — and i guess it’s always been that way. then i saw him.

it was 2023. i had an old imac and, god bless it, maybe 3 gb of cc. and honestly, i didn’t even know custom appearance content existed, guys! can you imagine? crazy, right? of course, i had no clue about gshade or reshade. and even if i had known, my imac wouldn’t have handled it. i’d edit my screenshots in photoshop, trying to make the pics look juicy and vibrant - but i just couldn’t get it right. i didn’t understand how others got those shadows and that brightness.

2024

then i found a youtube channel with tutorials and all sorts of cool tips for the game. about six months later, i bought a windows laptop and finally downloaded gshade! if you only knew how happy i was! by that point, i’d already been running a telegram channel for half a year.

2025

it was all so exciting! i kept searching for and trying out different presets my sims were getting more detailed and lifelike, and my editing kept getting better and better. every time, i’d look for new solutions, but since i was writing a full‑fledged story, i tried to develop a consistent editing pattern.

but most of all, I love seeing the progress at gigs.

i’m still in the midst of discovering myself and my style. i have plenty to learn, and i keep finding new avenues for growth - experimenting and enjoying the process of doing what i genuinely love.

but i’ll never accept the idea of using ai as a substitute for genuine creation. to me, real value lies in crafting something with your own skills and passion.

tagged by @lavenfurs ❤️

okay, this tag sounds pretty fun! so why not?

2012-2013

i've been playing sims since I was 10, but started making my first edits in 2012-2013. most of them were deleted though

2014-2015

initially, i was skeptical about the sims 4 graphics, so continued to do stuff in sims 3

2016-2017

still sims 3, but trying to do something in sims 4 too

2018

dropped sims 3 and my baby Emon was created (and Erin too :3) it was pretty productive year for me

2019

just bunch of othes OCs

2020

playing around with hq and alpha, i still like this girlies very much (can't say the same about my alpha boys)

2021-2022

started to experince with maxis match cc, still using alpha hairs

2023-2024

stopped using aplha and hq, making fan arts (?)

2025

getting lazy to edit, playing around with gshade, made my own gshade preset to stop bothering with colors on my pictures :D

2026

started using relight. who needs to edit anything?

i can't say that i see much progress, but at least i stopped spending a lot of time in photoshop gladly 🤭

About the tag:

"Rummaging through archives together as a part of anti ai tag game. There are no strict rules. Feel free to post as many pics as you want and write as much as you want or to be a person of a few words and just show those screens! I’m sure all of us have something to tell. I encourage you guys to share your experience and (!) it doesn’t have to be about editing only".

I decided to do this tag and reflect about my experience. I started my simblr back on 2016. It's an anniversary for me, huh! Besides i've actually started playing The Sims 3 even earlier.

When i finally got the internet connection i saw that people not just play this game, but create art projects! I was amazed when i first saw Kurasoberina's and Sk-Sims' sims. I still consider myself not that skilled as they are. They were my inspiration to create such realistic characters, but it took me a lot of time to "master" this skill. Especially in editing. My edits are still imperfect because i can't fix everything. But i guess i don't need to redraw everything that's on the screenshot? Sometimes i got in rush and the end result look nothing like in-game face. And i took it as a motivation to work better on in-game face instead of constantly editing the same features again.

Until 2017 my main muse was Taisia. She was based on a woman who inspired me a lot with her unique features. She was truly magical. But then i started to expand my "universe" with diverse characters. In 2017 i created Tatyana (who is also based on a real person) and Francine. They're still one of the main figures.

In 2018 my parents gifted me a new PC and i was able to intall ReShade for my game which completely changed my style and trajectory in editing. I experimented with gradients and colors a lot!

In 2019 i've got my one and only drawing tablet and started to make my edits more subtle, adding more features to the faces, making them more alive and voluminous. ReShade's MXAO also helped a lot in orienting on how shadows better be layered. The whole 2019 i was experimenting with styles, getting more into sci-fi setting, but at the end of the year i had to quit school under the pressure because of bullying. That's how i started "Deep End" and again my trajectory have changed. I created Antje, Mads, Billie and many more characters that are still there. 2020 & 2021 was also filled with renders, but that's a different story lol.

My editing skill has grown and the artworks have become something a bit heavy to complete. That's why each year lack of many arts. Yet i love to look back at them to see how dedicated i was. A special place in my heart got these three.

The 2022 one is still rent free in my head because I ADORE Mugler aesthetic, middle aged strong women, darker shades and makeup. And i'm still deep dive in that style. I think it's my niche now, lol. The 2023 one is a magnum opus for me, because i love the energy Debbie gives here. Confident, glamorous, sexy. Perhaps it's what i'm lack of my own self. I created this artwork when i was at my lowest and trying to cope doing edits and other sims stuff. The 2024 one ahhh...it was a gift for my classmate.

Now that i found my own style and aesthetics i'm still there creating new pieces. A little bit slower than it was way back on 2016 or 2019 because i was less worry about editing. Anyway i'm working to act like the editing is NOT the main thing just to move on. Perfectionism stops me from developing, eh... but let's see what 2026 brings later!

In conclusion i want to say that my art is my empire and some kind of therapy, but when it helps someone to be visible in such diversity - it becomes a treasure for me.

thanks for the tag @freezerbnuuy 🖤 // tagging: @vampwan @cakepoppresent @niecjing @cockatoocc @lavenfurs @gayliensims

I used to have a lot of old screenshots from my old TS3 saves but unfortunately they've been lost to time. I did manage to find old screenies from more recent years (2020) on an old IG account i forgot about.

More under the cut~