13. 2019 icon progression
Slightly late but here it is! A 2019 icon progression post in which I ramble a little too much about things that are icon-adjacent, probably, and fail at talking about my actual progression. Enjoy!
(excuse the awful banner I'll be remaking soon.)
January
icon post @ holyinterruptus
Most of my time this month was spent on the monthlyinspo bingo round and I kind of love how the set came out? Since I didn't start working until the middle of the month - and even then, I was learning what I had to do. The set has many different styles and even some experimentation that I should've tried out more. I was def feeling a bit more adventurous and I think this is one of my favorite sets this year.
February
icon post @ holyinterruptus
February started the trend where I mostly entered challenges here and there. My biggest sets were the one for your_favourites (my favorite 80s show) and the icons I made for oddlyspecificon (that are actually in here).
Overall, I did try to break out of my "style" (whatever it is) for a bit, for the oddlyspecificon and capicontest challenges. There was also some sunny colorings and attempts. And despite having like 20 usable screencaps (or less - god, I should get my DVDs back), I really like how the thirtysomething set came out. [Note: I wrote this before the revival news came out. Heh.] I also really like the Parks and the Black Panther icons from that oddlyspecificon round.
March
icon post @ holyinterruptus
When I think about March, I honestly think about the "Relationships" Big Battle @ itsabattlefield. I put a lot of work into it because it's a broad theme you can interpret however you feel like. Or maybe I just felt inspired by it? Who knows. I added my own mini-challenge of adding text to half of them and I think they didn't turn out horrible.
I also had to represent the "other" icons of the month and I'd say I probably spent the most time working on that CJ icon. I'm not 100% sure it came out like I wanted (though that one + some of the alternates did come close) but it was an attempt to play around again.
April
icon post @ holyinterruptus
A sign I was busier is that I waited till May to post the April icons. That and that I didn't make that many icons, I guess. I only (think I) know which ones are which based on imgur's order and the challenge dates. From what it seems the two big challenges were the Small Battle at itsabattlefield and the the7days bingo. Both turned out fine and all things considered, I do like them. I see the start of attempts at cohesiveness in the bingo set (some blue/orange colors in there) - a big thing for me this year! - and some experimentation that might've not worked out as I had in mind but still looks nice.
May
icon post & monthlyinspo set @ holyinterruptus
Possibly my most productive month, all things considered. It might've been due to somehow being inspirede despite joining the worst project at its lowest? (I barely had formation this time around.) I had to have more icons from here because of how much I loved the work. The two main sets: the your_favourites favorite crime show challenge and monthlyinspo (a set I love very much). It's not terribly complex but I think the colors just work? Everything seems to fit.
As for the actual progression... I consolidated a bit of my style, seeking bright compositions through coloring and lighting and some textures. I also dabbled in playing with the backgrounds more to make the subjects stand out.
June
Some actual rl talk: this was honestly the worst work month of the year, probably. Killed my inspiration.
July
Work (a little). Cardcaptor Sakura on Netflix. Sims 4. Vacation.
August
Vacation. Sims 4. Sad family stuff. Not much inspiration.
September
icon post @ holyinterruptus
My triumphant (???) return! I decided I would come back because I missed the community and I missed it.
There weren't many icons here, tbh, and definitely not much progression. I felt so rusty and this month was more about getting back to making icons. I started working with animation screencaps a bit more because I wanted to make a few Sakura icons after having rewatched one of the shows of my childhood. (Fun fact: I kind of lol at how the third one looks like snow because of the coloring - those were lights in the cap, heh.) I also kept on seeking cohesiveness in sets, which isn't always a good thing but it was nonetheless a challenge. That Borgen icon looks great, though, and I'm proud of myself for spending the time with it so it would look close to what I had in mind.
October
icon post @ holyinterruptus
Some of my favorite icons of the year are here, I'd say. This itsabattlefield close vs. far set was impressively cohesive for me (almost unexpectedly!) and I like a lot of those icons. It's a solid set! (Do I sound surprised? I am, now that I'm looking at it.) It's nothing groundbreaking for me but after feeling so rusty, it felt more like a return to form. I also love some of those elitesimplicity entries for the original background challenge. I even won, wtf (and also !!!!). And the blue challenge at tvshowsic looks cool, with all the different shades of blue I went for. Lots of fun stuff!
This was also the return to maybe iconing things because I wanted to, taking a few caps I had worked with before and remaking icons or just not waiting to do something with some screencaps (see: the last few).
November
icon post @ holyinterruptus
The clear example of that? My big "self-imposed challenge." I took a random round of character20n20 that inspired me and made a set... in more than 20 days, more than likely. This challenge allowed me to get these icons to a place where I liked them... for the most part. Even those that might not be too successful look fine. (It's also not a secret that I have a weakness for 'Heartbreak' there.)
I also participated in a few challenges and though they weren't my best, I was proud of a couple of those icons. For example, I like what I did with that Fargo icon in terms of coloring, trying to keep it pastel/muted but highlighting some details (it seemed to fit the vibe of the screencap and that of the show).
Overall, I found that I was more willing to play around with complete re-colorings and lighting to get better icons out of difficult caps, too, instead of just giving up.
December
icon post @ holyinterruptus
The monthlyinspo set took most of my month, to be fair, and I am not as happy with it as I was with the other monthlyinspo sets from this year. I feel like it's nice and it fits the theme; I like a lot of those icons individually... but maybe not so much as a set. I guess there wasn't as much cohesiveness as I'd have liked - though there is some (?) - and that affects me.
As a month, it was a good summary of all I've played with during the year - backgrounds (textured and fake!original ones), recolorings, different compositions (that tended to go for simplicity) with the occasional simple blend. And if you're wondering - hey, that first icon is actually in your November post... I hope I mentioned I made it on Dec 1st or 2nd, while I was working from home.
reflections
looking back... I started adding extra mini-challenges to myself as I made icons for actual challenges. I played around with a few techniques, trying to improve on what I did last year... and I hopefully did (???). I played with gradients as extra layers in my coloring more often. I tried to work on fake!original backgrounds to add some variety to simple icons. I dabbled in text and blending. Started to think of harmony and cohesive sets while making them. And on and on and on.
looking ahead... hopefully some more improvement, particularly my text work and adding more complexity. It's what I probably said last year on my resolutions but it's worth mentioning. I want to keep making icons and stop comparing myself to others. Be more active and not be as shy. Work will probably eat my time. (Work talk: I won't be using any of the languages I've used in the past year and that makes me quite anxious. I love my coworkers and would hate to ask for the change in work project
that I feel might be in my future. But I also promised I would take better care of myself, so...)
Also, you can see some other favorites over here. I'd probably change a few of them and even add a couple missing ones but it contains a few others I might've not included here that I liked.
gorgeous layout by rocketgirl2
*******
2019's monthly updates
December
November
October
September
April/May
March
February
January
(excuse the awful banner I'll be remaking soon.)
January
icon post @ holyinterruptus
Most of my time this month was spent on the monthlyinspo bingo round and I kind of love how the set came out? Since I didn't start working until the middle of the month - and even then, I was learning what I had to do. The set has many different styles and even some experimentation that I should've tried out more. I was def feeling a bit more adventurous and I think this is one of my favorite sets this year.
February
icon post @ holyinterruptus
February started the trend where I mostly entered challenges here and there. My biggest sets were the one for your_favourites (my favorite 80s show) and the icons I made for oddlyspecificon (that are actually in here).
Overall, I did try to break out of my "style" (whatever it is) for a bit, for the oddlyspecificon and capicontest challenges. There was also some sunny colorings and attempts. And despite having like 20 usable screencaps (or less - god, I should get my DVDs back), I really like how the thirtysomething set came out. [Note: I wrote this before the revival news came out. Heh.] I also really like the Parks and the Black Panther icons from that oddlyspecificon round.
March
icon post @ holyinterruptus
When I think about March, I honestly think about the "Relationships" Big Battle @ itsabattlefield. I put a lot of work into it because it's a broad theme you can interpret however you feel like. Or maybe I just felt inspired by it? Who knows. I added my own mini-challenge of adding text to half of them and I think they didn't turn out horrible.
I also had to represent the "other" icons of the month and I'd say I probably spent the most time working on that CJ icon. I'm not 100% sure it came out like I wanted (though that one + some of the alternates did come close) but it was an attempt to play around again.
April
icon post @ holyinterruptus
A sign I was busier is that I waited till May to post the April icons. That and that I didn't make that many icons, I guess. I only (think I) know which ones are which based on imgur's order and the challenge dates. From what it seems the two big challenges were the Small Battle at itsabattlefield and the the7days bingo. Both turned out fine and all things considered, I do like them. I see the start of attempts at cohesiveness in the bingo set (some blue/orange colors in there) - a big thing for me this year! - and some experimentation that might've not worked out as I had in mind but still looks nice.
May
icon post & monthlyinspo set @ holyinterruptus
Possibly my most productive month, all things considered. It might've been due to somehow being inspirede despite joining the worst project at its lowest? (I barely had formation this time around.) I had to have more icons from here because of how much I loved the work. The two main sets: the your_favourites favorite crime show challenge and monthlyinspo (a set I love very much). It's not terribly complex but I think the colors just work? Everything seems to fit.
As for the actual progression... I consolidated a bit of my style, seeking bright compositions through coloring and lighting and some textures. I also dabbled in playing with the backgrounds more to make the subjects stand out.
June
Some actual rl talk: this was honestly the worst work month of the year, probably. Killed my inspiration.
July
Work (a little). Cardcaptor Sakura on Netflix. Sims 4. Vacation.
August
Vacation. Sims 4. Sad family stuff. Not much inspiration.
September
icon post @ holyinterruptus
My triumphant (???) return! I decided I would come back because I missed the community and I missed it.
There weren't many icons here, tbh, and definitely not much progression. I felt so rusty and this month was more about getting back to making icons. I started working with animation screencaps a bit more because I wanted to make a few Sakura icons after having rewatched one of the shows of my childhood. (Fun fact: I kind of lol at how the third one looks like snow because of the coloring - those were lights in the cap, heh.) I also kept on seeking cohesiveness in sets, which isn't always a good thing but it was nonetheless a challenge. That Borgen icon looks great, though, and I'm proud of myself for spending the time with it so it would look close to what I had in mind.
October
icon post @ holyinterruptus
Some of my favorite icons of the year are here, I'd say. This itsabattlefield close vs. far set was impressively cohesive for me (almost unexpectedly!) and I like a lot of those icons. It's a solid set! (Do I sound surprised? I am, now that I'm looking at it.) It's nothing groundbreaking for me but after feeling so rusty, it felt more like a return to form. I also love some of those elitesimplicity entries for the original background challenge. I even won, wtf (and also !!!!). And the blue challenge at tvshowsic looks cool, with all the different shades of blue I went for. Lots of fun stuff!
This was also the return to maybe iconing things because I wanted to, taking a few caps I had worked with before and remaking icons or just not waiting to do something with some screencaps (see: the last few).
November
icon post @ holyinterruptus
The clear example of that? My big "self-imposed challenge." I took a random round of character20n20 that inspired me and made a set... in more than 20 days, more than likely. This challenge allowed me to get these icons to a place where I liked them... for the most part. Even those that might not be too successful look fine. (It's also not a secret that I have a weakness for 'Heartbreak' there.)
I also participated in a few challenges and though they weren't my best, I was proud of a couple of those icons. For example, I like what I did with that Fargo icon in terms of coloring, trying to keep it pastel/muted but highlighting some details (it seemed to fit the vibe of the screencap and that of the show).
Overall, I found that I was more willing to play around with complete re-colorings and lighting to get better icons out of difficult caps, too, instead of just giving up.
December
icon post @ holyinterruptus
The monthlyinspo set took most of my month, to be fair, and I am not as happy with it as I was with the other monthlyinspo sets from this year. I feel like it's nice and it fits the theme; I like a lot of those icons individually... but maybe not so much as a set. I guess there wasn't as much cohesiveness as I'd have liked - though there is some (?) - and that affects me.
As a month, it was a good summary of all I've played with during the year - backgrounds (textured and fake!original ones), recolorings, different compositions (that tended to go for simplicity) with the occasional simple blend. And if you're wondering - hey, that first icon is actually in your November post... I hope I mentioned I made it on Dec 1st or 2nd, while I was working from home.
reflections
looking back... I started adding extra mini-challenges to myself as I made icons for actual challenges. I played around with a few techniques, trying to improve on what I did last year... and I hopefully did (???). I played with gradients as extra layers in my coloring more often. I tried to work on fake!original backgrounds to add some variety to simple icons. I dabbled in text and blending. Started to think of harmony and cohesive sets while making them. And on and on and on.
looking ahead... hopefully some more improvement, particularly my text work and adding more complexity. It's what I probably said last year on my resolutions but it's worth mentioning. I want to keep making icons and stop comparing myself to others. Be more active and not be as shy. Work will probably eat my time. (Work talk: I won't be using any of the languages I've used in the past year and that makes me quite anxious. I love my coworkers and would hate to ask for the change in work project
that I feel might be in my future. But I also promised I would take better care of myself, so...)
Also, you can see some other favorites over here. I'd probably change a few of them and even add a couple missing ones but it contains a few others I might've not included here that I liked.
gorgeous layout by rocketgirl2
*******
2019's monthly updates
December
November
October
September
April/May
March
February
January