Ask the maker 3.0!

[aida_rose]

It's time for our third round of Ask the Maker!

Here you'll get the chance to ask icon makers who sign up, questions about their icons and other graphics. You can ask for tutorials, guides/"How to", or ask any other questions regarding their work so the makers can compile a Q&A post with the answers to all the questions they get. As always, .PSD

Comments

[sgmajorshipper]

Username and where I post my work: sgmajorshipper @ thewalkincliche
What can we request from you (tutorials, Q&A, guides etc. .PSDs are not allowed: Anything and everything! I keep all PSDs, so I can recreate any icon exactly. I've never done Q&As or guides before, but I'm more than willing to give them a try.
Can we hotlink your icons?: Sure!

[wickedgrdn]

I'd love a coloring guide from you! Most specifically on the coloring you're doing these days. I just love the look of it, kind of grungy, yet soft. Thanks! :)

[sgmajorshipper]

You are lightning fast. I'll try to get on it tonight! :)

[wickedgrdn]

As are you! ;)

Thank you so much!

[rebel]

Username and where I post my work: rebel @ criminal
What can we request from you: Anything. I don't save all my icons as PSDs anymore so I might not be able to recreate some, just a heads up. :)
Can we hotlink your icons?: Sure.

[rocketgirl2]

I'd love to hear about how you go about making your complex icons. I don't really care which icons you talk about, but if you're not sure either:

[rebel]

Hi there! Thank you so much for asking and I'd be happy to write something up for you soon! :)

[rebel]

Hello again! I just finished the guide and it ended up being longer than I expected but I had a lot of fun making it, actually. It's basically just a general complex icon guide but I am pretty sure I have all of the PSDs for the icons you provided so if you'd like me to do something specific for anything let me know. Anyway, I hope you like it! Here it is :)

[onlyechoes]

[angelamaria]

Yay first time! It's my first time participating too, hee.

Any overarching tips/guidelines for cropping that you follow or keep in mind? :)

[onlyechoes]

[angelamaria]

Haha, that's how I go about it too, but your crops look quite well done :D Still looking forward to that post, thanks so much!

[tunaeverynight]

Username and where I post my work: tunaeverynight - I posted my icons at engrained
What can we request from you: Anything you want! Although I might not be the best at tutorials since I rarely save PSDs and every icon has a different process. But I can probably recount some of the stages/tricks/tools used if need be :)
Can we hotlink your icons?: I'd rather you not.

[erzsebet]

Blocking and/or coloring guide, please?

[tunaeverynight]

I'd say the biggest "trick" I use when it comes to blocking is re-using old icons. Sometimes I'll finish coloring an icon and decide it bores me as is, so I'll look back through old posts I've made for similarly colored icons and drag them to the sides as borders.

For example, the border of this icon:

[erzsebet]

THANK YOU SO SO MUCH

I don't think I've used the burn tool for years, I'll have to start experimenting with that! Do you ever use the dodge tool as well then, or just the burn tool?

Also love the idea of using old icons for borders! Such an awesome idea.

[spittingfish]

Username and where I post my work: spittingfish @ studfarm
What can we request from you: Just about anything. I save almost all my psds.
Can we hotlink your icons?: I don't care, go for it.

[afeastforme]

How you got such deep greens on this one?

[spittingfish]

Hm. I don't think I have the psd for that one (on another computer) but I'm fairly certain that all I did was eyedropper out a green, or possibly just selected my own green, and soft blurred it all around Cersei. I don't mind, in those circumstances, if some blurs onto her hair, to make it look softer (although this icon is quite sharp!). Then I'll put it on soft light or hard light, and gaussian blur it. ALSO, it helps to use various "green" textures. I don't think I had one on this icon but:

[afeastforme]

Thank you for your reply!
I love green, but I'm not sure I can get it right!