2012 icon progression post
LALALALALA I CAN'T BE BOTHERED TO MAKE A BANNER!
I've never done one of these thingies before, apparently all the ~cool makers are doing it!! u.u
Some minor background: I've been making icons since 2008 but was never "into" the icon community or iconmaking in general. I was (still am, a little?) a casual maker. I made icons, I shared them, I entered in icontests, I was chuffed if I got comments or won something but it wasn't a huge deal for me. Then in 2012 I discovered anon_icon and realised that iconmakers took icons seriously and there was an icon social scene that was every bit as dramatic and judgmental as highschool. Which is pretty amusing, and entertaining, and weird. Then I screwed up my courage got to talking to some makers - some popular, some elite, some UTR, some unknown, and all of them friendly - and it made me think "wow, guess I should brush up, I don't feel worthy.."
tl;dr It wasn't til 2012 that I put actual effort into my icons. I don't think my skills have improved a huge amount yet. But, there's always time. ♥
My icons in 2012:
JANUARY - I made no icons in january P;
FEBRUARY
# I started to experiment more with blending and using textures. I was very into Sherlock at the time. I also tried to get back into making text-only icons but failed.
MARCH
# More blending. Also discovered gradients. Experimented with coloring using only textures. Some text experimentation. Very into GoT.
APRIL - no icons in april. this is going badly ;A;
MAY
# ...I made about 5 korra icons that month. hdu color animation??
JUNE
# By this point I was more active, talking and getting advice from other makers. A lot of the icons I made were from chat battles, and playing with light and shadow.
JULY
# more chat battles. Also I started participating in theiconquest, challenging my skills. I fiddled around with fake backgrounds and various colorings, and negative space.
AUGUST - no icons made
SEPTEMBER
# For IQ, I attempted wizard icons, meaning working with more complex techniques: blending, blocking, using shapes. Not sure how well this worked, I prefer simple crops and colorings.
OCTOBER
# this lone entry for IQ was all about levels/blocking, so more wizard icons.
NOVEMBER
# by this point I was hardly iconing anything so for inspired20in20 I attempted some more muted colorings since I'm in awe of anyone who can do that.
AND DECEMBER
# Only one lonely battle posted, featuring my love of close crops and neg space. I also tried out coloring using solely gradient maps and gradients. So, gradient shizzle, everywhereee.
There's also some upcoming icons from battles that haven't been posted yet P;
In conclusion:
I think my icons have become a little cleaner. Sharpening and coloring is still all over the place. I don't really think I have a "style" other than liking close crops and negative space, and simple compositions - that's my thing. I still have a lot to improve on, and the road goes ever on! C:
My icon resolutions for 2013:
- icon more stock, animanga and animation
- do text-only icons
- get a grip on, well, everything
- be out of the box, or at least tip it over
- be more active in the icon community, join in more icontests
- talk to more makers! and make new friends c:
I've never done one of these thingies before, apparently all the ~cool makers are doing it!! u.u
Some minor background: I've been making icons since 2008 but was never "into" the icon community or iconmaking in general. I was (still am, a little?) a casual maker. I made icons, I shared them, I entered in icontests, I was chuffed if I got comments or won something but it wasn't a huge deal for me. Then in 2012 I discovered anon_icon and realised that iconmakers took icons seriously and there was an icon social scene that was every bit as dramatic and judgmental as highschool. Which is pretty amusing, and entertaining, and weird. Then I screwed up my courage got to talking to some makers - some popular, some elite, some UTR, some unknown, and all of them friendly - and it made me think "wow, guess I should brush up, I don't feel worthy.."
tl;dr It wasn't til 2012 that I put actual effort into my icons. I don't think my skills have improved a huge amount yet. But, there's always time. ♥
My icons in 2012:
JANUARY - I made no icons in january P;
FEBRUARY
# I started to experiment more with blending and using textures. I was very into Sherlock at the time. I also tried to get back into making text-only icons but failed.
MARCH
# More blending. Also discovered gradients. Experimented with coloring using only textures. Some text experimentation. Very into GoT.
APRIL - no icons in april. this is going badly ;A;
MAY
# ...I made about 5 korra icons that month. hdu color animation??
JUNE
# By this point I was more active, talking and getting advice from other makers. A lot of the icons I made were from chat battles, and playing with light and shadow.
JULY
# more chat battles. Also I started participating in theiconquest, challenging my skills. I fiddled around with fake backgrounds and various colorings, and negative space.
AUGUST - no icons made
SEPTEMBER
# For IQ, I attempted wizard icons, meaning working with more complex techniques: blending, blocking, using shapes. Not sure how well this worked, I prefer simple crops and colorings.
OCTOBER
# this lone entry for IQ was all about levels/blocking, so more wizard icons.
NOVEMBER
# by this point I was hardly iconing anything so for inspired20in20 I attempted some more muted colorings since I'm in awe of anyone who can do that.
AND DECEMBER
# Only one lonely battle posted, featuring my love of close crops and neg space. I also tried out coloring using solely gradient maps and gradients. So, gradient shizzle, everywhereee.
There's also some upcoming icons from battles that haven't been posted yet P;
In conclusion:
I think my icons have become a little cleaner. Sharpening and coloring is still all over the place. I don't really think I have a "style" other than liking close crops and negative space, and simple compositions - that's my thing. I still have a lot to improve on, and the road goes ever on! C:
My icon resolutions for 2013:
- icon more stock, animanga and animation
- do text-only icons
- get a grip on, well, everything
- be out of the box, or at least tip it over
- be more active in the icon community, join in more icontests
- talk to more makers! and make new friends c: