2017 Icon Retrospective
So, 2017 huh? What a year, what a year. For me personally, I took a few knocks (which kind of shows in my posts) but the end is in sight, and I'm feeling much more positive about the future. As crappy as some parts of the year have been, I guess now is a good time to have at look back at what I managed to put out on the creative front. You can definitely see my moods change with my colour choices. I wouldn't really call this a progression post (I'm not sure the quality has improved at all) but it's more of a 2017 icon retrospective.
I was curious, I did some quick and dirty maths to figure out how much stuff there was - 320 icons (not including all alts and rejects) and 1020 (!!!) textures. Let's take a slide down memory lane... please note these are based off the month I made them, not the month I actually posted them.
January
I started off with so much gusto - I really wanted to work on things I typically avoided. Text and texture work were my two big ticket items. I also started really mucking about with gradient maps.
February
Still working on dem textures and text.
March
March 2017 was the shittiest month of my life. The icons you see above (excluding the last icon) just managed to scrape in before everything turned to custard for a bit. Up until that point, I was feeling pretty stoked about what was happening in my life, and it's reflected in the colouring.
The last icon was my default icon for a bit. I made it not long after I got out of hospital when I was spending most of my time in front of a computer, since I couldn't do anything else. It pretty much sums it all up.
April
Dark/sad days equals dull/sad icons. I managed to get a few textures in there, but not many and no text. I'll be real - I started to see a psych towards the end of April/beginning of May and it helped pull me back from the black hole I was circling around.
May
I swear I must of used that USED UP texture on at least 10 icons. Not all of them made it to posting, thank goodness. Continuing with going and talking to someone helped a bit, and things started to improve slightly. I didn't feel like I was drowning so much anymore, I was just clinging to a raft in the middle of the ocean. But at least I had the raft now.
June and July
I've combined these two months as June and July were hard for me creatively. Nothing felt right, I couldn't really think of any ideas and pretty much everything I made I felt terrible about. I actually wrote more these two months than I iconed. Most of it was a self indulgent mess (much like this post, lololol), but it helped so I am glad I did it at the time.
August
August also fucking sucked for personal reasons, so not much happened on the creative front for a bit. A lot of what I made I deleted straight away, I just didn't like anything I did. It was very frustrating, because usually I can channel bad-juju into something.
September
I think those two Firefly icons got me out of a bit of a funk I was in. I know they are really nothing special, but it was the first time in a while that I had made something I actually liked. It made me brave enough to play around with text again. I think I actually submitted that icon without text when it came down to it, but at least I made it! :P
October
Some forays with giffing and supersaturation. And then I made some scary Halloween inspired icons for monthlyinspo - I never actually finished the set, but hey it was something.
November
November felt like it was were I was able to turn a corner.
December
Oh, December, December, December. Not even finished with me yet, but you've been a roller coaster, that's for damn sure. There's some other ~~stuff~~ happening in the background right now that is making me feel elated and terrified and kind of ill just thinking about it, which means it's time for weird stuff to be cranked out. Don't worry - most of it stays in my reject folder, haha ;)
End of Year Notes
Look, I know that they are ~~just icons~~ and I really don't take it all so seriously, but this year, it really brought home to me that I need to take care of my mental self, in order to be able to create things (not just icons) and be happy. When I focused on some self care, things tend to fall into place elsewhere in my life.
I'm not sure what 2018 will have in for me (I guess no one does right, that would take all the fun out) but I am actually hopeful. Thinking back on some of the low points of this year, I'm incredibly thankful I'm able to say that, and to have the opportunity to move forward. There's a new year full stretching out ahead of us, full of possibilities.
And, I'm thankful to you, dear and gentle reader, for reading my rambles, and being so supportive, especially when I was having those low moments. All the comments and kind words truly have been helpful. So, thank you.
I probably won't have a chance to post anything before 2018 hits, so I hope you all have a fabulous holiday period, and a happy new year! :)