127. One Guide + One Q&A
I was going to finish my AtM request from last year before starting on any of this year’s, but I started identifying the textures I most use and before I knew it I’d done a whole texture guide, plus organised all my texture folders. I’ve sorted the textures into rough categories and given a load of examples of them in use, plus a bit of general spiel. Some of the textures have been shrunk to fit, just click on them for full size. There’s also a little bit at the end about using ‘stock’ images instead of textures. I hope this is useful! (Fair warning, this post is VERY image-heavy - I think I’ve included about 60% of my texture arsenal...)
for adriftingsea
Absolute Favourites / Most Used
One or more of these icons feature in 99.99% of all my icons :P
innocent_lexys x2 | pandavirus | sarisafari | tinebrella
Borders & Frames
I generally use borders/frames for negative space + fake gradient background + centre crop icons, either to frame the subject better or to add some more detail to an icon that’s looking a bit empty.
adriftingsea | hyperboreans | innocent_lexys x2 | jim_panse
rebel | scoobyatemysnax x3 | talipuu
talipuu | scoobyatemysnax x2 | unknown | scoobyatemysnax
unknown
[examples]
Decorative Accents
My most commonly used kind of texture! Pretty much entirely used for centre crop icons, most of the time for centre crop + negative space + fake gradient backgrounds so the background doesn’t look too empty, but sometimes I’ll use them to jazz up an icon which uses the original background, or a close crop. A lot of the decorative accents I use come from textures like these, but I also use clip art/vector images (e.g. Sansa little bird, Ruby wolf, Brienne sapphires) and sometimes details from the screencap/image itself (e.g. Elsa coronation)
adriftingsea x2 | anajchan | brutal | chodingdino
cielo_gris | fassy | fuuurs x3
fuuurs | hyperboreans x3 | innocent_lexys
innocent_lexys x4 | lemonrocket
lookslikerain | madeofstone | midnight_road x2 | pandavirus
queen_bartonia x4 | rebel
rebel x4 | slayground
so_ghislaine | stewark | unknown | innocent_lexys | unknown
unknown x5
unknown | violateraindrop x3 | wicked-fate
wolfatmidnight | youcallitwinter
[examples]
Grunge
Very versatile! I use them sometimes for muted-colour costume drama icons (e.g. Outlander close crop, Catelyn, Marian) to enhance the overall historical/period impression, sometimes as decorative accents (e.g. Cersei), sometimes for lighting purposes (e.g. Regina purple cloud, Captain America), sometimes to emphasise elements of the original screencap like rain (e.g. Outlander rain)
12feethigh x2 | callmebrandon x2 | cielo_gris
colordrop | fouroux | innocent_lexys x3
innocent_lexys | jaehos x2 | mm3butterfly x2
mm3butterfly | ohfreckle | raiindust x2 | scoobyatemysnax
slayground x2 | softstarless | unknown | val_valerie
val_valerie | vetica
[examples]
Light & Gradients
My most used kind of texture alongside decorative accent. I reckon light/gradient textures feature in about 99% of my icons. I mainly use them to highlight light sources in the original image (e.g. Guy & Marian), direct the visual focus of the icon (e.g. close crop Ariel, Constance), or to stop the background from looking too flat (e.g. Aurora, Regina).
12feethigh | absolutelybatty | ellaangelus | innocent_lexys x2
innocent_lexys x5
innocent_lexys x2 | lemonpunch | lumsx | madeofstone
midnight_road x2 | mm3butterfly x3
raiindust x2 | talipuu | tinebrella x2
unknown | vetica x2
[examples]
Painty & Patterned
I never used to use painty textures, but recently I’ve started using them to add more texture to fake background icons.
callmebrandon | fuuurs | hyperboreans | longerthanwedo | lookslikerain
lookslikerain | mrs-padfoot | nightbulbs | queen_bartonia | sarisafari
scoobyatemysnax | esgeee x2 | softstarless | spartapuss
superjesster | toktoks | unknown | ibtextures | unknown
unknown
[examples]
Stock
Again, mainly I use these to make fake background icons more interesting than just a plain colour gradient. A lot of the time though, rather than using stock textures, I’ll use screencaps of landscapes/scenery/nature from other tv shows/films (see later).
accio-glow | aguamentis | callmebrandon x3
hyperboreans x4 | mrs-padfoot
mrs-padfoot x2 | northerndawn x3
northerndawn x5
nyvelvet | pandavirus | scoobyatemysnax | tanja92 | unknown
unknown x3 | violateraindrop | wicked-fate
[examples]
Text
Very useful for decorative accents, especially in Harry Potter/magic-related icons, and numbers are always appropriate for Lost icons :P
azuremonkey | barstr7 | butterphil | cielo_gris x2
fuuurs | juanxyo x4
violateraindrop | windsonnetss
[examples]
Favourite Texture Makers
I recommend anyone to build up a good folder of textures because they are so useful when making icons! If you’re looking for more resources, these are some of my favourite texture makers:
callmebrandon | hyperboreans | innocent_lexys @ satine_violet | juanxyo @ terempaty | lookslikerain @ soaked | mm3butterfly @ encorevous | mrs-padfoot | northern-dawn | raiindust @ aintafairytale | rebel @ criminal | scoobyatemysnax @ burnedbreads | violateraindrop @ iwillnotdance
contextures is also fantastic!
And then lover_of_narnia asked for a list of textures I used in this icon:
I actually only used one texture (this one by innocent_lexys) to make this icon, the majority of it is in fact from a screencap from one of the Harry Potter films, which I used as a stock image for the background :P
Basically I knew from the original screencap that I wanted to do a negative space icon with Claire in the centre and a scenery background, but the screencap didn’t show much scenery itself. I looked through my arsenal of stock textures and couldn’t find anything that worked, so I went to my folder of stock images (basically screencaps from tv & film that look pretty/could prove useful) and found this cap from HP3:
I thoroughly recommend using screencaps for stock images, especially for nature stock. Da Vinci’s Demons, Harry Potter, Merlin, Once Upon a Time, Outlander, The Pillars of the Earth Reign, Robin Hood, Stardust, Tristan and Isolde, Vikings and The White Queen are some of my favourites to snag ‘stock’ images from.