(part one) icon recs
TORTES' ICON RECS
FYI » This is not meant to be a comprehensive list of good icon makers for any fandom. Recommendations were categorized based on our own recollection of when an icon maker dropped onto our radar. If we didn't know your gender, we made an educated guess (female). Lastly, if you steal this table code, I will kill you. Enjoy! /quadruple suicide
THE NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK
LEETEUK » Jane's icons are an example of soft coloring at its best. It's hard to find pinks done right, let alone yellows, and yet Jane does both with ease. Add to the mix a strong eye for crops and beautiful composition and you've got perfection. Plain and simple: her name is Leeteuk for a reason.
BIDE » Krys is well-versed in the art of icon making, so I thank entire constellations that she's entered the kpop scene, complete with a Jonghyun bias. Whether it is fashion, stock or kpop, her icons are clean and crisp, with beautifully muted tones. Paradox.
MILKYAIR » What? I have Western fandoms? I might not like Doctor Who (at. all.), but this icon maker does better with a box than even the good Doctor himself. I envy her endlessly creative texture and text use, and her bold, vivacious (but never neon!) coloring is much more than "easy on the eyes."
INSTANTDAZZLE » Clean cutouts, text that actually works, big crops and good texture use: instantdazzle surpassed both the amateur icon maker and the average icon maker by a mile and then some, and all within six posts. In each new batch, her improvement is readily visible.
GLASSTAINED » When it comes to texture use, there is no better person than this girl. Having been first discovered at an elite challenge comm for asian subjects, she became a hit overnight, bringing in a whirlwind of gorgeous icons into a dulling icon scene.
GOLDENMELISANDE » Talk about pretty in pink. This icon maker has all but mastered the art of the big crop, and works beautifully with negative space as well. Her icons are clean, simple and understated, and her coloring is improving with every post, finding a perfect balance between strong coloring and faded tones.
X_MOMOLICIOUS_X » Taste the rainbow! This icon maker manages to post a handful of well cropped and well textured icons that showcases a variety of colors into a somewhat dull kpop scene. Her icons are fun, stylish and colorful and definitely reminds me of skittles!
JOYFULS » I think she already stopped iconing. She should come back, though, because Doreen's icons are always filled with beautiful, vivid coloring and a touch of fantastic texture use. Her creativity needs more recognition, what with her great close-ups and everything!
DISCS » she doesn't icon like a newbie at all. her colours are A+, the art of texturizing, she haz it. this maker has a really wide variety of subjects she icons and you will never get tired of her batches. she posts in a rather substantial amount at every go. it's a joy to see all the bright colours she brings to the table.
THE TRIED AND TRUE
DISSUADE » Tiffy's icons bring a certain softness into the picture while maintaining that fresh burst of color and unparalleled style. She's a deft hand at crops too, with a wonderful eye for when to use textures and when not. Though not a frequent poster, her once-in-awhile-posts are sure to make any follower go into a tizzy.
KOREANS » If you've been around for last couple of years, you've probably at least seen one of this girl's icon posts. Chock full of hilarity in gifs and crisp, clean icons, Victoria brings a definite gaiety into a usually serious biznz. If you're looking for a laugh after a hard day, she's the girl you want to go to.
NOKONCHAN » Show me a more beloved iconner than Qici. This girl has invaded our icon-loving hearts with her brilliant colors, texture use, and typography. We squeal when we see a new post of hers, and we always flock to her requests posts. (PS. She's got a new post coming out.)
DILLSPOND » You see her work, and there's this tickling in the back of your mind that says, "Oh, I know this girl." Yes, you do, and she's amazing. Ranging from kpop to pop culture to stock, she does it all with stunning compositions, colors and crops. Now if I could just get her cured of Mary's Kibum disease and bring out some icons....
HUONGLE » Simplify, simplify! No matter how many textures or layers go into each icon, the end product is always clean, neat and absolutely gorgeous. The way she utilizes negative space, creative crops and complimentary tones in her icons is stunning.
AKIHITO » She owns a variety of different communities and usually swims in the animanga pool, but her asian entertainment icons are just as amazing. Des always manages to leave me breatheless with her creative colorings and texture use, especially her black and white icons.
SCANKY_CHOPS » You know her and you love her. This icon makers' humor never fails to amuse me. Along with her beautiful coloring and cropping, her icons come to life with her typography and use of textures. Every time she posts, you can expect one heck of a ride!
THEHEAVEN » You probably know her from her BOF icons. But she's a lot more talented than that. Her icons consist of many different subjects but we love them all the same. Her soft, muted and minimalistic style is crowd favorite. They're all just so pretty!
STRZYGA » This icon maker creates icons from many varieties of entertainment. The icons produced are vivid, sharp and exciting to the eye. Her eye for cropping works well with the images chosen and are well composed. Her comic icons are simply by far one of the best out there.
WITISOVERRATED » there is a whole lot of girls' generation bias and i really look forward this maker's icons because they are just beautiful. it seems as if she's able to make everything fall into place. i'm amazed at the different colourings she's able to come up with. definitely worth looking out for because she doesn't icon snsd alone :P
THE OLDIES BUT GOODIES
SAMURAIBLUES » This iconmaker is one of my favorites. When I first started, I would frequent jounins just for her. Her creative texture use, coloring and eye for composition is absolutely stunning. Her icons are always fun, cute and simply put, amazing. She's an inspiration, truly.
CALIXA » While some of you may think she just popped out of nowhere, this girl has in fact been making icons longer than you've been wearing diapers. Okay, okay, an exaggeration, but when you look at her icons, you could almost think the same thing.
ROONZIL » When it comes to experience in the iconning field, this girl has certainly got heaps. Each post of hers sings of years worth of experience, but always willing to incorporate the newest styles. She's constantly evolving while maintaining that style that's all her own.
MYRASIS » How long have I adored this person's icons? One of the first iconmakers that I started following, her work is phenomenal and always fresh. Clean and vibrant, her command of color and composition is enough to make a grown person weep. She doesn't need textures or text to cover up flaws; she simply has none.
MINOLTA » Gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous stock icons. You take one look at this ol' gal's stuff, and you immediately want to propose or proffer firstborns. Her icons are sharp and crisp, preferring to let the natural colors do all the work instead of slapping on multiple textures.
CAMBRIDGE » What's not to love? Making icons with this level of control over color and composition, this person no doubt could run circles around you with her iconning experience. I still remember her one icon with a crop that makes me still shiver when I reminisce.
ZO_CAT » Of course, when it comes to stock and composition, there is no one better than this guy. His icons are always sharp and bold with crops that send your head spinning if you even attempted his style. Going through his posts is like eating candy on Halloween, except without the getting-sick part, hah hah hah.
_VISUALBRUISES » Composition goddess is she, with textures and negative space as her servants. A Midas-like touch with graphics, everything this person makes turns to pure gold (har har). Not afraid to step outside the box and play with the brighter, more feared colors, this gal brings a highly-praised creativity to the table.
THE GENIUS ICONMAKERS
AOZA » Stunning, stunning, stunning. This icon maker owes the world stunna shades; her icons are that good. She's mastered just about every style imaginable, including the difficult face crop, and her texture use is absolutely fabulous. All I can say is: more, more, more!
KEEPTHELIGHTS » This icon maker has me wondering why people insist on abusing the exclusion layer trend when you can make such beautiful, sharp icons like keepthelight's. I absolutely love her "vintage"-themed graphics and her coloring is never anything but perfect.
PAINTABLE » I have palpitations whenever I see a post from this girl. Her icons are colorful and wonderfully sharp with a hint of softness. IDEK SHE MAKES ME INCOHERENT. But she's just amazing. I see her icons and I go, "How does this person do it? How can she manage such gorgeous colorings?" And then I fall to the ground from her greatness.
SHIXON » Oh god, Katie's icons are works of art. Every icon is carefully rendered and worked on, with artfully-placed textures and stunning crops. A style reminiscent of honeymellow's, Katie's icons somehow go beyond and she adds her own little touches to separate her from others. I could look at her stuff all day.
MIDNITEXSONATA » You know this girl; the one who makes a batch once every while with like a million icons and subjects in one post. You click her fake-cuts, and you're instantaneously bombarded with color, loads of color, and texture use that has you drooling. Her work is one-of-a-kind.
TOASTANDTEA » You may know her as the girl with the amazing A:TLA icons, but her other stuff is just as stunning. Coloring, textures, typography, crops, she kicks all of their asses. Although her posts are buried behind a bunch of RL posts, you can't help but rifle through all her entries for hidden treasures. And you just keep coming back for more.
ONEW » This icon maker has been a part of the kpop scene for a long time. I remember when I first started making kpop icons, I would stop by her community for inspiration. Her crisp minimalistic style is loved by all. Her genius cropping is a work of art and her coloring is simply to die for.
IKU » You probably know her as another name but the quality of her work never fails. This icon maker always brings a new feel and style to the plate. Her use of textures and composition is creative and leaves you speechless. The colors shown give a playful feel.
THRUX » Mari was born with incredible talent and eye for design. Everyone knows her work, her design, her texture use, her creativity. Mari is bold when it comes to designing. The colors are beautiful and her graphics always have a unique feel to them.
LIGHT_FLOWER » Mayu's icons are always bright, soft and colorful. You probably know her from her incredibly gorgeous manga icons. Her coloring is one of a kind. The composition and use of textures and text are all well done. I've been a fan for a long time!
LOOKINGAT » this maker posts once in a really long time but its worth the wait T_T i love her colourings, they seem somewhat brownish at times with this vintage feel. there's just something about her colouring that really fascinates me. her wallpapers, to die for. the elements of textures, colouring onto her art, god-like.
MURASAKI_FIVE » mmmm, how do i put it. i'm not quite into jmusic/dramas which is this maker's main fandom, but there are just certain iconists you just look forward to. she's one of them. each post is full of different colours and her crops are really unique. textures are also her forte. this maker is an all-rounder you'll never get tired of.
SALAZARS » my recent fetish with stock led me to discover a few makers from the other side (well, since i've always been asian when it came to icons). and this maker is one of them. although her icons doesn't have much use of textures, the colours in her posts are good enough to wow anyone. especially the amazing colouring on her stock.
PETERSBURGS » another icon maker focusing on stock. clean crops, fresh colouring, and an amazing variety, both in style and in subject matter. what more can i say? looking for stock icons? this maker will no doubt have what you want. she never fails.
CHIBI_BIJUTSU » colours and crops. they leave me speechless. i love everything about her icons. every post are full of goodies you want to grab and they tempt you even more because of the colours that seem to shine. her crops are also pretty unique and smart.
CRANES » these icons feature very simple crops and colouring but this maker's able to make things happen. the soft colouring brings out a rather ~elegant~ feel to her icons and i actually like them a lot. sometimes, simple is better and this maker proves that point.
LOOSENING » okay, i'm not sure what you call this colouring but i love it. they aren't exactly very soft and they have a rather vintage end result. it makes me envious because it's something i've never been able to do. amazing choices when it comes to images to icon and i love her crops. another maker whose stock icons are every ready to win you over.
PART TWO »