2021 Progression Post
This post is really rather late, but I thought I'd put together a progression post for last year.
I hope you enjoy seeing my progression through 2021!
And I hope to make more icons in 2022!
Only one post for January. I really had fun transforming the atmosphere of each of my caps for the Atmospheric round @ somein30.
I don't think it was intentional, but I guess I was going for the "shiny" look with my use of light blobs and gradients!
Two posts! The first one was for the Minimalism vs Complex round @ somein30!
I had recently watched Crash Landing on You and wanted to icon it.
It was such a fabulous drama! I loved all the references to the Hallyu Wave and stuff.
And Ri Jeong-hyeok and Yoon Seri were so adorable together
(So glad that Hyun Bin and Son Yejin are getting married! They're such a cute couple!)!
I think I got better at doing the muted, flat coloring. More attempts at coloring hair.
I have gone through so many tutorials, but I still have yet to get that paint-y look! orz
I also did a batch for splash20in20 and went back to my "shiny" look for stock icons
(well, except for the pink icon, lol).
Three posts! The first one was for the final round @ narnia20in20 before I put the comm on hiatus.
Instead of doing claims, we got to cover all the adaptations.
I tried a lot of different stuff with this batch.
I think I started using the Diffuse filter to help smooth out the icon (no need for Topaz, which I never was able to find).
Attempted doing highlights, but I think the highlights turned out too bright!
More attempts at coloring hair, but I still haven't got the look I'm going for.
I'm really pround of the starry Susan icon though.
I really like how the coloring turned out, and I think adding the stars to her hair made the icon more interesting.
The next post was for the random round at somein30.
Seriously, jsfunction never fails to surprise me with the themes!
The Éowyn icon was definitely one of my favorites out of this batch and maybe even one of my favorites of 2021.
I think it was the culmination of painty-ness, complexity, and vibrancy, which were three things that I had been working on.
The last post for March was icons10in20 at Dreamwidth. I opted to do a Kim Yu-na batch.
Again, mostly experimenting with the muted, matte coloring and painted hair.
Four posts! ^^ The first post was just a random batch of pink fashion/stock icons that I made.
More experimenting with painted hair. Otherwise, it was my usual for fashion/stock.
My second post was for disney_20in20. I only had to do 10 icons for this round.
I really had fun working with the images from the live-action Cinderella.
I only wish I had saved some of the promo images when the HQ images were available. Le sigh.
Weirdly enough, my favorites from this batch were my alternates, lol!
Mostly an effort in the painted look and muted, vibrant coloring. Overall, I was pretty happy with this batch.
I think the coloring was turned out to be balanced/harmonious.
Next post: more pink stock/fashion for splash20in20.
I didn't really like how these icons turned out. I think I was in a funk or something.
The last post was for tvmovie20in20. I decided to do the Detective Conan series for this round.
I don't think I'd ever done a whole batch of anime icons, so this round was definitely challenging.
It was really a lot of trial and error because coloring anime is so different from coloring live-action stuff!
I think ended up using a lot of textures and painting over the original colors to make them pop a little more.
After that attempt, I'm even more impressed with the anime icons that makers like
emiels, applepips16, petite_tomate, jsfunction, and scoobyatemysnax make!
Two posts! The post count went down, lol!
The first post was a small batch that I managed to make for the relationship round at somein30.
The second post was also for somein30's coordinates of style round.
That round was seriously intense and inspiring!
I ended up making a ton of icons (52 icons including alts)!
I think some of my most creative icons were in this batch.
It was everything from simple to complex, muted to vibrant, and everything in between.
I think I had some great composition and textwork in that batch, too!
Only a small batch for June. I really was feeling inspired by tinebrella's post @ iconspirations!
I mostly went for a muted, matte look with light pastel coloring.
I liked how most of this batch turned out.
Two posts! I wanted to try doing some dark icons since I don't typically make dark icons.
Plus I was feeling particularly inspired by tinebrella's post @ iconspirations!
It was fun working with the shadows and adding gradients to darken and color.
For the second post, I couldn't resist fandom10in30's mystery box round, lol!
I went for interesting crops and complex compositions for this batch.
The pink and purple IU icon is probably one of my all-time-favorites from this batch and possibly this year!
I think I've definitely gotten better at complex compositions!
Just one post. This would be my last post until December.
It was my first anime battle in a long time.
The last time I did one was back in 2010 (well, it wasn't completely anime, but we each did 8 anime icons, so....)!
This batch was definitely highly experimental.
I wasn't really confident in making anime icons but wanted to at least give it a try!
I was pretty pleased with some of the textwork in this batch, especially the "dere" icons and the Haibara red-hood one.
I'm hoping that I will improve in my anime icon-making skills in 2022.
Nothing. Between teaching and packing, it was sheer craziness.
Nothing. It was all school, packing, and moving.
Nothing. School, school, and school.
Just two final posts for 2021. I managed to make a small batch for the bingo round @ somein30.
I was fairly pleased with this batch. The muted colorings turned out really well.
I liked how most of the complex icons turned out.
I think I was feeling a lot more comfortable with my composition and matching colors (something I'm not so good at).
I was especially pleased with the Woo-seok icon and the Yu-na icon as far as composition goes.
They both turned out better than I expected,
especially considering how much effort it took to making each person fit the shape of the texture.
I think I've gotten more creative with my fonts and text.
Also, the simple ones were also good for the most part, but I think the complex ones were better, lol!
The final post was just a collection of icons I hadn't posted.
Nothing too special, except for the animated icons.
I had fun putting together Do-hyon's glitchy icon, and I tried out some other animations as well.
Here's to hoping that 2022 will be an even better icon year! ^^