#1: I...really kind of like this one. It's very pink, but somehow it looks really fantastic? It's definitely different, and it stands out. I like how soft it is as well. Sometimes I struggle with picking out what I like about softer, more pastel icons because I tend to go for brighter icons, but, yeah, I like this. I guess...if I were to offer anything in terms of concrit it might be to highlight more specifically where you want the eye to look? Usually the eye tends to wander toward the lightest part of the icon (so the right hand side; her hair), and I actually think the coloring on her face is really interesting. You could probably choose a very subtle light texture, desaturate it, and set it on soft light/screen/something else nifty to change the flow of light and shift it more toward her face. Or don't even bother with light textures, and just use brushes to create your own light texture. Unfortunately the link I'm about to give you goes to a locked community, but this tutorial pretty much details what I mean about brushing to shift the flow of light.
#2: I've got two bits of nit picking for this icon. The first is that it comes across, at least on my monitor, as too dark. Whoever is in the icon sort of fades away into shadow (except for the very tip of her forehead). So the icon as a whole could use some brightening. In this case, I think some subtle curves work would do the trick! My second nit pick is the crop. I like the side face crop, I do, but the cap itself isn't very dynamic. Her expression doesn't really draw me in or do anything to capture the attention, and because there's so much extra space I'm paying far more attention to the blurred background and the veil thing than I am to her face. I'm thinking, maybe, this cap was more suitable for a different crop? The blurred background actually looks pretty cool (and I'm also thinking of the nifty things you might be able to do with the veil using the smudge tool), and a negative space/center crop (I know, I know, it sounds boring, but hey, it works, right?) might have pulled the focus in toward the face (since the figure would now be central in the frame instead of off to the side).
I find dynamic crops like this one tends to look their best when it highlights something dramatic (a facial expression, an exaggerated movement, some sort of dynamic light source, etc). So that's just something, I think, to keep in mind when you decide which images to crop which ways.
#3: LOVE THIS ONE. I think it works 100%. I love the blocking, and I adore that you've used a landscape, wide shot and then a closer, human shot. The contrast looks so lovely. The text also works really well. I'm very impressed that you worked with text that small and kept it look so smooth. And I can read it! That's a plus.
I guess if you were looking to take it to the very tip top, a little brightening of the top cap, and maybe emphasizing the green in the bottom cap a little more to counteract all the pink tones and balance things a little more wouldn't go amiss. Otherwise though, I really like it. The composition, as I've said, is really awesome and kind of epic to look at.
Thanks so much for such detailed feedback! :) For #2, I agree it is sort of dark. My old style was lots of dark coloring and I'm trying to get into more brighter stuff and am finding it pretty hard after iconning most things dark. But I'm definitely trying to work on that. I did try center cropping that cap but I couldn't get it to look how I wanted to and ended up giving up lol.
Which would be why I qualified with 'at least on my monitor'; sometimes monitor brightness really can make all the difference. I think my screen tends to be darker though, so maybe what you're seeing is actually the way it is supposed to look!
Yeah, I've gone between my lap top and the main computer we have downstairs, and everything is about three degrees brighter on that desktop computer. But really the darker tones being brighter make more sense because then they would match the brightness of the top corner.
(*puts on mod cap* We might to a discussion post about it later on? But really you can't go wrong because monitor differences are are part of concrit, you know? And you have to take that into account when you are writing, so it is definitely a valid reason to comment/discuss it!)
#2: I've got two bits of nit picking for this icon. The first is that it comes across, at least on my monitor, as too dark. Whoever is in the icon sort of fades away into shadow (except for the very tip of her forehead). So the icon as a whole could use some brightening. In this case, I think some subtle curves work would do the trick! My second nit pick is the crop. I like the side face crop, I do, but the cap itself isn't very dynamic. Her expression doesn't really draw me in or do anything to capture the attention, and because there's so much extra space I'm paying far more attention to the blurred background and the veil thing than I am to her face. I'm thinking, maybe, this cap was more suitable for a different crop? The blurred background actually looks pretty cool (and I'm also thinking of the nifty things you might be able to do with the veil using the smudge tool), and a negative space/center crop (I know, I know, it sounds boring, but hey, it works, right?) might have pulled the focus in toward the face (since the figure would now be central in the frame instead of off to the side).
I find dynamic crops like this one tends to look their best when it highlights something dramatic (a facial expression, an exaggerated movement, some sort of dynamic light source, etc). So that's just something, I think, to keep in mind when you decide which images to crop which ways.
#3: LOVE THIS ONE. I think it works 100%. I love the blocking, and I adore that you've used a landscape, wide shot and then a closer, human shot. The contrast looks so lovely. The text also works really well. I'm very impressed that you worked with text that small and kept it look so smooth. And I can read it! That's a plus.
I guess if you were looking to take it to the very tip top, a little brightening of the top cap, and maybe emphasizing the green in the bottom cap a little more to counteract all the pink tones and balance things a little more wouldn't go amiss. Otherwise though, I really like it. The composition, as I've said, is really awesome and kind of epic to look at.
Hope that helps! ♥
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(*puts on mod cap* We might to a discussion post about it later on? But really you can't go wrong because monitor differences are are part of concrit, you know? And you have to take that into account when you are writing, so it is definitely a valid reason to comment/discuss it!)
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