GUTS - an anon concrit meme

[mm3butterfly]

Let's have a meme to get the ball rolling at this community.
Graphic makers want to receive good, honest concrit to help them improve, but people don't like to give concrit because pointing out other's mistakes is a sensitive topic, specially among friends - and because it almost always makes them sound like bitches. And who wants that? People

Comments

I can be the first. : )

[asocialdevice]

I'm asocialdevice and my icon comm is kigurumisisters. I share this comm with another user, please only look/crit my posts. : ) <3

Here's a few examples, the first five are in my usual style and so what I believe to be some of my "best" work and the other five are me expirementing with new styles, just trying something diffrent. It's these in particular that I'm looking for critique in, however I'd also love some crit on my usual style. I'm comfortable in it, sure, but I'm scared I'm getting too comfortable. :) Thanks to all.

Re: I can be the first. : )

[asocialdevice]

I think I did come across your icon community once and I do remember your TBBT icons cause they have this distinctive solid background colour with that rounded cutout thing. I do like that style because I find it bright and cheery and fitting for the show. I dont think there's anything wrong with sticking to the style, but I think mixing it up is essential. Maybe you could try using texture. Texture often enhances a picture as well as gives it depth. I know you do use textures - (forgive me, I didnt see all of your posts cause I was getting confused with what I wanted to say )but it wouldn't hurt to use a combination of them and try different modes like hardlight , inverting them etc etc. Sometimes, experimenting with modes throws up unusual results and most times, pleasing to the eye too

Re: I can be the first. : )

[asocialdevice]

I just wanted to say thank you so much for the crit, it was far kinder than I expected and extremely helpful! I'm totally running off to expirement with modes n textures in PS. Aiming to do more daring things.

Again, thank you very much. :)

Re: I can be the first. : )

[asocialdevice]

I think your icons are creative. I think the colors are bright and the pictures are clear.

The only thing I'd suggest is toning down the red in the 9th picture just a smidge. Also the color inside the black and white I would maybe soften the b&w so that the color stood out a bit more. Overall your work is amazing and creative so I feel nit-picky with my suggestions lol :)

Re: I can be the first. : )

[asocialdevice]

Thank you very much for the crit! Not nitpicky at all. It's very helpful. Ganna work on my B&W/color techniques. : ) <3

Re: I can be the first. : )

[asocialdevice]

I think it's awesome that you're being so creative. My favourites are the first three and number five. On those icons, everything fits: the colours are stunning on all four of those and the composition of all those icons is impeccable

Re: I can be the first. : )

[asocialdevice]

Thank you so very much for the helpful crit, just what I was hoping to get advice on! <3 : )

Re: I can be the first. : )

[asocialdevice]

Overall, I think your icons are bright and interesting. I love your composition, it's very interesting and fun

Re: I can be the first. : )

[asocialdevice]

I cannot thank you enough for the detailed and helpful crit! : ) Gave me adivce on things I hadn't even considered. Thank you! <3 :D

Re: I can be the first. : )

[asocialdevice]

My favorite of these is definitely #1. It's very simple and elegantly done.

I think the text on 2 and 10 is done well, and I like what you did in 5 - I think that really worked.

I don't like the little inset on 6, though. The coloring is a little washed-out or faded looking to me. I don't really like the black and white, either. 7, to me, is a much better example of the technique.

4 is a little too sharp, especially along her profile.

All together, though, I really like your style!

Re: I can be the first. : )

[asocialdevice]

Thank you so much for the crit! I've fallen for styles like 6/7/9 and have had the hardest time achieving them, your crit is incredibly helpful. Can't wait to try again. :D <3

Re: I can be the first. : )

[asocialdevice]

I really think it's wonderful that you bring so much color into the icons for a show as vibrant as Big Bang Theory! Also, it's great that you clearly aren't afraid to be creative in playing with neative space, such as in #1, 2, 3, and 8! I really enjoy what you achieved in 2 with the proper coloring and text placement. Great job! I think 1 could be slightly improved if the subject were scaled down a bit so that there's more empty space around him. The crops in 5 are lovely. It's nice to see you playing with sharp shapes!

Re: I can be the first. : )

[asocialdevice]

Thank you very much for the crit and advic and the very kind comments <3 : )

Re: I can be the first. : )

[asocialdevice]

I think everyone else has already pointed out some things for you to think about and work into your style. I love how colourful your icons are and your experimentation with different styles and repetition.

I think the only thing I would suggest would be to save your icons as .pngs, rather than jpgs. There's something about the editing on details that can look oversharpened or just not as smooth as they would if saved as pngs. It's nothing you've done but if you look close enough you can tell, or at least I can at times.

That'd be about it.

Re: I can be the first. : )

[asocialdevice]

Thank you for the kind comments. It may just be tinypic changing the exten names up but these and all but the very first posts I ever made in my graphics comm are pngs. : ) Do these have that compressed/grainy look jpgs get? :O? I'm not sure how to keep tinypic from messing with the extension name. (of course the oversharpened/not so smooth look could just be, png or not, becuase i did oversharpen. ) I had no idea it was messing with the image type as well. :/ they save as pngs for me anyways. Thank you for letting me know! :) Might need to go in search of a new image host. 8/

Re: I can be the first. : )

[asocialdevice]

Most of these are really good. Though the black & white part of 9 could be contrasted some more and I'm not really fond of the coloring in 10. He just blends into the background too much and the text is covering his face. That's never a good thing.