009 | Icon Progression: 2011
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Notes;
I remember back at the beginning of 2011, I told myself I would make 200 icons this year. Back then, that was a huge number for me; I participated in assorted 20in20s, but it wasn't really a big thing. However, I achieved that original goal and then some.
2011 was a big year for me, icon-wise: it was the year in which I started to take iconning seriously. I had made icons before, but I wasn't much concerned with getting better. I mean, I didn't want to be bad, but I was comfortably okay. Or so I thought. Thanks to some really great challenges (be_obsessive, before it went on hiatus/morphed into inspired20in20; turbo_rumble, and supernatu_elite), the battles hosted by magicmachine and wonderous_stuff, and the openness of the icon community, I really started to improve and find my style this year.
My goals for next year are a bit different than what I hoped for at this time in 2010, but hopefully they will help me continue to improve in 2012.
January;
I started the year working in GIMP. My first icons were made for be_obsessive, which really pushed me. At this point, I thought text was totally my best friend (it wasn't). I also loved to cut things out (poorly) and use fake backgrounds. Looking back at a lot of this stuff I want to cringe because ew, oversharpened, but I can also see the beginnings of my current style (e.g., textures everywhere).
♥
February;
This selection is literally half the icons I made in February. I was actually quite proud of the first two, but the others are just kind of a mess; this was my phase where I thought adding textures to everything would make my icons look better. It didn't.
March;
After a slow month in February, I sort of exploded in March. I duplicated things like crazy, but I learned to lay off of the textures a bit on (some of) my icons and work more with the coloring tools. Some of my icons from this period (like the last here) actually aren't all that bad, maybe?
April;
April was another slow month for me, and didn't turn out all that much that I was proud of. However I did continue to work on coloring (as evidenced in the Adam Lambert icons) and chill on the crazy blocking. #04 here was the first icon where I think I really got a border to work (well, kinda), which is great because I was a fan of borders and they always ended up looking terrible.
May;
I think May was the month I first applied to an elite comm and I got some great concrit, notably from neke and firstillusion on coloring. That experience was kinda my first taste of the ~icon community~. With my icons, I switched to doinghalfsies on every other icon instead of crazy-ass blocking, which sometimes worked. May was also the first time I iconned Supernatural (which is now one of my biggest fandoms because SO MUCH PRETTY).
June;
In June, I joined more contests and just tried to keep making icons and improving (because my goal was to get into an elite comm, bitches!). I started trying some crazier/deeper colors and compositions, not all of which worked, but they were a good way for me to push myself. I also started to use textures on different blend modes and work with bright/saturated colors, which is a huge part of my style now, I think.
July;
In July, I added a bunch of new friends to my flist and icon radar (more on that later). I got crit both from icons_concrit and my rejected app at 20inspirations and, after consulting iconsecretsiconsecrets, opened up this comm. In short, July was a huge month for me icon community-wise. Icon-wise, I downloaded a trial version of PS and started learning how it worked, as you can see below.
August;
This was when I completed the first round at inspired20in20, which inspired and pushed me to no end. I returned to iconning Supernatural and really started figuring out what could be done with Photoshop. I tried non-natural coloring (as you can see in #02) and eventually decided that I should just not. August was also the first time I made a non-icon graphic, that being a wallpaper that I did for landofart.
September;
At the end of August, I applied to 20inspirations and was rejected for the second time, but I got a lot of concrit to work with. However, I claimed Castle at inspired20in20 that month and had a hard time of it. I ended up with only a few icons I was kinda proud of. I also made a tumblr graphic, which I want to do more of sometimes but ohmygods they are so different.
October;
October brought the marvelousness that is supernatu_elite, which has really pushed me because ;lakjdflkajd everyone else there is so GOOD. I was trying to work through the icon block that was Septermber, so I felt like I was fighting PS a lot. Although at the time I thought my icons were the BESTEST THINGS EVER (probably just because I succeeded in getting them made), I have since reconsidered that opinion. XD
November;
I had sooo much going on in November that I didn't make that many icons, and I was still feeling like half the ones I made were shitty. I don't think there was much improvement this month, but apparently I loved yellow(ish) things. I joined therainbowtree and that, along with Icon Appreciation Month/the IAM battle kinda helped me get inspired again towards the end of the month.
December;
The most notable thing to me in December was that I started making stock icons, which I'd never really done before, but I needed to make icons fast for a challenge at therainbowtree. By the middle of December, I'd pulled out of my slump and really felt that I was starting to make decent things again. Lately I've been using a lot of dark and/or deep colors, light (and dark) blobs, and gaussian blur layers on softlight.
This year, I found myself greatly influenced by the work of longerthanwedo and sarisafari; though my icons look nothing like theirs, both are amazing makers who inspire me. I gained a great friend in deternot, who is always super supportive and will tell me what's working and what's not. enriana, for the short time she was on LJ, also had a huge impact, as she was the one who got me started with inspired20in20. Then, of course, there are makers that are not on my f-list but deserve a mention: library_of_sex, for always being so encouraging, and absolutelybatty and raiindust for giving me some phenomenal concrit and support.
Thanks to all of you for spending 2011 with me, and Happy New Year!