2016 Icon Progression
In which I talked way too much about my icon making and what I loved but I may have written way too much!
2016 Icon Progression
January
01 | 02 | 03
January I decided to compete in too many challenges (but it was a way for me to get out of hiding under the covers and feeling miserable). I competed in
heroics20in20,
episodes20in20,
20muses,
10in30, and gameofcards. I created a total of 158 icons for this month. I admit that I had fun being daring in the coloring for 10in30, working with films in 1954 for gameofcards, and creating an icon for the chiaroscuro technique.
February
04 | 05 | 06
For February, I created icons for females20in20,
heroics20in20, Doctor Who Iconbattle at
icontalking, gameofcards, moviefilmstills,
dailyinspired, and my last eight icons for my set at
historamedy365. For females20in20, I wanted to be creative with the coloring and felt that I accomplished that. I also decided to stick to my strengths for moviefilmstills and icontalking battle by creating icons with negative space. I created 88 icons for this month.
March
07 | 08
March was that month where I didn't create a lot of icons (27 icons). I competed in 10in30 and 100x100mystery. I had fun being creative and out of the box for the 10in30 challenge since I got to use different textures. I think that it worked out in the end. For 100x100mystery, I admit to iconning different fandoms and apparently had fun watching people guess my icons incorrectly. I am not sure what it was about my icons in the first round for people to never guessed it was me. And then someone partially guessed my icon correctly for the second round but not guess all my icons for it (like the whole set)! I was actually never planning on revealing my alias or my icons but then I told myself to actually do it and not to regret it. still not 100% sure about that.
April
09
You would think that by having one post that I didn't make so many icons, but I made 197 icons (pretty sure I stopped counting awhile and guessed 200 icons for it). Only made so many icons because I was pretty stressed out in real life and iconning is a great way to takae some time from the day and just to de-stress and relax. I participated in
theiconthrone,
redheads20in20,
free20in20,
10in30,
20muses,
dailyinspired,
flarrow_stills,
iconsomething, and
gameofcards. I probably ended up creating so many stock icons for theiconthrone (probably a last minute thing and I decided to complete the challenges). Always noticed that when I don't have enough time to finish a challenge I resort to using stock. I had to compete in the last round of free20in20, and won second place for mod's favorite theme (blue). I decided to compete in redheads20in20 (reminds myself to actually go back and compete in this challenge for next year) and won best close crop. I am happy with how my close crop icons has great softness and coloring quality that gives it a little extra to stand out (besides for the cropping). 10in30 was all about muted coloring vs. vibrant coloring, while my vibrant coloring isn't too vibrant, I didn't want my subjects to become completely oversaturated. I tend to be happier doing muted coloring anyway. 20muses was all about creating simple icons. I don't think I understand why simple icons get a "bad rap" on here, but maybe it something about how the lj icon community used to have competition over simple vs complex icons (?) someone explain to me why "simple" icons get a bad rap? Because that's the feeling that I get on here (which is awful) but I could be wrong about that. I decided to create simple icons as well as follow extra theme of my own (creating words to go follow certain icon techniques: chiaroscuro, close crop, far crop, black and white, muted, vibrant, softness, hair porn and negative space). I miss competing in dailyinspired because I was able to go out of the box or work on my text work on icons and felt really proud to compete in that community.
May
10 | 11 | 12 | 13
May was that extremely stressful month and I am somehow manage to create 90 icons while also surviving on less than 3 hours of sleep as post 12 states (I am loling at my own edit note, and also cause of how much of a dork I am). I participated in theiconthrone, gameofcards, merlinstills and 20muses. For 20muses, I decided to create 20 icons by using the screencaps provided as well as following the required them and at least one of the optional themes. While some icons turned out great, other icons not so much (I am looking at out of the box for this one). But I am proud of how much of a risk I took and how it turned out. Also, ended up focusing on creating vibrant icons. I wanted to teach myself that I can do vibrant coloring just as how well I can do muted coloring. Also, I realized and never added before that I created one icon for merlinstills during this time period (it was a landscape icon but a different one than the one created for 20muses).
June
15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20
For June, I created 126 icons in total. I participated in
character20n20, theiconthrone, gameofcards,20muses, moviefilmstills, and
iconsomething. This looking back on my icon progressions remind me of how I also skipped some numbers in the post (like #14, 21, 29) and this reminds me how for next year to keep track of the post numbers. Anyway, gameofcards had me focusing on 10 favorite shows (and I picked the following fandoms: Agent Carter, Criminal Minds, Doctor Who, Eye Candy, Faking It, Pretty Little Liars, Reign, Revenge, Supernatural, and The Originals). This got me thinking that for next year I should icon other fandoms like these as well as doing my stock posts. Anyway, theiconthrone had me focus on stock icon, where I created this beautiful focus on a flower with a waterbubble on it. Character20n20, I decided to focus on my fake backgrounds in the guess who and artistic choice section. Not really sure if I liked the technique that I used. 20muses was all about doing opposite themes, and I decided to do the third option for the challenge and focus on all the 5 options below (for opposite themes) and make 2 icons for each theme. My favorite challenge was the iconsomething mystery box where I had to complete two technical themes (grunge texture and fake background), font: pacifico, two interpretive themes (soft and ocean) and one free choice. I really liked how my fake background turned out.
July
22 | 23
For July, I created 30 icons. I participated in
theiconthrone and
10in30. July was that month where I didn't want to create too many icons. theiconthrone challenge was picking the following themes: painted or far/wide crop, fake background or warm colors, floral decoration or light, alone or vibrant, black and white or close crop, negative space or faceless, cool colors or chiaroscuro, and simple or full body. Some of the themes I picked because I wanted to challenge myself, and others I picked because I really wanted to do that theme. I do wish I worked more on the full body icon. 10in30 challenge was all about the villains and because I wanted to work more on my text work, I did that. I do admit that my last icon for the set was created when I was so ready to pass out due to exhaustion and ended up creating a very lazy icon. I do love how some of the text worked out on the icons, but I do need to practice more with creating text icons.
August
24 | 25 | 26 | 27
For August, I created 109 icons in total. I participated in
theiconthrone,
10in30, iconsomething, and merlinstills. So I was really happy and excited to icon Endeavour (I really love that show) and I really love how this nature + negative space (Endeavour) icon turned out. 10in30 challenge was all about scenery and I had fun searching and looking for screencaps of doctor who with different and beautiful scenery screencaps. I ended up creating more icons with scenery for Doctor Who because of how fun it was. Merlinstills got me using provided textures and I had fun creating a lost Merlin exploring the end of the Earth for Arthur using the screencap provided. I really liked how I used a fire texture with Morgana (and her eyes highlighted yellow) to showcase her using her magic for evil.
September
28 | 30
In September, I created 38 icons. I participated in
theiconthrone, moviefilmstills,
10in30, and iconsomething. theiconthrone challenge was to spell out your username (littlemissnovel) and I had fun exploring different stock images to spell out my username. My favorite icon has to be the e for exhausted and using two cute kitties that look sleepy/exhausted. 10in30 was all about tropes of a certain show (and I had fun looking up different tropes for Doctor Who). My two favorite icons in this set are eternal hero and alternative universe (the screencap for eternal hero is a screencap that I always wanted to use to create an icon and finally paid off) and how cold/muted pale coloring it has. I was worried that the crop wouldn't be perfect, but I pulled off a great far cropping icon. Love how in alternative universe Donna's hair is bright and her dress (purple) is stands out.
October
31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36
In October, I created 102 icons. I participated in
theiconthrone,
iconsomething,
10in30,
gameofcards, and
actress_ic. actress_ic challenge was to focus on green eyes of different actress (I won second place for my actress_ic 3 icon). I really loved this screencap of Emma Stone and had fun coloring her red hair and lips and emphasizing her green eyes. theiconthrone was all about going through a haunted house. I really love the icons I created for it (especially: front door, hall, and 3rd door). 10in30 was all about free choice theme and I had fun playing around with different fandoms (multifandom for the win!) I really love how free for all 6 turned out (muted background color but the hair popping out) and free for all 8 (the softness in Clara's face). iconsomething challenge was all that emphasize where I emphasized the face eye's color. I really like how I used the mirror texture to make the eyes stand out even more against the black and white coloring. theiconthrone challenge was using a technical gradient (far to close crop) and I really love how Caroline's cropping turned out and how the lighting and coloring of her dress.
November
37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41
In November, I created 114 icons. I participated in theiconthrone, 10in30, females20in20, and teenwolfstills. theiconthrone had amazing challenges like take one screencap and make two different icons (that challenge is always fun to do because I liked to explore how different cropping and coloring turn out when using the same screencap). Another challenge from theiconthrone was screencasting actors for different roles, I really loved iconning Claire Holt hair caught in the wind moment (and making sure her hair stands out). I screened casted Clair Holt as Supergirl, which is perfect because Supergirl's hair is always being blown away when she's lifting herself up the ground. females20in20 was all focusing on Emma Stone (her outfits for the 5 category set). I had fun exploring different screencaps for Emma Stone, especially different outfits (and how at one point I remember finishing this set and getting confused thinking that the set was for redhead20in20 and getting worried that not all the icons featured Emma with her red hair). Looking back, I think it's funny how I confused the two different icon communities (0_0). Anyway, I really loved how negative space, favorite hairstyle, plus one, grunge, unique crop, favorite outfit 3 turned out! I admit I was worried that my grunge icon wasn't grunge enough. I won for plus one, smile, third place for favorite outfits. At one point, I wanted to compete in episodes20in20 and focus on the vampire diaries 3. 14 Dangerous Liaisons (espcecially to focus on the ballgowns in that episode), however, real life was getting in my way, so I couldn't finish the challenge in time. I ended up creating 6 icons for that challenge (and 9 alternatives because I was debating about which screencaps to use). One of the theme for the challenge for episodes20in20 was guess who, and I really love how the soft coloring and negative space that makes the icon standout. 10in30 was all about mythology so I had fun creating different icons to symbolize different Greek mythology for Doctor Who.
December
42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46
In December, I created 106 icons. I participated in capicontest, moviefilmstills, oddlyspecificon, capchallenge, iconsomething, theiconthrone, and gameofcards. moviefilmstills had a challenge to do movies in space and I won first place for it (I used a screencap for Guardian of the Galaxy) and made sure to use soft coloring to get the moon and planet to pop out. theiconthrone had a challenge to icon why you love the fandoms you love and I decided to icon game of thrones to do a hair porn (emphasis on the hair) and color it with soft coloring to get Daenerys to pop out. I really love how the coloring and lighting makes the icon look almost like a painting (or maybe that's how I see it). theiconthrone had a black and white theme challenge and this icon stands out because of the gray scale effect and how Clara's face looks soft and her hair stands out as well.
Total number of icons created this year: 1, 185 icons (damn!) (Also note: created icons for gifts at calendarsquares and at iconsomething, but the icons will probably be revealed in 2017?)
last year (2015): ~ 1,056
(Went up about 129 icons from last year).
Overall this year was so much of me being productive and allowing myself to grow as an icon maker and to destress myself in real life. It does help that theiconthrone and gameofcards left me being productive and creating icons in every month instead of just creating icons in only a few months.
What to work on next year: I really want to work on for next year focusing on some issues I had in my icons (work on text icons) and trying for other coloring (vibrant colors) and not to go to my safety net (I love stock but I need to get comfortable with fandom icons as well)! Also, try chatting with people because I notice this year how little I updated in my personal journal and I really should do that! Create an icon praise post (I always have been meaning to do one, I started one in November but never finished organizing it!) Go back to several communities like redhead20in20, females20in20, episodes20in20, etc. Keep better track of post numbers!
Also, thank you to everyone who commented on my posts, even if I didn't respond back. I cherish every comment I recieved (literally bookmark these comments in my inbox)!
Sorry that this post is so long, anyway and I hope everyone has a great 2017!