That stupid moment

[luorescence]

when you see the info for character20n20 has been posted and you tell yourself you absolutely want to participate: it's a special round where you can only icon Supernatural, and that's pretty great because there's a lot of things I want to icon but, somehow, I end up doing Doctor Who most of the time.

Comments

[flowsoffire]

Those are wonderful! ♥ #3 is especially stunning, really worth the great work but they're all basically perfect. XD I almost found the explanations really interesting because I'm an idiot who set Gimp in French and can't seem to change it and lots of terms make me confused. Slow work ftw :)

[luorescence]

Omg, oh lords. Have luck, graphics are something I can't deal with in French since I've been using the english version of GIMP since 2006 XD You should probably try to download it in English.

The blur option is the hand in the toolbox. Layer mask is 'masque de calque'. For the colors, just check the color part in the bar and you should have enough to play with for a while o/

[flowsoffire]

Yeah, that's a good idea actually-I might redownload it…

I thought it'd be easier to grasp everything in French at first, but I hadn't factored in the tutorials all being in English… *facepalm*

Thanks :)

[luorescence]

You're welcome!

Don't let you discourage by the amount of photoshop tutorials around, a great lot of them works in GIMP too, you just have to 'translate' them. Also, don't hesitate to experiment in order to get more familiar with the program. Anyway, works for me since I don't read many tutorials, I'm much more of a observe & copy learner.

[flowsoffire]

Yeah, I'm trying to do that for the Photoshop tuts :) I kind of have a glance at tutorials, and pick up things here and there, I don't follow them very thoroughly. Well, icons are really a late-evening-indulgence kind of thing for me, so I rarely bother to concentrate on very complex explanations. XD I just try things out and see what works for me, basically…

[luorescence]

That's what I do to most of the time. When I glance at tutorials online and see all the theory and stuff, I'm just 'whatever'. Doesn't help that I'm not a big fan of the current popular style of colorings. It's all pretty and cool but gets boring really fast.

[flowsoffire]

Haha :D *high fives*

What do you consider to be the popular style of colorings? I'm mostly in touch with dwicons, so I see the different people there and their common points/differences, but I kind of didn't register one main trend, more like several-enhanced-but-"realistic" icons vs. bright-colours icons vs. more complex icons with lots of blending and texture use… I couldn't really tell which of those styles stands out…

[luorescence]

You're right, there isn't just one trend, but a lot. But, there often are too much saturation and it tends to grate on my nerves. Also, I tend to feel like I'm always seeing the same icons again and again (but then, that's what a trend is). It's not that they aren't pretty because they are, I just don't find them interesting at all. You should check here, it'd give you a good idea of what I mean, along with all the gorgeousness.

[flowsoffire]

Okay, I think I see a bit better. Thanks for the clarification :)

[luorescence]

You're welcome.

It bothers me more than it should, I don't even know why because it's not like there isn't any work behind/it's not even beautiful (though I found some really clumsy and ugly). Must not help I've been iconing since 2007, and being back on LJ and hit with all the new trends might set me off.

[flowsoffire]

Yeah, must not help indeed! I don't have as much distance to judge-there are things I love and things I find a bit ugly/overwhelming, too, but I'm pretty much a newbie, haha ;)

[luorescence]

Well, at least, you're not a bitter old icon-maker XD
Keep the freshness :)

[flowsoffire]

Nor am I an epic old icon-maker! XD I'll try to… while keeping learning ;)

(Oh, btw, I managed to get Gimp into English now XD)

[luorescence]

I'm nothing like an epic icon-maker! XD But, yeah, beginning to be an old icon maker (though my first steps into graphics were back in 2004-2005 XD).

(Have fun, you'll see, it's much easier in English XD)

[flowsoffire]

By my standards you are! XD

OMFG YOU ANCIENT PERSON *sneezes at the dust*

(Thanks :) Felt a bit odd at first, but I'm getting my bearings again and I do think it'll work a better as far as tuts are concerned!)

[luorescence]

Thank you *flails happily*

OMG YOU MAKE ME FEEL SO OLD, YOU LITTLE YOUNG SCOUNDREL! XD But well, we had internet before it became mainstream so it helps; it's not like I was new to it at the time. My father is a computer nerd so it's not surprising. Like we got a second family pc and LAN back in 1998.

Well, now you'll better understand when I'll be talking about more technical stuff :) Also, you might want to know you can open psd files in gimp.