I was just discussing this the other day with another maker who had the same issue. Yes, I do start with a canvas 200x200 or bigger. Personally, I think it helps several elements of my style. However, some things just don't groove once you re-size your icon. It happens to me a lot as well. There are a couple of things I can suggest, I suppose, and they would be:
a) look at what changes when you re-size. Is the problem lost details? If so, learn not to get too attached to details because they, inevitably, go "missing" when you re-size, heh. Is the problem your image getting too small? I have this issue a lot when I extract my subject from the background and then pop them onto negative space. Their faces get all small and squished looking. But then I realize it would probably look that way even if I didn't start at 200x200, and everyone else's look like that as well? Sometimes it is all about perception. Anyway, just figure out where the changes are and then deduce whether or not they are actually the problems you think they are.
Also! Because you are re-sizing down smaller, you are taking whatever issues the original, larger canvas had, and you're consolidating them into a smaller canvas which often makes them stand out more. So you might go back to the larger image, and see if whatever problems that exist in the smaller canvas aren't problems on the larger canvas as well.
b) keep working once you re-size! I can't stress this enough. As these tutorials show, I am often not happy once I re-size to 100x100, and I need to keep working to add things/change things. Just because you re-size doesn't always mean your icon is finished!
c) do what's right for you/your style! Bigger canvases first work really well for me, but pretty much everything I do on a larger scale can be done at a smaller size as well. If you aren't comfortable with what you lose when you re-size then don't trouble yourself with it. Working at 100x100 size is perfectly fine and works just as well as anything else! :D
I was just discussing this the other day with another maker who had the same issue. Yes, I do start with a canvas 200x200 or bigger. Personally, I think it helps several elements of my style. However, some things just don't groove once you re-size your icon. It happens to me a lot as well. There are a couple of things I can suggest, I suppose, and they would be:
a) look at what changes when you re-size. Is the problem lost details? If so, learn not to get too attached to details because they, inevitably, go "missing" when you re-size, heh. Is the problem your image getting too small? I have this issue a lot when I extract my subject from the background and then pop them onto negative space. Their faces get all small and squished looking. But then I realize it would probably look that way even if I didn't start at 200x200, and everyone else's look like that as well? Sometimes it is all about perception. Anyway, just figure out where the changes are and then deduce whether or not they are actually the problems you think they are.
Also! Because you are re-sizing down smaller, you are taking whatever issues the original, larger canvas had, and you're consolidating them into a smaller canvas which often makes them stand out more. So you might go back to the larger image, and see if whatever problems that exist in the smaller canvas aren't problems on the larger canvas as well.
b) keep working once you re-size! I can't stress this enough. As these tutorials show, I am often not happy once I re-size to 100x100, and I need to keep working to add things/change things. Just because you re-size doesn't always mean your icon is finished!
c) do what's right for you/your style! Bigger canvases first work really well for me, but pretty much everything I do on a larger scale can be done at a smaller size as well. If you aren't comfortable with what you lose when you re-size then don't trouble yourself with it. Working at 100x100 size is perfectly fine and works just as well as anything else! :D
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Your advice is really very helpful! ^.^
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