My 2015 Icon Journey Throughout my LJ

[roseemrys]

I started this blog as a way to improve my photoshop skills by doing 20in20 challenges.  Starting from April to December of 2015, I participated in the Female 20in20 challenges and the Character 20in20 challenges.  Here are the two communities that I participated in: character20n20 and females20in20.

I have seen other people on LJ do this, so here is my year on Livejournal as seen by my icons.  I'm going to pick out my favorites of the challenges that I did and discuss why I like them.  This is really long so be warned.

















April

Females20in20 - Meg Turney

1. I was doing variations on this pic and I wanted to do something fun and different with it.  I found the temptation texture from a pack from a pack and I knew I just had to use it.  I love how the only color comes from Meg and how she becomes temptation in this icon.
2. I just love the goofiness and fun that this icon evokes.  Now I might have changed the colors of the hearts to be more red than pink to match her hair, but I just think it's so cute!
3. I tend to rely heavily on cutting the person out of the picture and replacing the background.  This is one of my favorites of that method.
4. I really love how I colored and cropped this pic.  I decided to not make it super vibrant like I normally do which really makes it work in my opinion.
5. This is the first time I really manipulated the textures that I used in making the icons besides just putting them on there.  I edited out the bottom of the frame and I changed the color scheme to fit with the colors in Meg's photo.

Character20in20 - Buffy Summers

1. This was my first icon doing levels and while there are things I would change about it, I am still proud of what I did.
2. I really loved the screencap of this moment and I knew I wanted to use it.  Now I would have deleted the gradient I added to light up Buffy's face because it really grains her face.
3. I tried to really emulate what I thought other icon makers would do so I blacked out the left corner and colored the couch a bright vibrant color to make it noticable.  I'm really proud of how it looks.
4. This was my first time doing a silhouette in an icon and I'm proud of how it turned out.  Now I would change the font type and the shadow behind the font but I still appreciate it.
5. I'm going to humblebrag a little bit and say that this icon won "Best Top Match".  I love it not only because of that, but because I used a subtle gradient in the background and that's honestly my favorite part of the icon.
6. This was part of a set where the five icons had to match a palette that went from one shade of a color to another.  I love this shade of pink and how I used it throughout the icon but it doesn't overwhelm it at all.

May

Character20in20 - Allison Argent

1. This was for the prompt, 'Duplicate'.  I think the muted shade of pink along with the crops used make an interesting icon.
2. This was for 'Emotional' and I struggled with the sharpening on this one.  Because the background is black it really put a dramatic focus on the hair and that made it look really sharp.  I ended up messing with the sharpening focus I usually use and I think it's right on the line of enough and too much sharpening used.
3. I'm going to reveal a secret about this icon; I actually got the lyrics texture from a google search and not from me making it in photoshop.  I was searching MatD lyrics and saw this lyric layout and knew I had to use it.  It ended up making Allison's pose even more dramatic.
4. I used a provided texture that everyone had to use for the challenge.  I had the idea of Allison's time being broken in half by her death and I wanted to show that in this icon.  I also wanted to use a merging technique so this icon let me do that.  Now I would would on the brightness and coloring on the right side but I just really love how my original idea turned out.
5. The next three icons are from the category set where you had to use negative space and black & white.  I loved this cap of Allison and how innocent she seems in it.  I had trouble with her left side because she was leaning up against a wall there but I still love how feminine it looks.
6. I had wanted to use the texture for a background but I had trouble deciding what pic to use it with.  I ended up using this one because it looks really dynamic.
7. I am really proud of how Allison looks in relation to the fake background.  I wanted to use a completely different background then the ones I had used before so this castle worked perfectly.

Females20in20 - Lydia Martin

1. These all come from my AC set where I really tried to do different and unique things I wouldn't normally do.  I really like the soft glow of the yellow and how it sort of matches her hair.
2. I had really wanted to use this texture for a while and I finally got the nerve to do it.  It would make any edit look great inside the frame but I like the orange contrasted with the white of the "wall".
3. I really love the background and I love the coloring I did of Lydia.  However they don't really go together and now I would honestly either make two different icons from this or change the colorings done here.
4. This is my favorite scene of Lydia's and I love how her character has changed throughout Teen Wolf.  I wanted to show how she was a survivor of the Darach attack and not overlly complicate the icon.  I might change the placement of the word, but I love this icon.
5. I really wanted to use this texture that came with a Teen Wolf texture pack but I didn't want to do it the traditional way.  I like how Lydia looks so peacefully except for the clawmarks that are in the background.  Now I might do a small gradient to the left side but this is definitely one of my favorite icons that I have done.

June

Character20in20 - Stiles Stilinski

1. I really love the coloring of this which just came out of brightness/contrast, curves, and vibrancy.  I only had to reduce the yellows a little bit.
2. I thought I was real clever with this icon because in my mind, it was the nogitsune saying that to Stiles since this is the scene where Stiles sees that the chalkboard with his handwriting on it was missing.  I thought the P in the phrase was not emphasized enough so I put a grey gradient in there and I think the icon would work better without it now.
3. I did this icon for the 'hate ship' prompt.  I honestly don't hateship stydia, but for me to ship them, I personally would like Stiles to talk to Lydia about how his pining wasn't really love and he didn't really know her but know he really knows and loves who she is.  rant over.  I love the coloring here.
4. The prompt was 'hot & cold' and I had this idea of stiles being blue (cold) and the nogitsune being red (hot).  I love how it turned out and it's another one of my top favorites.
5. I got this idea from another iconer somewhere on tumblr for an icon similar to this one so I tried to put on own twist on it.  However it is still pretty similar so not my proudest moment.
6. I wanted to do an icon with overlaps for a while but they never really turned out right.  I really like the way this turned out though because it had to be yellow to fit with the theme, it doesn't work as well as it should.  If the icon was darker and a different color, I think it would be a better icon.

Females20in20 - Kira Yukimura

1. I just love the texture and how it looks next to Kira.  So pretty!
2. This was for the 'Emotional' prompt and I think it really fits the bill.  I've stuggled with both simple and complex icons so I wanted to do a monotone icon that I'm proud of for a while.
3. This icon is made with the same technique of putting a color layer on multiply although I think I put the vibrancy layer higher than what it was.  I just love the simplicity of these two icons together.
4. I used a texture of wide horizontal lines going diagonally to overlap Kira's hair.  I flip-flopped on the opacity and I decided to make it low although now I wish it was higher to make it pop more.  I still love the colors that appear here, though.
5. This icon was made for an Alice in Wonderland set.  I wanted to show time falling down around Kira like how it was when Alice fell down the rabbit hole.  Now I would reduce the grain amount in the icon, but keep the coloring and texture.

July

Females20in20- Morgana Pendragon

1. I really love the green theme that's throughout this icon and the different shades that appear throughout.
2. This was for 'No Eyes' and I love the composition and cropping I did of Morgana.  Plus the coloring is pretty.
3. I actually did very little for this icon besides brightening it up.  It already had the gorgeous ray of light shining through the trees.
4. I really wanted to do a dark themed icon for a while so this fulfilled my dreams.  I love the contrast between the black and white of Morgana's face and the red of the hand.
5. I had done icons like this before making this blog but I just love this shade of pink so much.

Character20in20 - Merlin

1. I did this icon for a crossover OTP icon.  The secret with this icon is that Hermione's forehead looked horrible so I had to get something to cover it up.  I tried a lot of things and finally discovered this texture of a bird and it works perfectly.
2. This was for a closeup prompt and I am proud of how it ended up.  The coloring along with the cropping makes me really happy.
3. I tried something really crazy and for a space prompt put a planet in the spot where the spiral spell was that Merlin made.  Even though logically it makes no sense I think it looks really cool and seems like something magical.
4. This was actually an alternative icon that I ended up not using for this set but I still love it.  Getting to see the contrast between Merlin and Emrys is cool especially through the angle of nature.
5. This ended up not turning out how I imagined it but I still appreciate it.  In my mind, Merlin's angst over Gaius and keeping all of his secrets set him in almost another world separate from Arthur and made Arthur seem less real and faded because of how much he kept from him.  I didn't completely pull that off but I think I made a good attempt at it.
6. I had downloaded a psd for unique nature/tree colors but I had never used it.  I decided to use it for this and the next icon.  I think the uniqueness of the purple grass and the focus of the dragon carving makes this really cool.
7. I took the orange-y psd from that pack and made it more yellow for this icon.  I just love how the negative space works here.

August

Females20in20 - Free Round

1. I love how simple but powerful this turned out to be.  Plus Marina looks fab af in this pic so I really didn't have to do a lot.
2. Barbara is so photogenic so the focus of my effort went to coloring the background.  The background was really muted so I spiced it up a lot with color layers and vibrancy.
3. I had always loved this pic of Holland and I wanted to do a fun fake background that wouldn't detract too much from her.  I found this texture searching through my texture folder and did minimal coloring effects to get it to look like this.
4. I always do tend to fall back on simple crops with replaced backgrounds but I think this ended up looking amazing.  The background texture is regal and when I used the dropper to replace the color, it connected the whole icon.
5. I wanted to do an icon in motion and when I saw this pic I knew I wanted to use it.  I wanted to add something to this icon once I was done so I colored the background yellow.
6. This icon was already stunning with Katie's stare and the coloring but I wanted to add a texture to this.  I love how the texture puts more of the focus on her face.

Character20in20 - Rose Tyler

1. This was for the prompt "Blurred" and I decided to blur Rose's hair that is around her face to create a sort of angelic effect.  I also included a light texture for the circular halo around her head.
2. This doesn't look like I did much but actually I put in the wallpaper texture and colored it pink.  Before it was a faded curtain that was really brightened out.
3. I didn't do a lot to this but I just loved the original cap I saw so I knew I had to use it.  I just upped the pink a bit and let the icon speak for itself.
4. I loved the idea of using this texture for Rose and it worked perfectly.  However it did have the f-word in it so I had to crop that out of the texture.  I still think it looks stunning and I really want to use this texture again since it's so dynamic.
5. The next five icons are ones I made for the vintage rainbow category set.  I really pushed myself to create new and unique icons even though I wasn't 100% comfortable with the different effects I was using.  I love how this one turned out although there is the problem spot of her left arm that needs some editing.
6. I had the idea of doing a vintage stamp-like icon that was muted so I looked up textures for the edges of a stamp and the wavy lines from the post office.
7. I just wanted to do some geometric shapes and while it looks okay I know it can be improved.  Either Rose's coloring needs to be monotone or more vibrant, I'm not too sure what would improve this one.
8. I had seen icons in the past that used medieval-like fonts spread out and I wanted to do that too.  I love how the orange-y color is the main color but there are hints of other colors in Rose.  I would like to change the coloring of Rose's face but I just love how this icon turned out.
9. I was not too sure of this icon when I was finished with it but I'm glad I pushed the envelope with it.  The strong yellow color and the heavy texturing don't detract from Rose at all, just add to her.  Plus, this also won 2nd place singular Category icon so I'm just so pleased with it!

September

Character20in20 - Malia Tate

1. This was for "Casting Call" where we had to cast another actress in the character we were iconning.  I did Naya Rivera because she could nail the blunt side to Malia while also showing the fierce side of her too.  I love how bronze and gold this turned out.
2. I took a texture of the lyrics from "Satellite Heart" and reduced them to fit the icon.  I actually love that most of the lines aren't readable and it adds to the drama that the crop creates.
3. I really wanted to include Malia's initials in the icon and honestly it took a long time to find a cap of them.  For some reason they were difficult to find but I'm glad I finally found them.  I think if I re-cropped the cap the icon would look better because the placement is a bit awkward.  Also I would add more warmth to the coloring to add to the feeling of happiness she feels at this moment.
4. I really loved how Malia looked in this cap and so I wanted to focus on her by cropping out the background.  It was tough, but I think it looks great.  It needs something extra though, maybe a texture at a low opacity to make it not as flat as it is.
5. I wanted to use a light texture and focus on it so I made sure to vibrant the colors up to make it noticeable.  I think if I added a gradient to the left side it might improve it.
6. I tried to use the original you tried star but the lettering was small so I added my own.  I think if I had picked out a cap where Malia looks more awkward the icon might have worked more.

Females20in20 - Teen Wolf

1. This was for negative space and I wanted to do a unique shape because the icon was not turning out how I wanted it to.  I found this texture and put an orange gradient map on it to get this icon.  Now I would make Malia more of the focus but I love everything else about it.
2. I had seen a tutorial for a complex icon like this and I really wanted to make one of my own.  I regret how I dealt with Malia's hair in relation to the background because it looks really bad.
3. This was for an upside down prompt and I think it ended up strong.  I discovered the orange/yellow color by accident by messing around with coloring and I really love it.
4. I've started to really get into silhouettes with one to two colors as the focus and this icon reflects that.  Now I would reduce the grain by making the blacks blackier and lowering the brightness a tad.
5. I actually have three versions of this icon with various textures layering Lydia.  I used this specific one for this post because of how much I love the coloring and cropping and how simple it is.
6. I saw this text texture when I was looking through my texture folder and I thought it was perfect for this cap of Erica.  I tried many placements but I fell in love with the idea of it being on her torso.  Now I would fix the edges on the left side of Erica where the black layer is poking out, but I love this so much.
7. This was for a Badass category set and I wanted the background texture to reflect Kira's bamf face.  I messed around with the coloring on the texture and ended up with this icon.

Females20in20 - Grace Helbig

1. This was for a Tiny Text prompt and I was messing around with overlays and I came up with the thought of the text completely covering her hair.  Now I would go through and smooth the straight edges.
2. This was for a Bright prompt and when I saw this cap I thought it would be fun to use the sun for the prompt.  I also made it pretty monotone with yellow being the main color.
3. I had to use a heart shape for this icon and I immediately thought of the conversation hearts with the angry messages that were popular on tumblr a while back.  I saw the go away heart and then decided to use this tough pic of Grace to get the message across.
4. As soon as I saw this pic I wanted to use it because it is dynamic and fun.  I decided to add the texture of the small squares to the top and bottom to add something more to it.
5. I love the end result of these icons when a subject is cut up from a far distance and placed on a fake background.  Now I would make the background a bit less flat by either putting a gradient on it or a texture at low opacity on it.

October

Character20in20 - Clara Oswald

1. I had wanted to use this texture for months but I had trouble finding an icon to use it with.  I decided to use this cap of Clara and Iove the coloring in here.
2. While this is a simple icon and coloring, I'm proud of how simple and pretty it is.  It looks vibrant and clear and I love it.
3. This is for the Light and Dark prompt and I love how this turned out.  I struggled with it because I tend to favor completely lit up figures so I'm proud of how it looks.
4. This and the next icon are both made with a provided texture but I used them in two completely different ways.  I like the idea of this icon but the contrast needs to be worked on so that it's not so foggy and muggy.  But I think the texture works perfectly over Clara's face.
5. As soon as I came up with the idea of two different caps showing two opposite emotions in the boxes, I loved it.  I had a lot of trouble with the coloring but I think it turned out okay.
6. I had seen people doing parallel framing lines on their icons for a while and I wanted to do it but I always forgot when I started the challenges.  I decided to use this pic of Martha and I love how it turned out.  Now I would fix some of the areas around her hair where the blue is not completely covering the white background.
7. I really love how simple and powerful this turned out to be.  It's honestly one of the icons I'm most proud of making.
8. I really liked how there is Clara in the foreground, but there is also something in the background that doesn't take too much of the focus off of her.  I had trouble coloring her so if I colored it now I think I would try to make her face look better.

Females20in20 - Lydia Martin

1. This screencap of Lydia has been iconed so many times before by people that I knew I wanted to do something different to be satisfied with it.  I found this texture and thought it would be perfect to add to the background of the shot.  I think this icon looks fantastic.
2. The next five icons are all of my AC set which actually earned me 2nd place for the whole set!  I used a texture for this icon and set it to color because I wanted a unique coloring.
3. I thought I was super clever (and obvious) with this because Lydia is in this cap drawing a tree.  I had to resize and recolor the texture of the tree to make it cohesive.
4. I thought this would be an easy edit to make but it was actually quite difficult.  I had to brighten up Lydia's face but I could not brighten it too much or it would be too grainy.  Also I had to layer mask her face for the brightening since the background was already bright otherwise it was too white for my taste.
5. I love how this turned out.  I usually make white people's skin tones more red based than yellow, but I've been trying to get out of that and vary it depending on the icon.  I love the colors that appear here and the sharpening is perfect.
6. I had cut out Lydia and ut the beige background behind her, but I knew I wanted to add something else to it.  I found this texture of this quote and messed around with it to fit it behind her.  I think it adds to the icon brilliantly.

November

Character20in20 - Lydia Martin

1. I think the coloring for this turned out great.  I tried not to go too vibranty green like I always do and let it be blue and green with Lydia bringing in the warm tones to offset those cool tones.
2. This is another one of my top favorites icons I have made.  I had to use three different techniques and I used: cut out, negative space, and replaced background,  I used two different textures to create the background and the coloring on the whole works well.  I don't like how Lydia's hair looks on the right side, but other than that, I love it.
3. I just love this cap of Lydia and I honestly didn't have to do much to create this icon.  I just had to create a layer mask for the background because when I brightened up Lydia, it whitened out the background and I thought it looked beautiful and I wanted to showcase it.
4. I think the red of the wall is such a beautiful color but it doesn't detract from Lydia at all.  Plus I'm trying to do more dynamic crops so this adds to that.

December

Females20in20 - Teen Wolf

1. I was finishing off the fall semester so I didn't have a lot of time or energy to put a lot of effort into icon making and unfortunately, I think it shows in these icons.  This one was for the prompt Loneliness and I just replaced the background with black and added some gradients to make it smooth onto her hair more.  I think it might work better if it wasn't so bright to show more of the negative emotions it should be portraying.
2. This was for the prompt Hidden and I decided to make it really monotone by using a copper-y type color as the base for everything.
3. This is one of my favorite hairstyles of Lydia's and I love her expression in this cap.  I had to find a pattern to use for the prompt and I ended up combining three to get this beautiful combination.  I think I needed to use the eyedropper tool to get a color from Lydia so that the color combination isn't so jaring.
4. I think the crop for this is great and I love the color combination that ended up happening between the cyan and the red of her top.

Character20in20 - Amy Pond

1. This was for the Black prompt and I thought I was really clever when I came up with the idea to do the idea this way.  I actually went over the letters with an extra paint layer because they were not as clear as I wanted them to be.
2. This was an alt for a duotone prompt and I didn't end up using it.  However, I still really appreciate it.
3. This was for the Incandescent prompt and I didn't do too much to this icon.  The only thing I really did was change the coloring of the lighting from blue to red/pink.
4. I'm really proud of this pop-out especially since this was the one I was most worried about.  I think it turned out amazing and I'm glad I ended up choosing this cap of Amy.
5. The next four icons are from the category set of unusual crops I had to make.  As soon as I saw this cap I had the idea of seeing the blurred part of the Weeping Angel reaching out to Amy who is in the distance.
6. I never really do icons that don't include the person's face so this was a nice but difficult change.
7. Secret time: I actually didn't do the cropping on this icon; the cap had her face cut off at the chin already.  I just colored the background pink.
8. I love this icon and I'm glad it turned out exactly how I imagined it.