200. Icon Progression 2020
Can I just be proud that I got this post up only a month into 2021, instead of April 2020, just I did for the 2018 post...
( coding by rocketgirl2)
2020 ResolutionsThe icon resolutions I made at the end of 2019, for 2020, were:
1. Try to keep up the text and composition progress I started making this year, especially with text, composition and things like animation.
2. Maybe actually try to start using the Photoshop CS4 I bought a couple of years ago but never installed...
3. Actively comment on people's entries, not just when I want to know what fandom their icon(s) are from!
January
I started off January after essentially a 3 month break from iconning with an entry to your_favourites (Intro/Titles), a number of Frozen II icons, and new Legend of the Seeker obsession. I attribute the last one to having recently watched Timeless and been struck by how similar Bridget Regan and Abigail Spencer look, and remembering how much I loved Bridget Regan as Dottie in Agent Carter. I then of course had to include Dottie in the Villains challenge at tvshowsic, along with Regina Mills. I also made some more Timeless icons this month, trying to experiment with slightly unusual colouring that the episode screencaps featured, and I made a set of multi-fandom icons for capicontest's Four Seasons challenge.
# of icons: 28
Icon Posts: none
FebruaryHaving re-started iconning in January I promptly fell off the wagon in February. I went on a skiing holiday (my first ever) and also decided to finally start trying to find some hobbies outside of work and get a better social life. That was a pretty doomed endeavour…
# of icons: 0
Icon Posts: One
March
Coronavirus took over and the UK went into lockdown towards the end of the month, but we were being asked to be careful earlier than that so all of my social life/hobbies plans went out of the window and I needed to fill my time. I think quite a lot of us filled our free time with more iconning, and the icon community saw quite an increase in March/April in particular, with some comms and makers returning from hiatus, and a general increase in activity. I entered several challenges at my own comm capicontest (Royalty, Flotation Device and Pastels) as well as elitesimplicity (Headware - had to be MFMM for that one, there are so many lovely hats and accessories! - and Close Contact - I had just finished saving a load of LotS stills and also started rewatching Gilmore Girls), color_inspired (Vogue - the name of the challenge and the colour scheme just screamed MFMM for me), tvshowsic (One Seasons Shows - had to be Firefly), movieslims (start of the Wonder Woman round) and the7days (7 Reasons to Watch My Favourite Show - it was a toss-up between Timeless, MFMM and LotS, but ultimately I decided on Timeless).
# of icons: 40
Icon Posts: none
April
Another busy icon-making month thanks to lockdown, and a number of battles happening/starting this month. I entered the Period Drama battle and the Brooklyn Nine-Nine battle, made some more icons for the movieslims Wonder Woman round, and made my first Lucifer icons for the the7days Bingo challenge, having binge-watched all four series that had aired at the time (yay lockdown, again). Some of my icons at the start of each set started off quite lazy, but I checked myself and put more time and effort in, and I was much happier with the results towards the end of the sets.
# of icons: 47
Icon Posts: One
May
A quieter month of iconning despite lockdown continuing as work was getting busy again and I found it quite draining. I made some more icons for the movieslims Wonder Woman round, the itsabattlefield Partner Battle 2 (I was paired with luppiters and we each chose a fandom we had in common and a theme, and then mixed and matched my fandom choice with their theme, and vice verse), and the Fantasy Fandoms battle (despite organising this, I was really strapped for time and ended up making all but three of these on the final day, so they are rushed and quite simplistic, but I wanted to enter something).
# of icons: 17
Icon Posts: One
June
Work became even busier and draining (and I started applying to move offices), so I only made four icons this month, all for the Comedy battle.
# of icons: 4
Icon Posts: none
July
As with June, the only icons I made this month were for the Comedy battle. They were mostly Galavant or Brooklyn Nine-Nine icons, the former because someone had picked a Galavant screencap and it reminded me how much I loved that show, and the latter because I had a load of caps saved from the B99 battle that fitted the themes quite well.
# of icons: 8
Icon Posts: none
AugustNo icons in August as work got too much and I got the news that my application to move had been approved, so I was packing up my flat in preparation.
# of icons: 0
Icon Posts: none
SeptemberDitto September. I also had two weeks of much-needed holiday.
# of icons: 0
Icon Posts: none
October
My first icons for a couple of months were for the capicontest Green challenge (definitely one of my favourite colours, if not the favourite). I took inspiration from the elements of the screencap (the flowers on Anne's hat, the patterns on Nakia's shawl, the cut-out on Peggy's dress, the patterns on T'Challa's shirt) for the background. I also finally entered stocklove_ic for the first time for the Summer Paradise challenge, using some of my own photos from holidays/trips past.
# of icons: 9
Icon Posts: One
November
I started off November with a costume porn entry for capicontest, then made some Frozen 2 icons including some text work (!) that I am really proud of (!!!!) I made quite a few The Spanish Princess icons, having seen a load of The White Queen/Princess entries on the random TV tropes I ended up with for elitesimplicity, and then making more TSP icons for perioddrama_ic. In fact, because your_favourites also had a period TV show round, I made quite a lot of period drama icons this month, including The Great and Anne With An E. I finished off the month desperately trying to avoid the cliché of using florals for the Spring Forward, Fall Back round at capicontest.
# of icons: 18
Icon Posts: none
December
I started December with some primary colours for capicontest<lj, and finished off with a set of Aurora icons for capicontest, including winning that challenge with an icon from His Dark Materials, aka based on The Northern Lights, which I had been watching recently and had in fact inspired that very challenge! A rather satisfying way to round off the year!
# of icons: 15
Icon Posts: One & Two
Overall# of icons: 186 (up on last year's 115)
# of icon posts: 6
Busiest month: April [47], then March [40]
Quietest month: February, August & September [0] (was on holiday early-February then trying to find some hobbies and social life outside of work, lol; was on holiday for a couple of weeks in September and all my free time in August and September was spent packing up my flat ahead of moving across the country early-October.)
Most iconned: Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries [17 - 18 if you count the Crypt of Tears icon too], Timeless [17], Brooklyn Nine-Nine [15], Frozen II [13], Legend of the Seeker [10], Lucifer [10], Wonder Woman [7], Outlander [6], Anne With An E [6], Galavant [6], The Spanish Princess [6].
Main new fandoms: Frozen II, Legend of the Seeker, Lucifer, Anne With An E.
Total number of icontests I placed in: 18 / 34 (including 3 non-voting icontest)
Biggest achievements/progress made/observations: I did make some nice progress with text, textures and composition, particularly in January, March and April (aka when I probably had the most time on my hands and was most on an iconning roll). I think on the whole my icons had a more polished look to them and there were fewer duds, although there are still a few I look back on and cringe at a LOT. I am definitely proud of my colouring work toward the end of the year though (that red+blue Anne With An E icon and the His Dark Materials aurora icon especially). Also, turns out I love yellow and used it quite a lot this year (although none of the individual yellow icons made it into my top 20 below, strangely enough)! I discovered a new appreciation for stock icons thanks to stocklove_ic, but I think it's fair to say negative space is still my favourite, particularly when the background matches the subject's clothing…
My personal favourites:
2021 Resolutions1. Finish re-uploading all broken upl.co and photobucket links in old icon post
2. Post my textures!!
3. Install and try to figure out the Photoshop CS4 I bought a few years back.
4. Brush up on animation, and carry on working on text and composition.
5. Continue trying to actively comment on people's entries, not just when I want to know the fandom(s).
( coding by rocketgirl2)
2020 ResolutionsThe icon resolutions I made at the end of 2019, for 2020, were:
1. Try to keep up the text and composition progress I started making this year, especially with text, composition and things like animation.
2. Maybe actually try to start using the Photoshop CS4 I bought a couple of years ago but never installed...
3. Actively comment on people's entries, not just when I want to know what fandom their icon(s) are from!
January
I started off January after essentially a 3 month break from iconning with an entry to your_favourites (Intro/Titles), a number of Frozen II icons, and new Legend of the Seeker obsession. I attribute the last one to having recently watched Timeless and been struck by how similar Bridget Regan and Abigail Spencer look, and remembering how much I loved Bridget Regan as Dottie in Agent Carter. I then of course had to include Dottie in the Villains challenge at tvshowsic, along with Regina Mills. I also made some more Timeless icons this month, trying to experiment with slightly unusual colouring that the episode screencaps featured, and I made a set of multi-fandom icons for capicontest's Four Seasons challenge.
# of icons: 28
Icon Posts: none
FebruaryHaving re-started iconning in January I promptly fell off the wagon in February. I went on a skiing holiday (my first ever) and also decided to finally start trying to find some hobbies outside of work and get a better social life. That was a pretty doomed endeavour…
# of icons: 0
Icon Posts: One
March
Coronavirus took over and the UK went into lockdown towards the end of the month, but we were being asked to be careful earlier than that so all of my social life/hobbies plans went out of the window and I needed to fill my time. I think quite a lot of us filled our free time with more iconning, and the icon community saw quite an increase in March/April in particular, with some comms and makers returning from hiatus, and a general increase in activity. I entered several challenges at my own comm capicontest (Royalty, Flotation Device and Pastels) as well as elitesimplicity (Headware - had to be MFMM for that one, there are so many lovely hats and accessories! - and Close Contact - I had just finished saving a load of LotS stills and also started rewatching Gilmore Girls), color_inspired (Vogue - the name of the challenge and the colour scheme just screamed MFMM for me), tvshowsic (One Seasons Shows - had to be Firefly), movieslims (start of the Wonder Woman round) and the7days (7 Reasons to Watch My Favourite Show - it was a toss-up between Timeless, MFMM and LotS, but ultimately I decided on Timeless).
# of icons: 40
Icon Posts: none
April
Another busy icon-making month thanks to lockdown, and a number of battles happening/starting this month. I entered the Period Drama battle and the Brooklyn Nine-Nine battle, made some more icons for the movieslims Wonder Woman round, and made my first Lucifer icons for the the7days Bingo challenge, having binge-watched all four series that had aired at the time (yay lockdown, again). Some of my icons at the start of each set started off quite lazy, but I checked myself and put more time and effort in, and I was much happier with the results towards the end of the sets.
# of icons: 47
Icon Posts: One
May
A quieter month of iconning despite lockdown continuing as work was getting busy again and I found it quite draining. I made some more icons for the movieslims Wonder Woman round, the itsabattlefield Partner Battle 2 (I was paired with luppiters and we each chose a fandom we had in common and a theme, and then mixed and matched my fandom choice with their theme, and vice verse), and the Fantasy Fandoms battle (despite organising this, I was really strapped for time and ended up making all but three of these on the final day, so they are rushed and quite simplistic, but I wanted to enter something).
# of icons: 17
Icon Posts: One
June
Work became even busier and draining (and I started applying to move offices), so I only made four icons this month, all for the Comedy battle.
# of icons: 4
Icon Posts: none
July
As with June, the only icons I made this month were for the Comedy battle. They were mostly Galavant or Brooklyn Nine-Nine icons, the former because someone had picked a Galavant screencap and it reminded me how much I loved that show, and the latter because I had a load of caps saved from the B99 battle that fitted the themes quite well.
# of icons: 8
Icon Posts: none
AugustNo icons in August as work got too much and I got the news that my application to move had been approved, so I was packing up my flat in preparation.
# of icons: 0
Icon Posts: none
SeptemberDitto September. I also had two weeks of much-needed holiday.
# of icons: 0
Icon Posts: none
October
My first icons for a couple of months were for the capicontest Green challenge (definitely one of my favourite colours, if not the favourite). I took inspiration from the elements of the screencap (the flowers on Anne's hat, the patterns on Nakia's shawl, the cut-out on Peggy's dress, the patterns on T'Challa's shirt) for the background. I also finally entered stocklove_ic for the first time for the Summer Paradise challenge, using some of my own photos from holidays/trips past.
# of icons: 9
Icon Posts: One
November
I started off November with a costume porn entry for capicontest, then made some Frozen 2 icons including some text work (!) that I am really proud of (!!!!) I made quite a few The Spanish Princess icons, having seen a load of The White Queen/Princess entries on the random TV tropes I ended up with for elitesimplicity, and then making more TSP icons for perioddrama_ic. In fact, because your_favourites also had a period TV show round, I made quite a lot of period drama icons this month, including The Great and Anne With An E. I finished off the month desperately trying to avoid the cliché of using florals for the Spring Forward, Fall Back round at capicontest.
# of icons: 18
Icon Posts: none
December
I started December with some primary colours for capicontest<lj, and finished off with a set of Aurora icons for capicontest, including winning that challenge with an icon from His Dark Materials, aka based on The Northern Lights, which I had been watching recently and had in fact inspired that very challenge! A rather satisfying way to round off the year!
# of icons: 15
Icon Posts: One & Two
Overall# of icons: 186 (up on last year's 115)
# of icon posts: 6
Busiest month: April [47], then March [40]
Quietest month: February, August & September [0] (was on holiday early-February then trying to find some hobbies and social life outside of work, lol; was on holiday for a couple of weeks in September and all my free time in August and September was spent packing up my flat ahead of moving across the country early-October.)
Most iconned: Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries [17 - 18 if you count the Crypt of Tears icon too], Timeless [17], Brooklyn Nine-Nine [15], Frozen II [13], Legend of the Seeker [10], Lucifer [10], Wonder Woman [7], Outlander [6], Anne With An E [6], Galavant [6], The Spanish Princess [6].
Main new fandoms: Frozen II, Legend of the Seeker, Lucifer, Anne With An E.
Total number of icontests I placed in: 18 / 34 (including 3 non-voting icontest)
Biggest achievements/progress made/observations: I did make some nice progress with text, textures and composition, particularly in January, March and April (aka when I probably had the most time on my hands and was most on an iconning roll). I think on the whole my icons had a more polished look to them and there were fewer duds, although there are still a few I look back on and cringe at a LOT. I am definitely proud of my colouring work toward the end of the year though (that red+blue Anne With An E icon and the His Dark Materials aurora icon especially). Also, turns out I love yellow and used it quite a lot this year (although none of the individual yellow icons made it into my top 20 below, strangely enough)! I discovered a new appreciation for stock icons thanks to stocklove_ic, but I think it's fair to say negative space is still my favourite, particularly when the background matches the subject's clothing…
My personal favourites:
2021 Resolutions1. Finish re-uploading all broken upl.co and photobucket links in old icon post
2. Post my textures!!
3. Install and try to figure out the Photoshop CS4 I bought a few years back.
4. Brush up on animation, and carry on working on text and composition.
5. Continue trying to actively comment on people's entries, not just when I want to know the fandom(s).