★ ☆ 018. icon progression 2012 ☆ ★
January 2012 - 32 icons
I forget what drove me to start making icons. Truth is, I came over here from tumblr. I had an LJ but I never used it and when I did it was for reading ONTD, asking questions at TQC, and reading fic. Whatever it was that got me interested, I'm glad I got into iconmaking in 2012.
Wow these are horrific to look at to say the least. I was so heavy-handed on Sharpen isn't it sad? Or in the case of the 3rd and 5th icons, I didn't sharpen enough. #2 and #6 look sunburnt, #5 lacks contrast, #4 looks washed out, #3 is plain/boring, and #1 is creeping me out a bit. I'm thinking that blending Irene into her hand was where it crossed the line between strange and frightening. I didn't even post these icons. Even though I hate these icons, I'm so happy I still have them because now I can see the progress I've made in a year.
February 2012 - 75 icons
I made a lot of Merlin icons this month, can you tell? I would probably still use the second one, it has a grungy thing going on that I think fits the crop and comes off somewhat well. If I still had the psd I would tweak it and see what I could do. I was super into negative space, I think I thought it would be easy. It was easy to do, sure. But it wasn't easy to do well. I didn't know that then though. I remember making 50 icons in one weekend and being really proud about it. Now I can't make 50 icons in a month half of the time. With the coloring of a lot of these I just used the same psd over and over with minor adjustments. Especially for icons like #2, #3, and #4. Still I think these are a step up from January's icons.
March 2012 - 35 icons
WOW this month's theme was colorful gradient maps. I'm not going to lie to you, I want to go back to making more icons like this. Vibrant and monochromatic please. I am still very in love with that fourth icon. I really adore the colors and the crop.
As far as these icons go, I now see that the texture in the first one is really unflattering, and that the second one doesn't have enough contrast. The third one is okay but I'm not crazy about it. The fifth has an unflattering texture as well and the sixth one is too sharp and vibrant, while Amy's face is still ghost white. I wonder how I managed to screw that up. I think that my March icons show me trying new things and techniques, but not quite getting a proper grasp on them.
April 2012 - 58 icons
I played around with light blobs a lot in April. I really don't have much to say about these icons, I don't hate them but I don't care for them. I remember loving the third icon after I made it. Now I sort of want to burn it because why is his face so red and why is his skin so yellow. I'd love to remake it someday because the crop is one of my favorites. The fourth icon is one I'd still use today. I liked that coloring a lot and I used it on a whole ton of icons I made in April. Pity I can't find the psd now, I'd like to see it. The fifth icon was one that I got a lot of praise on (well relatively anyway). It won as my best in the round of inspired20in20 I made it for, and people commented on it the most in my icon post. Getting something off my chest right now: that was one of my least favorite icons in the entire batch and it still is one of my least favorite icons. To each their own though.
May 2012 - 37 icons
I'm just not very impressed with these icons at all. I think they're better as a whole than the icons I made in April but they're all missing something. At the point in time that I posted these they made me really happy. I was finally grasping the hang of light blobs and even getting control of sharpening, at least in my opinion. I also did a lot of merged soft light layers. I'd like to remake all of these icons but especially #1, #5, and #6. I used to have a real lady boner for #6. I must've been blind because while the rainbow effect is pretty, the image quality is sort of bad. I still like #4 a lot, I think the lighting is great and I like the text as well.
June 2012 - 63
Lots and lots and lots and lots of light blobs. Also orange and yellow. I still like all of these icons to be honest. If anything I'd sharpen the third more. #4 is an icon I really like because it's the first and only time I've ever liked my blocking and also the color is gorgeous. I guess if I had to I'd remove some of that yellow from her face because it's slightly irksome. Needs a tad bit more sharpening on her features as well. These all have very lush colors.
July 2012 - 64 icons
July produced 3 of my favorite icons out of what I've made all year. #1, #2, and #4 are actually icons I love. I'm allowed to love my work sometimes ;). When I first set out to icon #1 I was really intimidated. The cap is a frequently used cap in the DW fandom and I had no idea how I would be able to make my icon different from anyone else's, but I really love mine. I came away with it wrapped in my arms and with me babying it like it was the most precious thing in the world. I could stare at that hair porn forever. I love the mutedness of #2 and the way it plays with the shadows surrounding Eleven. #4 is one of my favorites because the close crop is lovely and the bright vibrant colors are striking and almost look good enough to eat. Again I see my style is changing here (but my color palette really isn't) and that I'm playing with light and shadows much more and becoming more comfortable with everything.
August 2012 - 8 icons (OOP)
All I did was marathon Teen Wolf in its entirety and have a huge Photoshop block. No iconmaking progress was made this month in my opinion. These are the only two icons I even posted from August, the rest I would really like to forget.
September 2012 - 14 (not much better)
I was sort of just wandering around and not really making anything good this month. When I get the time I really want to remake #2 because the concept and the crop are burned into my brain I just can't seem to carry out the vision I have and put it onto the canvas.There's a lot of gradient-ness going on here. I started using those more in September and while it really didn't make a difference then, down the line I can see it improving my work for the better. I was stumbling around and wondering if I'd ever be able to icon again.
October 2012 - 31 icons
Don't let the monthly count confuse you, most of the icons I posted in October were cropped from a Teen Wolf picspam at my personal journal. I tried to include variety right here despite that fact though. So wow me and yellow have a secret thing going on that I don't even know about or condone. Yellow is like the thorn in my side I don't even intend to use it but it sneaks up on me and takes over everything. Not that I have much of a problem with it. I'm warming up to yellow. I really like #1, 3, and #6. I like the lighting that I used this month. I didn't use much as far as light blobs went, I just went strictly curves. I sort of found that a lot of my stuff felt cleaner and brighter, and that the colors looked more crisp. There's a simplicity about these icons that I love.
November 2012 - 59 icons
I got a burst of inspiration this month! I also came to terms with the fact that I really love negative space. It's actually strange how I never realized it before but I have a feeling that I'll be making more negative space icons in the future. Teen Wolf awesome-ness all around! I like these icons! The reason a lot of these even exist are because of mm3butterfly's textures. They really inspired me to icon. Me, vibrance, curves, and gradients have been having a foursome to be honest. It's been quite lovely. Also Lydia Martin. The presence of her face and hair does half the work. Without pretty girls to icon I'd be nowhere. I feel like I was at a good place in balancing clarity and softness in my work. Of course there are some misses since I still have so much to learn and a long way to go but I was really pleased with the work I made in November especially when I compare it to my work from January. I also won 3rd place in Best Up and Coming Maker in November which made me absolutely explode with feelings of happiness and excitement. I felt warm and tingly and I want to yet again thank everyone who voted for me.
December 2012 - 10 icons
It's been a busy month so I haven't had much time to make icons in December. The few that I have made I've been pleased with. More vibrance, gradient overlay, and curves were used. #1 makes me happy because I like the shadows on her face but the light and color in her hair. #2 is one of my favorites because Martha Jones but also because I was able to fool around with it for like two hours without making the image quality go to absolute crap. Doctor Who was not in HD back then and trust me it's so distressing when working with caps that are so grainy and blurry that you want to cry. I also like the colors I used and the lighting. I love the yellow and textures I used in #4.
I probably won't be making any more icons this year seeing as I haven't been in the mood this week and this is the last week of December. All in all I think this was a very good year for me! I made so much progress in my opinion! Some of my stuff is cringe-worthy but some of it really makes me proud. I don't regret my mistakes at all because they lead to down the long, wonderful, and colorful road that I'm on now. Most of all I think my coloring has improved. Hopefully in 2013 I will be able to improve at composition and text. That stuff is so intimidating and scary *shivers*.
I hope everyone has a great year and that you make a progression post too! I'd love to see your year in icons.
Grand Total : 486 icons made this year!