Rumble review - Calendarsquares OTP rumble - "Shipping "Wars"
I had so much fun with the last rumble at calendarsquares, I decided to post the icons including the concrit I got for them here. Mostly for my own enjoyment, but hey, you might enjoy it, too. :D
Round 1
THE PERFECT TWO: For this challenge, you must icon the most definitive OTP pairing you ship.
Extra points for:
- bubbles, glitter, flowers, etc., don't skimp on the sparkle
- an ampersand
- incorporate or make reference to your OTPs special thing
Icon + alts
-
Well, that was easy (at the time in February). And even now, it's definitely the pairing into which I put the most fannish energy. By far.
Concrit:
earned +1 point
* I like the coloring a lot, but the cut out seems a bit harsh against the background. The background is soft, whereas the lines of the subjects are kinda harsh. A slight blur on the edges would have made this a really stunning icon!
* You did a really great job of coloring their clothing! The icon as a whole has nice composition and color use.
* The characters themselves feel a little too yellow and the text above their heads is impossible to read. Cute idea tying the coloring in with their jackets, but hard on the eyes. Would probably work better with a different background color, though the overall layout of the background with the superimposed & is great.
* Really good job on the characters coloring. The background looks a bit too crowded to me, however: there are too many different elements that makes it hard for me to focus on the subjects
* I really like how you did the complementary colors in this icon, but I would say it might be better for you to pop out the star texture at the back because it's a bit hard to see.
* the looks fit so well and the colors pop so well
* I really like the vibrant coloring and how the background contrasts with the characters' clothing. The little lines above their heads are somewhat distracting, in my opinion.
* Love the use of the large ampersand and how it blends in with the background yet still adds such a great effect.
My thoughts:
Yeah, the really small text didn't work that well. I wonder if I should have entered the alt with the bigger text. It's their special thing after all ("Come back alive, Librarian"), and it might have deserved some more attention. Or the one without text, which is the one I like best. (Which probably means I should have tried to start over with a different text idea.)
Technique-wise, one person finds it too crowded, one wants the stars to be more visible... . Huh.
The point about their faces being too yellow is a good one. It especially skews that way against the blue background.
Sharpness is always a point of contention, too. Here, someone finds it too sharp. In the current lims-es I'm in, I've only gotten comments that complain about things being too blurry. You just can't please everyone. I take care to blur my icons just enough in the right places to avoid artifacts and pixelation. I know that on the monitor I use to make my icons, they look fine. I have another place where I sometimes look at my icons, and they look sharper there. But really, there's nothing I can do about that. They have to look good on the computer where I make them, and that's the best I can do. *shrug*
Round 2
LOVE HURTS: icon an OTP that never got the official "couple" status.
Extra points for:
- separation between the two characters
- a nautical theme or element
- through use of text try to capture the reason why your OTP couldn't be together
Icon + alt
-
That one was really hard to choose, because I often ship canon couples. I dithered a bit about Jaime and Brienne, because I don't even know if they won't eventually end up together - that's what I get for being behind on GoT. But from my "unhappy" ships, those were the first that came to mind where I had caps with a "nautical theme" (i.e. a boat ;)). Although the boat caps turned out not to be too fun to work with. ;) The alt is unfinished, because I noticed pretty quickly that that wasn't going to make a good icon, no matter what I did with it.
Concrit:
earned +5 points
* it was a bit hard to see the 2nd character in this icon, but the coloring is gorgeous!!
* Great use of text and crop, but the icon is a little under-contrasted given how much light there is - maybe decrease the intensity of the light of increase some contrast in the bottom right corner to balance it out a little?
* I am in LOVE with this icon! The text is so clean and well done, the coloring is gorgeous, and I love the minimalistic look it has going on. It's overall a really gorgeous icon!
* I love the simplicity of the quote and the emphasis on "Oath".
* Love the text and how you utilized the theme so well with the quotes. The icon has a dreamy look to it and it's interesting how it almost looks like a painting. My only critique would be the unnatural hair coloring.
* Love the simple colors and the mix of small and large text.
* The composition of this icon is gorgeous. The text really brings the whole thing together and it draws the eye from Brienne to Jamie.
* I like the use of "keeper" and "breaker" with the word oath in the middle, but I do think "keeper" and "breaker" could be more visible, perhaps by making the text slightly larger.
* I love the solid boldness of this icon it's very elegant
* I absolutely adore how you've brighten up the cap and the warm coloring makes this icon look like a painting
My thoughts:
Okay, so people loved this icon! So do I, tbh. It's one of the best painted-look icons I've done. The points of critique are:
It's too light - I can see that, it might be worth trying their advice.
That the hair color is too unnatural - yeah, making blond(e)s yellow is a matter of taste. I happen to like it.
The text should be larger - hmmm. Yeah, text size is another point where people tend to disagree. I like small text (see icon #1), and I think in this case, larger text would have pushed the subjects too far into the background.
Round 3
TOGETHER FOREVER: For this challenge, icon your favorite platonic OTP.
Extra points for:
- keeping your icon minimalist and using bright, happy colors
- a close crop
- including a Plato quote
Icon + alt
-
I barely ever ship anything platonically. Troy and Abed are a rare and notable exception, so the choice to icon them was easy. (Family relationships would have counted, too, and I have a few of those, but, honestly, Troy and Abed beat almost everything anyway. :D)
Muahaha, I must have overlooked that "minimalist" condition. I remember the bright, happy colors, but "minimalist" is... not what I did. Otoh, often minimalist is meant to say "without text" so that wasn't an option here, anyway.
I had a ton of alts for the final icon, but they barely differ, except in word placement and coloring, so I didn't upload them. The alt I did upload is actually one I like a lot, but I didn't manage to get the text between them to look good, so I scrapped it. If the quote requirement hadn't been there, I'd have gone with that one. What still bothers me is that you can't really tell whose hands are in the icon. (I think they're actually both Troy's, which seems unfair :)).
Concrit:
earned +3 points
* I love the cropping and text work, and the bold coloring, however, I feel like there's a lack of contrast on the subjects that take away from all of that a bit. It's a really great icon; I just feel like more contrast would take it to the next level.
* the aspect on this with the subject and text fit so well with each other
* Phenomenal use of color! The text is really playful and really embodies the themes, though the bottom line is a touch hard to read and might need a touch of sharpening. The subjects are also a little flat and could use a little more depth - possibly adding a duplicate layer set on soft light might help. Overall great job, though!
* Love the cap use and the quote works really well. Could do with some sharpening of the two characters, especially on their hands, and a bit of contrast though, as at the moment it looks a bit blurry and flat.
* The bold text here really pops, however the colors get progressively harder to read as they both get darker and smaller in that mixed size font. Fun how it seems to follow their hands.
* fun coloring and composition. Great font choice. I find the text placement a bit distracting and the composition a tiny bit crowded.
* The use of text in your icon is lovely! I'm usually not a big fan of super fancy fonts because they are really hard to use in the right way, but I think you really did a great job.
* great use of space, but some of the color in the text makes it a bit hard to read.
My thoughts:
Ooooh, lots more critique in this one:
Lack of contrast (2x) - well, it's worth a try. I tend to make my icons too little contrasted. It's often hard to adjust that at the end of the process, because it creates artifacts, so I often don't ramp up the contrast enough because I'm already done with everything once I notice the contrast is too low. This wasn't the case here, I didn't notice it at all.
Ha, the second commenter left almost identical comments on all of my icons. Maybe they shouldn't have gotten the extra points for commenting. Just sayin. ;)
Text too blurry (2x) - yes, I agree. Working on an icon for longer periods of time makes one blind to some aspects. :(
Text is hard to read on the lower lines (2x) - yes, I agree. But I don't usually mind that in icons. The "friends" part is the important part. If people want to figure out the rest of the text, they can squint a bit to figure it out. I like doing that in other people's icons, too, so I often make text a tad too small. Better too small than overpowering.
Crowded composition - well, yeah. Not the minimalist icon she asked for. :D I agree, but won't change that. I like crowded and grungy and textured.
Overall, I agree with them that this icon is the weakest one of the four I entered. Oh, well.
Round 4
NOTHING LIKE YOU: For this final round, you must icon an OTP whose personalities couldn't be more different.
Extra points for:
- complementary colors
- using an opposite pair from a given list
- make reference to something that creates tension (romantic or otherwise) between your pairing
Icon + alts
-
Harry and Sally are the most bickering couple I know, and, incidentally, one of my favorite movies. So that choice was easy. I almost couldn't meet all the extra-points criteria until I realized I only had to change the quote a tiny little bit to get to use the word-pair "always / never". Tadaa. :D
The coloring was really difficult on this one. The very colorful yellow-green one was my first attempt, but that looked too busy even to a fan of crowded icons like me. So I made several gradations of that, and finally went with the most monochrome one. Now that I look at them again, I think I would have gone with the last alt or tried to find something else to make the characters stand out against the text better, maybe a glow, or a mix between the monochrome and the last alt version.
Concrit:
earned +2 points
* Love the composition and unique way of showing contrasting colors, however, the monotone coloring really causes the subjects to lose a lot of detail and definition.
* Vibrant, opposing colors. I like how the text was arranged in the icon (with the word "sex" literally between the two).
* Love the background and text, but I think the quality and coloring of the cutouts doesn't work the rest of the icon elements.
* I really like the colouring, and the text work is really ambitious but it's quite hard to make out the full quote because some bits are too obscured. Could do with some downsizing of the biggest text and increasing the size of the smaller or re-positioning it so it's more visible
* Very vibrant. Great contrast while using a more monochrome concept.
* Your composition is really interesting with all of the text in the background and the bright matte coloration. Their faces look a little bit pixilated on my screen, so I might suggest a closer crop or a little less sharpening over that area.
* the text is a bit hard to read but the colors fits well with the distance of the subject
My thoughts:
Monochrome loses details - yep, I agree. And it's really a bit too vibrant overall.
Bad cutouts - yes, I agree there, too. Upping the vibrance and saturation at the end had a similar effect as increasing contrast does: it makes the edges appear sharper. I find them too sharp now, too.
Text hard to read (2x) and to many different sizes - Eh, sorry, no. The very different sizes is one of my favorite things about this icon.
Pixilated faces - I don't think the faces look pixilated, but the back of Harry's head does. Maybe that's what this comment means? Going for a closer crop would definitely have solved that, but I wanted to go for the DVD cover resemblance, because everyone knows that, making them instantly recognizable (just like the quote does). So yeah, that's a risk every full body crop icon must take, but I guess trying a closer crop might be worth a try.
That was a really fun rumble, and I love that I ended up with this Jaime/Brienne icon I really like. I'm already looking forward to the next rumble at calendarsquares!
x-posted from dw (comments:
)
Round 1
THE PERFECT TWO: For this challenge, you must icon the most definitive OTP pairing you ship.
Extra points for:
- bubbles, glitter, flowers, etc., don't skimp on the sparkle
- an ampersand
- incorporate or make reference to your OTPs special thing
Icon + alts
-
Well, that was easy (at the time in February). And even now, it's definitely the pairing into which I put the most fannish energy. By far.
Concrit:
earned +1 point
* I like the coloring a lot, but the cut out seems a bit harsh against the background. The background is soft, whereas the lines of the subjects are kinda harsh. A slight blur on the edges would have made this a really stunning icon!
* You did a really great job of coloring their clothing! The icon as a whole has nice composition and color use.
* The characters themselves feel a little too yellow and the text above their heads is impossible to read. Cute idea tying the coloring in with their jackets, but hard on the eyes. Would probably work better with a different background color, though the overall layout of the background with the superimposed & is great.
* Really good job on the characters coloring. The background looks a bit too crowded to me, however: there are too many different elements that makes it hard for me to focus on the subjects
* I really like how you did the complementary colors in this icon, but I would say it might be better for you to pop out the star texture at the back because it's a bit hard to see.
* the looks fit so well and the colors pop so well
* I really like the vibrant coloring and how the background contrasts with the characters' clothing. The little lines above their heads are somewhat distracting, in my opinion.
* Love the use of the large ampersand and how it blends in with the background yet still adds such a great effect.
My thoughts:
Yeah, the really small text didn't work that well. I wonder if I should have entered the alt with the bigger text. It's their special thing after all ("Come back alive, Librarian"), and it might have deserved some more attention. Or the one without text, which is the one I like best. (Which probably means I should have tried to start over with a different text idea.)
Technique-wise, one person finds it too crowded, one wants the stars to be more visible... . Huh.
The point about their faces being too yellow is a good one. It especially skews that way against the blue background.
Sharpness is always a point of contention, too. Here, someone finds it too sharp. In the current lims-es I'm in, I've only gotten comments that complain about things being too blurry. You just can't please everyone. I take care to blur my icons just enough in the right places to avoid artifacts and pixelation. I know that on the monitor I use to make my icons, they look fine. I have another place where I sometimes look at my icons, and they look sharper there. But really, there's nothing I can do about that. They have to look good on the computer where I make them, and that's the best I can do. *shrug*
Round 2
LOVE HURTS: icon an OTP that never got the official "couple" status.
Extra points for:
- separation between the two characters
- a nautical theme or element
- through use of text try to capture the reason why your OTP couldn't be together
Icon + alt
-
That one was really hard to choose, because I often ship canon couples. I dithered a bit about Jaime and Brienne, because I don't even know if they won't eventually end up together - that's what I get for being behind on GoT. But from my "unhappy" ships, those were the first that came to mind where I had caps with a "nautical theme" (i.e. a boat ;)). Although the boat caps turned out not to be too fun to work with. ;) The alt is unfinished, because I noticed pretty quickly that that wasn't going to make a good icon, no matter what I did with it.
Concrit:
earned +5 points
* it was a bit hard to see the 2nd character in this icon, but the coloring is gorgeous!!
* Great use of text and crop, but the icon is a little under-contrasted given how much light there is - maybe decrease the intensity of the light of increase some contrast in the bottom right corner to balance it out a little?
* I am in LOVE with this icon! The text is so clean and well done, the coloring is gorgeous, and I love the minimalistic look it has going on. It's overall a really gorgeous icon!
* I love the simplicity of the quote and the emphasis on "Oath".
* Love the text and how you utilized the theme so well with the quotes. The icon has a dreamy look to it and it's interesting how it almost looks like a painting. My only critique would be the unnatural hair coloring.
* Love the simple colors and the mix of small and large text.
* The composition of this icon is gorgeous. The text really brings the whole thing together and it draws the eye from Brienne to Jamie.
* I like the use of "keeper" and "breaker" with the word oath in the middle, but I do think "keeper" and "breaker" could be more visible, perhaps by making the text slightly larger.
* I love the solid boldness of this icon it's very elegant
* I absolutely adore how you've brighten up the cap and the warm coloring makes this icon look like a painting
My thoughts:
Okay, so people loved this icon! So do I, tbh. It's one of the best painted-look icons I've done. The points of critique are:
It's too light - I can see that, it might be worth trying their advice.
That the hair color is too unnatural - yeah, making blond(e)s yellow is a matter of taste. I happen to like it.
The text should be larger - hmmm. Yeah, text size is another point where people tend to disagree. I like small text (see icon #1), and I think in this case, larger text would have pushed the subjects too far into the background.
Round 3
TOGETHER FOREVER: For this challenge, icon your favorite platonic OTP.
Extra points for:
- keeping your icon minimalist and using bright, happy colors
- a close crop
- including a Plato quote
Icon + alt
-
I barely ever ship anything platonically. Troy and Abed are a rare and notable exception, so the choice to icon them was easy. (Family relationships would have counted, too, and I have a few of those, but, honestly, Troy and Abed beat almost everything anyway. :D)
Muahaha, I must have overlooked that "minimalist" condition. I remember the bright, happy colors, but "minimalist" is... not what I did. Otoh, often minimalist is meant to say "without text" so that wasn't an option here, anyway.
I had a ton of alts for the final icon, but they barely differ, except in word placement and coloring, so I didn't upload them. The alt I did upload is actually one I like a lot, but I didn't manage to get the text between them to look good, so I scrapped it. If the quote requirement hadn't been there, I'd have gone with that one. What still bothers me is that you can't really tell whose hands are in the icon. (I think they're actually both Troy's, which seems unfair :)).
Concrit:
earned +3 points
* I love the cropping and text work, and the bold coloring, however, I feel like there's a lack of contrast on the subjects that take away from all of that a bit. It's a really great icon; I just feel like more contrast would take it to the next level.
* the aspect on this with the subject and text fit so well with each other
* Phenomenal use of color! The text is really playful and really embodies the themes, though the bottom line is a touch hard to read and might need a touch of sharpening. The subjects are also a little flat and could use a little more depth - possibly adding a duplicate layer set on soft light might help. Overall great job, though!
* Love the cap use and the quote works really well. Could do with some sharpening of the two characters, especially on their hands, and a bit of contrast though, as at the moment it looks a bit blurry and flat.
* The bold text here really pops, however the colors get progressively harder to read as they both get darker and smaller in that mixed size font. Fun how it seems to follow their hands.
* fun coloring and composition. Great font choice. I find the text placement a bit distracting and the composition a tiny bit crowded.
* The use of text in your icon is lovely! I'm usually not a big fan of super fancy fonts because they are really hard to use in the right way, but I think you really did a great job.
* great use of space, but some of the color in the text makes it a bit hard to read.
My thoughts:
Ooooh, lots more critique in this one:
Lack of contrast (2x) - well, it's worth a try. I tend to make my icons too little contrasted. It's often hard to adjust that at the end of the process, because it creates artifacts, so I often don't ramp up the contrast enough because I'm already done with everything once I notice the contrast is too low. This wasn't the case here, I didn't notice it at all.
Ha, the second commenter left almost identical comments on all of my icons. Maybe they shouldn't have gotten the extra points for commenting. Just sayin. ;)
Text too blurry (2x) - yes, I agree. Working on an icon for longer periods of time makes one blind to some aspects. :(
Text is hard to read on the lower lines (2x) - yes, I agree. But I don't usually mind that in icons. The "friends" part is the important part. If people want to figure out the rest of the text, they can squint a bit to figure it out. I like doing that in other people's icons, too, so I often make text a tad too small. Better too small than overpowering.
Crowded composition - well, yeah. Not the minimalist icon she asked for. :D I agree, but won't change that. I like crowded and grungy and textured.
Overall, I agree with them that this icon is the weakest one of the four I entered. Oh, well.
Round 4
NOTHING LIKE YOU: For this final round, you must icon an OTP whose personalities couldn't be more different.
Extra points for:
- complementary colors
- using an opposite pair from a given list
- make reference to something that creates tension (romantic or otherwise) between your pairing
Icon + alts
-
Harry and Sally are the most bickering couple I know, and, incidentally, one of my favorite movies. So that choice was easy. I almost couldn't meet all the extra-points criteria until I realized I only had to change the quote a tiny little bit to get to use the word-pair "always / never". Tadaa. :D
The coloring was really difficult on this one. The very colorful yellow-green one was my first attempt, but that looked too busy even to a fan of crowded icons like me. So I made several gradations of that, and finally went with the most monochrome one. Now that I look at them again, I think I would have gone with the last alt or tried to find something else to make the characters stand out against the text better, maybe a glow, or a mix between the monochrome and the last alt version.
Concrit:
earned +2 points
* Love the composition and unique way of showing contrasting colors, however, the monotone coloring really causes the subjects to lose a lot of detail and definition.
* Vibrant, opposing colors. I like how the text was arranged in the icon (with the word "sex" literally between the two).
* Love the background and text, but I think the quality and coloring of the cutouts doesn't work the rest of the icon elements.
* I really like the colouring, and the text work is really ambitious but it's quite hard to make out the full quote because some bits are too obscured. Could do with some downsizing of the biggest text and increasing the size of the smaller or re-positioning it so it's more visible
* Very vibrant. Great contrast while using a more monochrome concept.
* Your composition is really interesting with all of the text in the background and the bright matte coloration. Their faces look a little bit pixilated on my screen, so I might suggest a closer crop or a little less sharpening over that area.
* the text is a bit hard to read but the colors fits well with the distance of the subject
My thoughts:
Monochrome loses details - yep, I agree. And it's really a bit too vibrant overall.
Bad cutouts - yes, I agree there, too. Upping the vibrance and saturation at the end had a similar effect as increasing contrast does: it makes the edges appear sharper. I find them too sharp now, too.
Text hard to read (2x) and to many different sizes - Eh, sorry, no. The very different sizes is one of my favorite things about this icon.
Pixilated faces - I don't think the faces look pixilated, but the back of Harry's head does. Maybe that's what this comment means? Going for a closer crop would definitely have solved that, but I wanted to go for the DVD cover resemblance, because everyone knows that, making them instantly recognizable (just like the quote does). So yeah, that's a risk every full body crop icon must take, but I guess trying a closer crop might be worth a try.
That was a really fun rumble, and I love that I ended up with this Jaime/Brienne icon I really like. I'm already looking forward to the next rumble at calendarsquares!
x-posted from dw (comments:
)