Round 17 - Challenge 06 - Results
ROUND 17 - CHALLENGE 06 - RESULTS
1ST PLACE [5 points]:
jsfunction with +8 votes.
2ND PLACE [4 points]:
nightbulbs with +7 votes.
3RD PLACE [3 points]:
,
, &
shameless666, laxirya, & ghanimasun with +4 votes.
BEST INTERPRETATION [2 points]:
starkwars with +5 votes.
MOD'S CHOICE [1 point]:
adriftingsea
[The intensity of this icon is really quite alluring. It really does give the illusion of a portrait or at least, someone you'd want a portrait of. The vibrant colors on the right really balance out the shadows on the left, and the overall icon is really eye catching!]
TABLE KEY:
+++ = 1st Place Vote
++ = 2nd Place Vote
+ = 3rd Place Vote | Beginning of a new comment.
Note: Votes are not weighted in this round. Meaning a 1st, 2nd or 3rd vote will only give you 1 point when tallying the votes. [Tiebreaker procedure:]Except in the case of a tie - then the icon with the most 1st place votes will be given first. This is upheld in all cases unless 1) the amount of votes is equal in all cases (i.e. 3 first place, 2 second place, and 1 third place) or 2) breaking the tie would result in an icon with enough first place votes to place being knocked out of a placing spot (i.e a third place tie between two icons). In these cases, ties will stand as is in order to maintain a sense of fairness for all participants.
ICON VOTES
cool_spectrumPOSITIVE VOTES
None.
BEST INTERPRETATION
None.
CONSTRUCTIVE VOTES
+ I love the colouring of the icon and the texture use. It gives the icon a very dark and moody feel that matches Sesshoumaru. However, I think that some of the dark parts over the subject should be masked away or lightened, because the details of the upper-half of his body are getting lost. Alternatively, if you don't way to get rid of the darkness, you can sharpen the icon more, mask away the bits you do not want and keep the bits that allow the details like his hair and armour to stand out better.
+ I really love blue color and the lighting is beautiful. But the character is difficult to make out because the coloring makes her blend with the background and because the shape on her shoulder makes the screencap itself a little unusual, so it's hard to see what's in it. I think a closer crop would make it clearer, or erase the blue coloring a little on her face.
ADDITIONAL VOTES
+ I didn't realize you had constructed the background to this icon before I looked at the cap - great job of making it look like part of the original! I would say that the light texture in the upper left isn't needed in my opinion - there's already some lovely light on the subjects that makes them stand out from the background, and given that it looks like nighttime in the cap, the source of the light is also a bit confusing.
+ Great use of negative space, it's actually so well done I had no idea that the top part wasn't in the original cap before looking.
+ I love the background and the purple tones in this icon! The combination of tree stock and mountain stock on the background creates super beautiful scenery and together with the glowy lighting gives this icon a fairytale-like atmosphere.
thyla87POSITIVE VOTES
++ Love the colors and the texture-use.
BEST INTERPRETATION
None.
CONSTRUCTIVE VOTES
+ I like the colors and silhouette but unfortunately, it's impossible to tell who the subject is. I would suggest adding an additional image of the subject to get a lead on who the silhouette might be of.
ADDITIONAL VOTES
+ Great silhouette and I love the texture use here
+ Paint textures are always great, and I love how you emphasize his hair. The icon looks very simple but in an unusual way.
+ It's probably because I'm not in the fandom, but I really couldn't tell who the subject was with the black silhouette. I think it might have been interesting if you had added elements to add to the storytelling of this icon, in the background or in front of the silhouette. The colour scheme and idea are very interesting though, this icon has lots of potential!
+ As an abstract piece this is very interesting, and my only comment would be that perhaps a color other than bright pink might work best for the background because the eye tends to perceive that warmer-colored bits of images are closer, so it looks like the silhouette in the background. As a practical piece, I didn't know who was in this icon until I clicked on the cap, so perhaps this technique would go better for characters who had a very unique silhouette (right now the only thing I can think of is Sherlock Holmes and that hat he's known for, but I'm sure there are others).
+ I would have no idea who this was without the screencap provided, but I love the composition and texture work so much!
+ This is an interesting icon, and I love the bold magenta background and how the painty/grungy textures look on the background. The silhouette idea is cool but I don’t think this is the best cap for it since Hannibal’s open mouth looks a bit weird in the silhouette, it doesn’t look that odd in the cap when you see his exhausted expression but that gets lost in the silhouette. Also, the texture use obscures the shape of his silhouette a bit too much, and the shape is basically the point of a silhouette icon so I’d move the texture behind the silhouette so it only affects the background, or lower its opacity on Hannibal.
+ It's funny, before looking at the cap I thought this was Dexter - I'm mixing up my serial killers! I like the silhouette effect, I'm less sure about the white texture on top though, it seems slightly out of place IMO. You could try without it, or replace it with something that reminds us of Hannibal, or of his drawings?
applepips16POSITIVE VOTES
None.
BEST INTERPRETATION
None.
CONSTRUCTIVE VOTES
+ I love the colors! I suggest evening out the overall tones with a contrast layer and sharpening her features and hair a bit more. I also suggest darkening the strand that falls near her jaw a bit more or altering the color from orange to more yellow as it's rather out of place there.
+ The colouring is beautiful, especially her hair, but the lighting washes out her face a bit too much - it could do with erasing some of the lighting over her face, and maybe sharpening her facial features a little, so they are as sharp as her hair, for instance.
+ Really beautiful coloring! However it looks rather blurry, especially on the left (right side of her face) where it's really bright. Some careful sharpening should do the trick.
ADDITIONAL VOTES
+ I would love to see the lighting in this piece match between the subject and the background. She has a very nice light -> dark transition going from top left to bottom right, but the background looks virtually the same color throughout. A simple gradient set to softlight, just over the background, could fix that. I might also turn down the brightness just a bit because the one side of her face is dangerously close to looking washed out on my monitor.
+ I like how the bright, vibrant colors, but this icon could use a bit more sharpening.
+ This icon is super beautiful and was a strong contender for my top3. I looove the coloring (cyan+yellow and vibrant hair ftw) and the glow is so pretty! I think her face could be sharpened just a bit though, it looks a bit blurry to me.
+ I like how nice and bright this is. Great job with the cut-out as well, and love the use of light on her face, subtle but it works.
shameless666POSITIVE VOTES
+++ I really love how you use cyan and the yellow coloring together and the background is beautiful. I love the composition and text
+++ Everything about this icon is perfect! I love the bright cyan-yellow coloring which you matched absolutely wonderfully between subject and background. It’s very difficult to get a subject to fit with such a bright background but you really nailed it. The texture use on the background is beautiful, love the painty bits especially, and the text is an utterly amazing combination of different sizes and fonts.
+++ The color combination of blue and yellow is really striking in this icon. I love how her hair matches with the paint splotches, and her shirt with the background. It's fun and bold and vibrant. My only critique would be for the word in yellow. I think it says "saint"? It's a little hard to read though. Perhaps a different font would've fit better, or duplicating it with a darker color and moving it under the word to make it stand out more.
++ Even if I would have like the character more sharpened, the coloring is beautiful. The text is also working really well.
BEST INTERPRETATION
None.
CONSTRUCTIVE VOTES
+ I love the composition and the coloring, it's all top notch. The only thing that kept me from voting your icon into the top three is that the contrast in her face is so high it loses detail. On my monitor, her lips look splotchy and her eyes are completely black. I suggest masking her face out of the contrast-increasing layers so her features remain clear.
+ I love the choice of color, the blues and yellows but I am finding it hard to read the yellow wording which pulls from the overall icon for me. I think the color choice is perfect but I think a font that makes it a bit easier to read (mainly because of the color).
+ The texture use is lovely, and I like the contrasting colour scheme a lot! Her face could do with some sharpening though, especially on the lighter parts, and maybe lowering the contrast a little - at the moment her face looks over-contrasted and under-sharpened compared to the ends of her hair and her shirt.
ADDITIONAL VOTES
+ Love the color scheme of the icon and the texture use! Also, I really like the text. You've chosen fonts that play off against each other fantastically!
+ I quite like the color scheme and text work here! Very creative! However it feels a bit too daring for me, because 'Saint' is in a difficult to read font coupled with the yellow color that almost blends into the background, plus the lines were mixed up (i.e. it reads 'I am Saint No' as opposed to 'I am no Saint'). I don't have an issue with sometimes mixing up lines like this, but coupled with everything else (difficult to read 'Saint', colors, etc.) it feels like one too many things going on at the same time.
+ I like the textures and the background, but Karen's face is oddly lit on my screen - her cheek and features, especially the eyes, look really dark. I'm guessing you went for a duplicated layer on softlight or something similar, I'd suggest lowering the opacity of that layer a bit. And although I do like the look of the text, I'm having trouble reading the word in the middle and making sense of it all.
alisea_dreamPOSITIVE VOTES
+++ Great use of the textures and text
+++ This is such a pretty icon! I love the texture use and the pastel pops of colour. I also really like the text. The font choice is so pretty and whimsical and it really suits the mood of the icon!
++ Beautiful text work! I love the contrast in color schemes between the subject and the background you've created around her, the bright cyans and splashes of pink and white contrast nicely with her warmer tones, as well as providing a contrast against the text. I might smudge/blur the 'weird' word out a little as some edges are a bit jagged to my eye but that may just be preference
BEST INTERPRETATION
+ No reason given.
CONSTRUCTIVE VOTES
+ This icon has such a gorgeous composition and lovely grungy background in beautiful colors. Unfortunately, I cannot read the text, because the background texture around it is too noisy. I suggest making the background texture darker or smoothing it a little, especially under the rightmost character of your text.
+ Love the pastelly colors in this icon and I love the font choices for the text! But the bottom line of the text is a bit hard to read, even with the shadows of the text. I'd recommend changing the color from white to maybe pink or cyan, colors that are already on the icon, to make it stand out more.
ADDITIONAL VOTES
+ This is a really gorgeous icon - I love the rainbow background, and the way you brought that feel into the text (how did you do that, by the way - was it a clipping mask?) I had a bit of trouble making out the last word, I think because it's smaller and a lot of it is over a background color that's similar to that of the border, so maybe a bit more of a border on that would help, or just inverting the colors of the border/changing around the colors so they contrast more might help!
+ The vibrant yet somehow still pastel colours here are so pretty! I like the slight rainbow effect on the text, but it's pretty hard to read, especially the bottom work - maybe you could enlarge the text to make it clearer, or make them stand out more from the backround textures by adding a darker layer behind the text?
+ This icon is so fascinating to look at. All the intricate texture work on the background is so gorgeous and I love the pastelly colors and the text is absolutely fantastic as well, love the font and placement! My only slight criticism is that the character’s coloring doesn’t seem to fit the rest of the icon, and she’s the least visually interesting part of it, with the mostly neutral colors. I’d try to make her as pastelly as the background, maybe with handpainting on her clothes in pastel colors, or if that doesn’t work I’d try a pastel gradient map to turn her into a fitting monochrome. Still, love this icon and I definitely considered for the top3 as well. The borders look really nice too.
+ I like the painted look of this! Great use of texture, and good work on the cap too. I can't really read the last word though, and the left border looks a bit out of place, why not keep the texture going instead?
naginisPOSITIVE VOTES
+++ The composition of this icon is phenomenal! The textures work so well with both the screencap and the theme, and it's so intricately done!
BEST INTERPRETATION
+ Wow! The screencap is excellent choice for this theme and the fire and the other textures give the icon a nice horror mood.
+ This icon really caught my eye. The only thing that bothered me about it was I couldn't see enough of the subject's face and he blended in the background, while my eye was drawn to the other more eye-catching elements. But technically it's an amazing icon with a really "horrific" feel and it represents the theme perfectly!
CONSTRUCTIVE VOTES
+ This icon fits the theme of horror well. I like the dark intensity and bold reds. However, I think the subject has been overwhelmed with all the textures and stock images. They draw the eye's focus more than he does. I'd suggest moving some of the textures behind him or maybe even removing one or two to make everything more balanced. Another tip would be using a lighter or darker background, like yellow or black, which would make him pop more.
+ I love how daring your texture work is! And seeing the original cap I can better appreciate what you've done as well. But it just feels that the subject is quite lost with everything that is happening in the icon; possibly if one knew the fandom it would make more sense, but as it is I couldn't make out the subject very well and what was happening. Maybe providing some color contrast between the background and the subject would work better, to help bring the eye toward the subject. The use of fire is quite lovely though and I love how it seems to be wrapping around him, great work on that!
ADDITIONAL VOTES
+ Great idea to lighten up this dark cap by not lighting it up but placing light all around him! The flames look very artistic and I love the overall impression of danger this icon conveys.
+ I'm really enjoying your texture work in this icon, but it does not work with the lighting in the cap - it's strange to see flames on one side of a person's face, but also have that side of the face hidden in shadow, because the flames would throw light on it. I would either do a horizontal flip of the cap or the textures, or spend some time with a brush/some light textures to adjust the lighting of the cap (looking at the cap, though, it would be way easier to go with option a.
+ The composition and texture work in this icon are incredible, I love how the flame and tree stock separate him from the bottom of the icon. Really digging the grunge too! I think his body blends into the background a bit too well, it was hard to see what was going on at first because the background and the bloody skin are the same color. Perhaps positioning another flame texture behind him so that his shoulder would stand out against it would work, or just making the background slightly brighter or darker than him. Still a fascinating icon to look at though!
+ The texture use is fascinating, but I think the icon ends up a bit too crowded and I could not identify Will until I looked at the cap. I think you could make him stand out a bit more with colouring or lighting, you could maybe do without the flames texture (at least the bottom part) so that it doesn't take the focus away from him.
starkwarsPOSITIVE VOTES
++ Crop is just amazing and the coloring is creepy and perfect! Stunning
+ This icon looks so simple, but I'm sure it was a lot of work to get it to look like this. I wish there was a screencap to compare it to. It's impressive how you brought out the veins in her skin and the dark eyes, and it looks grainy like a horror movie but not LQ.
+ Nice close crop and lighting!
BEST INTERPRETATION
+ No reason given.
+ Such a simple-looking but wonderfully-executed and fantastically creepy icon! Well done!
+ This icon is amazing. Cordelia looks flat out scary, what with the black eyes and the cracking skin. Love the close crop and muted colouring as well. They help the icon look a lot more intense and well, scary. Great job on interpreting the theme in such a stark manner.
+ I wish the cap for this icon had been provided, but if you made those demon eyes and cracks on her skin, WOW, awesome work! They look completely natural. I also love the crop and contrast on this icon a lot. Anyway, perfect icon for the horror theme and a gorgeous icon in every way!
+ Love how your choice of coloring and lighting is perfect for the theme :) I don't know if the original cap already has her eyes all black/etc but nevertheless it's a beautiful icon.
CONSTRUCTIVE VOTES
None.
ADDITIONAL VOTES
+ I think this icon would be better served by a crop that showed less of her forehead. Since whatever's going on with her skin is most noticeable in her cheek, I don't think you need to see as much of her forehead to get that she's possessed or something. With a different crop, you would be able to not cut off right below her lip, which looks rather awkward, and perhaps use the natural shadows on the side of her face to draw the icon to a nice close at the bottom.
nightbulbsPOSITIVE VOTES
+++ Everything is working great here: the coloring, the lightning, the awesome background, the text.
++ Beautiful colouring, lighting, texture and text work!
+ Lovely composition.
+ Great color combination and textures
+ The colors here are super amazing and I love red color pop. Texture work so well and I really love text.
+ This is so pretty! I love the texture use in the background. Despite the serious tone of the icon ( Emma to me looks serious) the texture gives the icon a really fun and whimsical quality! Great use of text as well.
+ Great composition in this icon! I like the fun little textural elements with those white squiggles, and the bits of blue at the bottom. I also like how each element of Emma pops, and nothing gets lost in all the busy elements of this icon. However, I think the color for "armour" clashes a bit against the red. Perhaps a darker blue would have worked better.
BEST INTERPRETATION
+ Color choice, cap choice, really just fits well.
CONSTRUCTIVE VOTES
None.
ADDITIONAL VOTES
+ Nice, perfect, great coloring with the jacket matching the background and the shirt matching the text.
+ Great composition and texture work! Emma's hair looks a bit too saturated compared to her face which makes it look slightly odd, and her jacket is a bit sharp, but I still really like this.
+ I love the vibrant red-blue-yellow color scheme on this icon, and how cohesive you kept it in every part of the icon. Gorgeous shiny lighting as well and damn, the text is amazing, great font choices! I don’t quite get the scribbles on the background, they look interesting but also a bit distracting cause they’re so bright and sharp. I don’t think they’d need to go entirely, but maybe lowering the opacity would make them blend more with the rest of the icon. Still, beautiful icon!
laxiryaPOSITIVE VOTES
+++ I love the way you used textures and text in this icon, and the colors are great. Nicely done!
+++ Love the deep reds here! The text use, the cutout, the colors, the whole composition is great!
++ The text in this icon is really spectacular. It jumps out at you right away and also serves as a great decorative accent! Also, I love the colouring and the slightly 3-d quality of the icon.
+ The coloring and the background is so pretty here. It looks so subtle but beautiful.
BEST INTERPRETATION
None.
CONSTRUCTIVE VOTES
None.
ADDITIONAL VOTES
+ The composition is beautiful, with that large text and the background matching her hair color.
+ I can’t read the last word but other than that I really love the background text on this icon! The dark reds look great and I also really dig the circular texture on the background. I find the white texture overlapping her a bit unnecessary and distracting since the dotted straight lines don’t really fit the circular lines of the background or the angled lines of the text either.
+ Lovely red and text work! I love the simple composition and how the circle background hints at the turmoil in the subject's stance, and how it is cut through by both the text and the lines as well.
+ Lovely composition and use of text!
tinnnyPOSITIVE VOTES
None.
BEST INTERPRETATION
None.
CONSTRUCTIVE VOTES
+ The colouring and lighting are lovely! But the blocking looks a bit random to me. If you wanted to keep the main subject and its background while adding more character, I would suggest using blending instead. Here, levels would look better if they were aligned and the same size, either vertically and horizontally. This tutorial on complex icons by petite_tomate is really useful!
+ I really like the idea behind the composition but I the top half of the icon a little too cluttered because of the three images clustered there. I think if the three images on top were more evenly spread out and show in a clearly demarcated section, the composition would look neater. You can achieve this by having a diagonal partition coming through the icon. So one side, you can have the singer and on the other side, you have the other three subjects.
+ In my opinion, there are too many colors on this icon and we don't really know where to look. Maybe it would have worked better if the characters on the background have been on the same coloring, the character in the front would stand out more.
+ Creativity of this icon is super fun and I love the characters all being represented. I think the coloring over all feels like it's missing a layer of contrast and vibrancy. I think the other part may be the lack of cohesive coloring between the characters. I think a fill layer set to soft light and a gradient layer or two (I love these) could bring more depth to your coloring.
+ I love the composition of this icon, the combination of traditional blocking plus a cut out character overlapping the blocks is so fun and creative and you’ve done a wonderful job combining this many subjects into one icon! I love how each block has its own ‘main color’ which makes it easy to tell them apart. My only criticism is that the lack of contrast and saturation makes the coloring a bit underwhelming, I’d add just a bit more of both to make the icon really pop! Perhaps a merged layer on soft light would do the trick or just a basic vibrance layer. Still, great work!
+ Wow, I love the potential in this! Perfect cutout and I think the blocking background is also quite well done, I love how each character is a different color, provides beautiful contrast between the different blocks. I think a little more shadows and light work might help make the subject 'pop' out a little better against the background however--right now because of the multicolor nature of the background plus the light coloration of the character in the foreground, she is almost lost in with her background. A silhouette background or some deeper shadows or light behind her might help separate her a little better from the background. Still, that is pretty lovely, great work!
ADDITIONAL VOTES
+ The concept of this icon is quite interesting, but I think the execution could be done more smoothly. Right now the blocks featuring other characters kind of surround her, and it looks like you were careful to get their faces in, but the end result makes the icon look a little unbalanced because they are technically the background but also there's another background. I think it would look cool if you were less concerned about having all of their features in there and instead just did four blocks that covered the whole background and gave each of them one. They would have a bigger space so I think they would be recognizable even if a bit of them were covered up by the character in the foreground, and there would be a definite divide between background and foreground.
+ Nice use of light over Gazelle, but I think the icon looks a bit too crowded (I hadn't even spotted Clawhauser in the background) and the different blocks don't really mesh together. I think this composition has potential, but maybe try to use screencaps that have the same type of lighting/colouring, and either delimitate your blocks clearly (maybe with a border for instance, or using a base that already has blocks on it) or blend them together completely.
ghanimasunPOSITIVE VOTES
++ The coloring in this is georgeous! Love the split background, yellow + blue is always a winning combinations and it looks great here too!
+ I like the split background, great colors but I really like the depth at the bottom of the icon and the way it leads up behind Jessica.
+ This icon is very simple, but the colors are stunning; I love the way they really match the highlights on her face in the cap. I do think the cords of her hoodie and the side of her face where it meets her hair on the yellow side are both rather sharp; maybe a quick mask there to remove some of the pixellation might help.
+ Fantastic icon! Despite its simplicity, this one drew my eye to it immediately, there is something very polished about this icon and I can’t find any flaws in it at all. The contrast, coloring and sharpness are all perfect and the blue-yellow split in the middle is very eye-catching.
BEST INTERPRETATION
None.
CONSTRUCTIVE VOTES
None.
ADDITIONAL VOTES
+ I like this icon! Lovely composition.
+ I like the crisp look and contrast of this icon. However, the way the background gets cut off between blue and yellow looks a bit harsh. I think it'd work better if the background were all one color, like blue, or if the transition were a smoother gradient of sorts.
julie_izumiPOSITIVE VOTES
+++ I love the clarity, colors, and lighting here! The delicate texture work is very well done as well.
++ You've achieved some really gorgeous coloring and lighting in this icon! I love the slight glowy look from that light use, and the purples and blues fit together perfectly. Nice subtle texture use on the edges as well.
BEST INTERPRETATION
None.
CONSTRUCTIVE VOTES
+ I like the coloring, but the lighting is very bright on the top right. It takes all the attention from the subject and looks unbalanced. Just reducing the opacity on the light texture should ease this.
+ Nice crop and overall colouring, however that bright light in the top right corner makes the icon look a bit washed out, especially the character's face and hair. I don't think it's necessary, I would advise using contrast to make the subject stand out instead.
ADDITIONAL VOTES
+ I really like the shiny, vibrant look of this icon!
+ Love the color blobs in the corners. The cap is perfect for the theme. Liv is such a good choice for a hero, and using that cap with the mask gives it an ironic double meaning which I love. Going purely by personal preference, this is my favorite icon in the set.
novindalfPOSITIVE VOTES
None.
BEST INTERPRETATION
+ No reason given.
CONSTRUCTIVE VOTES
+ The icon looks a bit dark on my screen, and I think you could play with the colours a little bit more to make Simba stand out - maybe even re-colouring him for instance. You could also sharpen his face before resizing (maybe on a separate layer so that you can control the opacity afterwards), so that his facial features become less muddled.
ADDITIONAL VOTES
+ I thought this was Scar at first! Lovely cool coloring, although the image looks a little blurry to me.
+ I really like the center crop and the soft purples in this icon. The darkish coloring fits the mood of the cap perfectly.
angelamariaPOSITIVE VOTES
+++ The coloring is beautiful but I really love the text and texture work.
+++ I love the coloring and the different flowery textures you used. The clincher for giving you the top vote is the perspective on the text. Very creative.
+ This icon embodies the spirit of the theme so perfectly! I love the colour scheme and background contrustion. The font you used and the painty feel add to the classic portrait feel of the icon, and the rotated frame is such an original finishing touch. Well done!
BEST INTERPRETATION
None.
CONSTRUCTIVE VOTES
None.
ADDITIONAL VOTES
+ Love the frame texture you've used on the icon. It makes it look like a vintage embroidery piece. Also, I really like the text composition. It's a neat way of placing the text without it competing with the frame texture.
+ I'm really impressed by how you take "old" caps and make them look so good once you turn them into icons. Nice use of texture and text.
+ I loooove the elaborate texturing in this icon, especially the slightly rotated frame around her and also the cityscape that gives the background an interesting look. Great job using a less than ideal looking cap and making a HQ icon with it, I think the sharpening and overall quality are great. I also adore the super creative idea of using rotated, warped text that looks like a plane splitting the space of the icon, but I think the text is a bit too large in proportion to the character.
adriftingseaPOSITIVE VOTES
+++ The contrast, lighting and sharpening are so flawlessly executed here. The painty textures made it look like a portrait while not being overwhelming either. And the colour scheme is warm but creates a mysterious atmosphere as well. It's a gorgeous icon!
++ I love the smoky, mysterious, atmospheric look of this icon. The coloring is beautifully rich and I love how the subtle texture use adds something interesting to the shadows without being distracting at all. Great sharpening and contrast too!
+ The crop and lighting on this are spectacular! I also love the extra texture work - it kind of reminds me of brush stroke you see in paintings, so it fits the theme even better!
BEST INTERPRETATION
+ No reason provided.
+ No reason provided.
CONSTRUCTIVE VOTES
None.
ADDITIONAL VOTES
+ The lighting in this icon is gorgeous! I love the use of texture as well. It gives the lighter side a little more depth without losing the light.
+ I like the contrast and stark contrast between light and dark here, but parts of his face look oversharpened, especially the nose, the area right under it, and the outline of his face stretching from his ear to his neck. Running over these areas with the blur tool on 6% opacity would make the lines smoother.
+ Love the lighting and texture use, and it fits the theme really, really well! I actually like that Alec is slightly oversharpened, I think it fits this icon.
jsfunctionPOSITIVE VOTES
+++ I love everything about this! The text and compostion is flawless. I especially love the texture as hair, what creative idea!
+++ This icon is very creative in its coloring and texture use, and I love the font you used for "find". I do think "armor" looks a bit awkward, both because the word is split and because the font you used for it is more condensed/thinner than the other two fonts in the icon. I think it would work well in the same font as the word "your", even if you wanted to change the size/color to set it apart. Perhaps repositioning it so it wouldn't cover anything important or changing its size would also help so you didn't have to split it into two lines.
++ Wow! I really adore texture on her hair. The composition is awesome here and I really love your font choice and text
++ The overlaying levels (levels not in the usual icon sense) of text and subject immediately draw the eye. I especially like the daring use of texture on her hair.
++ Impressive composition, use of text and texture!
+ Great composition! Love the typography and the splash of color!
+ Love the composition work here! Lovely use of color to highlight her hair and bring the focus on her hair and the words as well. Beautiful use of text and color as compositional elements! This is probably preference now but I might personally experiment a little more with the font for the word 'armor', if only because it not quite symmetrical but not enough 'asymmetrical' in it to make it look 'on purpose'. But that's pretty much nitpicking already, either way the composition of this icon is just superb
++ Awesome composition and use of text
BEST INTERPRETATION
+ I really enjoy how her hair is a flower pattern. At first I didn't notice it, but when I did I liked what a whimsical look it had. It's a fun element and it really fits the theme well with bringing out a specific part of the cap.
CONSTRUCTIVE VOTES
None.
ADDITIONAL VOTES
+ Gorgeous composition! I love the way you have composed the text and I love how you have emphasized her hair, not only through texture but also by desaturating the rest of the icon!
gribouillePOSITIVE VOTES
None.
BEST INTERPRETATION
None.
CONSTRUCTIVE VOTES
None.
ADDITIONAL VOTES
+ This icon has a lovely elegant look, I really like the lighting and how you’ve desaturated everything but his hair and jacket.
+ I love the muted coloring in this icon, I think it makes it look all the more eerie. However, I think the piece would be better served by a different background color. The one you have right now is about the same as his skin tone - if you went a bit darker, or perhaps a bit cooler color, he would really stand out from the background.
spirits_risePOSITIVE VOTES
None.
BEST INTERPRETATION
None.
CONSTRUCTIVE VOTES
+ I love the use of painty textures in this icon, as well as the bold use of red which definitely makes this icon eye-catching! However, I feel like the character, who is muted in comparison, gets a bit swallowed by the extra saturated red surrounding him; I’d recommend finding some way to make him stand out from the background and get as much attention or more. One idea would be to up the contrast on him (a masked levels layer maybe), especially the darkness of the blacks. Or you could try to make him more vibrant, not the skin necessarily cause that can easily go wrong but maybe painting his clothes with vibrant colors could work (if that would fit the character’s style). Using masked gradient maps to turn him into black and white or monochrome would be another way to make sure he stands out.
ADDITIONAL VOTES
+ Great colouring, I love how the subject is delimited by textures instead of just against a plain background, and the effect on his head is quite nice.
marcasitePOSITIVE VOTES
None.
BEST INTERPRETATION
+ I love how the crop and lighting make it look like the character is encased in a gem.
+ I love the idea of using the hexagonal door as a "gemstone" and then making it shine.
CONSTRUCTIVE VOTES
+ The purple color is beautiful and eye-catching :) However, the lighting and lack of contrast wash the character out a bit, because the light brightens the shadows on her. I would suggest masking the purple light on her, or increasing contrast with a base copy on soft light.
+ Love the purple coloring here! However the icon seems a bit dark and washed out by the light textures. I'd recommend using a layer of levels on top to up the contrast on both light and dark parts of the icon.
ADDITIONAL VOTES
+ Oohh, I love the way the natural background of the cap actually looks like a gemstone! What a brilliant choice for the theme, and the coloring definitely enhances that effect. Love the glowy purples!
tiptoetwirlPOSITIVE VOTES
+++ Great use of colour and texture!
++ This icon is so wonderfully shiny! I love the colouring and contrast, it's so eye-catching and vibrant while not being too saturated. The balance is perfect!
BEST INTERPRETATION
None.
CONSTRUCTIVE VOTES
+ Wow, the bold colors and intensity really stand out to me. Each color is so vivid and draws attention. However, I think the background is a little too unfocused with all the different color splotches. They don't seem to match well in a complementary way, and as a result the background almost pulls my attention more than the subject does. The white edges also make the icon look a little unfinished, like spraying paint on a canvas where the edges haven't been completed. I'd suggest a patterned background, perhaps one with geometric shapes, where you can add those colors in (using a gradient map or color fill layer on multiple) and still have the background look whole/uniform. If not, you can just focus on 1-2 colors, like a pure magenta background with pattern or texture use, or a yellow-to-blue gradient (which might work well since her shirt is green). Parts of her are also oversharpened, specifically the sides of her shirt and her hands. Using the blur tool on low opacity would help fix this issue.
ADDITIONAL VOTES
+ I am very impressed with the coloring you did in this piece! I never would have guessed her shirt was originally blue had I not looked at the cap, but what you did made it work really well with that texture. I do think her skin shows that this image was quite processed, though, as its tone is very uneven and parts of it are washed out. You may want to mask out some of your adjustment layers, though I'm not sure how that would work colors-wise, so another option is to take a brush, grab color from a part of the skin that's about the tone you want, and paint over the other bits, then set the layer to luminosity (if the coloring is weird, a duplicate layer set to hue can also do wonders). You may also want to take a smudge brush and just smooth out some of the smaller bits of uneven skin tone.
+ I love the bright coloring you did on this! Using all the different colors around her makes her stand out perfectly. And the text on her cap is still readable, too.
+ Overall, this icon is interesting. I just think it would have been more powerful if the character was more center-crop and if the colors were less vivid.
+ I love the colouring in the icon. It is so shiny and bright, especially the background that it makes it seem like the subject got involved in a paintball fight! I would recommend blurring out some of the edges of the cutout of though. I think the intensity of the background makes them seem a lot sharper than they are.
+ Wow, I just love the bright jewel tones here! The painty glowy effect and the vibrant colors of the subject are just perfect and eye-catching, great work!
+ What a lovely, eye-catching color explosion! Even though the background has different colors than the character, they fit together perfectly, what with everything being so bright and vibrant. Really digging the painty texture use on the background too, everything about this icon just looks so fun!
See y'all in just a minute with the final results, MVP, and all that jazz!
1ST PLACE [5 points]:
jsfunction with +8 votes.
2ND PLACE [4 points]:
nightbulbs with +7 votes.
3RD PLACE [3 points]:
,
, &
shameless666, laxirya, & ghanimasun with +4 votes.
BEST INTERPRETATION [2 points]:
starkwars with +5 votes.
MOD'S CHOICE [1 point]:
adriftingsea
[The intensity of this icon is really quite alluring. It really does give the illusion of a portrait or at least, someone you'd want a portrait of. The vibrant colors on the right really balance out the shadows on the left, and the overall icon is really eye catching!]
TABLE KEY:
+++ = 1st Place Vote
++ = 2nd Place Vote
+ = 3rd Place Vote | Beginning of a new comment.
Note: Votes are not weighted in this round. Meaning a 1st, 2nd or 3rd vote will only give you 1 point when tallying the votes. [Tiebreaker procedure:]Except in the case of a tie - then the icon with the most 1st place votes will be given first. This is upheld in all cases unless 1) the amount of votes is equal in all cases (i.e. 3 first place, 2 second place, and 1 third place) or 2) breaking the tie would result in an icon with enough first place votes to place being knocked out of a placing spot (i.e a third place tie between two icons). In these cases, ties will stand as is in order to maintain a sense of fairness for all participants.
ICON VOTES
cool_spectrumPOSITIVE VOTES
None.
BEST INTERPRETATION
None.
CONSTRUCTIVE VOTES
+ I love the colouring of the icon and the texture use. It gives the icon a very dark and moody feel that matches Sesshoumaru. However, I think that some of the dark parts over the subject should be masked away or lightened, because the details of the upper-half of his body are getting lost. Alternatively, if you don't way to get rid of the darkness, you can sharpen the icon more, mask away the bits you do not want and keep the bits that allow the details like his hair and armour to stand out better.
+ I really love blue color and the lighting is beautiful. But the character is difficult to make out because the coloring makes her blend with the background and because the shape on her shoulder makes the screencap itself a little unusual, so it's hard to see what's in it. I think a closer crop would make it clearer, or erase the blue coloring a little on her face.
ADDITIONAL VOTES
+ I didn't realize you had constructed the background to this icon before I looked at the cap - great job of making it look like part of the original! I would say that the light texture in the upper left isn't needed in my opinion - there's already some lovely light on the subjects that makes them stand out from the background, and given that it looks like nighttime in the cap, the source of the light is also a bit confusing.
+ Great use of negative space, it's actually so well done I had no idea that the top part wasn't in the original cap before looking.
+ I love the background and the purple tones in this icon! The combination of tree stock and mountain stock on the background creates super beautiful scenery and together with the glowy lighting gives this icon a fairytale-like atmosphere.
thyla87POSITIVE VOTES
++ Love the colors and the texture-use.
BEST INTERPRETATION
None.
CONSTRUCTIVE VOTES
+ I like the colors and silhouette but unfortunately, it's impossible to tell who the subject is. I would suggest adding an additional image of the subject to get a lead on who the silhouette might be of.
ADDITIONAL VOTES
+ Great silhouette and I love the texture use here
+ Paint textures are always great, and I love how you emphasize his hair. The icon looks very simple but in an unusual way.
+ It's probably because I'm not in the fandom, but I really couldn't tell who the subject was with the black silhouette. I think it might have been interesting if you had added elements to add to the storytelling of this icon, in the background or in front of the silhouette. The colour scheme and idea are very interesting though, this icon has lots of potential!
+ As an abstract piece this is very interesting, and my only comment would be that perhaps a color other than bright pink might work best for the background because the eye tends to perceive that warmer-colored bits of images are closer, so it looks like the silhouette in the background. As a practical piece, I didn't know who was in this icon until I clicked on the cap, so perhaps this technique would go better for characters who had a very unique silhouette (right now the only thing I can think of is Sherlock Holmes and that hat he's known for, but I'm sure there are others).
+ I would have no idea who this was without the screencap provided, but I love the composition and texture work so much!
+ This is an interesting icon, and I love the bold magenta background and how the painty/grungy textures look on the background. The silhouette idea is cool but I don’t think this is the best cap for it since Hannibal’s open mouth looks a bit weird in the silhouette, it doesn’t look that odd in the cap when you see his exhausted expression but that gets lost in the silhouette. Also, the texture use obscures the shape of his silhouette a bit too much, and the shape is basically the point of a silhouette icon so I’d move the texture behind the silhouette so it only affects the background, or lower its opacity on Hannibal.
+ It's funny, before looking at the cap I thought this was Dexter - I'm mixing up my serial killers! I like the silhouette effect, I'm less sure about the white texture on top though, it seems slightly out of place IMO. You could try without it, or replace it with something that reminds us of Hannibal, or of his drawings?
applepips16POSITIVE VOTES
None.
BEST INTERPRETATION
None.
CONSTRUCTIVE VOTES
+ I love the colors! I suggest evening out the overall tones with a contrast layer and sharpening her features and hair a bit more. I also suggest darkening the strand that falls near her jaw a bit more or altering the color from orange to more yellow as it's rather out of place there.
+ The colouring is beautiful, especially her hair, but the lighting washes out her face a bit too much - it could do with erasing some of the lighting over her face, and maybe sharpening her facial features a little, so they are as sharp as her hair, for instance.
+ Really beautiful coloring! However it looks rather blurry, especially on the left (right side of her face) where it's really bright. Some careful sharpening should do the trick.
ADDITIONAL VOTES
+ I would love to see the lighting in this piece match between the subject and the background. She has a very nice light -> dark transition going from top left to bottom right, but the background looks virtually the same color throughout. A simple gradient set to softlight, just over the background, could fix that. I might also turn down the brightness just a bit because the one side of her face is dangerously close to looking washed out on my monitor.
+ I like how the bright, vibrant colors, but this icon could use a bit more sharpening.
+ This icon is super beautiful and was a strong contender for my top3. I looove the coloring (cyan+yellow and vibrant hair ftw) and the glow is so pretty! I think her face could be sharpened just a bit though, it looks a bit blurry to me.
+ I like how nice and bright this is. Great job with the cut-out as well, and love the use of light on her face, subtle but it works.
shameless666POSITIVE VOTES
+++ I really love how you use cyan and the yellow coloring together and the background is beautiful. I love the composition and text
+++ Everything about this icon is perfect! I love the bright cyan-yellow coloring which you matched absolutely wonderfully between subject and background. It’s very difficult to get a subject to fit with such a bright background but you really nailed it. The texture use on the background is beautiful, love the painty bits especially, and the text is an utterly amazing combination of different sizes and fonts.
+++ The color combination of blue and yellow is really striking in this icon. I love how her hair matches with the paint splotches, and her shirt with the background. It's fun and bold and vibrant. My only critique would be for the word in yellow. I think it says "saint"? It's a little hard to read though. Perhaps a different font would've fit better, or duplicating it with a darker color and moving it under the word to make it stand out more.
++ Even if I would have like the character more sharpened, the coloring is beautiful. The text is also working really well.
BEST INTERPRETATION
None.
CONSTRUCTIVE VOTES
+ I love the composition and the coloring, it's all top notch. The only thing that kept me from voting your icon into the top three is that the contrast in her face is so high it loses detail. On my monitor, her lips look splotchy and her eyes are completely black. I suggest masking her face out of the contrast-increasing layers so her features remain clear.
+ I love the choice of color, the blues and yellows but I am finding it hard to read the yellow wording which pulls from the overall icon for me. I think the color choice is perfect but I think a font that makes it a bit easier to read (mainly because of the color).
+ The texture use is lovely, and I like the contrasting colour scheme a lot! Her face could do with some sharpening though, especially on the lighter parts, and maybe lowering the contrast a little - at the moment her face looks over-contrasted and under-sharpened compared to the ends of her hair and her shirt.
ADDITIONAL VOTES
+ Love the color scheme of the icon and the texture use! Also, I really like the text. You've chosen fonts that play off against each other fantastically!
+ I quite like the color scheme and text work here! Very creative! However it feels a bit too daring for me, because 'Saint' is in a difficult to read font coupled with the yellow color that almost blends into the background, plus the lines were mixed up (i.e. it reads 'I am Saint No' as opposed to 'I am no Saint'). I don't have an issue with sometimes mixing up lines like this, but coupled with everything else (difficult to read 'Saint', colors, etc.) it feels like one too many things going on at the same time.
+ I like the textures and the background, but Karen's face is oddly lit on my screen - her cheek and features, especially the eyes, look really dark. I'm guessing you went for a duplicated layer on softlight or something similar, I'd suggest lowering the opacity of that layer a bit. And although I do like the look of the text, I'm having trouble reading the word in the middle and making sense of it all.
alisea_dreamPOSITIVE VOTES
+++ Great use of the textures and text
+++ This is such a pretty icon! I love the texture use and the pastel pops of colour. I also really like the text. The font choice is so pretty and whimsical and it really suits the mood of the icon!
++ Beautiful text work! I love the contrast in color schemes between the subject and the background you've created around her, the bright cyans and splashes of pink and white contrast nicely with her warmer tones, as well as providing a contrast against the text. I might smudge/blur the 'weird' word out a little as some edges are a bit jagged to my eye but that may just be preference
BEST INTERPRETATION
+ No reason given.
CONSTRUCTIVE VOTES
+ This icon has such a gorgeous composition and lovely grungy background in beautiful colors. Unfortunately, I cannot read the text, because the background texture around it is too noisy. I suggest making the background texture darker or smoothing it a little, especially under the rightmost character of your text.
+ Love the pastelly colors in this icon and I love the font choices for the text! But the bottom line of the text is a bit hard to read, even with the shadows of the text. I'd recommend changing the color from white to maybe pink or cyan, colors that are already on the icon, to make it stand out more.
ADDITIONAL VOTES
+ This is a really gorgeous icon - I love the rainbow background, and the way you brought that feel into the text (how did you do that, by the way - was it a clipping mask?) I had a bit of trouble making out the last word, I think because it's smaller and a lot of it is over a background color that's similar to that of the border, so maybe a bit more of a border on that would help, or just inverting the colors of the border/changing around the colors so they contrast more might help!
+ The vibrant yet somehow still pastel colours here are so pretty! I like the slight rainbow effect on the text, but it's pretty hard to read, especially the bottom work - maybe you could enlarge the text to make it clearer, or make them stand out more from the backround textures by adding a darker layer behind the text?
+ This icon is so fascinating to look at. All the intricate texture work on the background is so gorgeous and I love the pastelly colors and the text is absolutely fantastic as well, love the font and placement! My only slight criticism is that the character’s coloring doesn’t seem to fit the rest of the icon, and she’s the least visually interesting part of it, with the mostly neutral colors. I’d try to make her as pastelly as the background, maybe with handpainting on her clothes in pastel colors, or if that doesn’t work I’d try a pastel gradient map to turn her into a fitting monochrome. Still, love this icon and I definitely considered for the top3 as well. The borders look really nice too.
+ I like the painted look of this! Great use of texture, and good work on the cap too. I can't really read the last word though, and the left border looks a bit out of place, why not keep the texture going instead?
naginisPOSITIVE VOTES
+++ The composition of this icon is phenomenal! The textures work so well with both the screencap and the theme, and it's so intricately done!
BEST INTERPRETATION
+ Wow! The screencap is excellent choice for this theme and the fire and the other textures give the icon a nice horror mood.
+ This icon really caught my eye. The only thing that bothered me about it was I couldn't see enough of the subject's face and he blended in the background, while my eye was drawn to the other more eye-catching elements. But technically it's an amazing icon with a really "horrific" feel and it represents the theme perfectly!
CONSTRUCTIVE VOTES
+ This icon fits the theme of horror well. I like the dark intensity and bold reds. However, I think the subject has been overwhelmed with all the textures and stock images. They draw the eye's focus more than he does. I'd suggest moving some of the textures behind him or maybe even removing one or two to make everything more balanced. Another tip would be using a lighter or darker background, like yellow or black, which would make him pop more.
+ I love how daring your texture work is! And seeing the original cap I can better appreciate what you've done as well. But it just feels that the subject is quite lost with everything that is happening in the icon; possibly if one knew the fandom it would make more sense, but as it is I couldn't make out the subject very well and what was happening. Maybe providing some color contrast between the background and the subject would work better, to help bring the eye toward the subject. The use of fire is quite lovely though and I love how it seems to be wrapping around him, great work on that!
ADDITIONAL VOTES
+ Great idea to lighten up this dark cap by not lighting it up but placing light all around him! The flames look very artistic and I love the overall impression of danger this icon conveys.
+ I'm really enjoying your texture work in this icon, but it does not work with the lighting in the cap - it's strange to see flames on one side of a person's face, but also have that side of the face hidden in shadow, because the flames would throw light on it. I would either do a horizontal flip of the cap or the textures, or spend some time with a brush/some light textures to adjust the lighting of the cap (looking at the cap, though, it would be way easier to go with option a.
+ The composition and texture work in this icon are incredible, I love how the flame and tree stock separate him from the bottom of the icon. Really digging the grunge too! I think his body blends into the background a bit too well, it was hard to see what was going on at first because the background and the bloody skin are the same color. Perhaps positioning another flame texture behind him so that his shoulder would stand out against it would work, or just making the background slightly brighter or darker than him. Still a fascinating icon to look at though!
+ The texture use is fascinating, but I think the icon ends up a bit too crowded and I could not identify Will until I looked at the cap. I think you could make him stand out a bit more with colouring or lighting, you could maybe do without the flames texture (at least the bottom part) so that it doesn't take the focus away from him.
starkwarsPOSITIVE VOTES
++ Crop is just amazing and the coloring is creepy and perfect! Stunning
+ This icon looks so simple, but I'm sure it was a lot of work to get it to look like this. I wish there was a screencap to compare it to. It's impressive how you brought out the veins in her skin and the dark eyes, and it looks grainy like a horror movie but not LQ.
+ Nice close crop and lighting!
BEST INTERPRETATION
+ No reason given.
+ Such a simple-looking but wonderfully-executed and fantastically creepy icon! Well done!
+ This icon is amazing. Cordelia looks flat out scary, what with the black eyes and the cracking skin. Love the close crop and muted colouring as well. They help the icon look a lot more intense and well, scary. Great job on interpreting the theme in such a stark manner.
+ I wish the cap for this icon had been provided, but if you made those demon eyes and cracks on her skin, WOW, awesome work! They look completely natural. I also love the crop and contrast on this icon a lot. Anyway, perfect icon for the horror theme and a gorgeous icon in every way!
+ Love how your choice of coloring and lighting is perfect for the theme :) I don't know if the original cap already has her eyes all black/etc but nevertheless it's a beautiful icon.
CONSTRUCTIVE VOTES
None.
ADDITIONAL VOTES
+ I think this icon would be better served by a crop that showed less of her forehead. Since whatever's going on with her skin is most noticeable in her cheek, I don't think you need to see as much of her forehead to get that she's possessed or something. With a different crop, you would be able to not cut off right below her lip, which looks rather awkward, and perhaps use the natural shadows on the side of her face to draw the icon to a nice close at the bottom.
nightbulbsPOSITIVE VOTES
+++ Everything is working great here: the coloring, the lightning, the awesome background, the text.
++ Beautiful colouring, lighting, texture and text work!
+ Lovely composition.
+ Great color combination and textures
+ The colors here are super amazing and I love red color pop. Texture work so well and I really love text.
+ This is so pretty! I love the texture use in the background. Despite the serious tone of the icon ( Emma to me looks serious) the texture gives the icon a really fun and whimsical quality! Great use of text as well.
+ Great composition in this icon! I like the fun little textural elements with those white squiggles, and the bits of blue at the bottom. I also like how each element of Emma pops, and nothing gets lost in all the busy elements of this icon. However, I think the color for "armour" clashes a bit against the red. Perhaps a darker blue would have worked better.
BEST INTERPRETATION
+ Color choice, cap choice, really just fits well.
CONSTRUCTIVE VOTES
None.
ADDITIONAL VOTES
+ Nice, perfect, great coloring with the jacket matching the background and the shirt matching the text.
+ Great composition and texture work! Emma's hair looks a bit too saturated compared to her face which makes it look slightly odd, and her jacket is a bit sharp, but I still really like this.
+ I love the vibrant red-blue-yellow color scheme on this icon, and how cohesive you kept it in every part of the icon. Gorgeous shiny lighting as well and damn, the text is amazing, great font choices! I don’t quite get the scribbles on the background, they look interesting but also a bit distracting cause they’re so bright and sharp. I don’t think they’d need to go entirely, but maybe lowering the opacity would make them blend more with the rest of the icon. Still, beautiful icon!
laxiryaPOSITIVE VOTES
+++ I love the way you used textures and text in this icon, and the colors are great. Nicely done!
+++ Love the deep reds here! The text use, the cutout, the colors, the whole composition is great!
++ The text in this icon is really spectacular. It jumps out at you right away and also serves as a great decorative accent! Also, I love the colouring and the slightly 3-d quality of the icon.
+ The coloring and the background is so pretty here. It looks so subtle but beautiful.
BEST INTERPRETATION
None.
CONSTRUCTIVE VOTES
None.
ADDITIONAL VOTES
+ The composition is beautiful, with that large text and the background matching her hair color.
+ I can’t read the last word but other than that I really love the background text on this icon! The dark reds look great and I also really dig the circular texture on the background. I find the white texture overlapping her a bit unnecessary and distracting since the dotted straight lines don’t really fit the circular lines of the background or the angled lines of the text either.
+ Lovely red and text work! I love the simple composition and how the circle background hints at the turmoil in the subject's stance, and how it is cut through by both the text and the lines as well.
+ Lovely composition and use of text!
tinnnyPOSITIVE VOTES
None.
BEST INTERPRETATION
None.
CONSTRUCTIVE VOTES
+ The colouring and lighting are lovely! But the blocking looks a bit random to me. If you wanted to keep the main subject and its background while adding more character, I would suggest using blending instead. Here, levels would look better if they were aligned and the same size, either vertically and horizontally. This tutorial on complex icons by petite_tomate is really useful!
+ I really like the idea behind the composition but I the top half of the icon a little too cluttered because of the three images clustered there. I think if the three images on top were more evenly spread out and show in a clearly demarcated section, the composition would look neater. You can achieve this by having a diagonal partition coming through the icon. So one side, you can have the singer and on the other side, you have the other three subjects.
+ In my opinion, there are too many colors on this icon and we don't really know where to look. Maybe it would have worked better if the characters on the background have been on the same coloring, the character in the front would stand out more.
+ Creativity of this icon is super fun and I love the characters all being represented. I think the coloring over all feels like it's missing a layer of contrast and vibrancy. I think the other part may be the lack of cohesive coloring between the characters. I think a fill layer set to soft light and a gradient layer or two (I love these) could bring more depth to your coloring.
+ I love the composition of this icon, the combination of traditional blocking plus a cut out character overlapping the blocks is so fun and creative and you’ve done a wonderful job combining this many subjects into one icon! I love how each block has its own ‘main color’ which makes it easy to tell them apart. My only criticism is that the lack of contrast and saturation makes the coloring a bit underwhelming, I’d add just a bit more of both to make the icon really pop! Perhaps a merged layer on soft light would do the trick or just a basic vibrance layer. Still, great work!
+ Wow, I love the potential in this! Perfect cutout and I think the blocking background is also quite well done, I love how each character is a different color, provides beautiful contrast between the different blocks. I think a little more shadows and light work might help make the subject 'pop' out a little better against the background however--right now because of the multicolor nature of the background plus the light coloration of the character in the foreground, she is almost lost in with her background. A silhouette background or some deeper shadows or light behind her might help separate her a little better from the background. Still, that is pretty lovely, great work!
ADDITIONAL VOTES
+ The concept of this icon is quite interesting, but I think the execution could be done more smoothly. Right now the blocks featuring other characters kind of surround her, and it looks like you were careful to get their faces in, but the end result makes the icon look a little unbalanced because they are technically the background but also there's another background. I think it would look cool if you were less concerned about having all of their features in there and instead just did four blocks that covered the whole background and gave each of them one. They would have a bigger space so I think they would be recognizable even if a bit of them were covered up by the character in the foreground, and there would be a definite divide between background and foreground.
+ Nice use of light over Gazelle, but I think the icon looks a bit too crowded (I hadn't even spotted Clawhauser in the background) and the different blocks don't really mesh together. I think this composition has potential, but maybe try to use screencaps that have the same type of lighting/colouring, and either delimitate your blocks clearly (maybe with a border for instance, or using a base that already has blocks on it) or blend them together completely.
ghanimasunPOSITIVE VOTES
++ The coloring in this is georgeous! Love the split background, yellow + blue is always a winning combinations and it looks great here too!
+ I like the split background, great colors but I really like the depth at the bottom of the icon and the way it leads up behind Jessica.
+ This icon is very simple, but the colors are stunning; I love the way they really match the highlights on her face in the cap. I do think the cords of her hoodie and the side of her face where it meets her hair on the yellow side are both rather sharp; maybe a quick mask there to remove some of the pixellation might help.
+ Fantastic icon! Despite its simplicity, this one drew my eye to it immediately, there is something very polished about this icon and I can’t find any flaws in it at all. The contrast, coloring and sharpness are all perfect and the blue-yellow split in the middle is very eye-catching.
BEST INTERPRETATION
None.
CONSTRUCTIVE VOTES
None.
ADDITIONAL VOTES
+ I like this icon! Lovely composition.
+ I like the crisp look and contrast of this icon. However, the way the background gets cut off between blue and yellow looks a bit harsh. I think it'd work better if the background were all one color, like blue, or if the transition were a smoother gradient of sorts.
julie_izumiPOSITIVE VOTES
+++ I love the clarity, colors, and lighting here! The delicate texture work is very well done as well.
++ You've achieved some really gorgeous coloring and lighting in this icon! I love the slight glowy look from that light use, and the purples and blues fit together perfectly. Nice subtle texture use on the edges as well.
BEST INTERPRETATION
None.
CONSTRUCTIVE VOTES
+ I like the coloring, but the lighting is very bright on the top right. It takes all the attention from the subject and looks unbalanced. Just reducing the opacity on the light texture should ease this.
+ Nice crop and overall colouring, however that bright light in the top right corner makes the icon look a bit washed out, especially the character's face and hair. I don't think it's necessary, I would advise using contrast to make the subject stand out instead.
ADDITIONAL VOTES
+ I really like the shiny, vibrant look of this icon!
+ Love the color blobs in the corners. The cap is perfect for the theme. Liv is such a good choice for a hero, and using that cap with the mask gives it an ironic double meaning which I love. Going purely by personal preference, this is my favorite icon in the set.
novindalfPOSITIVE VOTES
None.
BEST INTERPRETATION
+ No reason given.
CONSTRUCTIVE VOTES
+ The icon looks a bit dark on my screen, and I think you could play with the colours a little bit more to make Simba stand out - maybe even re-colouring him for instance. You could also sharpen his face before resizing (maybe on a separate layer so that you can control the opacity afterwards), so that his facial features become less muddled.
ADDITIONAL VOTES
+ I thought this was Scar at first! Lovely cool coloring, although the image looks a little blurry to me.
+ I really like the center crop and the soft purples in this icon. The darkish coloring fits the mood of the cap perfectly.
angelamariaPOSITIVE VOTES
+++ The coloring is beautiful but I really love the text and texture work.
+++ I love the coloring and the different flowery textures you used. The clincher for giving you the top vote is the perspective on the text. Very creative.
+ This icon embodies the spirit of the theme so perfectly! I love the colour scheme and background contrustion. The font you used and the painty feel add to the classic portrait feel of the icon, and the rotated frame is such an original finishing touch. Well done!
BEST INTERPRETATION
None.
CONSTRUCTIVE VOTES
None.
ADDITIONAL VOTES
+ Love the frame texture you've used on the icon. It makes it look like a vintage embroidery piece. Also, I really like the text composition. It's a neat way of placing the text without it competing with the frame texture.
+ I'm really impressed by how you take "old" caps and make them look so good once you turn them into icons. Nice use of texture and text.
+ I loooove the elaborate texturing in this icon, especially the slightly rotated frame around her and also the cityscape that gives the background an interesting look. Great job using a less than ideal looking cap and making a HQ icon with it, I think the sharpening and overall quality are great. I also adore the super creative idea of using rotated, warped text that looks like a plane splitting the space of the icon, but I think the text is a bit too large in proportion to the character.
adriftingseaPOSITIVE VOTES
+++ The contrast, lighting and sharpening are so flawlessly executed here. The painty textures made it look like a portrait while not being overwhelming either. And the colour scheme is warm but creates a mysterious atmosphere as well. It's a gorgeous icon!
++ I love the smoky, mysterious, atmospheric look of this icon. The coloring is beautifully rich and I love how the subtle texture use adds something interesting to the shadows without being distracting at all. Great sharpening and contrast too!
+ The crop and lighting on this are spectacular! I also love the extra texture work - it kind of reminds me of brush stroke you see in paintings, so it fits the theme even better!
BEST INTERPRETATION
+ No reason provided.
+ No reason provided.
CONSTRUCTIVE VOTES
None.
ADDITIONAL VOTES
+ The lighting in this icon is gorgeous! I love the use of texture as well. It gives the lighter side a little more depth without losing the light.
+ I like the contrast and stark contrast between light and dark here, but parts of his face look oversharpened, especially the nose, the area right under it, and the outline of his face stretching from his ear to his neck. Running over these areas with the blur tool on 6% opacity would make the lines smoother.
+ Love the lighting and texture use, and it fits the theme really, really well! I actually like that Alec is slightly oversharpened, I think it fits this icon.
jsfunctionPOSITIVE VOTES
+++ I love everything about this! The text and compostion is flawless. I especially love the texture as hair, what creative idea!
+++ This icon is very creative in its coloring and texture use, and I love the font you used for "find". I do think "armor" looks a bit awkward, both because the word is split and because the font you used for it is more condensed/thinner than the other two fonts in the icon. I think it would work well in the same font as the word "your", even if you wanted to change the size/color to set it apart. Perhaps repositioning it so it wouldn't cover anything important or changing its size would also help so you didn't have to split it into two lines.
++ Wow! I really adore texture on her hair. The composition is awesome here and I really love your font choice and text
++ The overlaying levels (levels not in the usual icon sense) of text and subject immediately draw the eye. I especially like the daring use of texture on her hair.
++ Impressive composition, use of text and texture!
+ Great composition! Love the typography and the splash of color!
+ Love the composition work here! Lovely use of color to highlight her hair and bring the focus on her hair and the words as well. Beautiful use of text and color as compositional elements! This is probably preference now but I might personally experiment a little more with the font for the word 'armor', if only because it not quite symmetrical but not enough 'asymmetrical' in it to make it look 'on purpose'. But that's pretty much nitpicking already, either way the composition of this icon is just superb
++ Awesome composition and use of text
BEST INTERPRETATION
+ I really enjoy how her hair is a flower pattern. At first I didn't notice it, but when I did I liked what a whimsical look it had. It's a fun element and it really fits the theme well with bringing out a specific part of the cap.
CONSTRUCTIVE VOTES
None.
ADDITIONAL VOTES
+ Gorgeous composition! I love the way you have composed the text and I love how you have emphasized her hair, not only through texture but also by desaturating the rest of the icon!
gribouillePOSITIVE VOTES
None.
BEST INTERPRETATION
None.
CONSTRUCTIVE VOTES
None.
ADDITIONAL VOTES
+ This icon has a lovely elegant look, I really like the lighting and how you’ve desaturated everything but his hair and jacket.
+ I love the muted coloring in this icon, I think it makes it look all the more eerie. However, I think the piece would be better served by a different background color. The one you have right now is about the same as his skin tone - if you went a bit darker, or perhaps a bit cooler color, he would really stand out from the background.
spirits_risePOSITIVE VOTES
None.
BEST INTERPRETATION
None.
CONSTRUCTIVE VOTES
+ I love the use of painty textures in this icon, as well as the bold use of red which definitely makes this icon eye-catching! However, I feel like the character, who is muted in comparison, gets a bit swallowed by the extra saturated red surrounding him; I’d recommend finding some way to make him stand out from the background and get as much attention or more. One idea would be to up the contrast on him (a masked levels layer maybe), especially the darkness of the blacks. Or you could try to make him more vibrant, not the skin necessarily cause that can easily go wrong but maybe painting his clothes with vibrant colors could work (if that would fit the character’s style). Using masked gradient maps to turn him into black and white or monochrome would be another way to make sure he stands out.
ADDITIONAL VOTES
+ Great colouring, I love how the subject is delimited by textures instead of just against a plain background, and the effect on his head is quite nice.
marcasitePOSITIVE VOTES
None.
BEST INTERPRETATION
+ I love how the crop and lighting make it look like the character is encased in a gem.
+ I love the idea of using the hexagonal door as a "gemstone" and then making it shine.
CONSTRUCTIVE VOTES
+ The purple color is beautiful and eye-catching :) However, the lighting and lack of contrast wash the character out a bit, because the light brightens the shadows on her. I would suggest masking the purple light on her, or increasing contrast with a base copy on soft light.
+ Love the purple coloring here! However the icon seems a bit dark and washed out by the light textures. I'd recommend using a layer of levels on top to up the contrast on both light and dark parts of the icon.
ADDITIONAL VOTES
+ Oohh, I love the way the natural background of the cap actually looks like a gemstone! What a brilliant choice for the theme, and the coloring definitely enhances that effect. Love the glowy purples!
tiptoetwirlPOSITIVE VOTES
+++ Great use of colour and texture!
++ This icon is so wonderfully shiny! I love the colouring and contrast, it's so eye-catching and vibrant while not being too saturated. The balance is perfect!
BEST INTERPRETATION
None.
CONSTRUCTIVE VOTES
+ Wow, the bold colors and intensity really stand out to me. Each color is so vivid and draws attention. However, I think the background is a little too unfocused with all the different color splotches. They don't seem to match well in a complementary way, and as a result the background almost pulls my attention more than the subject does. The white edges also make the icon look a little unfinished, like spraying paint on a canvas where the edges haven't been completed. I'd suggest a patterned background, perhaps one with geometric shapes, where you can add those colors in (using a gradient map or color fill layer on multiple) and still have the background look whole/uniform. If not, you can just focus on 1-2 colors, like a pure magenta background with pattern or texture use, or a yellow-to-blue gradient (which might work well since her shirt is green). Parts of her are also oversharpened, specifically the sides of her shirt and her hands. Using the blur tool on low opacity would help fix this issue.
ADDITIONAL VOTES
+ I am very impressed with the coloring you did in this piece! I never would have guessed her shirt was originally blue had I not looked at the cap, but what you did made it work really well with that texture. I do think her skin shows that this image was quite processed, though, as its tone is very uneven and parts of it are washed out. You may want to mask out some of your adjustment layers, though I'm not sure how that would work colors-wise, so another option is to take a brush, grab color from a part of the skin that's about the tone you want, and paint over the other bits, then set the layer to luminosity (if the coloring is weird, a duplicate layer set to hue can also do wonders). You may also want to take a smudge brush and just smooth out some of the smaller bits of uneven skin tone.
+ I love the bright coloring you did on this! Using all the different colors around her makes her stand out perfectly. And the text on her cap is still readable, too.
+ Overall, this icon is interesting. I just think it would have been more powerful if the character was more center-crop and if the colors were less vivid.
+ I love the colouring in the icon. It is so shiny and bright, especially the background that it makes it seem like the subject got involved in a paintball fight! I would recommend blurring out some of the edges of the cutout of though. I think the intensity of the background makes them seem a lot sharper than they are.
+ Wow, I just love the bright jewel tones here! The painty glowy effect and the vibrant colors of the subject are just perfect and eye-catching, great work!
+ What a lovely, eye-catching color explosion! Even though the background has different colors than the character, they fit together perfectly, what with everything being so bright and vibrant. Really digging the painty texture use on the background too, everything about this icon just looks so fun!
See y'all in just a minute with the final results, MVP, and all that jazz!