2012 - %extra - Q&A: aintafairytale

raiindust in aintafairytale

2012 - %extra - Q&A

Feb 19, 2012 09:07

Below the cut are answered from questions asked of me at the icon_talk Ask the Maker activity.

But I also want this post to double as an optional Q&A, in case anyone had any further questions in regards to my graphics (icons, screencaps, textures etc). So if you have any questions I'm happy to answered to the best of my ability.

rocketgirl2 asked: I'd love to see you talk about your texture usage: your favorite textures/makers.
xxmannequin asked: What are your favorite textures? And your favorite texture makers?

Honestly, I pondered this for the longest time, because a) I kind of only have one GO-TO texture maker, so that wouldn't be very interesting, and b) for the majority of my icons in recent times, I've used very few textures beyond that icon makers. So after considering all this I came up with the following solution which is hopefully an answer that works.

Favourite Textures

OLD FAITHFULS
ICON SIZED

drankmywar | drankmywar | drankmywar

drankmywar | erzsebet | fprintmoon

fprintmoon | innocent_lexys | innocent_lexys

byall | byall | trapunta

barstr7 | fprintmoon | fuuurs

innocent_lexys | lapoesie | longerthanwedo

lumsx | mm3butterfly | mm3butterfly

talipuu | tinebrella | windsonnetss

LARGE SIZED
atimelord@tumblr | waldorfness@tumblr | criminal@lj

Favourite Texture Makers
elli will probably forever be my one go to before anything else texture maker. There is such a variety in the textures they provide, and I love abusing everything about them on so many filters. shoqolad is another texture maker I admire greatly, for the awesome variety of larger textures they provide. And finally blueymcphluey, with whom I attribute all my slight style shift at the end of last year, all thanks to that stunning blue/yellow texture that I covert.

xxmannequin asked: Which are your favorite fonts?
The short answer to this is any and all that fit the icon I happen to be aimlessly attempting to put text on to. The long answer? See below.

Favourite Fonts

Unfortunately, the time to provide individual links to download slipped away, however this font pack zip contains each font mentioned, and is readily available to download.

fuuurs asked: What is your sharpening process? Some of your icons seem like they have a perfectly blurry background and then everything in the foreground is PERFECTLY SHARP. It boggles the mind.

Sharpening
Important fact #1: I always sharpen from a 200x200 canvas. Even if I've been working on a larger canvas, I'll resize to 200x200 before sharpening. I am a failure at sharpening icons with 100x100 canvases.
Important fact #2: At the very beginning of the icon process, I use Box Blur, Gaussian Blur and Surface Blur to soften the screencap. While this doesn't have anything to do with sharpening, it definitely means my canvases are nice and soft before I sharpen.
Important fact #3: Lately I've been relying on grunge textures too add the sort of sharp look to some of my icons. So while this process is the only actual sharpening I do to icons, it's sometimes not completely what I do to achieve a sharp/blurred look.

I thought rather than just tell, visual evidence might be a useful aid. So for the purpose of this section, this is our base:

How to Blurry
I copy a merged layer (shift + ctrl + c) and paste it on the top of my layers. I filter this layer with Gaussian Blur (radius 1.0 pixels) and set the layer to 30% opacity. I then copy a merged layer again and paste it to the top of my layers. I then filter with Sharpen at 50% opacity.

We end up with this:

Resize to 100x100, and the icon looks like this:

How to Sharpen
Similar to the process above, only the Gaussian Blur layer is set to 20% opacity, and my Sharpen layer is set to 100% opacity. I then copy a merged layer and set this one to Sharpen again at 100% opacity. This layer at times can be anywhere between 10% opacity and 100% opacity depending on how sharp I want the icon to be.

We end up with this:

Resize to 100x100, and the icon looks like this:

I hope you have enjoyed my convoluted rambles, and found something useful, interesting and hopefully helpful amongst the words. As always, if there are any further or different questions, I am more than happy to answer them, simply ask away!

THE END...

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