Looking for honest, constructive opinions

Sep 25, 2006 16:20

I'm looking for a community that offers brutally honest feedback on icons with an eye towards helping a person improve. I've reached a plateau and a sameness to my icons; I'd like to go further. I ask for constructive criticism on my icon posts, but I think people are too afraid I'll get pissy or that they'll hurt my feelings or something. The ( Read more... )

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paddies September 26 2006, 08:39:23 UTC
OMG ok.

First of all let me premise that I don't feel in any shape or form an "icon expert". I love making icons and for some reason people seem to like the stuff I make, but that's about it.

That said, if you want, I could tell you what I -personally- like or dislike in your icons...again, it would just be MY PERSONAL OPINION... I don't know what's good or bad, I just know what I like (or don't).

So, if you feel that my personal opinion on your work could help you in any way, I'm more than willing to give it to you...just point me to some of your icons and I'll try my best.

*hides*

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hsapiens September 26 2006, 16:38:49 UTC
That said, if you want, I could tell you what I -personally- like or dislike in your icons...again, it would just be MY PERSONAL OPINION... I don't know what's good or bad, I just know what I like (or don't).I would be thrilled if you took the time to do that -- and also a bit scared. :) It's like a newbie writer being told by Hemingway, "I could tell you what I like and dislike about your manuscript, if you want." Absolutely I respect your opinion; I hope I've managed to convey in my comments that I adore your icons. One of the things I try to take from your work is the way you capture defining moments between characters. I think one can understand Brian and Justin from your icons without having watched QaF, for instance ( ... )

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paddies September 26 2006, 20:51:57 UTC
I won't even comment on the Hemingway thing because...OMG crazy!! :-)Anyway, I'm taking a look to the smallish group of icons ( ... )

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hsapiens September 26 2006, 21:41:03 UTC
Do you find any of this useful? Should I keep going or I'm just being totally irritating?

*iz stunned* This is EXACTLY the sort of feedback that I most dreamed of getting. I don't need reassurance that an icon is good or that there's nothing wrong with it. If I thought it were perfect, I wouldn't have offered it up for comment. :) And, since I've yet to make a perfect icon...

I'm still processing what you said, looking at the images with your suggestions in mind. Yeah, that oversharpening thing is biting me on the ass and you're right to call me on it. So far? I don't disagree with a single thing you've said.

If you have the time and inclination, I'd very much like to hear more of your thoughts. Yanno, you could probably earn a living critiquing others' icons in this sort of detail. :) At least, it's a service I feel that I should pay you for.

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paddies September 27 2006, 21:12:08 UTC
*wipes forehead*

I'm glad you're finding my observations kind of useful, it's not like I ever did anything like this before, so I'm just sort of learning myself...let me know if there's something you'd like me to focus on more...anything you didn't understand (I tend to ramble a lot) or you didn't find useful at all (so I'll stop bugging you with it). :-)

Anyway... second row, right?

#1
what I like: pretty much everything. Love the cropping, love the coloring, love the subject...*g*

what I don't like: there's nothing I don't like...if I really, really have to pick something, I'd say Lee's torso is a bit too bright, but that's just a very minimal thing ( ... )

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hsapiens September 27 2006, 22:22:25 UTC
*SMOOCHES ( ... )

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paddies September 29 2006, 09:07:04 UTC
I also want to play a little with your suggested cropping changes and see what you do. I really hadn't thought that cutting off as much of the heads as I have been, for instance, lessened the impact. I need to see the two side by side to decide what I think.

That's great! Actually I was sorta going to suggest you to do that, but I didn't want to sound too..uhmmm...imposing?

Anyway, I think it's really important to actually play with the icons...see, I made all the suggestions "blindly", so to speak. I don't have the original photoshop files to play with, so I can only imagine how the icons would look like if I changed "this or that", but it's all kind of hypothetical...I can't actually be sure about how they'll look until I'll actually see them, you know what I mean?

So, basically I'm telling you what I think it would work, but the only way to know it for sure is to see the final icon. :-)

/ramble

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hsapiens September 29 2006, 19:42:43 UTC
That's great! Actually I was sorta going to suggest you to do that, but I didn't want to sound too..uhmmm...imposing?Feel free to say whatever comes to mind without worrying about editing. I don't view these as commands but as suggestions. I'm good at deciding to do what I want to do. I threw open the door, looking for any and all ideas anyone offered, because I'd tried everything I could think of and had reached a deadend ( ... )

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paddies September 29 2006, 19:52:40 UTC
You're helping me develop an eye for composition, pointing out some of my weaknesses; you're giving me awareness and tools for improvement. That is invaluable.

OMG OK. :-)

And btw, if you have questions about anything I say, or even, you know, random questions, feel free to ask...I'll try to answer if I can. :-)

Also, because I was alone at work - and bored out of my fucking mind - I played around with one of your icons...;))

I couldn't do much (since I didn't have the original file), but still...


... )

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hsapiens September 29 2006, 22:07:14 UTC
Yes! See, that's what I think text should look like and...continually fail to do on my icons. I know that if I did it (and, actually, I did *snort*), I'd think, "but is it legible?" and I'd continue to make it bigger until it almost covered the image. I can read it, yes, but I worry it's because I know what it says and that others won't.

Sorry work is so boring -- but for my sake I hope you're still there and can peek at the file. What size font is the bottom line? I'd like to get a better feel for sizes. If not, don't worry about it. I've got some memroeis devoted to text and I can compare to the examples there and guess. :)

I'm sure, as I play around, I'll come up with questions. Again? Thank you for taking the time to tutor me. I am grateful.

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paddies October 1 2006, 13:53:23 UTC
I know that if I did it (and, actually, I did *snort*), I'd think, "but is it legible?" and I'd continue to make it bigger until it almost covered the image. I can read it, yes, but I worry it's because I know what it says and that others won't.

Big text is cool too, I love it when it's properly placed and when it "suits" the icon. The secret - imo - is that if you know you're going to make an icon with text, and you want the text to be legible and "prominent" (so to speak), you have to make (crop, especially) the icon to fit the text, not the other way around. ;-)

What size font is the bottom line?

Ack, I'm home now and I don't have the psd file... but I seem to recall that it's "times new roman" 9 or 10 px.

*smooches* ♥

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hsapiens October 2 2006, 16:54:06 UTC
#1: what I don't like: there's nothing I don't like...if I really, really have to pick something, I'd say Lee's torso is a bit too bright, but that's just a very minimal thing.

Your eye as well as your brain is sexy. I included this one because it was a total experiment for me in emphasis. I tried to add to the depth of the image by placing a very light brush in white over the left side of Apollo's torso (I mean, like 8-10% on soft light) and a black brush (again, 8-10% on soft light) over Starbuck in the background. I'd have to recheck the *.psd file at home, but I think that annoying over explosure of his shoulder is in the cap and not due to my brush but...damn! Those are good, good eyes you've got!

#3 what I don't like: the text (omg I'm such a textless freak, sorry) and the font you used, it sort of doesn't merge well with the pic.No, you're absolutely right. Don't apologize. The cap is from a relatively obscure sci fi show. I put the text in, realized I hadn't downloaded the font for the show, went to get it, and found it's ( ... )

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paddies October 7 2006, 15:22:35 UTC
Near the neck? Can you explain why? I'm not questioning the decision so much as trying to see why that placement is more pleasing. Placement is a frequent question for me. :)

Eh, there isn't a scientific reason or anything...it's just that I visually like "empty" space, so if you place the text in the middle of the icon, near the neck, you'll leave the whole right part of the icon "free" and that's something I visually like. ;-)

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hsapiens October 9 2006, 15:15:50 UTC
I like tne negative space, too. Looking through the icons I've snatched, I can see that I tend to be drawn to beautiful bodies and/or negative space. *grin* I'm keeping this in mind now as I practice making icons, fighting the urge to fill every pixel.

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paddies October 7 2006, 16:44:30 UTC
OMG here I am, last row ( ... )

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hsapiens October 9 2006, 16:18:13 UTC
Starting at the end...

Hope I wasn't too annoying... *iz nervous*
Annoying?!? You're doing me a favor, hon, and I soooooo appreciate it. Seriously.

#1 -- I suppose context is helpful in grokking icons but I threw that one in because I wanted an icon where I'd actually used a texture in a way that wasn't just replacing the background. I don't know if the cropping and rotation make more sense if you consider that I was given the source pic and asked to produce something that looked like it could be a rap artist CD cover for an AU story written by a friend. My first attempt was this but the character was supposed to be a "serious" musician and I had to angle the pic to crop out the humorous part ( ... )

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