Thank you for the feedback! I really do appreciate it.
Yeah, I think I am going to start moving to all PNG if possible. I was just always worried how PNG works in other browsers (IE, for example). PNG used to not register with IE at all, so I always stuck with JPEG (which does really do a number when trying to make something "pretty".
The images were really grainy, so I tried to get as close as a crop as possible, without being too awful. I think HQ images are out now, so I'm excited to work with those!
1. This crop works very well on this picture. I also like the soft pinkish coloring. However, in my opinion, the icon lacks a complementary color, to make it really pop. For example green or yellow would work very well with the pink, with his jacket and the background. I would use a Selective Color Layer and enhance the yellow and the greens and if it overbears the pink, just delete the parts on his face
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Some icons that I just wasn't really feeling or that I thought were better than they are now, looking at them a little while later. I know what I think is wrong with them, but I'd like to know what others think.
Thanks for your feedback! I agree that 2 and 3 came out too bright in places. #3 is Dianna Agron and it was made for a Dianna rumble with a fairly well known picture. In the picture she has this white lamb mask on the back of her head and that's what white blob is. I realize now that it's not really defined. The challenge theme was 'No Eyes' hence the odd crops.
I agree with you on 1. There's a bit too much of the upper part of her face showing under the texture. I think it might need more highlights too as it gets a bit shadowy on the bottom right side.
1) Really, personally, I'm a sucker for showing only lips and noses in a crop. But, this one is nice, with the soft coloring/lighting and the page-tear texture at top. My only complaint would be that since there is so much white space, you might consider adding just a hint of gray or a softly-muted yellow. It might make the subject below pop out more.
2) I like where you went with the multiple faces in the same icon and the yellow coloring is nice, too. I might have blended the right side a bit more into the background of the rest (the edge of the top image of Billie).
3) It's a nice idea for the icon. The coloring is contrasted and I like that. But the subject is a little hard to make out. Maybe sharpening it a bit, or perhaps letting more the subject show than the sidebar of text. Just a thought.
Before I start, I just want to say I haven't done much icon concrit before. And my personal taste in icons is simple and strong (but not too bright) colours. Obviously I'll try not to judge them on personal taste, but it inevitablly creeps in when looking at icons so I just thought I'd mention it
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And I can assure you, your concrit is very helpful and I'll definetly keep it mind. :D Thank you so much for taking the time to give me such helpful feedback!
I couldn't spot the graininess of the first icon until I brightened the screen, so pointing that out has probably helped my improve the screen of my laptop so thank you for that!
I think my sharpening is probably the cause of the problem, as I think the image I used for the second icon was a HQ one (and I never use curves, I really can't get the hang of the hang of them!).
I'll have a go at all your suggestions on these icons and on future ones! I know that I need to improve my use of sharpening so your tips will definatly help, and I'd never even considered ways to draw the eye in more! I'll have a look at those tuts and have a play around (I use GIMP and not PS so I'll have a bit of experimenting!)
And thanks for showing me and example with the Mordred icon!
Thanks again for your feed back (and I definatly think overall tips worked well as opposed to looking at the icons one by one) :)
Sharpening is such a devil. You'll be working on something, it looks fine, you sharpen it, and BOOM. WHERE DID ALL THOSE PIXELS COME FROM ON HIS NOSE? Or something like that. Actually, if it is a real issue I definitely recommend working on a bigger canvas. Sharpening and then resizing down after that decreasing that grainy effect so, so much.
OH! A Gimp user! Man, I wish I had more tutorials that focused on Gimp. I talk to so many people who use it, and half the tutorials I have to link, they can't use because such and such tool is missing. I was going to link this curves tutorial, but it is for Photoshop. Still it might be worth a look just to see how curves can effect an image because that should be the same in both programs even if the method might not be identical. And I think good_tutorial has a gimp tag that might be fun to have a browse around
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1) The first one, whoa. Not sure what fandom this is or who, but I like the crop you have here. The coloring blends nicely with the texture used. Nothing really bad to say about this at all. :)
2) I like the idea, but I think the texture is over-powering. I like the coloring and the composition itself is pretty sound. Maybe try toning the texture down with a more muted background and really punch up the texture around the subjects?
3) I like the angle and perspective you have in this one, but I would sharpen this icon a bit. It appears too blurry. Again, this could be my monitor. You can't, however, NOT icon a good dramatic staircase.
1 - I love the crop, the composition, almost everything. The background has that gold line which I think is just kind of odd. I think if it was just white on that side it would be better. My eye wants to look at that stripe and it takes away from the focus of Dany and Mr. Warlord. It also looks like the stripe goes over him, but that could be the shadow on the picture itself. The background also looks a little pixelated where black meets white on the left side and there is a hint of a reddish gold color. That may be on purpose, I don't know.
2 - The texture just overwhelms this icon. The coloring is good and the composition is good, it just gets lost. I like the lighter part of the texture on the upper right side and the way she kind of blends into it. Maybe add a light effect over the texture to tone it down and brighten up the icon overall.
3 - Love the perspective and the negative space! It looks blurry and needs a bit of sharpen work on the figures, but I love the dreamy effect of the light and the staircase. Nice job!
That thing with the pixelated edge on the texture, could be my monitor. I looked at it on another once and it's not as noticable. Why so fickle monitors?
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Yeah, I think I am going to start moving to all PNG if possible. I was just always worried how PNG works in other browsers (IE, for example). PNG used to not register with IE at all, so I always stuck with JPEG (which does really do a number when trying to make something "pretty".
The images were really grainy, so I tried to get as close as a crop as possible, without being too awful. I think HQ images are out now, so I'm excited to work with those!
Thank you so much, again!
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I agree with you on 1. There's a bit too much of the upper part of her face showing under the texture. I think it might need more highlights too as it gets a bit shadowy on the bottom right side.
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1) Really, personally, I'm a sucker for showing only lips and noses in a crop. But, this one is nice, with the soft coloring/lighting and the page-tear texture at top. My only complaint would be that since there is so much white space, you might consider adding just a hint of gray or a softly-muted yellow. It might make the subject below pop out more.
2) I like where you went with the multiple faces in the same icon and the yellow coloring is nice, too. I might have blended the right side a bit more into the background of the rest (the edge of the top image of Billie).
3) It's a nice idea for the icon. The coloring is contrasted and I like that. But the subject is a little hard to make out. Maybe sharpening it a bit, or perhaps letting more the subject show than the sidebar of text. Just a thought.
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And I can assure you, your concrit is very helpful and I'll definetly keep it mind. :D
Thank you so much for taking the time to give me such helpful feedback!
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I couldn't spot the graininess of the first icon until I brightened the screen, so pointing that out has probably helped my improve the screen of my laptop so thank you for that!
I think my sharpening is probably the cause of the problem, as I think the image I used for the second icon was a HQ one (and I never use curves, I really can't get the hang of the hang of them!).
I'll have a go at all your suggestions on these icons and on future ones! I know that I need to improve my use of sharpening so your tips will definatly help, and I'd never even considered ways to draw the eye in more! I'll have a look at those tuts and have a play around (I use GIMP and not PS so I'll have a bit of experimenting!)
And thanks for showing me and example with the Mordred icon!
Thanks again for your feed back (and I definatly think overall tips worked well as opposed to looking at the icons one by one) :)
Reply
OH! A Gimp user! Man, I wish I had more tutorials that focused on Gimp. I talk to so many people who use it, and half the tutorials I have to link, they can't use because such and such tool is missing. I was going to link this curves tutorial, but it is for Photoshop. Still it might be worth a look just to see how curves can effect an image because that should be the same in both programs even if the method might not be identical. And I think good_tutorial has a gimp tag that might be fun to have a browse around ( ... )
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2) I like the idea, but I think the texture is over-powering. I like the coloring and the composition itself is pretty sound. Maybe try toning the texture down with a more muted background and really punch up the texture around the subjects?
3) I like the angle and perspective you have in this one, but I would sharpen this icon a bit. It appears too blurry. Again, this could be my monitor. You can't, however, NOT icon a good dramatic staircase.
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2 - The texture just overwhelms this icon. The coloring is good and the composition is good, it just gets lost. I like the lighter part of the texture on the upper right side and the way she kind of blends into it. Maybe add a light effect over the texture to tone it down and brighten up the icon overall.
3 - Love the perspective and the negative space! It looks blurry and needs a bit of sharpen work on the figures, but I love the dreamy effect of the light and the staircase. Nice job!
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