076: the judge he smiled as he picked up his pen / ninety-nine years in the folsom pen
Since I didn't have the gumption to attempt the excellent themes at my fave 20in20 comms (nor the inclination to claim a single subject), I decided to ask my icon flisters to provide some adjectives with which I could build up my own individual batch. I got some really oddball words, including "cultured" and "ancient," that lent me ample opportunities to get the right side of my crazy brain racing. I owed the brilliant lemonpunch 10 icons for a fundraiser auction that she won, and she was kind enough to let me share all the work I made for her, so I figured I'd kill two birds with one stone by using the pictures she gave me and the words my friends submitted. Half of the images utilized here are from Rachel for her requests, and the other half are images that have been sitting around on my hard drive for many moons. At the end there, I'm also dumping a bunch of superhero film icons that I made over the past few months. They're sorta sketchy, honestly, but working with caps is good practice for me no matter what since I tend to use photoshoot images far more often.
I wanna send out major props to those who were kind enough to throw a random adjective my way. I had so much fun putting together my first personal challenge of this year, and y'all helped make that possible, so thank you! Last, but not least, this batch is lovingly dedicated to lemonpunch, who can randomly brighten up any day with her phenomenal icons and who is also the bearer of such glorious tidings for the graphics community all year long through her modding of ic0nfest and her annual holiday activities and icon exchanges! <333333333
As has always been the case, I greatly welcome feedback, concrit, and informal chitchat about icons, so please don't hesitate to speak up! And if you wanna talk about graphics with me outside this post, feel free to add hushingupnow, my weirdo journal for gabbing and bitching about anything icon-related! :)
NOTE: When you snag something, please credit me and the comm, so people will stop friending me when they're merely searching for my graphics. Many thanks!
BONUS: The first person to correctly identify the song and artist/band whose lyrics I use in this post's title and LJ-cut text will get a SHAREABLE ICON REQUEST! (No cartoons or anime though please.) It would be awesome if Google were left out of the equation, but I wouldn't know either way, right? :P Congrats to outlawsoflovexo for correctly guessing "Cocaine Blues" as sung by Johnny Cash! (The song's not originally his, but he sings the most famous rendition of it.)
Actors (Chris Evans, Christina Hendricks, Karen Gillan, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Matthew Gray Gubler, Michael Fassbender, Robert Downey Jr.)
Films (Avengers, Captain America, X-Men: First Class)
[1-6] Matthew Gray Gubler
[7-14] Chris Evans
[15-16] Robert Downey Jr.
[17-40] Joseph Gordon-Levitt
[41-50] Karen Gillan
[51-56] Michael Fassbender
[57-58] Christina Hendricks
[59-63] X-Men: First Class
[64-70] Avengers
[71-82] Captain America
dreamy
colorful
devious
prickly
chilly
starstruck
gentlemanly
contrasting
intriguing
cultured
nostalgia
desirable
mysterious
fresh
obscured
facetious
peculiar
ancient
illuminated
lust
1. This doesn't quite get across the idea of dreaminess, but Gube does look lost in thought, so I decided to go with that pic. Besides, I missed iconizing him since I hadn't done it in quite awhile.
2. I had an idea of green and blue out of this image, but I failed miserably and just went more along the lines of the original coloring. Not realy pleased with this, but whatever. It's Chris Evans, and he looks hot with absolutely no help from me.
3. This one is very weird. I saw that pic and automatically wanted to use it for "chilly" (which I did), but the more I looked at it, the more it seemed to me like JGL was hiding something suspicious under his coat. That made my brain go into overdrive, and this JGL is a murderer piece was born. Creepy, huh?
4. RDJ looks sorta pissy in that image, so it felt like a no-brainer. I wish I'd integrated a more sinister sorta texture to highlight the prickly vibe he's emanating though.
5. Shoot me in the face. It was so annoying using the Elliptical Marquee Tool to create my own circles. I'm so used to circle textures, and trying to get that small segment cut out from the left image so the right one could snuggle against it took way more time than it should have because I'm an idiot. Trufax.
6. This is one of my faves even though I don't care two hoots for Karen Gillan. It sorta reminds me of one of my fave makers (poshing), and it's not a look I pull off very often. It was pretty much the easiest of the icons to make though, surprisingly! Plus, her expression is perfect because it looks like she just saw her idol walk by or something. Well, that or she found out her sister is actually her mother. "Shock" and "starstruck" often look the same, don't they?
7. This turned out totally differently from what I had in mind, but I rather like it anyway. I wanted to use a pic of Fassboner wearing a suit or tux, but ultimately, this image was best for the neg space idea that I began with. His half naked chest really screams "schmexy" more than "gentlemanly," but what the hell, right?
8. Ugh, this is the most boring icon of the entire bunch. I barely even tried anything with it and just pumped lots of contrast in because I was tired and couldn't pull off something more complex.
9. I put tons of effort into this icon and its many variations, and the result was something rather close to what I hoped for. I like the idea of him being obscured and shadowy, like he's hiding to increase the vibe of intrigue around him.
10. This was the very last piece that I made because I had no idea what to do for a word like "cultured." I meant to use a really cute old pic of JGL with a book in his hand, but once I realized it wasn't on my hard drive yet, I just switched up the game plan. He looks like a cosmopolitan man about town with his hat at a jaunty angle, so I went with an understated coloring to enhance the idea of refinment.
11. This should have had a yellowish coloring that made it look older and therefore gave a hint of nostalgia, but I'm sorta obsessed with pink, thanks to sarisafari, so the plan went off the rails. Again. Hopefully, the muted tones lend it an old school feel though.
12. Ummm, this one was just supposed to ooze sexiness. If I did my job right, that oughta be rather clear in the icon.
13. This should have been way cooler than it ended up being, but I think the darkness and shadows definitely convey mystery, so it's not a total piece of crap.
14. Since I was too chicken to take on rocketgirl2's awesome inspired20in20 challenge about stepping out of one's comfort zone, I promised her that I'd make something textureless to at least tackle the one major aspect of making icons that I personally can't live without. Not dying over the crop, but I enjoy the lighting in the icon.
15. I like the variation of this icon way more, but since the inspiration word is "obscured," this one shows that off more, so I stuck with it.
16. The original pic was absolutely perfect for this because it shows off JGL's silly side with him pulling all kinds of ridiculous faces. I actually named the PSD "JGL_multifacetious" to combine the word that inspired it and the fact that he shows off many different looks in it. Oh, and because I'm a word nerd. Yeah.
17. JGL is very quirky, and I love the odd bowing pose in this image. I found a good text texture that had an awesome phrase, and that phrase inspired the idea of duplication as if the upper image is his weird shadow.
18. Like #11, this was meant to have a more beige coloring that conveys the feeling of being classic or vintage, but it looked a bit blah to me, so I threw in a slight purple tinge to kick it up another notch.
19. I accidentally flooded the "chilly" icon with light, and then a bulb went off over my head, and I knew I could adjust that coloring to illuminate the pic I used here! It's very straightforward with just tones of yellow infused in it, and if you don't know yet, yellow is my original icon crack color.
20. There's something very alluring to me about cropping around a subject's mouth, and it seemed an appropriate move for this particular inspiration word. The icon isn't overtly lusty, but it gives a hint of something seductive going on. The fact that Gube is probably the dorkiest and least seductive guy on the planet imparts laughable irony to the piece.
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PREVIOUS ENTRIES // RESOURCES // PROMOTE
PLEASE: COMMENT & CREDIT // DON'T HOTLINK // DON'T ALTER WITHOUT PERMISSION // ENJOY!
I wanna send out major props to those who were kind enough to throw a random adjective my way. I had so much fun putting together my first personal challenge of this year, and y'all helped make that possible, so thank you! Last, but not least, this batch is lovingly dedicated to lemonpunch, who can randomly brighten up any day with her phenomenal icons and who is also the bearer of such glorious tidings for the graphics community all year long through her modding of ic0nfest and her annual holiday activities and icon exchanges! <333333333
As has always been the case, I greatly welcome feedback, concrit, and informal chitchat about icons, so please don't hesitate to speak up! And if you wanna talk about graphics with me outside this post, feel free to add hushingupnow, my weirdo journal for gabbing and bitching about anything icon-related! :)
NOTE: When you snag something, please credit me and the comm, so people will stop friending me when they're merely searching for my graphics. Many thanks!
BONUS: The first person to correctly identify the song and artist/band whose lyrics I use in this post's title and LJ-cut text will get a SHAREABLE ICON REQUEST! (No cartoons or anime though please.) It would be awesome if Google were left out of the equation, but I wouldn't know either way, right? :P Congrats to outlawsoflovexo for correctly guessing "Cocaine Blues" as sung by Johnny Cash! (The song's not originally his, but he sings the most famous rendition of it.)
Actors (Chris Evans, Christina Hendricks, Karen Gillan, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Matthew Gray Gubler, Michael Fassbender, Robert Downey Jr.)
Films (Avengers, Captain America, X-Men: First Class)
[1-6] Matthew Gray Gubler
[7-14] Chris Evans
[15-16] Robert Downey Jr.
[17-40] Joseph Gordon-Levitt
[41-50] Karen Gillan
[51-56] Michael Fassbender
[57-58] Christina Hendricks
[59-63] X-Men: First Class
[64-70] Avengers
[71-82] Captain America
dreamy
colorful
devious
prickly
chilly
starstruck
gentlemanly
contrasting
intriguing
cultured
nostalgia
desirable
mysterious
fresh
obscured
facetious
peculiar
ancient
illuminated
lust
1. This doesn't quite get across the idea of dreaminess, but Gube does look lost in thought, so I decided to go with that pic. Besides, I missed iconizing him since I hadn't done it in quite awhile.
2. I had an idea of green and blue out of this image, but I failed miserably and just went more along the lines of the original coloring. Not realy pleased with this, but whatever. It's Chris Evans, and he looks hot with absolutely no help from me.
3. This one is very weird. I saw that pic and automatically wanted to use it for "chilly" (which I did), but the more I looked at it, the more it seemed to me like JGL was hiding something suspicious under his coat. That made my brain go into overdrive, and this JGL is a murderer piece was born. Creepy, huh?
4. RDJ looks sorta pissy in that image, so it felt like a no-brainer. I wish I'd integrated a more sinister sorta texture to highlight the prickly vibe he's emanating though.
5. Shoot me in the face. It was so annoying using the Elliptical Marquee Tool to create my own circles. I'm so used to circle textures, and trying to get that small segment cut out from the left image so the right one could snuggle against it took way more time than it should have because I'm an idiot. Trufax.
6. This is one of my faves even though I don't care two hoots for Karen Gillan. It sorta reminds me of one of my fave makers (poshing), and it's not a look I pull off very often. It was pretty much the easiest of the icons to make though, surprisingly! Plus, her expression is perfect because it looks like she just saw her idol walk by or something. Well, that or she found out her sister is actually her mother. "Shock" and "starstruck" often look the same, don't they?
7. This turned out totally differently from what I had in mind, but I rather like it anyway. I wanted to use a pic of Fassboner wearing a suit or tux, but ultimately, this image was best for the neg space idea that I began with. His half naked chest really screams "schmexy" more than "gentlemanly," but what the hell, right?
8. Ugh, this is the most boring icon of the entire bunch. I barely even tried anything with it and just pumped lots of contrast in because I was tired and couldn't pull off something more complex.
9. I put tons of effort into this icon and its many variations, and the result was something rather close to what I hoped for. I like the idea of him being obscured and shadowy, like he's hiding to increase the vibe of intrigue around him.
10. This was the very last piece that I made because I had no idea what to do for a word like "cultured." I meant to use a really cute old pic of JGL with a book in his hand, but once I realized it wasn't on my hard drive yet, I just switched up the game plan. He looks like a cosmopolitan man about town with his hat at a jaunty angle, so I went with an understated coloring to enhance the idea of refinment.
11. This should have had a yellowish coloring that made it look older and therefore gave a hint of nostalgia, but I'm sorta obsessed with pink, thanks to sarisafari, so the plan went off the rails. Again. Hopefully, the muted tones lend it an old school feel though.
12. Ummm, this one was just supposed to ooze sexiness. If I did my job right, that oughta be rather clear in the icon.
13. This should have been way cooler than it ended up being, but I think the darkness and shadows definitely convey mystery, so it's not a total piece of crap.
14. Since I was too chicken to take on rocketgirl2's awesome inspired20in20 challenge about stepping out of one's comfort zone, I promised her that I'd make something textureless to at least tackle the one major aspect of making icons that I personally can't live without. Not dying over the crop, but I enjoy the lighting in the icon.
15. I like the variation of this icon way more, but since the inspiration word is "obscured," this one shows that off more, so I stuck with it.
16. The original pic was absolutely perfect for this because it shows off JGL's silly side with him pulling all kinds of ridiculous faces. I actually named the PSD "JGL_multifacetious" to combine the word that inspired it and the fact that he shows off many different looks in it. Oh, and because I'm a word nerd. Yeah.
17. JGL is very quirky, and I love the odd bowing pose in this image. I found a good text texture that had an awesome phrase, and that phrase inspired the idea of duplication as if the upper image is his weird shadow.
18. Like #11, this was meant to have a more beige coloring that conveys the feeling of being classic or vintage, but it looked a bit blah to me, so I threw in a slight purple tinge to kick it up another notch.
19. I accidentally flooded the "chilly" icon with light, and then a bulb went off over my head, and I knew I could adjust that coloring to illuminate the pic I used here! It's very straightforward with just tones of yellow infused in it, and if you don't know yet, yellow is my original icon crack color.
20. There's something very alluring to me about cropping around a subject's mouth, and it seemed an appropriate move for this particular inspiration word. The icon isn't overtly lusty, but it gives a hint of something seductive going on. The fact that Gube is probably the dorkiest and least seductive guy on the planet imparts laughable irony to the piece.
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PREVIOUS ENTRIES // RESOURCES // PROMOTE
PLEASE: COMMENT & CREDIT // DON'T HOTLINK // DON'T ALTER WITHOUT PERMISSION // ENJOY!