094: i'm on another planet / i'm in another universe

[library_of_sex]

For the latest round at 20inspirations, the mods decided to throw a strange curve...by having all participants complete a traditional 20in20 batch! We were provided with 10 interpretative themes as well as a category theme for a set of 5 icons (in this case, obscure crops) and then given free reign over the last 5 pieces, known as artist's choice icons. You

Comments

[justmyb0nes]

they are so pretty!!! And it is funny because to me, it is hard to fit the themes!!!
My favorites are 1 & 4 (from the category) and 3, 11 and 15 from the alternates!

[library_of_sex]

Lovely Sky, you always know how to make someone feel proud of their work! <3

The themes really get my brain moving in certain directions, so I find them very helpful. Being able to do whatever I want for AC icons leaves me blank so that's why those can be difficult for me.

[paintedtarget]

RETRO IS ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL!

Well actually all of them are beautiful... but y'know!

PS. I LOVE that you inverted part of AC#3, I hardly see any icons doing that anymore and you've done it so perfectly :D ♥

[library_of_sex]

Retro is the icon I was most scared to attempt at first, but it came out far better than I imagined! OVER THE MOON AT YOUR RESPONSE TO IT! :D

I adore inversion and really wish others would try to integrate it into their work every now and then. It's probably my fave effect now partly cuz it's so underused!

[paperdreamss]

the cat set is gorgeous!! from the themes i love the creativity of stock, down the rabbit hole, border and faceless. the ac set is beautiful as well, i really like the pinkish coloring of 1 and 5
other faves are alt 18 love the coloring in this one, 21 and its perfect text! 29 and 38

[library_of_sex]

Stock was starting to irritate me cuz I had no clue what to throw in that would look appropriate. Mountains and trees were looking totally outta place, but thankfulky, I stumbled on the thermometer texture, and it made sense with Lou's hotness! :P

I'm really proud of my obscure crops, so thanks for acknowledging that set, Miriam! You have no idea how long I fussed with te text for #21 so for that to have stood out to you is amazing!

[watchpoint]

I kind of want to live in your head so I can understand how you come up with your icons. I really like pastel, vibrant, retro, category 3, and AC 3. Also, I really like that texture/stock thingy on the fourth alt.

[library_of_sex]

A large part of what leads to the freakish icons that I come up with is my tendency to invert textures of all kinds. If I try a texture and think it looks outta place, I invert it to see if I get a different set of tones or something that works better from a compositional standpoint. Not sure if everyone does that, but it leads to gold a lotta the time, IMO! Pastel is probably the one that was easiest to make even though I had to go through agony with the initial idea that I tried and ultimately scrapped. I'm immensely proud of Cat 3 so for you to acknowledge is really gratifying. Thanks so much for your feedback, Meg! <3

[burntheflaws]

I love the colors and texture use going on in a lot of these. Blocking works really well, especially with those light, muted pastel colors. Vibrant has really lovely colors as well (and I recognize that texture you used in Faceless since I think it's one of your favorites, and also one I've used for an icon). The obscure crops are all really nice, but I especially like the lighting and coloring in 1 and the text use and cropping in 5. My favorite of your 20 icons is definitely AC3 though. Inverted!Louis juxtaposed with regular!Louis results in a really nice visual effect. I love how the text spreads throughout the icon to draw the eye around and make everything fit cohesively together. Those muted purple-pink colors work very well for this icon.

As for alts, I'm also a fan of 2, 15, 17 and 28!

[library_of_sex]

Thank you sooooo much for your feedback, Lily! I actually feel like Blocking could have been so much better, but I was too excited to make the other icons so I just got it to what I thought was a decent stage, and left it at that. What an awfully lazy thing to admit, right? Yikes. Faceless definitely uses one of my fave triangular textures from innocent-lexys, and tons of makers seem to have success with it. I just saw a gorgeous GoT icon recently that used it, too! So glad you love Cat 1 cuz I feel like I've never colored anything quite like that before, and it's far more natural and elegant than my usual coloring schemes. It's crazy how well people are responding to AC3! I thought it would be overlooked as boring or seen as too weird and nonsensical. I must admit that the text is not my own. It's the backsplash of the original image when hes walking down a red carpet! :P