Iconmaker Friending Meme 2019

[tinny]

We haven't had a friending meme since this community first opened, and someone asked if we could have another one. Of course we can! Here we go:



Copy this code and tell us about yourself! (feel free to skip anything you don't want to tell)
<b><u>ABOUT YOURSELF</u></b> Name: Age: Place: Where do you post your icons: <b><u>Share Your Interests!</u></b> Favorite Show: Favorite Movie: Favorite Character: Favorite Pairing: Favorite Food: <b><u>LET'S GET TO ICONING!!</u></b> <b>What are your personal picks for the top 5-10 icons that you've made in the last 12 months?</b> <b>Show us five icons that you think best represent your iconing style</b> <b>What has inspired you over the last 12 months? (techniques, subjects, challenges, other makers, etc.) Provide examples if you want.</b> <b>What's your favorite show and/or movie to icon and why?</b> <b>Who's your favorite character to icon and why?</b> <b>Close crop or far-crop? Why?</b> <b>Vibrant or muted? Why?</b> <b>Text or minimalistic? Why?</b> <b>What's your current iconmaking goal?</b> <b><u>Let's Ask Some Questions!!</u></b> <b>List three questions that you would like to be answered by other icon makers:</b> <b>Any last words?</b> <b>A gif or image (or icon!) that describes you right now:</b>

Promote the meme using this code:
<center><a href="https://icontalking.dreamwidth.org/28592.html"><img src='https://tinny.dreamwidth.org/file/480x480/19384.png' alt='FRIENDS'/> Interested in icon-making friends? Join our 2019 friending meme!</a> </center>

Comments

[goodbyebird]

ABOUT YOURSELF
Name:GBB
Age:Thirties
Place:Norway
Where do you post your icons: spankulert, previously forsquares

Share Your Interests!
Favorite Show: Killing Eve / Star Trek Disco / Harlots / Supergirl - so hot right now!
Favorite Movie: Black Swan. Batman Returns. The Fifth Element.
Favorite Character: SO MANY. Majority ladies.
Favorite Pairing: Not so many. Eve/Villanelle is a Big Mood atm.
Favorite Food: Chocolate is a food!

LET'S GET TO ICONING!!

What are your personal picks for the top 5-10 icons that you've made in the last 12 months?
I fell out of iconning for over a year and half, so all my recents have been made this year and while extremely rusty...



Show us five icons that you think best represent your iconing style



What has inspired you over the last 12 months? (techniques, subjects, challenges, other makers, etc.) Provide examples if you want.
20muses opening up again really lit a fire under my butt. The inspiration post was gorgeous.

What's your favorite show and/or movie to icon and why? I'm as multi-fannish as they come. Right now I think Killing Eve is the prettiest thing to ever pretty, as well as Harlots has a ton of great shots.
Who's your favorite character to icon and why? Can't say I have a single character fave.
Close crop or far-crop? Why? I am a close-crop hoe, no doubt about it. I automatically wanna get right in there and squish an eyeball up in a corner or something.
Vibrant or muted? Why?
Text or minimalistic? Why? Minimalist, because text hates me and I hate text. You can be fancy without text tho?
What's your current iconmaking goal? Nah, I am lazy and laid-back. I just make what I want to make when I feel like making it.

Let's Ask Some Questions!!
List three questions that you would like to be answered by other icon makers:
Who's your top three icon makers?
Do you mostly use icons you've made yourself, icons by others, or a mix?
Do you perv on other people's userpics all the time? Tell em I'm not alone! :p

Any last words? Don't shoot?
A gif or image (or icon!) that describes you right now:
It's early in the morning. I don't think anybody needs to see that.

[tinny]

Welcome!!! Thanks for being the first to break the ice in our friending meme!

that 20muses post really was amazing. I am so happy they're continuing for now.

I automatically wanna get right in there and squish an eyeball up in a corner or something.

Yeah, those representative icons are all amazing examples of close crop. *I am in awe*

I love your style, so glowy!

Who's your top three icon makers?

1) jsfunction - very very nice person and makes such complex icons, every single one a piece of art.
2) kitamikeita - those grungy backgrounds and amazing walls of text are my jam
3) timetobegin - very versatile maker, and loves to run icon challenges - she keeps the iconmaking community on DW alive!



jsfunction x2 | kitamikeita x2 | timetobegin x2


Do you mostly use icons you've made yourself, icons by others, or a mix?

Both. When I get into a new fandom, I usually am not the first to do so, so I look around for an icon to use. After, I make my own. All my icons are shareable, but I usually don't share the ones I make for myself, because I like it when I am recognizable by the icon in my posts/comments.

Do you perv on other people's userpics all the time?

Yes? /o\ It's all in the name of science collecting good icons.

Sadly, when I am looking at older posts, it happens a lot that the poster has deleted their account or let it lapse, so you can't see all the icons anymore (or the credit that went with them). :(

eta: some examples from those makers

[carisma_sensei]

Do you mostly use icons you've made yourself, icons by others, or a mix?:
A mix, but this used to be different! At first I would only use icons I made. And for years that's been the case. But at the end of 2018 I started using icons made by others and even got a paid account to be able to use more! I love to find lovely icons made by others that fit my purposes lol.

[nightbulbs]

Eve/Villanelle is a Big Mood atm.
IKR? I should make icons. Your set for 20muses was amazing!

Who's your top three icon makers?
Of all time? I can't answer that, I love way too many makers, haha.
Do you mostly use icons you've made yourself, icons by others, or a mix?
Depends on the mood, right now my LJ userpics are all by me.
Do you perv on other people's userpics all the time? Tell em I'm not alone! :p
Haha, yes! It's a good way to discover new makers and also I like knowing what people consider to be "userpic material". :P

[fueschgast]

Who's your top three icon makers?
I don't have favorites. Would probably be bag for my fragile ego.

Do you mostly use icons you've made yourself, icons by others, or a mix?
I use icons from others, unless I can't find icons of what I'm looking for.

Do you perv on other people's userpics all the time?
From time to time.

[alwaysbeenasmiler]

I do perv on other people's work especially if they are bright and colorful but I am all about keeping the iconning love alive! As for using other peoples icons.. I am so picky.. that icon has to speak to me.. but the icons I have from other people will probably have to be pried from my cold dead user info page.

The icon I am using is one made from someone other than me and I love it

[seraphina_snape]

Chocolate is totally a food. :D

I fell out of iconning for over a year and half, so all my recents have been made this year
I can really related to that. I only started making icons again last month. But it's a lot of fun to get back into it. *g*

Do you mostly use icons you've made yourself, icons by others, or a mix?
I use mostly my own. Well, I don't have many icon spaces here on DW (or on LJ since I didn't pay for extra icon space), but I had like 90% my own icons. Mostly because whenever I watched something new, I'd want icons of a specific character or scene, and it was just easier to make them than hunt for them.

Do you perv on other people's userpics all the time? Tell em I'm not alone! :p
*cough* The first thing I noticed about your comment was the Middleman icon and I did a little dance because YAY! Middleman! :D But yeah, I also check out people's userpics and silently approve (or judge) their choices.

[sheliak]

I use almost all my own icons, but I've got a few left that were made by other people--and I do still like them, but I also kind of want to toss them out and have everything be mine...

[alwaysbeenasmiler]

ABOUT YOURSELF
Name: Nia
Age: 39
Place: Louisville, KY
Where do you post your icons: hiraethe

Share Your Interests!
Favorite Show: It runs the gamut but it's usually either 1.) something animated 2.) something historical 4.) something involving LGBT or 4.) the teletubbies (old of course)
Favorite Movie: Stardust, The Neverending Story, Labrynth, Disney movies, marvel movies, historical movies-- you get my drift
Favorite Character: So many however it's currently Keith from Voltron, Po from the Teletubbies and Loki from the Marvel Cinematic universe
Favorite Pairing: m/m, f/f or m/f-- if it has chemistry that pings my likes and dislikes, I'll probably ship it
Favorite Food: Oh this is easy-- Pad Thai

LET'S GET TO ICONING!!

What are your personal picks for the top 5-10 icons that you've made in the last 12 months?



Show us five icons that you think best represent your iconing style



What has inspired you over the last 12 months? (techniques, subjects, challenges, other makers, etc.) Provide examples if you want. What has inspired me has been my interests, also I have been trying to icon more REAL PEOPLE (since that was a struggle back at the beginning of 2018-- but I think that I've gotten used to working with that medium. *crosses fingers* Also a song can inspire me super easily

What's your favorite show and/or movie to icon and why? Anything that is interesting me at the moment, I've also been known to crack!icon-- meaning a hairbrained icon based on nothing except something that is hilarious only to me
Who's your favorite character to icon and why? Well I think that I could icon Po from Teletubbies forever, but that could change, really.
Close crop or far-crop? Why? I tend to favor the side crop, that allows me to add embellishments, and I love me some embellishments
Vibrant or muted? Why? Vibrant because I just love bright colours!
Text or minimalistic? Why? Minimalistic, though I wouldn't call my icons minimalistic just because I don't add text, I tend to make a lot of things to look at in an icon, while still keeping a singular focal point.
What's your current iconmaking goal? To master text.. actually i don't know because I hate text.

Let's Ask Some Questions!!
List three questions that you would like to be answered by other icon makers:

Text in Coral Paint Shop X6, how to?
Recommend me an iconist that you really really admire! Mine is iconformista ( carisma_sensei
Who are some of your favorite texture resource artists?

Any last words?
A gif or image (or icon!) that describes you right now:

*note: see my icon-- also made by carisma_sensei

[carisma_sensei]

I'LL MUNCH YOUR FACE SOMEDAY

[nightbulbs]

Vibrancy ftw!

Who are some of your favorite texture resource artists?
Off the top of my head: tinebrella, raiindust, scoobyatemysnax, mm3butterfly - I like grunge and light textures!

[goodbyebird]

Recommend me an iconist that you really really admire!
Has sadly moved on, but I'd say oviedo is the pinnacle of a close-crop iconner. The posts would just make me paw at the screen, they were so good.

Who are some of your favorite texture resource artists?
lookslikerain, deny1984, mm3butterfly, endearest.(all lj)

[seraphina_snape]

I've also been known to crack!icon-- meaning a hairbrained icon based on nothing except something that is hilarious only to me
Actually, that sounds like a lot of fun. I might try that. *g*

Who are some of your favorite texture resource artists?
My absolute favourite resource for icon textures is lookslikerain - there are textures in all colours and so many patterns and variations.

[magicrubbish]

Text in Coral Paint Shop X6, how to?
I've no idea. I only use photoshop. :p

Recommend me an iconist that you really really admire!
Umm can't really take a pick, there are too many graphicers at both LJ and DW that I absolutely admire and take inspirations from .

Who are some of your favorite texture resource artists?
Again there are so many of them. But I'll take just a few names from the top of my tongue - lookslikerain, tiger_tutorials, vikyvampirs90 , innocent_lexys, blue emotions, crazy delight, darinka, hybridmagic, wildsheepz, kakapum , burnedbreads, pandavirus, Scoobyatemysnax, midnightroad, pandavirus, fuuurs,

[carisma_sensei]

ABOUT YOURSELF
Name: Janna
Age: 28
Place: Valencia, Spain
Where do you post your icons: inconformista, although I haven't posted any there lately, I'm more of a layout maker!

Share Your Interests!
Favorite Show: Twin Peaks
Favorite Movie: Used to be Rocky and it's iterations... now I don't know! Probably Heathers or the Austin Powers trilogy lol.
Favorite Character: Look. I die for Shane Walsh (Walking Dead).
Favorite Pairing: -
Favorite Food: My favourite food is spanish omelette or sushi!

LET'S GET TO ICONING!!

What are your personal picks for the top 5-10 icons that you've made in the last 12 months?


Show us five icons that you think best represent your iconing style
I would just like to point at the above plus the following:


What has inspired you over the last 12 months? (techniques, subjects, challenges, other makers, etc.) Provide examples if you want.
First thing to inspire me to icon and do stuff lately has been alwaysbeenasmiler. Not only is she a great internet friend, but she makes amazing stuff too. She made icons for me (like the Shane one I'm using right now) and inspired me to get making some more myself! She also got me into gif making again! Last gif icon or gif in general I made was literally like a decade ago lol.
As for subjects, Roland Orzabal and Ghost definitely!

What's your favorite show and/or movie to icon and why?: I like iconing wrestling and music more than shows!
Who's your favorite character to icon and why?: Roland Orzabal and Tobias Forge. Ghost and Tears for Fears are my favourite bands ♥
Close crop or far-crop? Why?: Close crop
Vibrant or muted? Why? I guess vibrant
Text or minimalistic? Why?: I often find myself running away from text! I think sometimes it takes all the attention of the icon.
What's your current iconmaking goal?: To actually make more icons. I make them slowly, never get a full batch done or anything anymore. As I said I'm more of a layout maker and it's been that way for years! But it seems that's slowly changing now :3

Let's Ask Some Questions!!
List three questions that you would like to be answered by other icon makers:
-What's the most embarrassing icon made by yourself if you still have any? (omg)
-How many years have you spent in the hobby?
-Do you make any other kinds of graphics?

Any last words?
A gif or image (or icon!) that describes you right now:
Pretty much the one I have on my profile! hahaha:

[nightbulbs]

-What's the most embarrassing icon made by yourself if you still have any? (omg)
I don't think I ever made any Truly Terrible icons (wow, that sounds arrogant, what I mean is when I started out I was all about making my icons as clean and simple as possible, since I sucked at everything else), but this is pretty ridiculous and comes from from a pretty ridiculous set anyway, and it's hilarious to me that many people liked it at the time!
-How many years have you spent in the hobby?
Over 7 years :o
-Do you make any other kinds of graphics?
I made a couple of tumblr graphics and a gifset or two but that was ages ago! I mostly use LJ so icons are what I need and like making :)

[nightbulbs]

ABOUT YOURSELF
Name: Mathilde
Age: 25
Place: France
Where do you post your icons: wild_feelings wild_feelings @ LJ

Share Your Interests!
Favorite Show: Ooh, so many! Probably Doctor Who and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D overall and currently: A Discovery of Witches, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Penny Dreadful, Killing Eve, Berlin Station, The Orville and B99.
Favorite Movie: Trainspotting, hands down. And MCU for big fandoms.
Favorite Character: Right now, it's Vanessa Ives.
Favorite Pairing: PHILINDA.
Favorite Food: All things pasta!

LET'S GET TO ICONING!!

What are your personal picks for the top 5-10 icons that you've made in the last 12 months?


Show us five icons that you think best represent your iconing style


What has inspired you over the last 12 months? (techniques, subjects, challenges, other makers, etc.) Provide examples if you want.
Inspiration is my big problem atm! I have zero ideas. So er, good screencaps, cool challenge themes (the "difficult screencaps" over at the7days on LJ, 20muses, monthlyinspo really helped). Since I have no complex composition ideas these days, I'm trying to focus on improving my cropping skills. And looking at old inspiration folders with nostalgia and trying to emulate the styles of a few years back just for fun.

What's your favorite show and/or movie to icon and why?
Doctor Who, because I work well with the caps and I always seem to have ideas. Also way back when I was super into Once Upon a Time, that show really inspired me as well, for the same reasons (good caps and tons of ideas).

Who's your favorite character to icon and why?
The Twelfth Doctor, because PCap's face is so expressive you could icon almost every single shot of him. And he had so many good moments and quotes, it's easy to have icon ideas.

Close crop or far-crop? Why?
Far crop, I love negative space. (I actually love close crops but I'm terrible at executing them myself.)

Vibrant or muted? Why?
Vibrant! I love a good muted and natural icon, but I'm here for all the colours!

Text or minimalistic? Why?
Text, I love quotes and creative text arrangements.

What's your current iconmaking goal?
Getting my mojo back! Be better at cropping and making complex icons again. Also I experimented with the flat vintage look and I don't think it's really my thing, so working on remastering my old glowy style, haha.

Let's Ask Some Questions!!
List three questions that you would like to be answered by other icon makers:
1) Are there fandoms you'd like to see more icons of?
2) Any shows you love but never icon because the caps are too hard to work with?
3) Who was the first maker who really inspired you, if you can remember them? (mine was sky_magenta, I was in awe of her icons)

Any last words?
Yay, friending meme! Also this is me trying to engage with the DW community, I'm so glad there is one but I keep forgetting to check my f-list here. *facepalm*
A gif or image (or icon!) that describes you right now:

[alwaysbeenasmiler]

Your icons are amazing.. the combinations and the colorings are wonderful! Definitely it is impossible to mistake your icons for anyone elses!

[fueschgast]

ABOUT YOURSELF
Name: Fuesch (pronounced pretty much like "fish")
Age: Mid-30s - I'm a grownup, send help! D:
Place: Germany
Where do you post your icons: fuesch

Share Your Interests!
Favorite Show: Uh, let's see... Alias, Doctor Who, Lost, Orphan Black, Sailor Moon, early Sherlock, Supernatural, The X-Files, Three.
Favorite Movie: Star Wars
Why do you have no category for me to mention Harry Potter?! Let the record show that my favorite books are Harry Potter.
Favorite Character: In order of the above-mentioned fandoms: Weiss; Ten, Twelve, Bill; Charlie; Cosima; Makoto; Moriarty; Dean; Scully; Marcus; Leia, young Obi-Wan, Rey; Snape.
Favorite Pairing: Generally the ones that are canon, but in the case of Sherlock it's Moriarty/Moran.
Favorite Food: Carbs & coffee.

LET'S GET TO ICONING!!

What are your personal picks for the top 5-10 icons that you've made in the last 12 months?
Too much work to go through all my icons and find out which ones I've actually made in the last 12 month, so I'll just go through my posts of the last 12 months, which are 3.
           

Show us five icons that you think best represent your iconing style
I don't know, my style is all over the place. Probably plain head-and-shoulders crops.

What has inspired you over the last 12 months? (techniques, subjects, challenges, other makers, etc.) Provide examples if you want.
The question is if I've been inspired at all.

What's your favorite show and/or movie to icon and why? Doctor Who, because it's easiest. Probably because I'm a member of a fandom-specific icontest that's still running and because cap galleries used to have the helpful random-caps feature.
Who's your favorite character to icon and why? Any of my fave characters, because I love them, so they are the most beautiful to me and I could stare at them all day.
Close crop or far-crop? Why? Medium crops. I'm generally not good at close-ups, as I often can't find a way place the image in a way I like.
Vibrant or muted? Why? Mostly colorful, though I never manage to get them as vibrant I want them.
Text or minimalistic? Why? Those aren't exactly opposites. Once upon a time I thought icons need to have text (otherwise they're sorta empty), but thankfully I learned to only apply text when I have something to say. I don't do minimalistic, I think, but I do plain.
What's your current iconmaking goal? Make less plain, more inspired stuff. Find/make more time for making icons.

Let's Ask Some Questions!!
List three questions that you would like to be answered by other icon makers:
1. Is it an eternal struggle to not hate your icons (based on the great stuff others make) or can you grow out of it?
2. When keeping the cap background, what's your prefered way of dealing with caps that are smaller than the icon?
3. How do you feel about screencapped.net's new way of offering caps?

Any last words? Why is answering surveys so hard for me?! I'm kinda miserable now.
A gif or image (or icon!) that describes you right now:

[tinny]

Oi, that book category is sorely missing, you are right! I hope I'll still remember it when we're doing the next friending meme. :)

I still love that dual colored Mulder!

1. Is it an eternal struggle to not hate your icons (based on the great stuff others make) or can you grow out of it?

I always like my icons when I post them. Then when I go back over them a week or two later, I will hate half of them (number rising with time passed). So... no? Not for me, anyway. There are a few that I like and am proud of, but ... very few.

2. When keeping the cap background, what's your prefered way of dealing with caps that are smaller than the icon?

Painting it in. Using the stamp tool and making the top of the head complete is something I do *very* often.

Why is answering surveys so hard for me?! I'm kinda miserable now.

I'm so sorry! It was an interesting read, though! <3

[seraphina_snape]

ABOUT YOURSELF
Name: sera
Age: 35
Place: Germany
Where do you post your icons: raptor_inc

Share Your Interests!
Favorite Show: Leverage (here's a list of my fandoms - not updated recently, but then again I haven't really found anything new to obsess over)
Favorite Movie: Jurassic Park (see above for the list with more)
Favorite Character: Parker (Leverage)
Favorite Pairing: I couldn't possibly pick one.
Favorite Food: Pasta in any way, shape or form.

LET'S GET TO ICONING!!

What are your personal picks for the top 5-10 icons that you've made in the last 12 months?

I only started making icons again last month, so my choices were limited. *g*



Show us five icons that you think best represent your iconing style


Okay, so negative space is my jam. (And it looks like I do like this kind of thing for fitting multiple caps into one icon.)

What has inspired you over the last 12 months? (techniques, subjects, challenges, other makers, etc.) Provide examples if you want.
I used to make icons primarily for land comms, and thankfully gameofcards has started up again, so I'm using their challenges to make icons. But I also take part in random challenges. I like negative space - I think it's soothing to erase the background and replace it with something new.

What's your favorite show and/or movie to icon and why? I'm not sure I really have a favourite show to icon. I don't think any one show dominates my icon posts.
Who's your favorite character to icon and why? Same as above, I think. But I generally prefer to icon the ladies.
Close crop or far-crop? Why? Honestly, it depends on the screencap. Generally I favour a close crop of mid-crop.
Vibrant or muted? Why? Vibrant. I like colours and contrast, so I almost never go for muted.
Text or minimalistic? Why? Minimalist, because text is hard and I am unmotivated. :p No, but really. Text is hard and it can be really challenging to make it look good, so I avoid it when I can. If I do use text, I generally think less is more.
What's your current iconmaking goal? To keep making icons at all. I made next to no icons last year which had a lot to do with RL stuff tiring me out, and even though those circumstances are still there, I've decided not to let it take away something that I enjoy. So I'll just have to find the time and energy to make icons. [But on a more direct level, I want to try new things. Go for unrealistic colours, add text, use more visible textures. That sort of thing.]

Let's Ask Some Questions!!
List three questions that you would like to be answered by other icon makers:

I haven't looked at everyone else's questions yet, so my apologies if there are any double questions.

1. Do you ever give up on an icon? (And if so, what do you do? Delete the attempt? Save it somewhere to start over again at a later point?)
2. Who's your favourite texture maker?
3. When did you start making icons?

Any last words? I'm so tired. If I stop responding at some point, I'm asleep.
A gif or image (or icon!) that describes you right now:

[tinny]

1. Do you ever give up on an icon? (And if so, what do you do? Delete the attempt? Save it somewhere to start over again at a later point?)

I leave them in the folder where I put all my new icons. I move away the ones I post and the rest just... rots in that folder and I have to look at them every time. So... basically I just leave them until they make me depressed? ;P

2. Who's your favourite texture maker?

That did get asked, but I think I didn't answer it yet. :) lookslikerain is the one I have the most textures of (around 600), next is midnight_road (350).

I love paint and grunge textures.

3. When did you start making icons?

That did get asked, but I got it wrong. Oops. It wasn't 12 years ago, it was 16. I started in 2003, a month after I joined LJ.

[delacourtings]

ABOUT YOURSELF
Name: layla / delacourtings
Age: twenty-three
Place: usa


Share Your Interests!
Favorite Show: the west wing, friends, gilmore girls, in the flesh, miss fisher's murder mysteries, b99, the good place, schitt's creek, grace and frankie, izombie. honestly all the shows, all the time. i love tv.
Favorite Movie: um, inception? clueless? ten things i hate about you? honestly, this is so hard. i kind of hate movies? lol. i just don't have the attention span for them!
Favorite Character: fleur delacour and harry potter, though they aren't really prime for iconning imo. derek hale, chidi anagonye, grace hanson. huh, it seems i don't icon my faves that much. i should really fix that.
Favorite Pairing: i'm so indecisive, i can't pick! also, frustratingly, most of my fave ships don't have many good scenes for iconning (see: bill and fleur).
Favorite Food: mac and cheese!! (although i'm allergic to gluten+dairy and i'm vegan so it's a bit different lol)

LET'S GET TO ICONING!!

What are your personal picks for the top 5-10 icons that you've made in the last 12 months?



Show us five icons that you think best represent your iconing style


i tend to make more simplistic, close crop, negative space icons but i'm trying to branch out and make more complex things!

What has inspired you over the last 12 months? (techniques, subjects, challenges, other makers, etc.) Provide examples if you want.
challenge comms have really inspired me to icon again! before 2018, i hadn't made icons in 3 years!
so a shoutout to fandom10in30, genre_icontest, hp_iconchallenge, iconthat, icons10in20, and ofc, icontalking!

and abyss_valkyrie,timetobegin, and tinny are always very inspiring.♡

What's your favorite show and/or movie to icon and why? currently, it seems to be the good place because they are one of the only shows to actually have decent lighting!
Who's your favorite character to icon and why? i don't think i have a favorite. maybe eleanor from the good place? i have a thing for blondes.
Close crop or far-crop? Why? close crop, all the way.
Vibrant or muted? Why? i love vibrant icons but i'm no good at making them so muted.
Text or minimalistic? Why? minimalistic! i'm horrible at text, i'm so envious of people who can make text icons!
What's your current iconmaking goal? to make more complex icons and more interesting colorings. i feel so basic. :(

Let's Ask Some Questions!!
List three questions that you would like to be answered by other icon makers:
what's your most recent favorite icon you've made? not necessarily the best or most popular but your personal favorite?

is there a show/movie/etc. that you've tried to icon before but can just never seems to work? i, for instance, cannot seem to icon any media set before the 2000s very well.

have you ever made icons for something you haven't seen? (i am v guilty of this.)

Any last words? thank you so very much to everyone here in the dw icon making community for inspiring me to create again. ♡
A gif or image (or icon!) that describes you right now:

[alwaysbeenasmiler]

I am notorious for not being able to have a single icon for the series "Supernatural" come out, and it frustrates me, perhaps because it's all so dark and my mind automatically wants to make things vibrant, and goodness I am not good enough that I can really make things vibrant from that series-- just one of those things I have to work at.

And yes, I've made icons for things I haven't seen however I always make a mental note to see them at a later date.. that was the case with Fire Emblem! Also people have requested stuff and I've been "Okay, time to investigate"

[ella_rose88]

ABOUT YOURSELF
Name: Millie
Age: 30
Place: Australia
Where do you post your icons: ella_rose88 & m_in_wonderland.

Share Your Interests!
Favorite Show: Doctor Who, Merlin, Call The Midwife, Killing Eve, Outlander, Poldark to name a few (I have so many)!
Favorite Movie: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, The Help, Spy, Bridesmaids, The Sound of Music and so on...
Favorite Character: God I hate to pick one or a few so I’ll say my all time favourite character is Elizabeth Bennet.
Favorite Pairing: Katniss/Peeta, Arthur/Gwen, Jamie/Claire plus a ton more.
Favorite Food: Pizza, pasta & cake!

LET'S GET TO ICONING!!

What are your personal picks for the top 5-10 icons that you've made in the last 12 months?




Show us five icons that you think best represent your iconing style See above :)

What has inspired you over the last 12 months? (techniques, subjects, challenges, other makers, etc.) Provide examples if you want. Mostly I tend to icon period dramas because I love the costumes and the look. I also love using vibrant colours, playing around with cropping and textures after seeing other icon makers do so.

What's your favorite show and/or movie to icon and why? As mentioned above I love iconing period dramas and I hate to pick a favourite, but if forced I’d say Merlin. Why? Because it’s one of the first shows I did icons for so I’m attached to it :)
Who's your favorite character to icon and why? God, I don’t want to pick one character. But I’d say Morgana and Gwen :)
Close crop or far-crop? Why? I like both but lean generally towards close cropping because... I don’t know I just do 🤷‍♀️
Vibrant or muted? Why? Vibrant because I love bright/pastel colours. They make me happy :)
Text or minimalistic? Why? I wish I rocked doing text, but sadly I’ve yet to master it, so I stick with minimalistic.
What's your current iconmaking goal? To make more icons than last year that are more complex.

Let's Ask Some Questions!!
List three questions that you would like to be answered by other icon makers: + How do you work out where to arrange the text on your icon?
+ How do you make more complex icons?
+ How do you create a negative space around your subject?

Any last words? I’m not doing so good with my icon making goal so far...

[nightbulbs]

Yay, Merlin! I miss that show, I loved it so :) And it's very iconnable, though I never made enough icons of it.

Vibrant because I love bright/pastel colours. They make me happy :)

Same here, there's something so joyful about pretty bright colours!

How do you work out where to arrange the text on your icon?
Lots of trial and error? Sometimes it helps when I sketch it on a notebook before opening PS. Mostly I try to decide what the text is going to be before I work on the cap of the subject, so I can work on the size, fonts and placement of the text on an empty canvas. But that's because I tend to add text to negative space fake backgrounds. On a close crop, it's different, I tend to go for a few words only, and arrange it over the face in a way I think looks nice? I don't have a single technique to share, really, it's just trial and error and sometimes I get lucky, haha.

How do you make more complex icons?
I need to start with a concept. For instance, with this icon, I knew I wanted to explore the story progression of the episode, so I picked different caps, settled on a colour scheme, added quotes, etc. And I like the contrast between the bright colours and the sadness of the story. It helps if you have various caps of the same characters, or of the same scene etc, because you can colour them all at full size then make a complex icon with blocks, or blending, etc.

How do you create a negative space around your subject?
Assuming you're talking about fake background, I cut out the subject and paste it over my chosen fake background. I have several methods for cut-out : paint around the character (if they're in front of a nice clean blue wall for instance, and I want to use that blue for my background because I'm feeling lazy), use a layer mask and erase everything around the subject (what I do most of the time), use the pen tool to cut-out the subject on a full-size cap then drag it onto the canvas that has the fake background and resize it then... Sometimes even the magic wand works, though I don't really recommend it!

Good luck with your icon-making goals!

[abyss_valkyrie]

ABOUT YOURSELF
Name:Anika
Age:26
Place:Saudi Arabia
Where do you post your icons:my journal on LJ and DW both. :)

Share Your Interests!
Favorite Show:Reign,Sherlock,Merlin,Pretty Little liars,Riverdale,Guardian, Mostly things with subtitles(LOL).
Favorite Movie:Wild Target,Pride and Prejudice(Keira Knightley one),Harry Potter 1 & 2.
Favorite Character:Sirius Black(Harry Potter), Viktor Nikiforov(YOI),Ginny Weasley(HP),it's hard to pick but I like my misunderstood boys and strong females. :D
Favorite Pairing:Remus Lupin/Sirius Black, Viktor/Yuuri (YOI), Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan (:3)
Favorite Food:CAAAAKE!

LET'S GET TO ICONING!!

What are your personal picks for the top 5-10 icons that you've made in the last 12 months?


Show us five icons that you think best represent your iconing style


What has inspired you over the last 12 months? Matte colouring, odd crops,Different styles of text,outlining or shadows behind characters, panorama sets, lady_turner & tiptoetwirl on LJ.

What's your favorite show and/or movie to icon and why?Marie Antoinette because it's such a visually stunning movie!<3 When it comes to shows,I'd say Riverdale because of the caps,they usually have great colours and crop in them already.
Who's your favorite character to icon and why?Queen Mary from Reign(because she's so beautiful!) and Morgana from Merlin.
Close crop or far-crop? Why?Hmm,Close crop,especially if the character has pretty features.
Vibrant or muted? Why?Vibrant!
Text or minimalistic? Why?Text, because I like playing around and my hands can't stop themselves from tweaking minimalistic icons.
What's your current iconmaking goal?Umm...I don't really have one,but I want to icon as much of my new muse 'Guardian' as I can so I end up iconing in a lot of comms. *grin*

Let's Ask Some Questions!!
List three questions that you would like to be answered by other icon makers:
1.Is it a compulsion for you to make icons for challenges as a set of colour/character/show etc. or do you do it for the extra challenging work & aesthetic?
2.What do you do when an icon doesn't turn out great no matter what you keep trying?Cry or start over or just submit is as it is and forget about it? XD
3.Does anybody in real life know about your iconing activity and how do you explain it to them?
Any last words?I AM SO HAPPY TO BE HERE!!!Seriously,I love the icon community on DW,it's so friendly and has a home-y feel to it. :3
A gif or image (or icon!) that describes you right now:

[seraphina_snape]

Aww, I love that gif. Mulan is one of my favourite movies. (Also Wild Thing? It's hilarious! It might actually be where my love for Emily Blunt started.)

Your icons are absolutely gorgeous - I love the colours.

1.Is it a compulsion for you to make icons for challenges as a set of colour/character/show etc. or do you do it for the extra challenging work & aesthetic?

No, not for me. I only stick to a theme if the challenge dictates it. In fact I think I go for a variety of fandoms and styles if I have the choice.

2.What do you do when an icon doesn't turn out great no matter what you keep trying?Cry or start over or just submit is as it is and forget about it? XD

I try to make it work right up until the deadline, at which point I just submit it and hope nobody sees it. lol

3.Does anybody in real life know about your iconing activity and how do you explain it to them?

Basically only the people irl who also know my journal exists - that's exactly two friends of mine, one I met at uni and one that I went to school with. We don't really talk about it much though, and neither of them makes icons or writes fic.

[ascendant_angel]

ABOUT YOURSELF
Name:Claire
Age:40
Place:England
Where do you post your icons:Here on DW

Share Your Interests!
Favorite Show:BtVS, BBC Sherlock, Andromeda
Favorite Character:Spike, Sherlock, Rommie
Favorite Pairing: Buffy/Spike or spuffy


LET'S GET TO ICONING!!

What are your personal picks for the top 5-10 icons that you've made in the last 12 months?

. . . .


What's your favorite show and/or movie to icon and why? Right now its BtVS because i'm currently rewatching it
Who's your favorite character to icon and why? Thats a hard one I dont think I have a favourite, I have a preferance iconing females though,
Close crop or far-crop? Why? far, because I like negative space
Vibrant or muted? Why? It changes right now its muted
Text or minimalistic? Why? I cant do text
What's your current iconmaking goal? Just to make more icons

[goodbyebird]

That Willow pineapple icon is adorbs!

[magicrubbish]

ABOUT YOURSELF
Name:GM
Age:27
Place:India
Where do you post your icons: [dreamwidth.org profile] magicrubbish and @ [livejournal.com profile] magicrubbish

Share Your Interests!
Favorite Show: Too many . Stranger Things , 13 reasons why, Supernatural, Hannibal , Game of Thrones , One tree hill , Penny Dreadful , American Horror Story, West World - to name just a few.
Favorite Movie: Again too many . But mostly all MCU movies especially Thor trilogy, 1st and 2nd Avenger movie, Iron man triology , Captain America Triology , Black Panther and of course Spiderman: home coming, The Silence of the Lambs , X-men Apocalypse, X-men first class, X-men , Tangled Before Ever After , Beauty and the beast , Harry Potter series 1st 5 movies and 7th Movie, The dark knight rises , Half Nelson , Skyfall , Let the right one in, The Forse Awakens , The last Jedi
Favorite Character: At present ? Kylo Ren, Flynn Rider, Sansa Stark, Iron Man, Captain America and Michael Langdon. Also, Will Graham
Favorite Pairing: Lucas / Peyton from One tree hill , Jon/Sansa , Harry/Hermione, Steve/Tony, Bucky/Natasha, Flynn/Rapunzel
Favorite Food: Pizza, Noodles, Chicken soup and any sweet dish. Also, Tea and Coffee

LET'S GET TO ICONING!!

What are your personal picks for the top 5-10 icons that you've made in the last 12 months?
I've been making icons only since last 11 months !

Show us five icons that you think best represent your iconing style

1, Light and shadow 2. Vibrant 3. Blending
4. Text use 5. Texture

What has inspired you over the last 12 months? (techniques, subjects, challenges, other makers, etc.) Provide examples if you want.

Yes , I've been inspired by the gorgeous creations of various icon makers both at DW n LJ , but more so by the awesome inspiration posts of [livejournal.com profile] monthlyinspo

Also various art works at tumblr , deviantart really inspired me.

What's your favorite show and/or movie to icon and why? Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, Marvel World, Star Wars
Who's your favorite character to icon and why? Kylo Ren,
Close crop or far-crop? Why? Always Close crop. Because I like to see the details
Vibrant or muted? Why? Always Vibrant
Text or minimalistic? Why? TEXT IS EVERYTHING
What's your current iconmaking goal? Eh.. to get better at it. I've just scratched the surface of learning the skills. :p

Let's Ask Some Questions!!
What do you think about the current portrayal and representation of POC, Women or Homosexual community in movies and tv series ?? Are you satisfied ??
Favorite Books ??
List three questions that you would like to be answered by other icon makers:
1.What is your favorite social media site ??
2. Tea or Coffee ??
3. Favorite type of graphics ?? Icon/edit/gif/banner/picspam/art work ??


Any last words?
Creating should be it's own reward.

[fueschgast]

What do you think about the current portrayal and representation of POC, Women or Homosexual community in movies and tv series ?? Are you satisfied ??
Meh. I mean, it's gotten better, but it's still not good enough. I would loooove to see some proper asexual representation.

Favorite Books ??
The Harry Potter series and the Sailor Moon manga.

1.What is your favorite social media site ??
LJ & Dw.

2. Tea or Coffee ??
Both! I love coffee. And I drink tea like it's water.

3. Favorite type of graphics ?? Icon/edit/gif/banner/picspam/art work ??
Icons. Because they're so small, you can even get still get some good results from not-so-great caps.

[tinny]

ABOUT YOURSELF
Name: tinny
Age: over 40
Place: Germany
Where do you post your icons: at my journal: tinny.dreamwidth.org/tag/art-icons

Share Your Interests!
Favorite Show: right now, Guardian! I also watch Brooklyn Nine-Nine, The Good Place and Lucifer.
Favorite Movie: Dogma. Brazil. Old chick-flicks like Pretty Woman or When Harry Met Sally.
Favorite Character: Dean Winchester, Sherlock Holmes (all of them basically), Spock and other Vulcans.
Favorite Pairing: John/Aeryn, Jake/Amy, Weilan
Favorite Food: Chocolate totally counts as a food.

LET'S GET TO ICONING!!

What are your personal picks for the top 5-10 icons that you've made in the last 12 months?



Show us five icons that you think best represent your iconing style
Pastel mid-range crop with text



What has inspired you over the last 12 months? (techniques, subjects, challenges, other makers, etc.) Provide examples if you want.

I am always inspired by my current fandom, and then icon nothing else but that for a few months until the next one comes along.

I wouldn't bother if there weren't challenges, though. Of those I like inspirational challenges best, like monthlyinspo (sadly closed now) and 20muses (luckily reopened now). Here on dw, it's iconthat and fandom10in30 and icons10in20 that I participate in most often.

What's your favorite show and/or movie to icon and why? currently, Guardian. Because it's my current fandom. I don't need another reason, do I? :)
Who's your favorite character to icon and why? Zhu Yilong - not a character but an actor, and my reason is always the same: I like looking at my current crush.
Close crop or far-crop? Why? Mid- or far, mostly because I suck at close crop.
Vibrant or muted? Why? Vibrant! ... colors? Colors are my life.
Text or minimalistic? Why? Text. I think every icon should have text. ;) No maybe not... but I really think text is great, I just don't always manage to come up with the right one.
What's your current iconmaking goal? More text again. The last few months were so busy I made mostly emotional icons and didn't have the brain capacity to add text. Finally watching the rest of Guardian so I can icon it!

Let's Ask Some Questions!!
List three questions that you would like to be answered by other icon makers:

If someone were to volunteer to run it, what kind of new icon challenge community would you like to see on dw?

I can't come up with any more, but if I procrastinate any longer on this comment, the meme will be over. /o\

Any last words? I love that there are so many people here in this meme and everyone is having a good time!

A gif or image (or icon!) that describes you right now:



too much to do too little time...

[fueschgast]

If someone were to volunteer to run it, what kind of new icon challenge community would you like to see on dw?

I'd like more fandom-specific icontests.

[sheliak]

ABOUT YOURSELF
Name: Sheliak will do!
Age: 20s.
Place: California, USA.
Where do you post your icons: my icon tag

Share Your Interests!
Favorite Comic: 80s X-Men and New Mutants.
Favorite Movie: Muppet Treasure Island. I have no regrets.
Favorite Food: Avgolemono soup.

LET'S GET TO ICONING!!

What are your personal picks for the top 5-10 icons that you've made in the last 12 months?



Show us five icons that you think best represent your iconing style


What has inspired you over the last 12 months? (techniques, subjects, challenges, other makers, etc.) Provide examples if you want.

Most recently, I really had a lot of fun with the butterfly challenge! I've also been on a comics tear for a while, and I've really enjoyed working with a mix of digitally recolored stuff and scans of faded old books. I like matching both with textures that work with them. And in the last couple of months I've done icons for specific purposes (comm icons, a particular pairing request), which has been fun!

What's your favorite show and/or movie comic to icon and why? X-Men and New Mutants (which I always mention together because they seem like branches of one series to me). There's a ton of material, often available in both faded original form and digital remastered form; I love most of the characters; there's a wide variety of characters with very distinctive designs.
Who's your favorite character to icon and why? Currently, probably Illyana (Magik) from New Mutants. I've been focusing on her temmate Dani for a long time, but Illyana has been my backup character when I get stuck, and I do love her expressions.
Close crop or far-crop? Why? I don't think I have a preference! Although I do have a tendency to try to crop to include characters' hands when that's plausible.
Vibrant or muted? Why? Depends on the scan! I usually go for vibrant, but with old comics (not digitally redone), muted textures and techniques tend to end up looking better. Although I definitely seem to have a thing for yellow/red combos.
Text or minimalistic? Why? What, they're incompatible? But honestly, minimalistic. (Text is something I work at, but I'm really not satisfied with my progress in that regard. And my style is pretty visually barebones compared to some I've seen!)
What's your current iconmaking goal? Finish the Dani Moonstar Iconpost of Doom. Also finish the Other New Mutants Iconposts of Lesser Doom. (Illyana's might end up being up there with Dani's, though.) Finish sorting my textures okay I will probably never finish sorting my textures, but the thought counts, right?

Let's Ask Some Questions!!
List three questions that you would like to be answered by other icon makers:

If you have (or used to have) a usual medium to icon, have you tried branching out from it? And how did that go?

Do you ever make a bunch of very similar variant icons, and if so do you post the lot or just pick one or two faves?

What's the weirdest thing you've iconned? (I ask because a couple months ago I found myself making icons of the signs on a character's door, and that seemed a bit odd...)

Any last words? Hi! Hope there's still someone around here!

[tinny]

Your icons are so beautiful, you have a great eye for crops - I especially love the ones where you went and added textures to the images. I love the combination of printed/comic and textures.

Although I definitely seem to have a thing for yellow/red combos.

Me too. :D Those really look wonderful on comic bases, so retro.

I will probably never finish sorting my textures, but the thought counts, right?

Who does? :D I keep downloading them and then unpacking ten percent and then maybe sorting half of those... you know how it goes. :D

If you have (or used to have) a usual medium to icon, have you tried branching out from it? And how did that go?

I tried making larger graphics, but the community surrounding that (i.e. tumblr) never appealed to me so the motivation just wasn't there.

I also sometimes make stock icons (but don't actually liked it much) and anime/animated source icons (which I liked a lot better). I find animated source needs different base prep and also different texture use, and I like the challenge once in a while.

Do you ever make a bunch of very similar variant icons, and if so do you post the lot or just pick one or two faves?

All the time. I don't usually change the crop (like you do), but I change a lot of other things about an icon when I can't decide what looks better - lighting, coloring, textures, text placement. For complicated challenges (rumbles, lims), I often go and revisit the icon two or three days in a row and usually end up with about a dozen variants. I rarely post more than two of those, though.

What's the weirdest thing you've iconned? (I ask because a couple months ago I found myself making icons of the signs on a character's door, and that seemed a bit odd...)

Um. Some of those weird things are in my user icons... the opals and color codes come to mind first. :D

But I wouldn't really consider them weird. If it looks good as an icon, it's reason enough to icon it.