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

[seraphina_snape]

Thank you! *g*

I very rarely delete the base file - mostly I just save it somewhere as 'attempt #1' and try again.

I just had a poke around your journal and your icons are wonderful! I don't know anybody in them, but the colours and the composition are excellent.

[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.

[abyss_valkyrie]

Holy goodness!I actually started loving Emily Blunt after watching Wild Target and then went onto watch all her movies! XD! *hi5*

[nightbulbs]

Aah, thanks so much!! And yes, tinny has been trying so hard to get me into Guardian, I'm going to cave, watch and make icons ;)

Those are so pretty! I remember being unable to comprehend how icons with blocks and blending were made, haha.

[seraphina_snape]

+ How do you work out where to arrange the text on your icon?

Okay, first of all, I hate text. But if I need/want text, I usually try to keep it short because the shorter the message the more room you have for it. But if I know I have to include text I usually crop the screencap with the text in mind. For instance, for this icon I made sure to crop the image so all of that text would fit. Same with this one - I placed Jenkins slightly to the side so the text wouldn't be sqished by lack of room. Also in this one, the text was the focus rather than the character. (He was just in it because he said it, tbh.) This one practically did the text placement without my having to plan for it. :p

+ How do you create a negative space around your subject?
The best negative space icons start with picking the right screencap. The best caps are the ones where the character is already in front of a single-colour background (like a wall or the sky or whatever). It's really helpful to have a clear outline, so pick your caps carefully. After I pick my cap, I go through the basics - cropping, resizing (although sometimes it can be helpful to resize after you've been over it with the eraser tool, basic colouring (sometimes just brightening it so I can have some more contrast). Once that's done, I zoom in and get started with the eraser tool. Erase the background around the person, use small strokes and a small size eraser around the face/hair or you'll have to correct more. It goes faster after some practice, but it can be really frustrating when you haven't used it much. One thing that helps me is to create a background layer in a contrasting colour to help me see if I need to erase more / undo my last eraser brush move. Also don't be afraid to 'alter' the character's hair a bit - hair can be a real pain, and not many people will notice if you 'cut off' a lock or two.

Oh, and one tip if you have a 'difficult' spot that just won't let itself be erased in a way that looks good - if you're creative with your fake background or textures you can sometimes hide those spots.

[seraphina_snape]

Looking at your sample icons you've definitely managed to break out of your usual style. *g* The b&w Stiles icon is my fave of the batch - it's a great way to represent what's happening.

what's your most recent favorite icon you've made? not necessarily the best or most popular but your personal favorite?



It's my favourite because it's from one of my favourite shows (Riptide, an 80s detective show in the vein of A-Team, Simon & Simon, etc.). I haven't watched the show in a while and it's been ages since I made any Riptide icons, so it was just really nice to see these guys again.

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.

I can't think of any, but I'm sure there must be some.

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

Yes, but mostly for gift exchanges and small fandom big bang art. I don't regularly or often make icons for things I haven't seen. (I have made icons for episodes I haven't seen yet though. Sometimes I lose interest in watching a show but keep making icons.)

[seraphina_snape]

Haha, no way!

[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

[delacourtings]

aww, thanks! i'm so glad you like my fancier icons! ♡

that's so cool how the texture reminded you of synapses firing! it makes me love that icon even more knowing the backstory behind it! my icons almost never have that much thought put into them. it's more of a "which colors and textures can i slap on here?" deal.

[delacourtings]

i have a hard time with dark scenes too. i always start off by duplicating my base image twice and setting the second layer to soft light and the third layer to screen and messing around with the opacity. it usually helps with the lighting a little bit?

also, tinny has a great lighten dark caps tutorial here.

[delacourtings]

those are very atmospheric! i immediately thought of fire and ice seeing them beside each other like that!

i completely understand about aos! i've only made one aos icon and i had to make it black and white because i just could not get the colors right.

older shows are so hard to icon! i'm always amazed when i see people make beautiful x files or btvs icons. how do they do it??

[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.

[magicrubbish]

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

Usually always of my own.

Do you perv on other people's userpics all the time? Tell em I'm not alone! :p

Some times I do. But nope not all the time.

[goodbyebird]

That Willow pineapple icon is adorbs!

[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...

[goodbyebird]

Oh, it was a rare occurrence! Usually I'll slap stuff on until something sticks ;)

[alwaysbeenasmiler]

You know I always love your icons! You are an iconist after my own heart!

As for the questions--

I like challenges but I always notice that I tend to go down the realm of 'safe' instead of challenging myself (anime/manga/games are easy things, I've been iconning them for like 15 years-- real people though, I know I need to make more of them)

When an icon doesn't come out like how I want it, I just chuck it in the 'fuck it' bucket and move on-- and maybe toss it back into the 'to be edited' folder, so that maybe one day I can try to icon it again.

[fueschgast]

I used to hate early Supernatural caps, because it was so dark and the contrast too high. If you want to really torture yourself, try Classic Who!

[fueschgast]

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?)
Depends on the problem I have with it. If I can't get the cap to look decent, I delete it. If it's a creative issue, I leave for later.

3. When did you start making icons?
2004, apparently.

[fueschgast]

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.
Yeah, older shows are so hard to icon! I want to make more Three icons, but it's a little-known (thus DVD-less) show from '97.

have you ever made icons for something you haven't seen? (i am v guilty of this.)
I'm strict about what I icon. If I'm not a fan of it or expect I'd only have one post under that fandom tag, I don't make icons of it.

[fueschgast]

Wait, is that still a problem or are you talking only about seasons 1 & 2. I'm pretty sure they went lighter, more colorful and less contrasty in S3. Or did they go back to dark and I failed to notice because I haven't iconned the show since S4?

[fueschgast]

If it's a particular effect you're wanting to learn, don't be afraid to ask the maker though. Most are happy to help! (or look for old tuts)

Aw, that's nice, but my problem isn't the technical side. I just forgot my process for making creative icons.

[alwaysbeenasmiler]

So I have tried screen capping various From supernatural and of course it's ridiculous Li hard for me to lights in them and make them look good So maybe it's just like a curse an epic curse on supernatural

[fueschgast]

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?
I usually use the same show for one set because it's practical (so I'll soon have enough icons of a show to post them - I prefer single-fandom posts on my journal). But it is a sort of compulsion to have varying icons in that set, like different colors or giving every character airtime.

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
If it's at least decent, I'll submit it. If I don't like it at all, I'll either save it for later (if the problem is a creative one) or give up on it (if I just can't make the cap work).


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

Yeah, my family and friends. My mom thinks as a hobby it's a bit of a waste of time and I should use my Photoshop talents for making money instead. So everytime that comes up I have to remind her that I can't deal with the pressure of professional stuff and that as a hobby it makes me happy.

[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.