icontalking | Current active challenges updated

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tinny posting in

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The current list of challenges on DW is now up-to-date again.

There are two new arrivals, a new comm and a battle:

The companion to

ladies10in30
now with male subjects

gents10in30

gents10in30
The first challenge is due September 10th

AND

An icon battle with Best-of-Set voting.
Anyone on Dreamwidth or LJ can join in!
Icons will be due on August 31st

dwstills

Join our regular discussion threads:
Last icon you made
Favorite icons you've seen lately

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

tinny

Share the last icon you made!

Please indicate if you'd like concrit or not.

From:

tinny

My first entry for ladies10in30 (not posted yet)

Concrit welcome - I suck at b/w. :)

From:

fueschgast

Why do you think you suck at black and white? I think it's a good icon. As a general tip: ususally, when icons are made b/w, they can do with more contrast.

From:

tinny

Thank you!

I already thought I had a lot of contrast. The corners have it, anyway, but I guess the face doesnt. ;)

I tried increasing contrast without losing the freckled details in her face, but I think I don't dare go any further than this:

before | after

From:

fueschgast

Ah, yes, don't ruin the freckles!

Instead of leaving the layer whole, you could apply more contrast only to the skin.

From:

piplupcommander

for

disney20in20. an attempt at the "rainbow" prompt that I wound up abandoning in favor of another method. (concrit is welcome!)

From:

tinny

I like that the rainbow isn't a "traditional" rainbow. Very creative, and I like how the texture looks like a flame, just like the subject.

The only point of critique for me is that I can't tell what the subject is. I think that's more my problem of not knowing the fandom than a problem of the icon, though. ;)

From:

piplupcommander

Thank you!

It's Esmeralda (technically) from Hunchback of Notre Dame - the version that Frollo sees in the flames during "Hellfire". That's kind of why I did another method and bumped this one into the Artist's Choice category, I love how the colors turned out but the actual subject isn't super-clear.

From:

dani_meows

From:

piplupcommander

I really like the Rey one :)

From:

fueschgast

Argh, the color of this icon was a such pain in the ass! The subjects where too red and I tried to defuse it, but I'm not 100% happy with it. coloring-realated concrit welcome. I couldn't make it black and white though, that would have been too much ...for reasons.

From:

piplupcommander

Maybe a color balance layer with everything averaged towards the cool colors? Idk if you tried that, but it's usually how I deal with super-reds, if selective color fails me.

From:

fueschgast

D'oh, I didn't know that tool exists! That's for making me aware of it!

From:

tinny

I like the coloring!

In my opinion, the only thing that shouldn't be too red is people's faces, and the faces in this icon come out really nicely!

If you're using Photoshop, the best way to increase contrast without increasing saturation (and thus turning everything red) is using Gradient Maps.

Create a Gradient Map adjustment layer, choose a simple black-white gradient, and set it to Soft Light. This will make the dark colors darker and the light colors lighter - i.e. increase contrast. But unlike using Contrast adjustment, it will not make everything red, but rather desaturate it just a little bit.