Icon Improvement

[lavenderspark]

I had some time last night and decided to try and improve some icons I've made recently. I've still got a couple I'm working on and a few I want to do, but here's a couple that I finished last night.

This one didn't need much improvement. Really the cap itself is gorgeous just the way it is, which is a testament of how good the cinematography was in this show. But I changed the font, moved it around and made sure the icon was actually square. It took me a while to realize I had a "square" cropping option...

Old	New

I never posted the original of this one. I wasn't really happy with it, but at the time I couldn't figure out what was wrong with it/how to improve it. I think the text still needs work, but it looks MUCH better.

Old	New

I've discovered the "curves" tool and it has become my new favorite tool. It brightens things SO MUCH easier and cleaner/clearer than the "fill light" tool. Though that does still have it's uses.

tinny, would this be something I could post over at icontalking? I'd love some concrit, but don't know if you want members randomly posting things.

Comments

[tinny]

DW has no notifications when you link usernames, so... I didn't get this. So, sorry you had to wait until Sunday for me to see this.

I love love love what you did with the first one!

The coloring is brighter, really bringing out the vibrance and the shiny in her golden mask. Absolutely gorgeous! The text is also much better! a) using differently sized words is a lot of work (I know!), but it makes such a difference. b) it's not quite as thin, the heavier look works great. c) it now fills the empty space in the corner, balancing out the icon.

Do you see how those two centres (her eyes and the middle of the text) are now spaced along a diagonal in the icon? That's what makes it work.


The second one is also better now. It's lighter and the text color fits the color scheme better. Also, the crop has improved the same way it did in the first icon. Great job!

There are two things I'd focus on here:

First, her skin color has turned a little too red. If you lighten icons using Brightness/Contrast (or Curves), at some point red becomes prominent. There are several ways to counter that: you could lower the saturation in general. Or you could put a very faint green layer on top - experiment with the opacity and blending mode until you like the result. Or, if nothing else helps, you can always slap a color layer on top and make a monochrome icon. (I know lots of people who do that. :))

Second, the text is now a bit hard to read. I'd suggest putting a smudge of color under the text. Best use that yellow from the background. You can also use text effects (don't know how those work in your software, though), adding a glow or a shadow to the text. But I actually like painting under text better than text effects, because you can add paint exactly where you need it.


would this be something I could post over at icontalking? I'd love some concrit, but don't know if you want members randomly posting things.

That's exactly what the threads in the regular posts there are for. I try to make one every week, or every two weeks at the lastest. There are threads for sharing your icons and asking for concrit. I know it means you'll have to wait for new posts, so maybe it's not ideal. But I did in fact make a new post today, so feel free to put your icon into the LIYM thread there!

I haven't thought about people posting "random things" there, since that's not how it's done on the lj counterpart, but I don't have anything against it. Maybe I should think about what kind of posts are ok to make and let everyone know? Hmmm. :)

[lavenderspark]

It's ok, I know you don't usually get on until the weekend, so I wasn't expecting a quick response.

Thanks!

I need to find more bold fonts. I just get so caught up in the fancy swirly fonts that are unfortunately thin. :( But I need to find a good bold font for an idea I have, so I can always look for others while I'm browsing! :)

I think, on the second one, I kicked up the vibrancy too much. It just looked kind of flat and I wanted more color. The font I think just needs to be a bit lighter. I just need to play around with it some more.

Oh yeah! I remember that now! I'll post them later if I can. :)