what it says on the tin - a long overdue icon progression post

[applepips]

I've only been meaning to make a progression post for the past 2 years or so. Procrastination, thy name is Pips. I know people do progression posts for the past year. But, since I havent ever done one, I thought I'd chronicle my journey from the start. :D

I began iconning in 2010. Rather, I began posting then. I began messing with iconning in 2009 I think.

I made about only 3 posts that year. If you go back and look at them, they are cringe-worthy. But you can also see this predilection for bright colours. And a love for text, even tho text always does not love me back. :D

Favourite icons from the year: The second and the fifth one. I am pleased with how they turned out even today.

2011 was the start of my love affair with Community [ even now Community is mah jam]  and I pretty much iconned it non-stop. Every post that year had a few Community icons. Style-wise, I was still all over the place. I mean, I discovered bright colours and Gaussian Blur and Light Blobs but still, I had no cohesive style. And still no clue about text or composition. Composition is an issue even to this day but at least I have the foresight to realize Motion Blur and teeny blocking is no one's friend. And oh yes, NEON GREEN LAYERS. Loved it and overused it, bless. Sometimes it worked, sometimes not so much. Overall though, I had a lot of fun in 2011. I didnt worry about how icons looked, I just iconned for the fun of it.

Fav icons: 7. IT FEELS PERFECT TO ME.

You guys, 2012 was my banner year. I pretty much loved everything that I posted that year. I felt like I could do no wrong. I was tentatively experimenting, I began participating in the icon community more, in icontests and what not too. I finally discovered lighting properly, discovered mad love for negative space and achieved the bright, light colouring I always wanted to mimic. Also, taking part in the iconquest really made me test my boundaries in a good way. I WILL NEVER GET THIS YEAR OF AWESOMENESS BACK. Look, I even succeeded at text. WHAT MORE DOES A GIRL NEED. Towards the end of the year, I also discovered a love for muted colouring. Dont get me wrong, I will always gravitate towards the shiny, but I also realized that muted colours packed a subtle punch. This was also the year that Teen Wolf began to insidiously creep into my life.

Fav icons: The second Sherlock icon and the yellow Abed icon. I loved that I got the text exactly right for both. :D

I started off alright in 2013. That first Emily icon is one of my favorites and I dont think I will ever be able to replicate the lovely b&w-ness of that icon. The muted colours thing continues. I think I also got into 20insp this year, which was BERRY cool. The text round at 20insp bascially opened up the text floodgates for me. Every post after that had a healthy dose of icons with text that I actually liked. I also took part in turbo_rumble round 11 this year, which was a fantastically inspiring round and resulted in some awesome icons.

Towards the end of the year tho, I kind of petered out. ;_; Inspiration was really hard to come by for some reason and I liked nothing. So in order to keep the icon juices flowing I signed up for a bunch of stuff and tried properly iconning animation which was SWEAT AND BLOOD for me. But also very fun. I wanted to do one year end post except I went off for a long vacation so that plan tanked.

All in all, 2013 was not bad. It was not great either, but it was not horrible. The biggest positive this year was finally getting a half-decent hang on text. YISSSSS. :D

Fav icons: the black and white Emily one and the red monochromatic Stiles one.

~~

Looking back on my 4 years I liked to think I have improved. But I also think that I have gotten way too critical of myself, which kind of spoils the enjoyment of icon-making and also takes the fun out of it. I hope that this year, my attitude shall be different and I am gonna try to icon without obsessing over the little things.

I dont have any particular resolutions for 2014 but I am gonna try my best to do 2 things. Other then what I just said above, that is.

1. Finetune the skills I have acquired as opposed to crying over things that will never have [ blocking and complex composition, i am looking at chu].
2. JUST KEEP ICONNING AND HAVING FUN. \o/

Comments

[rocketgirl2.livejournal.com]

I certainly think you have improved! Your icons look so much better coloring-wise, and you've really found some great things to do with lighting. I approve so hard of your second resolution - I think that's something all of us need to remember sometimes!

[applepips]

Thank you! I too like that I managed to figure out lighting now. It is one of my favourite parts of iconning.

Yes, fun is so very important, especially when it comes to hobbies! :)