Okay! I'm finally getting around to posting in here! Sorry that it took so long, but I've been a bit busy with work and such.
But, I'm here now, so here we go...
-How long have you been making graphics?Around 3 1/2 years. I started in early 2008, not long before Prince Caspian was released. That was a fun time, and the excitement and inspiration flowing in the Fan Art forum at the time convinced me that I had to try it too; I've never regretted it.
- What photoshop program do you use (Photoshop, Gimp, etc.)?Gimp!
- What kind of graphics do you like to make?Icons mostly. I used to make signatures/banners, but I'm afraid that I've pretty much abandoned that graphic field except for quote signatures; those are lotses of fun!
Wallpapers are fun, when I remember to make them.
As for what I like to make graphics of, Narnian graphics were my first love, and I still love making them. I also love to make graphics of my favorite fandoms, which are mostly Robin Hood and Bonanza. I tend to make graphics out of whatever happens to tickle my fancy at the time, and whatever sparks my creative muse.
- What inspires you to make graphics?It can be any number of things, but it's usually watching a movie, or seeing a stunning icon that someone else made. I nearly always watch movies with graphic designing in mind; if I see a shot that I like, I imagine it as a graphic of some kind, then try to make it. Sometimes I succeed, sometimes I don't.
A few designers that inspire me are
Endelyn (I find her icons very lovely and inspiring),
innocent_lexys (she has a very dynamic style),
whispyr (her stock icons are calming, and I would love to be to make them half as well), and Narniawebber
Kate (if I can one day be as good at making icons as she is, I will be more thrilled than I can say!).
winterlife wrote:And I have a question: How many of you use textures with your graphics, and to what extent do you usually use them? (Like, I know some people layer on multiple textures, some prefer one or none, some occasionally use textures, that sort of thing.
)
I
always use textures; I sometimes wonder if I've forgotten how to make an icon without them.
I typically layer 2 or 3 different textures to help control the lighting and coloring in my icon. Black and white/gray grunge textures are some of the best inventions ever. And of course, light textures frequently find their way into my icons.
@ Dot: I think your thoughts about
texture usage made perfect sense, and I definitely agree with you!
Becca, about graphic making... wrote:I think it's one of the best things I ever decided to do.
I would second that, and I'll add that your graphics have been very impressive lately! It has been such a neat experience to watch you grow and improve as a designer over the past few years!
*blushes at Becca's comment about her graphics* You're sweet, dearie!
Ack!!! Icon love
here!! Caspian, Edmund, and Ben all look simply amazing!!
WunderLu wrote:flambeau: I hope it's okay for me to bring more to the discussion.
Absolutely!
I love seeing the comparisons! It so neat to see how far everyone has come since they started!
WunderLu wrote:What are some areas that you struggle with?
Experiments that go bad. I have a lot of those, and they usually don't live to see the light of the forum.
@ Girly:
*shuddering gasp!* Oh-my-word!!! I literally stopped breathing when I saw the Allan icon; it is stunning!!
Girly wrote:Kind of a silly question...
When I selectively blur/sharpen people's faces I blur their cheeks, forehead, etc., and sharpen their eyes and mouth, and eyebrows/hair/clothing sometimes. I always sharpen the hair and eyebrows going with the way it lays (sharpening the eyebrows from the inside out, not the outside in), like not 'brushing it backwards'. Is that weird??
Lol!
I don't know that it's weird, but it does make for an amusing quirk.
Tarkheena wrote:What's your favorite effect, color setting, or texture? You know, that one thing that you always end up going back to and using again, even when you're trying to make something new?
This is a good question. I actually can't think of any one thing that I go back to over and over again; I really try to switch stuff up as much as I can, because when I first started making graphics I would just use the exact same technique over and over again... whether or not it looked good.
As I've matured as a designer, I've tried to challenge myself to experiment and try new techniques as much as possible, and keep myself from getting stuck in a rut. I hope that I'm succeeding.
Oh, one coloring tool that I use on just about every single icon I make is Levels; I simply love that tool!
Hoooboy, here we go. The moment of truth... here's some of my earliest graphics. These are not my very first (those have long since been deleted, thank goodness!), but they are the earliest that I have.
...and here's some more recent work.
Thank goodness for improvements!
--- flambeau