casett | My Favorites of this Year

hsapiens asked for this so here it is. Baring my soul, don't stomp on it.

I find this very difficult to say what I like best since generally I like a lot of what I do (or I wouldn't do it) and am not as self-critical as many. And, normally what I think I did well doesn't jive with what others think.

I like that I found the right font to use. I like that it fits the character and pose. I like the yellow light behind the figure to the left to highlight the pose and the contrast with the background texture. And, the image is very clear but I am not sure I had much to do with that. Maybe too sharp (seen above about not too self-critical).

In general I think my black and white icons are better than many of the color ones. I think I did well with the composition here and the negative space works well. The texture layer on the top adds interest. The background texture compliments the pose (thanks

spooky_window) and the light.

I like the spooky nature of this one. I think I got the light spot just right and the text compliments the lighting and feel. He's watching.....

I can't reproduce this well, no matter how much I try. The coloring and contrast are great as is the contrast between the two images so pretty good on the composition. This one was due to following some tutorials and adapting them and watching the composition that others were doing.

I think this is my best use of textures although this one

is pretty close. The SG1 icon has a painted effect that I like and I like that you can't exactly identify everything in the image but can interpret it as you like.

I had to extend the background but don't think you can tell. I like the coloring through use of multiple textures but mostly I think this one expresses the emotion of utter frustration (with no text - I managed to restrain myself).

This was one of those happy accidents - what to do with this. I was doing a lot of icons with the Impala from SPN and liked this car in this cap. The episode was sort of grungy so went to the grunge. I generally like this style. Text has double meaning (who me?). Background wasn't important so lost it and replaced it.

OK - after doing this here is what I learned. I like icons that express an emotion, that make the person viewing it feel something, I hope as they do for me. I am not always technically good but can be. I would rather express the emotion than have the icon "perfect" and in fact I have no idea what perfect is. I prefer icons where the background is replaced so that is says something with regard to composition or emotion. I think composition is important and generally don't like icons that are just crop and color unless they are spectacular. And, only one of these won first place (I think) in the contest it was entered in. And, I think I am pretty well-known for making humorous icons and none of these is really amusing.

My most creative icons were from Alice. My biggest struggle is with Supernatural. Just for fun, here are some of my wilder icons from last year that are way outside the comfort zone.