Challenge 2x08 Results

[kerravonsen]

The results of Challenge #2x08, A Picture Paints a Thousands Words are:

Embodiment of style
First:
by pensnest


Second:
by yvi

Third: (a four-way tie!)
by pensnest
by rooftop_jones
by rinkle
by kerravonsen

I Just Like It
First:
by pensnest

Second:
by rinkle

Third: (another four-way tie!)
by pensnest
by pensnest
by pensnest
by rinkle


Mod's choice
by yvi


Thank you, everyone!

I've also revealed the entries in the challenge entry post.

Now, discuss! How did you make your icons? Techniques, tips, difficulties?

Comments

[lark_ascends]

O_O This is my first icon contest entered and I'm very new to icon making...Wow! Thank you!

I make my icons from my own photos.



The flag was a photo I took recently from a ferry of the one on top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The base image of the Harbour Bridge was from a photo I also took from a ferry a few years ago--I'd made an icon from that before. I then just played with the layering to get the best effect of the flag over it in the Gimp.

The cherry blossom icon was a very simple desaturating the image and then pasting the coloured image on top and putting a border around it.

[kerravonsen]

The flag-and-harbour-bridge image worked really well; it wouldn't have occurred to me to combine the two like that. You took those photos yourself? Awesome!

[lark_ascends]

Thanks! Yep, photography is one of my passions and I make headers in particular from my photos. ;-)

[yvi]

Ohh, I won something!!!

I didnt do a lot with that image, I thought it stood well enough on its own. I found the icture during a Google search, just resizes and cropped so that the runner was on the border and adjusted the contrast.

[kerravonsen]

I liked the image, it spoke to me, the runner on the long and winding road. Yes, this particular challenge had a lot of weight in finding just the right image, but also in knowing when "less is more", if you see what I mean.

[pensnest]

Hi! I enjoyed this challenge, and how nice to have first place. :-D This is a quite different icontest to what I'm used to (I run one of my own, called severalplums, in which there's usually a single source picture provided), since the biggest part of the challenge here is finding the right source picture. I've ended up not doing a great deal of Photoshop work in any of these icons because I thought the pictures worked without it.

The big hand-little hand picture was so charming that it didn't need a great deal done to it. Sadly, I didn't keep the .psd file of that one, but to the best of my recollection I just sharpened it up a little by means of a Soft Light layer, and added the border for balance. I hardly ever use a Sharpen filter these days, as I put Soft Light layers pretty much everywhere, and they do the job nicely.

The flight icon comes from a lovely picture by coachen (found on stock.xchng) of the photographer's daughter on the beach. I had a photo of flying ducks and used a crop from that to emphasize the desire to fly—the most difficult thing about this icon was figuring out where exactly to position everything, though there was also colour balance adjustment layer to get it from gold to blue. I think there was an alternate version with the bird above and the girl below, but this one was more interesting.

The children on the beach icon (photo by hortongrou) could be subtitled 'the joy of color burn', as that blend mode has a lot to do with the vividness of the colours. And the circuit icon has a bit of radial blur, just for fun—I like the way the circuits in the clear area look as though they're superimposed on the image, though in fact it's just where the blurred layer is masked.

[kerravonsen]

and how nice to have first place
You deserved it, that was an awesome image, and you did just enough to it to make it stand out.

since the biggest part of the challenge here is finding the right source picture
I think even more so for this particular challenge, since textless icons depend so heavily on a good image.

I run one of my own, called severalplums, in which there's usually a single source picture provided
(goes and checks it out) Ah, what a challenge, to get winners to post tutorials! I really like that idea, but I didn't think people would be willing to, so here I just try to encourage people to informally share what they did on their icons. Because sharing the knowledge is good, yes.

[pensnest]

I learned pretty much everything I know about Photoshop from icon_tutorial and participating in fandom icon challenges, and I used to find it very frustrating when someone won a challenge and I had no idea what they'd done to make that icon, hence my own community. It turns out that people seem to enjoy posting tutorials!

[lark_ascends]

You very much deserved first place. The hands was gorgeous!

[pensnest]

Thank you! It is such a lovely source picture.