Icon set for Round 15 on Farscape 20in20

[jacquelee]

Here's my icon set for Farscape 20in20 round 15. This is the second icon set I did with PS Elements (I'm still on the trial period for that program but I'll definitely cough up the 100 bucks, I don't think I can live without it anymore ;)), and I really like it.


I know I'm still a total newbie to all of this, so this is very much an experimental set. Just me fiddling around with all the new exciting tools I have now. So feel free to tell me which technique totally doesn't work, I really won't mind and I hope to improve steadily.

Also a big BIG shoutout to john_scorpy who IMO saved this set at the last minute - I was ready to post it, not heading all of his advices but he kept insisting and OMFG!!! This is SO MUCH BETTER!!! So thank you!! :D Next time I'll listen to you the first time around.

10 THEMES

beginning	simple	opposites	touch	23.45
monster	complex	two-toned text	emotion	end

CATEGORY - MAGNIFYING GLASS

01	02	03	04	05

ARTIST'S CHOICE

01	02	03	04	05

Comments

[rinkafic.livejournal.com]

oooo, pretty!

[jacquelee]

Thanks! :)

[midknight-starr.livejournal.com]

Nice set! I really like Beginning, Opposites and Touch.

I really like your choices for your AC set too :D

[jacquelee]

Thanks!

And YAY for those great faces John and Aeryn pull. ;) Even though your set turned out a lot lighter than mine. :)

[midknight-starr.livejournal.com]

I think yours look good! I love that about them! I think that's partly why I chose CDM :D

But what I do is play with the brightness and contrast on a duplicate layer, then I use soft light blending layers using a new transparent layer and trying different colours to see how they affect the look of the image. I found that using a soft light blending layer with a light purple (like a lilac shade of purple) works great for skin brightening. It is pretty fun to make 2 or 3 different soft light blending layers in different colours to see how it affect the look of the image too :)

[jacquelee]

LOL, okay, misunderstanding, I meant the tone of the icons was lighter, meaning John is winking and laughing and just generally being annoyed in yours, while Aeryn is mostly crying and being desperate in mine. ;)

As for lighting the icon, I actually adore your style of lighting and I think it's what's fast becoming my style too. Using the layer blend mode was what saved these icons (again, thanks JS). I love using soft light layers now, and I tweak the colors a lot, mostly with adjustment layers.

Do you just add the color to the image? I think I know how to do that, I just always thought that would overcolor the icon. But using it on just one layer is something I never tried. Will definitely do that next. Thanks!

[midknight-starr.livejournal.com]

Oops LOL sorry :) yeah, I misunderstood.

Thank you! The color is not added to the image directly. I make a new transparent layer over the image, change the blending mode to soft light and use the paint bucket to fill the transparent layer. Depending on the color, it will lighten, darken or add a little bit of color. A good example is if you use a light grey soft light layer, it will brighten the image without extra color and a dark grey soft light layer will darken it. I play and experiment with different colors and mix them up. Sometimes I'll have 3 separate soft light color layers, each in a different color to get the look I want.

[neonspider]

Oh wow, I can't even believe how fast you improve with this stuff. Some of these are stunning, like Touch, Category1&3 (really nice fake background cuts there!!), and ACs 1&4. Perfect contrast in all of these. Also you're super lucky with that 23.45 scene, a big awww for that icon!! Also Opposites. The composition of Complex is pretty amazing, and the icon seems to tell a story on its own. Lovely vibrant colors in Emotion and 23.45 and the category!

I really like how you chose to do a really cohesive set with a warm color sceme. I always try to go for unified but never quite hit it because my inspiration keeps bouncing all over the place and I can't kill all my darlings, lol. But really, yours really looks like a set, not just random icons put together, which is great.

If you want I can try to think of something more constructive to say later, but right now I'm just amazed at how well you've done with these :) And besides one of my 20in20s has a deadline tomorrow and I'm only halfway there, ouch. So I'll get back to you about these if you want, but right now all I have for these is LOVE! <3 And thanks for the shoutout, glad you appreciated it! :D

[jacquelee]

Thank you so much! And I'm so glad you mentioned Complex, I tried to tell the whole story of the episode in one icon, guess that was a little overambitiouos but I still like it. ;)

Knew you would like 23:45. ;)

And well, I didn't really go for a cohesive set, like I said it was more an experimental thing, warm soft colors are just my thing, that kind of lighting and coloring will probably become my style if I ever develop one. :)

You already helped a LOT so thank you for that! And I love that you love these. Hope you managed to get the 20in20 done in time. :)

[erinm-4600.livejournal.com]

Love the recurring orange color of the icons! Also the AC set *snugs Aeryn*

[jacquelee]

Thanks! Yeah, orange and brown are fast becoming my trademark colors, which is odd because they're not really my favourite colors (that would be blue). But I think they fit Farscape very well.

[thyla87.livejournal.com]

This is great set :) Colors are great and contrast are so good!:) beginning is so pretty and I love your opposites xD 23.45 are great color and I really like complex. ALso my favorite is two-toned text; great colors and font choise and I really like texture.

Category set is awesome! :) Texture is very nice and pretty.

AC set is very good, too. I think my favorite is 1 and 4.

Amazing job!! :)

[jacquelee]

Thank you very much! To hear that the contrast is good is a big thing because that's the thing I still have the most problems with!

[bizarra.livejournal.com]

Beautiful. Your category set is stunning.

Beginning, touch, end are really great

and your AC set... just... all the emotions I have. <3 2 and 4 especially. Fantastic job. <3

[nebari-rebel.livejournal.com]

Really pretty set - I love the cohesiveness of the coloring throughout and the clarity and emotion in Touch. The composition of 23:45 is very pleasing, and Beginning is so sweet!