creative for a few minutes

[ghanimasun]

I was really in the mood to make icons tonight. Not entirely sure why, I guess I was feeling creative? Who knows. But I ended up making about 10, until I got sick of it.

My creativity is really generally not strong. Mostly though I just get frustrated with my limited Photoshop skills and abilities. I tried to check out some tutorials and stuff, but they didn't end up helping terribly much. Also I don't often have the patience to try out really new things, unless they are something I can figure out easily.

Plus there were no landcomm challenges for me to make icons for, and only one icon challenge that was open, so I mostly just made random icons for the hell of it. I realize this is what most people do, but I usually don't do that. It turns out I'm not much of an icon maker, because I sort of put some effort into the ones I made tonight, and they don't look all that much better/more interesting than the ones I don't try as hard with. Plus there are so many people that make amazing icons, it often makes me want to give up. I'm not yet, but I'm also not feeling great about my icon making skills.

Comments

[gymx]

1. Do you have a preference if I comment here or on LJ?
2. Thanks for watching last night. :D
3. If you like it, do it. If not, stop. As my mother says about snowshoeing, "It's fun, so I enjoy doing it even knowing I do it poorly."
4. (surprise hug!)

[ghanimasun]

1. Nope, no preference :)

2. My pleasure, glad you're liking it already. (or I'm assuming you're enjoying it somewhat)

3. I just get frustrated too easily; I'd enjoy it more if I were better at it!

4. Thanks!

[goodbyebird]

I get being intimidated by other makers, because holy crap there's so much stunning stuff out there. I'm not all that creative usually, I just find the experience relaxing and enjoyable, and it also helps me see things in shows clearer sometimes. Still, making them is an enjoyment in itself, and it's always fun to look back at what you've made, seeing how your style has evolved over time. I always get a kick out of it :)

Some tuts I've found a great help are
curves
textures/brushes guide
lightblogs etc
darlingbones Q&A

Those are general tuts, which are much easier to learn from imo.

[ghanimasun]

I've only been trying to make icons for a little over a year so I have definitely been able to see some improvement from when I started. It is enjoyable overall though, and I do enjoy, like you said, getting to see different things in the show.

Also thank you so much for those tutorials. I've never used brushes before at all, so maybe I should try those out sometime.