Q&A

[goodbyebird]

Questions & Answers

We had a fair amount of response in the poll, so here is the rumored Q&A post! Any questions you have about graphics, ask away and hopefully someone can help you out. Makers can also make a comment and people can ask them questions specifically - I'll set mine up, feel free to follow that example - and I'll link individual makers as well as question threads in the post when I'm around to edit.

The Request Fest is still open until Sunday evening, so get those requests and fills in.

goodbyebird's question thread
timetobegin's question thread
geckoholic's question thread
hsapiens's question thread
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Who's your most inspirational icon makers?
How do you organize your icon folders?
What are your favorite textures to use?
compressing your icons? (file size too big, smart objects)

Comments

Re: organizing finished icons

[hsapiens]

I number my icon posts and have a corresponding numbered folder within my larger "Icons" folder where I save my work. I save all of my PSDs to a general folder. When the clutter bothers me too much, I move the PSDs to an "Archive" folder within the PSD folder.

I also name the files in a (mostly) consistent way. Usually, it's character name first and descriptive text second. If I think it's a fandom I'll do only a few icons in (and thus probably forget the character name too easily), I'll preface the file name with a fandom abbreviation. I have to do that, too, with common names. "Sam" is pan-fandom, for example.

I second the use of a community. I was hesitant to start one myself because I rarely post anything in my personal journal, it seemed ridiculous to have TWO journals, and it seemed...like a formal setting up of a shop? As if I were an icon "merchant" plugging my wares rather than a fan having a bit of fun.

But I found that people are far more comfortable friending/joining/whatevering a community than a personal journal. It kept my fandom life more separate from my personal life (which I wanted), and it meant I had a better gauge of how many people actually wanted to see icons I made.

I use my LJ Scrapbook (ptooi!) to organize my finished icons by fandom and my LJ comm to see development over time. (Or how long I've been in a rut but this is about the positives, right?) It's not the right answer for everyone but I found it had all the positives and none of the negatives.

(As a bonus, when I was having a hard time in choosing layouts, it meant I got to have TWO layouts!)

Re: organizing finished icons

[valley]

Thanks! It sounds like PSDs in a separate folder is a good way to go (and easier to bulk-upload that way).

I've started setting up a community, and I'll see how I fare with it. I like the idea of using it to plug my icon merchant wares, though :)