explodeycakes!

Defunct.

2008-01-17T20:20:56Z

Please direct your attention to sparklpocalypse.

Stocks! And not the expensive kind.

2007-07-29T20:48:29Z

So I was lying around in my backyard yesterday, taking pictures of my nephew running around through the sprinkler, and I thought, "Huh. The sky is pretty today." The kid gave me a weird look when I started taking more pictures of my surroundings than of him, but oh well -- cool result nonetheless.

And the images were huge, because my digital camera's resolution is so high. Which means good image quality for y'all, I guess, even though I resized them from closer to 3000px wide, down to 1024x768px. If you can use them, feel free; just don't crop them down and re-post them as your own [I expect not to recognize them if you recycle them into your own resources, dammit!] because that ain't cool.

Click to download *.zip.
Please comment if you download these, so I can track bandwidth. And, y'know. Credit would be cool. Thanks!

I think Harry Potter ate my brain.

2007-07-29T12:55:08Z

Because with the ginormous amounts of anticipation, and then the actual reading of the book I was pretty much a Potter zombie. Ke-razy stuff, yo. Anywho. Icons! :D Not a ton, because you know me -- I'm incapable of huge batches. There are some Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows ones included [actually, to be frank, the majority of them are DH-related] so spoilerphobes, beware.

19 Harry Potter [SPOILERS for book 7]
2 Supernatural
2 Random Text-Only

PREVIEW:

Please, credit me if you snag and use these! Hotlinking = bad, comments = good. :D

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Okay, so it's been over a month.

2007-05-16T15:18:27Z

And no, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth, icons-wise. School just has this tendency to creep up on you and try to eat you alive, y'know? I guess procrastination probably has something to do with that... anywho. New [oldish?] batch of icons today. Some challenge entries, some random stuff that I made while I was trying to make challenge entries... same-old, same-old.

30 Supernatural [includes challenge entries]
08 NSYNC
03 JC Chasez

PREVIEW:

Please, credit me if you snag and use these! Hotlinking = bad, comments = good. :D

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Ye Olde Resources Post, Take 2!

2007-04-09T19:58:27Z

Finally, about two weeks after LJ ate my original icons/graphics resources post [and about a month after I posted the original], I've completed version #2 of this sucker. Phew! It's not quite as dial-up safe as it once was, as I've revamped the whole tutorials section. In addition to using 77words' icon table generator, I avail myself of a whole slew of resources that are created specifically for iconmakers.

Directory: screencaps · other images · brushes · textures · patterns, gradients, etc. · tutorials · filters and fonts

SCREENCAPS: cap_it and...

bluebear_74: All Caps
dorkdance: Black Hawk Down, House 1x21 'Three Stories'
marishna: Summerskin: A Screencap Site
noway_icons: Brokeback Mountain
oh_cap: Happy Feet
oxoniensis
peacefully: Cap Archive

Daydreaming
Secret Obsession
Screen Musings
Screencap Paradise
Striped Wall

Directory: screencaps · other images · brushes · textures · patterns, gradients, etc. · tutorials · filters and fonts

OTHER IMAGES:

hires_hotties
hires_hunks
ohnotheydidnt
rightclickdrool

Film Focus
Juvenile Casualty
Out Now
Resurgere
Stock.XCHNG
Smallville Media
Supernatural Media

Directory: screencaps · other images · brushes · textures · patterns, gradients, etc. · tutorials · filters and fonts

BRUSHES: icon_brushes, brushaddicts, and...

__kali__
spectralicons
_joni_
77words
absolutetrouble
amavel_bel
amore
ancientsecret
anesthezea
arisubox
awmpdotnet
blimey_icons
blumchen
bombay_101
charon
colorfilter
colortone
crazy_perfume
crystalkirk
dorkdance
drave
echac
eightyfour__
elli
fightstarr
filmowe
dearest
kurogane
gothic_nyx
iconographer
idiotequeicon
inxsomniax
jeweledicecream
julia_thorne13
killprettyx
lighthouse
linzee
lovetheories
meleada
memphis
miggy
moraya
my_wonderful
ohpaintbrush
onyx_icons
oxoniensis
ohfreckle / ownthesunshine
neke
teh_indy
tender_color
toybirds
tragic_icons
unmasked_icons
xonlyashesx
zenni

8nero
Annika Van Holdt
Enflowered
Erichilemex@deviantART
Fallen Night
Hybrid Genesis
Misprinted Type
Portfelia
PrettyBrush@deviantART
Rain Harbour
SaltedPanda@deviantART
Scully7491@deviantART
Sibelle@deviantART
Spectral Lights

Directory: screencaps · other images · brushes · textures · patterns, gradients, etc. · tutorials · filters and fonts

TEXTURES: icon_textures and...

77words
absolutetrouble
acerbicwit
aery
arisubox
awmpdotnet
regen
chaotic_whim
colorfilter
colortone
elliebelle
elrawien
enflowered
ewanism
filmowe
formedinblood
grrliz
iconistas
iconmaker91
iconographer
inxsomniax
jubilli
kalen_kun
lookslikerain
loveicon
luthienblack
mara83
nikiness
okashiya
omfgsiriusly
oxoniensis
peoplemachines
rhythmique
ohfreckle / ownthesunshine
tihana
toybirds
unmasked_icons
white_nuts
xshoot2thrill
zinzibar

Erichilemex@deviantART
ViolatedRaindrop@deviantART

Directory: screencaps · other images · brushes · textures · patterns, gradients, etc. · tutorials · filters and fonts

PATTERNS, GRADIENTS, ETC.: icon_gradients, icon_extras, and...

77words
arisubox
dorkdance
iconographer
inxsomniax
oxoniensis
ruthenia_alba
toybirds

The Inspiration Gallery

Directory: screencaps · other images · brushes · textures · patterns, gradients, etc. · tutorials · filters and fonts

TUTORIALS: icon_tutorial and...

Below are the tutorials I most commonly use for coloring issues, etc., in my own stuff. Please click on an icon to go to the relevant tutorial. Please note that I did not make any of the icons displayed in this section, and that each icon was created by the LJ user listed below it.

kirjava17icons	iconick	lantiscod	valliegurl	persefone84
insusurro	equalize21	dreamtmemory	bluesoul92	panickingxerin
una_cannella	rerapped	telltale	fogg8	papyds
marishna	threeeyespei	eighteenvision	nolongertwo	changetje
reve_lucide	americangrl69	infinitiva	mowd_icons	nokitas
boredess	annesaname	lipsofpoison	bitter___sweet	flyingharmony
neversince	ewanism	chosenxone	newkidfan	lu_thien
awmpdotnet	iconnaissances	loveintoxicated	iconick	iconick
miss_bloody	rebelliousheart	xeyra

awmpdotnet: Brightening Dull Screencaps
awmpdotnet: Fixing Badly-Saturated Screencaps
awmpdotnet: Pop Art; More Pop Art; More More Pop Art
grrliz: Text-only Icons Guide
grrliz: Aging Stuff

Hybrid Genesis

Directory: screencaps · other images · brushes · textures · patterns, gradients, etc. · tutorials · filters and fonts

FILTERS AND FONTS:

Cybia
daFont
Font Paradise
Harry's Filters
Misprinted Type
Simple Filters

Sometimes I feel I've got to...

2007-03-21T22:57:57Z

[DUN DUN] run away... Yeah, I'm a dork. But at least I'm a dork who makes icons, eh? These were fun. A couple of them are complete coloring experiments. Otherwise, they're pretty standard.

09 Supernatural [includes one pretty spoilery 2x14 icon]
06 Justin Timberlake
03 Zooey Deschanel
03 Hayden Christensen
03 Miscellaneous

PREVIEW:

Please, credit me if you snag and use these! Hotlinking = bad, comments = good. :D

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Patterns and a Tutorial.

2007-03-19T14:01:38Z

It's been like, a year since I made seamless tiling patterns. I was a little rusty, but the end result turned out kinda pretty.

There are a few in this batch that, well. They're not your average patterns. One's very scribbly, two others are hand-drawn in PS and then filtered like crazy. I'm hoping they'll be useful to someone.

Click to download *.zip.
Commenting is absolutely necessary if you download these, because it really helps me to track my bandwidth. Credit is love.

TUTORIAL: Using patterns in iconmaking, suggested by marishna.

With this base image of Cate Blanchett and a pattern, you can create the following icon:

01. Crop and resize your base image to about 75x75px. Sharpen the image just a tad, and add a little contrast if necessary.

Mine looks like this:

02. Add a neutral border of around 5px to the image. I used white because it's such a pale image to begin with.

Mine looks like this:

03. On a new 100x100px blank, paste your pattern and desaturate it. I'd recommend going for something with at least a little white in it for this icon. I used this pattern by inxsomniax. Copy and paste your image from step 2 onto the pattern blank and center it.

Mine looks like this:

04. The pattern is a little dark compared with the really light image. Fiddle with the brightness and contrast until it looks better.

Mine looks like this:

05. Now to fiddle with the colors. I used a teal/white gradient map as the top layer, set on soft light, and erased around the edges a little so that the pattern wasn't lost altogether.

Mine looks like this:

06. The icon is really coming together now. I wanted a little more contrast on Cate's face, though, so I added a very subtle brightness/contrast layer right underneath the gradient map layer.

Mine looks like this:

07. Now for the finishing touches. I added one of 77words blobby color textures -- this one -- and set it to screen at 100%.

Mine looks like this:

08. The pattern seemed a bit too dark on the top part of the icon now, so I put a very simple white-to-transparent gradient layer, with the least transparent part at the top, under the photo. Voilá! The icon was done.

Mine looks like this:
Another example:

Of course, you can also just chop parts of patterns out and stick them on an icon for ornamentation purposes. Sometimes I'll just use a stripe of a random pattern as a border.

Example:

It's a relatively self-explanatory, simple icon, with a stripe of pattern pasted on the right side. No big. Stripey or unique patterns are especially fun using this method. I'd recommend oxoniensis' patterns, or tragic_icons' pattern-type textures for this style.

Textures!

2007-03-19T00:26:56Z

Yes, I realize I could have included these in yon icon post, but that like... made sense. Who wants that?

Anywho. There aren't enough grayscale grungy textures in the world, right? I mean, obviously, because I had to make some. Even though, you know. Everyone has already. But whatever! They're pretty.

Click to download *.zip.
Please comment if you download these, so I can track bandwidth. And, y'know. Credit would be cool. Thanks!

Image sources: tome 213, doortenj, and coutinho at stock.xchng.

Yarr!

2007-03-18T19:29:40Z

That title is totally not as random as it seems. I figured, given the subject matter, the title should be a nautical phrase or word of some sort, so. ::cough:: Icons!

09 Lola Rennt
09 Titanic
06 Queer as Folk
06 Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End [SPOILERS]
03 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

PREVIEW:

Please, credit me if you snag and use these! Hotlinking = bad, comments = good. :D

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Inaugural Icon Post!

2007-03-13T05:17:59Z

18 Justin Timberlake: 'What Goes Around...'
09 Supernatural [including challenge entries]
06 OZ Beecher/Keller
03 Miscellaneous

PREVIEW:

Please, credit me if you snag and use these! Hotlinking = bad, comments = good. :D

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Previously, in dorkdance...

2007-03-12T02:17:26Z

Icons, resources, and other graphics I made prior to the opening of this community will not, for the most part, appear here. You can find them by searching through the tags on dorkdance.

All previous icons can be find here.
All previous graphics can be found here.
All previous resources can be found here and here.

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