Split Loyalties

Moving to DW

novindalf — Fri, 11 Mar 2022 13:56:25 GMT

I am moving this comm over to DW. You can find me at split_loyalties over there :)

208. Icon Progression 2021

novindalf — Sat, 15 Jan 2022 13:07:21 GMT

2021 Resolutions

The icon resolutions I made at the end of 2020, for 2021, were:

1. Finish re-uploading all broken upl.co and photobucket links in old icon post.

2. Post my textures!!

3. Install and try to figure out the Photoshop CS4 I bought a few years back.

4. Brush up on animation, and carry on working on text and composition.

5. Continue trying to actively comment on people's entries, not just when I want to know the fandom(s).

January

I started off 2021 with an entry for stocklove_ic C11 (Winter Wonderland) using some of my own photos and only really tweaking the lighting and colouring a little bit. The next entry was for elitesimplicity C281 (Too Soon) and I chose Anne With an E, and played around a lot more with lighting and colouring, and a bit of composition and textures. The last icons for January were for capicontest C117 (The Great Outdoors) and again were mostly only lighting, colouring and cropping jobs.

# of icons: 11

Icon Posts: none

February

I did a lot more experimenting in February! I actually did attempt to switch over to PS (CS2) but I found it too different and I was too set in my ways, so I returned to GIMP. I did update it from 2.8.6 to 2.10.22 though, so I still had to adapt to a few changes. I was very proud of the remakes I did for bestof_icons though, and also the Bridgerton icons for capicontest C118 (Heather and Moss), although I did struggle a bit with the new sharpening settings. Other entries this month included capicontest C119 (Painted), elitesimplicity C284 (Hairporn – I had recently rewatched Jane the Virgin which has some of the prettiest hairporn out there) and perioddrama_ic C39 (Animated – I iconned Brave, and started using some textures I hadn't used before).

# of icons: 17

Icon Posts: none

March

In the process of making the Stardust icon for capicontest C121 (Two Fonts) I finally figured out how to warp text in GIMP(!!!) so March saw some of my most 'complex' (for me, anyway) text composition work to date. I updated my 2021 Scrapbook and was reminded about The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel which I had never iconned before, just in time for elitesimplicity C286 (Never Iconned Before) – I love the rich colours and gorgeous costumes in this show! I entered stocklove_ic C17 (Wild and Free) with some more icons made from my own photos, but again these were pretty simplistic. My entry for perioddrama_ic C40 (Girl Power) was more complicated with some more text composition work - and as I had recently read the Bridgerton book series, was made up of more Bridgerton icons. The itsabattlefield Big Battle 20 (Favourite Period Drama Male Characters) led to yet more Bridgerton icons, but also interspersed with some other old favourites like North and South, Persuasion and Outlander – I kind of had to enter to enter since I suggested a few of the characters. The icons for this were a bit of a mish-mash of styles and some I am happier with than others, and it was also the biggest set I had made in aaages so I was rushing a bit to finish. color_inspired C223 (Raspberry Reveillez) was yet another challenge that really spoke Bridgerton to me (and/or I had it on the brain already), but I rounded off the month with an entry to itsabattlefield Small Battle 43 (Odd Cropping), having started at Timeless rewatch at the time.

# of icons: 35

Icon Posts: One

April

I moved into my new house at the end of March/start of April, so didn't make any icons.

# of icons: 0

Icon Posts: One

May

May was still pretty busy with the house so quiet on the icon front, but I did finish my bestof_icons 2020 remakes. I also learned a couple of new techniques/tools – Alpha to Selection, Grow, and Fill With BG Color – which I used in the Tahani icon remake.

# of icons: 3

Icon Posts: none

June

Another month with no icons, this time due to a short holiday and a busy workload. I did however make a tutorial on how to warp text in GIMP.

# of icons: 0

Icon Posts: One (Tutorial)

July

Having made the text tutorial, I then had to give it a go myself. In fact, all but one of the icons I made this month had text, and that one that didn't was a textless alternate! I remember when I used to avoid text like the plague, so this is big progress! Also, all the icons for this month were Bridgerton, because the first few were for color_inspired C230 (Summer in London) which made me think of the Season in Regency/Victorian/Edwardian England, which led me down a complete Bridgerton rewatch to find some good quotes.

# of icons: 8

Icon Posts: none

August

August was a fairly quiet month for me for icon-making, but I did manage a few icons for capicontest C129 (Pride), a random non-challenge Bridgerton icon, and a Luca icon for movieslims R36 C1. There was some good colouring and use of textures, and a couple of icons with text in the mix though, so not a bad effort.

# of icons: 5

Icon Posts: none

September

September was pretty busy with work and a quick holiday, so the only icons I made were for movieslims R36. I was super happy with the idea I had for the polaroid icon, but sadly didn't have the time to execute it to a high enough standard so I was eliminated, and the icon I made for the comeback round was pretty rushed too, very simplistic, and didn't get me back in the round, although I was happy with the colouring on that one.

# of icons: 2

Icon Posts: none

October

October was all about cropping, thanks to somein30 R11. It was the first 20in20-esque challenge I had entered in AGES, but the bug really bit me on this challenge! Also, I definitely still had Bridgerton on the brain because they made up the bulk of this month's icons, with the exception of a couple of Frozen II icons.

# of icons: 18

Icon Posts: One & Two

November

I adore making icons where the negative space/background matches a character's outfit, so I had a lot of fun entering capicontest C135 (Costume Party). R37 started at movieslims (The Witcher & You) so I started watching The Witcher in order to participate (it was on my to-watch list anyway) and after running out of time a lot in the last round I gave myself more time and ended up with (I think) much better results. capicontest C138 (Emojis & Clip Art) gave me the excuse to start watching some other shows (Why Women Kill and The Queen's Gambit) after making a couple of icons there - usually I watch something and then icon it, but this time it was the other way around. Finally I entered your_favourites C133 (Animated Sidekick) and after having a Pascal icon as one of my userpics for the last couple of years, and adding a Bruni icon last year, it had to be those two – with bonus Maximus as an alternate. I had been looking through my old posts and tutorials and was reminded of a green Pascal icon I had made several years ago too, which probably helped. Though I didn't make any text icons this month, I did work a fair bit on composition and using next textures.

# of icons: 12

Icon Posts: none

December

Sadly I ran out of time in December for both challenges I entered at movieslims R37 (The Witcher and You) this month, and was eliminated in after the first one, and then didn't get back in with the comeback round - wasn't surprised with either result really, although I did like the colouring of the Yennefer icon. Fortunately the Ciri icon has been suggested in my 2021 Remakes thread, so I'll look forward to that!

# of icons: 2

Icon Posts: One

Overall

# of icons: 113

# of icon posts: 5

Busiest month: March [35]

Quietest month: April & June [0]

Most iconned: Bridgerton [37], Disney [13], stock [8], Timeless [7], Anne With an E [5]

Main new fandoms: Bridgerton, Disney (specifically Luca and Frozen II), The Marvelous Mrs Maisel, The Witcher

Total number of icontests I placed in: 13 / 27 (including 3 non-voting challenges)

Biggest achievements/progress made/observations: Text and composition were definitely my biggest achievements in 2021, and being more brave with both of those! Figuring out text warping was a massive eureka moment which I'm really proud of, and making a tutorial for the method will be super helpful for when I inevitably forget after a break from iconning again. I also tried to mix up my texture use a bit, which I think helped with the compositions, and the cropping round at somein30 was great for challenging me to go beyond my usual centre crop + negative space. That being said, that's still my favourite technique by far, I can just add a bit more text and textures to it now!

My personal favourites:

2022 Resolutions

I actually think a lot of my 2021 Resolutions are still applicable (with the exception of the Photoshop one, because I tried it and didn't like it), so…

1. Finish re-uploading all broken upl.co and Photobucket links in old icon posts - I did make quite a bit of progress on this in 2021, but I still have about 80 posts to go.

2. Post my textures!!

3. Brush up on animation, and carry on working on text and composition.

4. Continue trying to actively comment on people's entries, not just when I want to know the fandom(s).

5. I also want to make sure I don't leave entries (particularly LIMS entries) until the last minute, because clearly I end up with sub-par icons I am not very happy with.

207. Fourteen Icons

novindalf — Mon, 20 Dec 2021 15:06:53 GMT

Been sitting on some of these since last month but thought I ought to post them here now that bestof_icons is underway! (I love this time of year in the icon world ♥) As usual, all the caps for this post can be found here.

Films [5]
Disney (Frozen II, Tangled) [4]
Narnia [1]

Television [9]
Agent Carter [1]
The Good Place [1]
Once Upon a Time [1]
The Queen's Gambit [1]
Why Women Kill [1]
The Witcher [4]

Includes entries for capicontest C135 (Costume Party), movieslims R37 (The Witcher & You), capicontest C136 (Emojis & Clip Art), your_favourites C133 (Animated Sidekick)

Disney (Frozen II, Tangled) x4, Narnia x1
[01-05]
Agent Carter x1, The Good Place x1, One Upon a Time x1, The Queen's Gambit x1, Why Women Kill x1
[06-10]
The Witcher x4
[11-14]

♥ Comments would be wonderful
♥ Please credit novindalf or split_loyalties
♥ Don't hotlink, alter, steal or repost my icons (especially to Fanpop - this includes uploading to Fanpop but still crediting me)
♥ Feel free to join or watch the comm!
♥ Resources are here and my requests post is here
♥ Thank you!

Promo: bestof_icons 2021

novindalf — Mon, 20 Dec 2021 14:47:47 GMT

bestof_icons
SCHEDULE
ICON REMAKE - JOIN IN! | MY THREAD
ICON RESOLUTIONS - JOIN IN! | MY THREAD
ICON NOMINATIONS - JOIN IN! | MY THREAD
bestof_icons

Promo: movieslims R37 (The Witcher & You)

novindalf — Sun, 07 Nov 2021 18:45:29 GMT

movieslims movieslims movieslims
Sign up for the new round - The Witcher & You

206. Sixteen Icons

novindalf — Wed, 06 Oct 2021 16:46:23 GMT

I haven't done anything like a 20in20 in SUCH a long time, but between this theme, the beautiful insp post, and rewatching Bridgerton, I actually managed to crack out a whole 16-icon set! They are all fairly simple in terms of composition/lighting/colouring, partly because I wanted to focus on the cropping element for the theme, but also because I'm quite rusty at iconning in general and trying to do lots of things in one icon seems like a mammoth task at the moment. Still, hope you like! All screencaps used in this post can be found here, or click on the icon for that screencap.

Bridgerton [16]

Includes entry for somein30 R11 (Cropping)

Bridgerton x4
[01-04]
[05-08]
[09-12]
[13-16]

♥ Comments would be wonderful
♥ Please credit novindalf or split_loyalties
♥ Don't hotlink, alter, steal or repost my icons (especially to Fanpop - this includes uploading to Fanpop but still crediting me)
♥ Feel free to join or watch the comm!
♥ Resources are here and my requests post is here
♥ Thank you!

205. Twenty Icons

novindalf — Mon, 04 Oct 2021 15:07:25 GMT

Goodness me is this post overdue. There are some icons from way back in May here, as well as some I only made yesterday. Oops.
By the way, all screencaps used in this post can be found here.

Films [7]
Disney (Frozen II, Luca) [5]
Marvel (Black Panther, Wonder Woman) [2]

Television [10]
The 100 [1]
Bridgerton [6]
Brooklyn Nine-Nine [1]
The Good Place [1]
Once Upon a Time [1]

Alternates [3]

Includes entries for bestof_icons 2020 Remakes (contd.), color_inspired C230 (Summer in London), capicontest C129 (Pride) & movieslims R36 (Luca & Mean Girls)

Disney (Frozen II, Luca) x5
[01-05]
MCU (Black Panther, Wonder Woman) x2, The 100 x1, Bridgerton x2
[06-10]
Bridgerton x4, Brooklyn Nine-Nine x1
[11-15]
The Good Place x1, Once Upon a Time x1, alternates x3
[16-20]

♥ Comments would be wonderful
♥ Please credit novindalf or split_loyalties
♥ Don't hotlink, alter, steal or repost my icons (especially to Fanpop - this includes uploading to Fanpop but still crediting me)
♥ Feel free to join or watch the comm!
♥ Resources are here and my requests post is here
♥ Thank you!

Promo: movieslims R36 (Luca & Mean Girls)

novindalf — Sun, 15 Aug 2021 10:31:17 GMT

movieslims movieslims movieslims
Sign up for the new round - Luca & Mean Girls

Promo: genre_lims Round 2 (Period Drama)

novindalf — Sat, 07 Aug 2021 16:33:59 GMT

genre_lims| Round 02 Sign Ups.

204. Tutorial #20 - How to Create Text Along a Path in GIMP

novindalf — Sun, 27 Jun 2021 13:09:15 GMT

Tutorial: How to create text along a path in GIMP
Version / Transferability: I am currently using GIMP 2.10.22 but this should be transferable to other versions of GIMP.
Prior knowledge required: This tutorial assumes you know how to create new layers, create basic text, change active foreground colour, change active layer, turn off layer visibility.
References: I used this tutorial to learn how to do this process, so it forms the basis of this tutorial.

Before you start, you should know roughly what shape/path you want the text to be in (e.g. arc, circle, oval, square, wave etc.). If you want it to be a full circle, I suggest you get familiar with the steps below and then check out this page for how to make a circular path. I have gone with a simple arc for this example, but this method will help you make other shapes/paths too. A couple of examples:
1) Select the Paths tool from the Toolbox .
2) Click to place the first point of the path. Click to place the second point of the path. If you just want a simple straight path you can leave it there and skip to Step 7).
3) Click to place the next point(s) of the path. If you want a series of straight segments in your path you can leave it there once you have added all the straight segments of the path and skip to Step 7). If you want to make a closed path (e.g. a square or star), then you need to Ctrl+click join your final point up to the first point. Worth noting that the sharper the angle between two segments of the path (particularly if you are sticking with straight lines), the more likely you are to have text getting smushed at the corners (like in the star example above). You can play around with putting extra spaces between words or increasing the spacing of the text, but no guarantee it will work 100%.
4) To turn one of those straight segments into a curve, left click on the straight line connecting to points and drag it out to give an arc. You’ll notice that the arc is by default quite steep at the sides and shallow in the middle.
5) To adjust the steepness of the curve, use those adjusting points (the square ones at the end of the orange lines) by left-clicking and dragging the adjusting points until the arc looks as you want it.
6) Repeat for all the path segments you want to make curved.
7) Now when you open the Paths tab in the Patterns window you will see your path.
8) Now go ahead and make your text layer. If you can, try to make it roughly the same length as the length of your path, but you can adjust the text size later. You don’t have to worry about the colour of the text, but you will need to adjust the font, spacing and anything like antialiasing or hinting at this stage if you plan to use those options.
9) Make a new transparent layer, then click to select the text layer as active layer. Then in the Layers tab, right-click on the text layer and click Text along Path.
10) You’ll now have a red outline of your text that follows that path. You can see I didn’t quite manage to guess how big/wide my text needed in order to fill the path but that’s ok. If you don’t get a red outline but instead get a series of small white circles, press Ctrl+Z to undo, click to make the transparent layer the active layer, click to make the text layer the active layer, then repeat the second sentence of Step 9).
12) If you now go into the Paths tab in the Patterns window you will see your original plain path, plus the next text path that follows the original path.
12) If your text didn’t quite fit the path properly, you can right-click on the path, click Delete Path, make the text layer bigger, and then repeat Steps 9)-11), until the text path fits the full path. There’s a bit of trial and error involved here.
13) Once you are happy, go back into the Paths tab. Right-click on the text path and choose Path to Selection.
14) Change the active foreground colour to the colour you want the text to be.
15) In the Layers tab, make sure the new transparent layer is the active layer.
16) In the Paths tab, right-click on the text path and select Fill Path.
17) Then in the pop-up window click Fill. (Alternatively to Steps 15)-16), in the Edit drop-down, you can click Fill with FG Colour, Fill with BG Colour, or Fill with Pattern, as you choose.)
18) Now you can see that red highlighted text path is now filled with the colour you chose, and when you return to the Layers tab, what was the blank new layer will now have your warped text (tricky to see in this example, but trust me!)
19) Press Ctrl+A so the whole image is selected rather than just the path selection.
20) Then in the Paths tab delete the text tab to clear the red highlight around the warped text.
21) Finally in the Layer tab, turn off the visibility on the original un-warped text layer.
There you go! Now you can rotate, grow, shrink, re-colour or do whatever you like to the warped text to finish it off.
A couple of examples of icons I have made using this method: I hope that helps; please let me know if you get stuck or have any questions!

203. Thirty-Five Icons

novindalf — Sun, 18 Apr 2021 14:12:47 GMT

Had a bit of a surge in icon-making in March after I finally figured out how to warp text in GIMP!!! I entered a number of challenges and battles so most, if not all, of these have been posted elsewhere before, but here's my wrap-up from March all together.

Films [7]
The Legend of Zorro [1]
Persuasion (2007) [1]
The Ruby in the Smoke [1]
The Sound of Music [1]
Stardust [3]

Television [28]
Bridgerton [10]
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel [4]
Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries [1]
North & South (2004) [3]
Outlander [1]
Timeless [5]

Stock [4]

Includes entries for capicontest C121 (Two Fonts), elitesimplicity C286 (Never Iconed Before), stocklove_ic C17 (Wild and Free), perioddrama_ic C40 (Girl Power), itsabattlefield Big Battle 20 (Favourite Period Drama Male Characters), color_inspired C223 (Raspberry Reveillez) & itsabattlefield Small Battle 43 (Odd Cropping)

The Legend of Zorro x1, Persuasion (2007) x1, The Ruby in the Smoke x1, The Sound of Music x1, Stardust x1
[01-05]
Stardust x2, Bridgerton x3
[06-10]
Bridgerton x5
[11-15]
Bridgerton x2, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel x3
[16-20]
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel x1, Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries x1, North & South (2004) x3
[21-25]
Outlander x1, Timeless x4
[26-30]
Timeless x1, stock x4
[31-35]

♥ Comments would be wonderful
♥ Please credit novindalf or split_loyalties
♥ Don't hotlink, alter, steal or repost my icons (especially to Fanpop - this includes uploading to Fanpop but still crediting me)
♥ Feel free to join or watch the comm!
♥ Resources are here and my requests post is here
♥ Thank you!

202. Twenty-Eight Icons

novindalf — Mon, 01 Mar 2021 11:06:03 GMT

First post of 2021 with icons from January and February. I tried and failed miserably at switching over to PhotoShop, but I did update the version of GIMP I use from 2.8.6 to 2.10.22 at the start of February, so I've had to adjust to things being slightly different to what I am expecting! Don't think I'll be trying PS again for a while, I'm just too set in my ways and it was way too different!

Films [7]
Disney (Brave) [4]
MCU (Wonder Woman 1984) [1]
Narnia [1]
The Phantom of the Opera [1]

Television [17]
Anne With An E [5]
Bridgerton [2]
The Good Place [1]
Jane the Virgin [4]
Merlin [1]
Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries [2]
Timeless [2]

Stock [4]

Includes entries for stocklove_ic C11 (Winter Wonderland), elitesimplicity C281 (Too Soon), capicontest C117 (The Great Outdoors), bestof_icons Remakes 2020, capicontest C118 (Heather and Moss), capicontest C119 (Painted), elitesimplicity C284 (Hairporn) & perioddrama_ic C39 (Animated)

Disney (Brave) x4, MCU (Wonder Woman 1984) x1
[01-05]
Narnia x1, The Phantom of the Opera x1, Anne With An E x3
[06-10]
Anne With An E x2, Bridgerton x2, The Good Place x1
[11-15]
Jane the Virgin x4, Merlin x1
[16-20]
Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries x2, Timeless x2, stock x1
[21-25]
stock x3
[26-28]

♥ Comments would be wonderful
♥ Please credit novindalf or split_loyalties
♥ Don't hotlink, alter, steal or repost my icons (especially to Fanpop - this includes uploading to Fanpop but still crediting me)
♥ Feel free to join or watch the comm!
♥ Resources are here and my requests post is here
♥ Thank you!

201. Best Icon(s) of 2020

novindalf — Sun, 28 Feb 2021 13:55:47 GMT

The results of bestof_icons 2020 came back, and my best icon of 2020 was...

The rest of my top 13 were:

So it turns out green was a popular choice in my icons last year, which I guess makes sense as it's probably my favourite colour and I really enjoy making icons using it, which probably shows! I'm also really pleased to see some of my attempts at more complex compositions show up here as I've been trying to really focus on that lately. My 'best' icon wasn't necessarily my favourite, but it does have some different colouring and textures in it that I was trying out, so it's nice to see that experimentation pays off!

Thank you to everyone who took the time to vote! Take a look at everyone's best icon of 2020 by clicking the banner below!

My winning icons to date:
2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016

2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020

200. Icon Progression 2020

novindalf — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 20:31:37 GMT

Can I just be proud that I got this post up only a month into 2021, instead of April 2020, just I did for the 2018 post...

(coding by rocketgirl2)

2020 Resolutions

The icon resolutions I made at the end of 2019, for 2020, were:

1. Try to keep up the text and composition progress I started making this year, especially with text, composition and things like animation.

2. Maybe actually try to start using the Photoshop CS4 I bought a couple of years ago but never installed...

3. Actively comment on people's entries, not just when I want to know what fandom their icon(s) are from!

January

I started off January after essentially a 3 month break from iconning with an entry to your_favourites (Intro/Titles), a number of Frozen II icons, and new Legend of the Seeker obsession. I attribute the last one to having recently watched Timeless and been struck by how similar Bridget Regan and Abigail Spencer look, and remembering how much I loved Bridget Regan as Dottie in Agent Carter. I then of course had to include Dottie in the Villains challenge at tvshowsic, along with Regina Mills. I also made some more Timeless icons this month, trying to experiment with slightly unusual colouring that the episode screencaps featured, and I made a set of multi-fandom icons for capicontest's Four Seasons challenge.

# of icons: 28

Icon Posts: none

February

Having re-started iconning in January I promptly fell off the wagon in February. I went on a skiing holiday (my first ever) and also decided to finally start trying to find some hobbies outside of work and get a better social life. That was a pretty doomed endeavour…

# of icons: 0

Icon Posts: One

March

Coronavirus took over and the UK went into lockdown towards the end of the month, but we were being asked to be careful earlier than that so all of my social life/hobbies plans went out of the window and I needed to fill my time. I think quite a lot of us filled our free time with more iconning, and the icon community saw quite an increase in March/April in particular, with some comms and makers returning from hiatus, and a general increase in activity. I entered several challenges at my own comm capicontest (Royalty, Flotation Device and Pastels) as well as elitesimplicity (Headware – had to be MFMM for that one, there are so many lovely hats and accessories! – and Close Contact – I had just finished saving a load of LotS stills and also started rewatching Gilmore Girls), color_inspired (Vogue – the name of the challenge and the colour scheme just screamed MFMM for me), tvshowsic (One Seasons Shows – had to be Firefly), movieslims (start of the Wonder Woman round) and the7days (7 Reasons to Watch My Favourite Show – it was a toss-up between Timeless, MFMM and LotS, but ultimately I decided on Timeless).

# of icons: 40

Icon Posts: none

April

Another busy icon-making month thanks to lockdown, and a number of battles happening/starting this month. I entered the Period Drama battle and the Brooklyn Nine-Nine battle, made some more icons for the movieslims Wonder Woman round, and made my first Lucifer icons for the the7days Bingo challenge, having binge-watched all four series that had aired at the time (yay lockdown, again). Some of my icons at the start of each set started off quite lazy, but I checked myself and put more time and effort in, and I was much happier with the results towards the end of the sets.

# of icons: 47

Icon Posts: One

May

A quieter month of iconning despite lockdown continuing as work was getting busy again and I found it quite draining. I made some more icons for the movieslims Wonder Woman round, the itsabattlefield Partner Battle 2 (I was paired with luppiters and we each chose a fandom we had in common and a theme, and then mixed and matched my fandom choice with their theme, and vice verse), and the Fantasy Fandoms battle (despite organising this, I was really strapped for time and ended up making all but three of these on the final day, so they are rushed and quite simplistic, but I wanted to enter something).

# of icons: 17

Icon Posts: One

June

Work became even busier and draining (and I started applying to move offices), so I only made four icons this month, all for the Comedy battle.

# of icons: 4

Icon Posts: none

July

As with June, the only icons I made this month were for the Comedy battle. They were mostly Galavant or Brooklyn Nine-Nine icons, the former because someone had picked a Galavant screencap and it reminded me how much I loved that show, and the latter because I had a load of caps saved from the B99 battle that fitted the themes quite well.

# of icons: 8

Icon Posts: none

August

No icons in August as work got too much and I got the news that my application to move had been approved, so I was packing up my flat in preparation.

# of icons: 0

Icon Posts: none

September

Ditto September. I also had two weeks of much-needed holiday.

# of icons: 0

Icon Posts: none

October

My first icons for a couple of months were for the capicontest Green challenge (definitely one of my favourite colours, if not the favourite). I took inspiration from the elements of the screencap (the flowers on Anne's hat, the patterns on Nakia's shawl, the cut-out on Peggy's dress, the patterns on T'Challa's shirt) for the background. I also finally entered stocklove_ic for the first time for the Summer Paradise challenge, using some of my own photos from holidays/trips past.

# of icons: 9

Icon Posts: One

November

I started off November with a costume porn entry for capicontest, then made some Frozen 2 icons including some text work (!) that I am really proud of (!!!!) I made quite a few The Spanish Princess icons, having seen a load of The White Queen/Princess entries on the random TV tropes I ended up with for elitesimplicity, and then making more TSP icons for perioddrama_ic. In fact, because your_favourites also had a period TV show round, I made quite a lot of period drama icons this month, including The Great and Anne With An E. I finished off the month desperately trying to avoid the cliché of using florals for the Spring Forward, Fall Back round at capicontest.

# of icons: 18

Icon Posts: none

December

I started December with some primary colours for [Bad username: capicontest<lj], and finished off with a set of Aurora icons for capicontest, including winning that challenge with an icon from His Dark Materials, aka based on The Northern Lights, which I had been watching recently and had in fact inspired that very challenge! A rather satisfying way to round off the year!

# of icons: 15

Icon Posts: One & Two

Overall

# of icons: 186 (up on last year's 115)

# of icon posts: 6

Busiest month: April [47], then March [40]

Quietest month: February, August & September [0] (was on holiday early-February then trying to find some hobbies and social life outside of work, lol; was on holiday for a couple of weeks in September and all my free time in August and September was spent packing up my flat ahead of moving across the country early-October.)

Most iconned: Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries [17 – 18 if you count the Crypt of Tears icon too], Timeless [17], Brooklyn Nine-Nine [15], Frozen II [13], Legend of the Seeker [10], Lucifer [10], Wonder Woman [7], Outlander [6], Anne With An E [6], Galavant [6], The Spanish Princess [6].

Main new fandoms: Frozen II, Legend of the Seeker, Lucifer, Anne With An E.

Total number of icontests I placed in: 18 / 34 (including 3 non-voting icontest)

Biggest achievements/progress made/observations: I did make some nice progress with text, textures and composition, particularly in January, March and April (aka when I probably had the most time on my hands and was most on an iconning roll). I think on the whole my icons had a more polished look to them and there were fewer duds, although there are still a few I look back on and cringe at a LOT. I am definitely proud of my colouring work toward the end of the year though (that red+blue Anne With An E icon and the His Dark Materials aurora icon especially). Also, turns out I love yellow and used it quite a lot this year (although none of the individual yellow icons made it into my top 20 below, strangely enough)! I discovered a new appreciation for stock icons thanks to stocklove_ic, but I think it's fair to say negative space is still my favourite, particularly when the background matches the subject's clothing…

My personal favourites:

2021 Resolutions

1. Finish re-uploading all broken upl.co and photobucket links in old icon post

2. Post my textures!!

3. Install and try to figure out the Photoshop CS4 I bought a few years back.

4. Brush up on animation, and carry on working on text and composition.

5. Continue trying to actively comment on people's entries, not just when I want to know the fandom(s).

Promo: bestof_icons 2020

novindalf — Sat, 02 Jan 2021 17:28:42 GMT

bestof_icons
SCHEDULE
ICON REMAKE - JOIN IN! | MY THREAD
ICON RESOLUTIONS - JOIN IN! | MY THREAD
ICON NOMINATIONS - JOIN IN! | MY THREAD
bestof_icons

7/7 icons remade (click for original):

199. Fifteen Icons

novindalf — Thu, 31 Dec 2020 22:43:27 GMT

Final post of 2020 to compile all my remaining icons this year. Hope 2021 treats us all a whole lot better than 2020 did ♥

Films [3]
Enola Holmes [1]
The Greatest Showman [1]
Kingsman: The Secret Service [1]

Television [12]
Anne With An E [2]
Castle [1]
Elementary [1]
The Great [1]
His Dark Materials [1]
Lucifer [1]
Merlin [1]
Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries [1]
The Spanish Princess [1]
Spinning Out [1]

Includes entries for capicontest C113 (Primary Colours), elitesimplicity C279 (Vintage), bestof_icons 2019 Remake, capicontest C114 (Criminal) & capicontest C115 (Aurora)

Enola Holmes x1, The Greatest Showman x1, Kingsman: The Secret Service x1, Anne With An E x2
[01-05]
Castle x1, Elementary x1, The Great x1, His Dark Materials x1, How to Get Away With Murder x1
[06-10]
FLucifer x1, Merlin x1, Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries x1, The Spanish Princess x1, Spinning Out x1
[11-15]

♥ Comments would be wonderful
♥ Please credit novindalf or split_loyalties
♥ Don't hotlink, alter, steal or repost my icons (especially to Fanpop - this includes uploading to Fanpop but still crediting me)
♥ Feel free to join or watch the comm!
♥ Resources are here and my requests post is here
♥ Thank you!

198. Twenty-Seven Icons

novindalf — Tue, 08 Dec 2020 21:12:48 GMT

Icon dump from October and November below! All screencaps/images used in this post (except the stock which were from my own photographs) can be found here.

Films [8]
Disney (Aladdin 2019, Frozen II) [4]
Mamma Mia [1]
MCU (Black Panther) [2]
Miss Fisher and the Crypt of Tears [1]

Television [13]
Agent Carter [1]
Anne With An E [3]
Game of Thrones [1]
The Great [1]
Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries [2]
The Spanish Princess [5]

Stock [5]

Alternates [1]

Includes entries for capicontest C110 (It's Not Easy Being Green), capicontest C111 (Costume Porn), elitesimplicity C277 (Random TV Tropes), perioddrama_ic C35 (Provided Resources), your_favourites C107 (Period TV Show) & capicontest C112 (Spring Forward, Fall Back)

Disney (Aladdin 2019, Frozen II) x4, Mamma Mia! x1
[01-05]
MCU (Black Panther) x2, Miss Fisher and the Crypt of Tears x1, Agent Carter x1, Anne With An E x1
[06-10]
Anne With An E x2, Game of Thrones x1, The Great x1, Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries x1
[11-15]
Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries x1, The Spanish Princess x4
[16-20]
The Spanish Princess x1, Stock x4
[21-25]
Stock x1, Alternate x1
[26-27]

♥ Comments would be wonderful
♥ Please credit novindalf or split_loyalties
♥ Don't hotlink, alter, steal or repost my icons (especially to Fanpop - this includes uploading to Fanpop but still crediting me)
♥ Feel free to join or watch the comm!
♥ Resources are here and my requests post is here
♥ Thank you!

Promo: movieslims R32 (The Boys)

novindalf — Tue, 08 Dec 2020 18:46:04 GMT

movieslims movieslims movieslims
Sign up for the new round - The Boys

197. Thirteen Icons

novindalf — Sat, 17 Oct 2020 15:23:31 GMT

It's been a pretty busy few months for me so I didn't make any icons in August or September, and I just realised I never posted these from end of May – July here, so here's a mini icon dump. Maybe finally posting these will motivate me to make some more icons before October is through! Click on the banner at the bottom to see all the great icons made for the Comedy Battle. (Click on individual icons to see the screencaps they were made from, or go here for the album of screencaps from this post.)

Films [1]
MCU (Wonder Woman) [1]

Television [12]
Brooklyn Nine-Nine [4]
Galavant [6]
The Good Place [1]
The IT Crowd [1]

Includes entries for movieslims R30 (Wonder Woman) contd. & the Comedy Battle at icontalking

MCU (Wonder Woman) x1, Brooklyn Nine-Nine x4
[01-05]
Galavant x5
[06-10]
Galavant x1, The Good Place x1, The IT Crowd x1
[11-13]

♥ Comments would be wonderful
♥ Please credit novindalf or split_loyalties
♥ Don't hotlink, alter, steal or repost my icons (especially to Fanpop - this includes uploading to Fanpop but still crediting me)
♥ Feel free to join or watch the comm!
♥ Resources are here and my requests post is here
♥ Thank you!

196. Sixty-Three Icons

novindalf — Sat, 30 May 2020 18:57:28 GMT

Icon dump from April and May, including three battles (click on the banners at the bottom to go to the respective results posts). Click on individual icons to go to the original screencap, or go here for all the screencaps used in this post.

Films [25]
Disney (Brave, Frozen 2) [11]
Harry Potter [1]
Maleficent: Mistress of Evil [3]
MCU (Wonder Woman) [5]
The Mask of Zorro [1]
Narnia [1]
The Phantom of the Opera [2]
The Sound of Music [1]

Television [34]
Agent Carter [1]
Anne With An E [1]
Brooklyn Nine-Nine [7]
Downton Abbey [1]
The Durrells [5]
Legend of the Seeker [1]
Lucifer [7]
Medici: Masters of Florence [2]
Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries [2]
North and South (2004) [1]
Outlander [2]
The Pillars of the Earth [1]
Timeless [2]
The White Princess [1]

Alternates [4]

Includes entries for movieslims R30 (Wonder Woman), Period Drama Battle at sininferno, elitesimplicity C265 (Yellow), the7days C233 (7x7 Bingo), Brooklyn Nine-Nine Battle at sininferno, itsabattlefield Partner Battle 2 & icontalking Fantasy Fandoms Battle

Disney (Brave, Frozen 2) x5
[01-05]
Disney (Frozen 2) x5
[06-10]
Disney (Brave, Frozen 2) x1, Harry Potter x1, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil x3
[11-15]
MCU (Wonder Woman) x5
[16-20]
The Mask of Zorro x1, Narnia x1, The Phantom of the Opera x2, The Sound of Music x1
[21-25]
Agent Carter x1, Anne With An E x1, Brooklyn Nine-Nine x3
[26-30]
Brooklyn Nine-Nine x4, Downton Abbey x1
[31-35]
The Durrells x5
[36-40]
Legend of the Seeker x1, Lucifer x4
[41-45]
Lucifer x3, Medici: Masters of Florence x2,
[46-50]
Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries x2, North and South (2004) x1, Outlander x2
[51-55]
The Pillars of the Earth x1, Timeless x2, The White Princess x1
[56-59]
Alternates x4
[60-63]

♥ Comments would be wonderful
♥ Please credit novindalf or split_loyalties
♥ Don't hotlink, alter, steal or repost my icons (especially to Fanpop - this includes uploading to Fanpop but still crediting me)
♥ Feel free to join or watch the comm!
♥ Resources are here and my requests post is here
♥ Thank you!

Promo: Fantasy Fandoms battle

novindalf — Sun, 19 Apr 2020 09:14:12 GMT

💫 🏰 💫 🏰 💫
Sign-up here at icontalking!

195. Forty Icons

novindalf — Fri, 03 Apr 2020 09:57:42 GMT

Icon dump of icons I made in March. Each icon is linked to the main screencap used, and all screencaps used in this post are here. Been quite a productive month apparently, can't think why that might be… Hope everyone is staying safe, staying indoors, and taking care of themselves and those around them xx

Films [8]
Cinderella (2015) [1]
Crazy Rich Asians [1]
Disney etc. (How to Train Your Dragon 3, Lilo and Stitch) [2]
The Greatest Showman [1]
Maleficent: Mistress of Evil [1]
Mamma Mia [1]
MCU (Wonder Woman) [1]

Television [31]
Brooklyn Nine-Nine [1]
Firefly [4]
Gilmore Girls: A Year In the Life [1]
The Good Place [1]
Legend of the Seeker [2]
Merlin [1]
Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries [10]
Once Upon a Time [1]
Outlander [1]
Timeless [8]
Victoria [1]

Alternates [1]

Includes entries for capicontest C95 (Royalty), elitesimplicity C262 (Headwear), capicontest C96 (Flotation Device), user R30 (Wonder Woman) C1, tvshowsic C251 (One Season Shows), capicontest C97 (Pastels), elitesimplicity C264 (Close Contact) & the7days C232 (7 Reasons to Watch My Favourite Show)

Cinderella (2015) x1, Crazy Rich Asians x1, Disney etc. (How to Train Your Dragon 3, Lilo and Stitch) x2, The Greatest Showman x1
[01-05]
Maleficent: Mistress of Evil x1, Mamma Mia x1, MCU (Wonder Woman) x1, Brooklyn Nine Nine x1, Firefly x1
[06-10]
Firefly x3, Gilmore Girls: A Year In the Life x1, The Good Place x1
[11-15]
Legend of the Seeker x2, Merlin x1, Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries x2
[16-20]
Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries x5
[21-25]
Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries x3, Once Upon a Time x1, Outlander x1
[26-30]
Timeless x5
[31-35]
Timeless x3, Victoria x1
[36-39]
alternates x1
[40]

♥ Comments would be wonderful
♥ Please credit novindalf or split_loyalties
♥ Don't hotlink, alter, steal or repost my icons (especially to Fanpop - this includes uploading to Fanpop but still crediting me)
♥ Feel free to join or watch the comm!
♥ Resources are here and my requests post is here
♥ Thank you!

194. Best Icon(s) of 2019

novindalf — Tue, 24 Mar 2020 18:38:39 GMT

A little late, but the results at bestof_icons came in a while back and my best icon of 2019 was...

The rest of my top 9 were:

It's quite a mixture of styles, fandoms, and how early/late in the year the icons were made and I'm not really sure how to interpret that. I have been making an active effort to try new things and not always stick to the same style, so it's nice to see some of the more experimental icons in here, especially the text ones. Some of these were super simple to make though, not what I think of as my 'best' efforts, but at least one of my personal favourites (DTF Holt ;D) made it in there.

Anyway, thank you to everyone who took the time to vote! Take a look at everyone's best icon of 2019 by clicking the banner below!

My winning icons to date:

Promo: movieslims Round 30 (Wonder Woman)

novindalf — Sun, 08 Mar 2020 17:54:05 GMT

movieslims movieslims movieslims
Sign up for the new round - Wonder Woman

193. Twenty-Eight Icons

novindalf — Sun, 16 Feb 2020 14:17:51 GMT

First post of 2020, and it's a belated icon dump from January as I haven't made anything in February so far. I had a three-month break at the end of 2019 from icon-making while I was away with work so I felt incredible rusty making these, but it was nice to be getting back into the habit. I recently saw Frozen 2 and also saw Legend of the Seeker for the first time, and the similar (or so I think, anyone agree?) appearance of Bridget Regan and Abigail Spencer made me think a rewatch of Timeless was in order, so there are a few icons from all of those in here, as well as some extras from various challenges.

ETA: A gallery of all the screencaps used in this post can be found here.

Disney (Frozen 2) [4]

Television [24]
Agent Carter [1]
Brooklyn Nine-Nine [1]
Downton Abbey [1]
Game of Thrones [1]
Legend of the Seeker [7]
Merlin [1]
Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries [1]
Once Upon a Time [1]
Outlander [3]
Timeless [7]

Includes entries for your_favourites C87 (Into/Titles), capicontest C92 (Four Seasons) & tvshowsic C246 (Villains)

Disney (Frozen 2) x4, Agent Carter x1
[01-05]
Brooklyn Nine-Nine x1, Downton Abbey x1, Game of Thrones x1, Legend of the Seeker x2
[06-10]
Legend of the Seeker x5
[11-15]
Merlin x1, Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries x1, Once Upon a Time x1, Outlander x2
[16-20]
Outlander x1, Timeless x4
[21-25]
Timeless x3
[26-28]

♥ Comments would be wonderful
♥ Please credit novindalf or split_loyalties
♥ Don't hotlink, alter, steal or repost my icons (especially to Fanpop - this includes uploading to Fanpop but still crediting me)
♥ Feel free to join or watch the comm!
♥ Resources are here and my requests post is here
♥ Thank you!