Criticism needed for my icon

[Zealon]

Hey guys, I've been around for about a year now but I still havn't contibuted to the site yet. So recently I decided to attemt somthing, here is my icon:

If your wondering what it is, its just supposed to be like dried and cracked earth or somthing.

I'm still new to the whole icon-ing thing; so any feedback, suggestions, or criticism is more then welcome

 

[GhostThruster]

Where's the dagger

Looks cool, needs more shading. It looks too pale and 2D as of now, you'll need to darken some bits. Nice work.

 

[Zealon]

Thanks I'll do more shading. And I'll try to darken it too, but is there a tool or somthing I could use to darken the image, or will I have to go over everything with darker colours?

And about the dagger, I will try to finish it after this one. This was just supposed to be a little test of Gimp (since I just got it a few days ago) But I ended up making somthing cool out of it ^^

Thanks alot for Gimp though, I can't believe how dumb paint looks now that I have this.

 

[-Grendel]

so yeah like what GhostThruster said, you need to add more shading especially on those cracks so that it'll look deeper. but good try on your first icon^_^ +rep

 

[Zealon]

Especially the cracks, got it
I'll also give them downward streaks to make the icon look more 3D

Also I did make a small dagger icon WIP on paint, so I guess its my second icon

And thank you for the comment and the rep

 

[-Grendel]

and you might also want to add small rocks, just for details to reduce the "monochromaticness" or whatever that word is

 

[Zealon]

Yeah great idea I'll do that ^^

 

[GhostThruster]

@Zealon: Use the Dodge/Burn tool to brighten/darken.

I don't really think it needs anything else, the pattern/shapes are looking good as of now.

 

[Zealon]

Updated!
but without stones yet.

I'll do that tomorrow, but feel free to tell me what you think

 

[GhostThruster]

Heaps better!
Still needs alot of darkening in the cracks and certain parts of the ground.

 

[-Peper-]

Cool, but the inner parts should be more darker.

 

[Dentothor]

Its not really all too exciting. There should be something that would attract peoples attention maybe like something happening. Right now nothing is really happening and its incredibly boring. As well as being boring, i cant really see too much use for it other than maybe like a drought icon or something.

I would kind of picture a person draining the moisture from the ground for a drought icon. something like that would appeal quite well to the users. Just anything more exciting would work. just rocks and gravel is quite boring.

~Dentothor

 

[Zealon]

Thanks Peper, GT and Dent for comments

@Dentothor, So is there actually any chance of this getting approved in the icon section? Or should I just scrap this version and start over? D:

 

[Dentothor]

Im not sure. I would approve it for its quality, but not for its usefulness. But thats just me.

 

[GhostThruster]

Could be used as a skin/armor upgrade too.

 

[-Peper-]

Or skill.

 

[Zealon]

Im not sure. I would approve it for its quality, but not for its usefulness. But thats just me.

Thank you I'll take that as a compliment ^^

And yeah I guess you're right about it not being very useful because when I started making this, I never thought about how useful this would be. I just thought it would be a simple/easy to make, and I didn't see one in the icon section either so I just made it.

 

[rcshaggy]

The top reminds me of a map for some reason and it looks good now man.
Looks great for a quest on some dirt and a collection quest.

 

[Zealon]

Updated!

But I have my doubts about this one, do you think its better or worse then the previous?
And should I either go ahead with making the stones or instead make mini cracks?

 

[ELFoglalt]

The 3rd one looks pretty good actually. You could try making it a bit more desaturated/witeish. When sandy, clayey earth dries most of the places it becomes white.

Look at these pictures:
http://www.rainforestpublishing.com.au/international_images/Atacama Desert.jpg
http://www.kued.org/uploads/photos/29_bigstockphoto_dried_earth_250490.jpg
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_0zuV68V_j1g/R9bka0lT3tI/AAAAAAAAAHE/IJJ6ut5a-s4/pics+125.jpg
OR, you should make it reddish, so it stands out that it's not ordinary sand.
OR, you should make it brownish and you got dried earth which is created when some really wet area dries out.

Something else: Make sure you don't make the cracks totally black to avoid the icon looking cartoonish.

Otherwise, nice work, I like the icon.

 

[GhostThruster]

Looks really nice! To me, it looks like Dragon or dinosaur skin.

 

[Zealon]

@ELFoglalt, thank you very much. Your advice and those pics were very helpful.

@GhostThruster yeah I saw that too, it looks kinda like The Thing's skin.

The Thing

And thanks everyone I'll keep improving this until it looks good enough to be uploaded in the icon section ^^

 

[GhostThruster]

Fantastic 4 ftw!

I think the actual rock surface needs more cracks, as right now it looks way too smooth.

 

[Zealon]

Agreed I'll get rid of the round looking edges, and put smaller cracks everywhere.
Is there a way to delete burn/dodge after you've drawn it in? Or do I need to highlight it or somthing to cancel it out?

 

[Dentothor]

Your using skinning techniques rather than icon ones. js.

 

[Zealon]

Really? I've read a few icon tutorials, but never a skinning one, lol. Its just my style of drawing I guess. I hope it dosn't look too bad.

Also this next update is taking ages.
I'm re-doing the edges, and the surface of the ground.

 

[Ganondorf]

Really? I've read a few icon tutorials, but never a skinning one, lol. Its just my style of drawing I guess. I hope it dosn't look too bad.

Also this next update is taking ages.
I'm re-doing the edges, and the surface of the ground.

You see, he means mostly it still looks a little 2d instead of 3d. I suggest you to make it look like it has a 45 degree perspective, or less, because right now, it's like 90 degree, you know what i mean. Skinning mostly is like that. You make it not from perspective, but from the 90 degree angle.

 

[GhostThruster]

Also, when you make icons, you're supposed to use a certain theme, for example an object or spell. No one will really use a ground icon (though it's definitely approvable). If you look at it from a different angle, then you can perhaps include like a shining horizon, or something to make this icon more eventful.

 

[Zealon]

Yeah thanks guys for the tips, I know exactly what you mean. Although I'm not sure if I can do it with this icon, because if you look closely at the first version it was 100% 2D because it was meant to be at an angle from directly above. But I've leaned alot more these past few days, so I won't make another mistake like that again.

So I'll try my best to change the angle, but I can't promise it'll work.

 

[Arisaitou]

cool! it looks quite unrealistic , but if you add more things like peper said, "add more inner parts", it'll be fantastic!Really,! or add a dagger/sword/something that pierces the ground! it'll be awesome!

 

[Zealon]

Thanks for the idea, I might actually do that since I have found the tool that changes its perspective. I'll also change the concept from dried up ground, to a blade in the ground creating an earthquake. But of course this might take me a while, since I don't have much time these days.

 

[Arisaitou]

then take your time! I'm going to subscribe until the icon's finished!

 

[kola]

Very nice.. The last one will definitely be approved if you upload it.