Contest with one Judge... dire times, it will get better i have faith.
However, maybe i can "offer an opinion" on the contest, as a user.
A... judgy opinion, a judge'ish opinion ? err a Judgement infused opinion!... infused by... judgement???? <insert Judgement Paladin face here>
Jokes aside I'm like 0.1% of the "artist" the
actual artists in this contest are but in order to be a pressure release valve for the contest i'm going to write my opinion on the entries. Its all fair if yall feel like assblasting anything i write to oblivion, infact i welcome it, i think Footie will appreciate the Food(t) for thought though.
Villagerinos: This entry is in my opinion the most Warcraft 3 themed... You can almost get away by telling someone "these were always in the game". When choosing icons, mapmakers often need to have a style in mind for the very "batch" of icons they use, no matter if ones quality is greater than the other, in technicality or otherwise. But if your alley is "just Warcraft 3" these icons almost feel like they're part of the hidden assets i haven't unearthed yet.
The progression is pristine and i struggle to criticize it.
Panda's: There is plenty of "dark arrows" and similar icons floating around however i think Panda has put that whole situation to rest by releasing very practical and well drawn arrows. Dark Arrows, Good ones that both fit and are not overdone are hard to come by, such a simple shape, yet difficult to master, difficult even, to keep yourself from overdoing it. I feel like Blizzards own arrow and in this case, Dark Arrow samples are very difficult to "replace" and ive looked and tried to modify other arrows to do so, it doesn't quite scratch it for me. Here i especially like the first and second shapes, they look deadly, doesn't look like something that will bounce off. The 3rd icon is a good upgrade over the 2nd one aswell though the changing of the shape while not yet immersion breaking the changing of the arrow color to what almost looks like pure silver is a bit "out of character" But its all good.
I think the 4th icon however is the main problem because it can easily be used as some arcane bolt or other projectile because the arrow fades too much away.
Vinz I feel like this line-up is a good moment to talk about whether or not the name of the set is supposed to be all that important to whats actually happening in the icons ? I dont think thats the question that matters as much, though if so we can safely crown Panda as the winner because you can't make an icon set like that and call it anything but Dark Arrows and have anyone complain about it, even if mapmakers have creative uses for icons. Even Villagerinos icon sets can be used for many things other than what they were named.
With that said, I feel like its a missed oppertunity that repair and goblin are the theme in question and there is a distinct lack of the color green.
On another point however, taking what you've decided to create "a puldron or round armored bit of some sort with a bolt going in" the fact that what is drawn is both high quality and interesting is commendable, i think if someone told me "you get a bolt going through a round shoulderpad of a mech, in 64x64... now go, make it interesting..." i would just go ahead and die after the first and halfway through the second.
So your talent and skill to execute things brilliantly make it so your decision over
what to create comes out with a degree of quality thats
impossible to degrade. However, your last icon suffers half and half from the same breaking of the set as Pandas 4th Icon did and in my opinion it lets itself go far into special effects. Especially when the Mech shoulderpad is now a space Dome. And i love Domes.
Marchombre I do like the old school rpg feel of your icon but i think the foundational bow suffers from lack of contrast and detail. I mostly like the progression of the physical bow to be fair, though i think the 3rd icon could be better with a red special effect so its different enough from the 4th ones glow, light orange is more of a cousin to yellow than bright red, plus the red would fit with what appear to be an otherwise Native American inspired bow with the feathers.
Even though i like the physical bow progression i think the last bow almost feels like it provides a better foundation, like if you were to take the last bow and work your way back without changing the overall shape of the bow nor the fact that its no longer wooden, just working back from that would've offered better potential, especially since now you have colored runes to work with.
PrinceYaser You shape yourself after the LichKing but i might call you a Lich Wizard, because i have no idea how do you cram so much into a 64x64 frame without having it look scuffed or lose its detail, hell its technically 54x54 pixels of real-estate, and brother, you've used all the free real-estate you could get your hands on with maximum effectiveness.
The progression of the icons do suffer though when you change colors for example from blue to green it makes the only remaining clear progression the "armor getting bulkier" and i do notice the fact that the 3rd icon looks bulkier than the 4th, almost as if the special effects and the flaming chest emblem of the 4th icon should be moved over to the 3rd one and have them switch places.
These icons are a prime example of how to make small icons that look high resolution, hack your eyes and the monitors too and not have me say something like "its too much details for the size its supposed to work for". Idk how you do it, Lich Wizard.
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Thanks to everyone here that took time out of their day to make icons.
