The background is absolutely terrible. Even an empty black background would be better than that. The handle is again terrible; it's offcenter, squigly, and looks like a kid drew it with crayons. The blade is reasonable; if the rest was improved then it would be acceptable. But I'd rather you improve the blade, too.
1/5 for now, sorry.
2/5 if you make a better background (could just be black with green fog, or even just empty blackness would be better than squiggly lines) and a better handle.
3/5 or higher if you: Completely redraw the icon to something worth a rating higher than 2.
You couldn't have possibly thought that this icon was really acceptable quality. Listen to my advice; from now on, whenever you upload anything, here's the first thing you need to think: "Would I import that into a map that I was going to publicly release?". If the answer is no, then you shouldn't upload it here, because if you wouldn't even use it, then how could you expect anyone else to. Could you really imagine somebody using this icon in their map? I thought my icons were bad, but this... This is just unacceptable.
I'm not saying this to be mean, but you're going to have to practice drawing until you can submit something of acceptable quality. Plenty of people start out where you are: making very poor resources. I started out pretty bad myself. But you'll have to accept when your poor resources are rejected, and keep working until you make something that is approvable. Again -- Before you upload something, think to yourself: "If I imported this, would its quality be low enough so as to stand out as poor against the other content of the map?". Save the moderators some time by making that decision yourself before you upload something; you should have been able to tell that this icon just wasn't good enough, before you even uploaded it.
In the end, the only way to get better is practice. Keep doing it. I never read any guides, never had training; nothing. Granted, my icons are still fairly poor, averaging in 2/5 or 3/5 in quality, but at least they're approvable. I suppose my models would be a better example -- I never had training, and didn't read guides, for making models. My first two models were terrible. Then I matured a bit, and realized: maybe I should just practice a bit, make models for a while, and when I make something that could be acceptable, then upload it. Why upload every single thing I make, when even I know it's not good enough?
Many of us have been where you are, you'll just have to keep practicing until you're better, and don't be afraid of criticism. Criticism just points out your flaws so that you can fix them. (I'm not talking about nitpicking or trolling, just constructive criticism in general). Unfortunately, this icon isn't really improvable; you'll have to completely redraw it.
Approved
Submission Rules
