How to make a building icon? (non-technical, art)

[CaptainHec]

I've tried making an icon that looks like "Blizzard" for my building models, without success. Someone who is of art and who takes pity on me.

My ideas:

The icons are drawn, they are not screenshots of the model. It's true? Can a similar result be achieved with a filter? (I use Gimp but I know how to use photoshop)

 

[Gnuoy]

As far as Blizzard, I think they have an artist draw a nice one by hand then they shrink it down to an icon?

Maybe move to this forum instead: Art and Graphic Designs

 

[Pyrogasm]

Generally speaking the things you're trying to make into icons have too much detail and aren't simple enough. The top set is also too desaturated/monotone-adjacent. Good icons are readable at 64x64 because they feature what you need to see prominently, use only few differentiating colors, and don't have unnecessary details that would obscure the subject or confuse the viewer at such a small scale.

Starting with a screenshot and painting over it could be the play, but a straight screenshot will (IMO) never look right.

 

[CaptainHec]

Indeed, it is a very different job, so it has to be done manually. There is no filter that is usually used to get closer to the final result and then only make a few touch-ups.