1wonderment | 2020 Progression Post

I meant to get this up sooner, but it took longer than I thought!
I hope you enjoy seeing my icon progression through 2020.
Hopefully, 2021 will be a better year iconwise and otherwise.

Three mostly wintery-themed posts for January. My first post was mostly just random stock icons and trying out different colorings.

I didn't have much time for iconning in December 2019, so I winded up finishing up my Disney 20 in 20 Christmas icons in January 2020! ^^ Finding wintery-themed Disney caps was harder than I expected! I think I tended to oversharpen them because it was so hard to keep the smaller details in the icon. I did try to do more complex icons: I think the Mulan/Shang icon turned out really well! I was trying out textures behind them, and somehow it started reminding me of a Christmas tree! ^^

I also posted my Narnia 20 in 20 icons. I remember being pretty upset because I lost a lot psds around this time, especially for this particular set. T-T Still, I managed to get quite a few plus a few alternates. I wasn't quite happy with this batch, especially with the textwork, but I did have a lot of fun getting creative with the "Not 100x100" category icons. Instead of just making smaller icons or making the button icons that I made a lot of in my earlier days, I got rid of as much background as I could (I added a teal background so you can see). I was really proud of the artist choice icons too! The caps from the Stone table scene were a little dark, but I really the bluish coloring that I accidentally stumbled upon!

Wow! I managed to churn out seven posts in February! I participated in Disney 20 in 20's New Year theme and was able to complete all 20 icons plus some alternates. While I was happy with some of them, I think I was both struggling and improving with textwork. I was particularly proud of my Mushu icon with the textwork and color combinations.

I also finished my remakes of my 2019 icons from the

bestof_icons remake challenge. Except for the Eowyn icon, I don't think I really liked any of my remakes very much. T-T

For my third post, I had a huge batch of icons from various icontests and challenges! Mostly stuff from period dramas, Narnia, and Middle Earth. I did do a few Carmen Sandiego ones (I need to catch up on the second season, too! >.<), and I tried out some new ideas for text.

I also participated in a partner battle at

itsabattlefield with

luppiters. I really had fun with this battle, and I think we both had some gorgeous icons!

The next post from February was the Chocolates round at

monthlyinspo. The inspiration post was soooo beautiful! I really enjoyed creating icons to match the different chocolates! I think the theme really helped me to branch out into colors I don't normally choose like the raspberry, coconut, and orange icons.

The last two posts were for

makiiing10in30 (Seven Wonders of the World) and

splash20in20 (Mint Green). I really had a hard time with the Wonders because most of the photos were taken from the same angle. Mint green was a challenge too. I wish the stock sites did a better job of tagging the photos. When you type in "mint," you get photos of the mint plant or peppermint candy.

March was when everyone started getting serious about COVID-19, but my family had already started to prepare. One of my classmates was in China plus we were aware of what was going on in Korea. The universities were giving students time to adjust to the new restrictions, so I was able to get some icons in. My only post for March was for

narnia20in20. I really tried to work on lighting and coloring on this set. I experimented with the bicolored look and soft light textures. I was trying to go for a clean, crisp look. I think I succeeded on some of them! ^^

I didn't make any posts during April although I entered a few icontests. I was busy with a lot of projects and stuff!

The first post for May was the auction at

ffoz_offerings. I had a bit of hard time trying to find HQ caps and promo pics from Cranford and The Young Victoria, but I really had fun trying out new compositions and ideas for text. I also fell back to my "shiny" coloring that I used to do before I took my long hiatus on LJ.

The second post for May was for the Fantasy Battle that novidalf kindly hosted at

icontalking. I almost wasn't able to finish my icons for the battle because I was finishing up my final projects, but some the icons weren't as well-done as I wanted to be. I experimented some with composition and text. I really liked how the "wicked stepmother" icon turned out in terms of colors and text. I also tried a little more experimentation with hair painting. The Susan icon turned out okay, but I think some of the curls turned out to be dreadlocks instead! >.<

Three posts for June! My first post was from fandom10in30's Mystery Box round! I really enjoyed trying to figure out how to incorporate the textures and themes into my icon. Many of the textures were ones that I don't typically use.

The second post was the 10 in 20 challenge at

perioddrama_ic. I had not previously done many icons from Ever After, so I decided to do a few from that movie. I've always loved the costumes! I also went back and made some icons for the 1995 Sense and Sensibility and The Young Victoria. I also made some animated icons! I think this was my first time using a more complicated gif overlay.

The third post was my entry for icons10in20 at Dreamwidth. I decided to icon Yuna since I hadn't in a while. I forgot how much I love working with her photoshoots. There's a lot of HQ images because she's so popular in Korea and around the world! For this batch, I did a lot of cutting so that I could use different backgrounds! I also experimented some more with the pen tool and hair painting!

I finally changed my username after scrapping up funds! ^^ My first post was a miscellaneous collection of icons for various battles and challenges. I experimented some with unnatural coloring (as seen in the Susan icon), but I really worked out on layering textures for complex icons. I also tried out the silhouette look. I think I had tried it once before, but I wasn't very good at cutting back then! ^^ I also experimented with using lots of different fonts in my text and doing the negative space with large text in the background.

My second post was

tvmovie20in20. Not only did I do 20 icons for my actual entry, I also managed to churn out another 20 alts! I guess I was feeling uber inspired! ^^ I really liked how most of the icons turned out. I was really experimenting (this year has been a series of experiments, lol!) with muted coloring, unnatural coloring, and the texture-painted look for this round. I also tried using some more gif overlays in my animated icons!

None for August

September signaled the beginning of

somein30 and its first round. The technical game theme was both inspiring and difficult, but I managed to finish 16 icons as well as some alternates. I'm particularly proud of the first icon because I was able to transform the moment from a serious one to a more dramatic, gothic one! Not to mention that's the one everyone voted for! ^^ I think the themes really helped me to use a variety of techniques and colorings and to create more complex icons!

Just two posts for October! My first post was Kpop idols and Kdrama actresses for icons10in20 at Dreamwidth. I had never really iconned guy Kpop idols, so it was a really interesting process! Not to mention, I got to try out some different colorings. I really tried to be creative with the themes! More experimentation with the pen tool and gif overlays!

My second post was my entry for

somein30's heroes vs. villains round. I really enjoyed sharing my thoughts behind Edmund and the White Witch. I'm also really proud of this particularly batch.... well, at least of several icons in this batch! ^^ I really liked how the textwork turned out in my Queen of Ice icon, and the composition and coloring in the "It's mine to take" icon turned out smashingly! ^^ The Edmund icons didn't turn out so well, although I think some of my textwork turned out well!

Only 2 posts for November. My first post consisted of icons from various icontests, challenges, and battles. I tried to experiement a little more with colors, compositions, and text. I also branched out in my subjects by iconning Kpop idols and started to icon Kdramas again! I was particularly proud of my IU icon because I finally got her hair to get the painted look I've been trying out for the last few months. I think I'm also getting better with my color palette! ^^

My second post was my icons for the Vibrant vs. Muted round at

somein30. I decided to do the hard mode since there wasn't an extra hard mode! I experimented a lot with my coloring and composition. I had tried out some muted colorings before, but I really went all out this time! I also found some great tutorials that helped me with muted coloring. Oh how I love gradient maps! I already liked using them before, but they really are quite fabulous!!!!

Technically, my first post of the year was really supposed to be posted on December 31st and are icons made in 2020! It mainly consisted of stock icons I planned to post earlier in the month but couldn't because of work. The Lucy icon was supposed to be for the Memories round at

somein30. I was so sad I wasn't able to participate. I really liked the idea! The period icons were for

ella_rose88 as part of

perioddrama_ic's Secret Santa icon exchange! I hadn't done any Pride and Prejudice icons in a while, so I was really trying to be creative with my composition. I really liked the sort of grungy look of the last icon. ^^