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Anyone got tips for making icons?

Yeah, sorry if it's been posted before or whatnot, but I need some tips how to make icons.
I need to know pretty much everything about it.

*Edit*
Well, some general things people think to themselves when making icons. In a sense, guidelines and such.

Hehe.
I have some ideas but I can't put them into Fireworks/Illustrator/Photoshop right now. I need some more techniques to see if I can make it any better.

So, tips or websites, or even tutorials, please :)

Ben

Posted by Benwithjamin on May 26, 2007 in Blab | 13 comments

rajr19 on May 26, 2007

what i do is i take an image set the opacity to 30% and then start using the pen tool over it

then do the shading and presto

(illustrator)

dyar on May 26, 2007

Get Inkscape a Free Open Source Graphics Editor.

silveria on May 26, 2007

http://www.sitepoint.com/article/create-xp-style-icons
http://www.suodenjoki.dk/us/productions/articles/xp_folder_icon.htm

But I know I'm inspired.
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y183/splendoria/icons.gif

Benwithjamin on May 26, 2007

Well, when I said everything I meant just general tips that people think to themselves. Hehe. I'm never going to become an expert...

iconmaster on May 26, 2007

I need to know pretty much everything about it.

Sure, that'll take... about ten years.

Creating icons involves four things:

1) Rendering skill (perspective, form, light and shadow)

2) Technical skill (working with dimensions and bit depths, anti-aliasing and alpha transparency, file formats, etc.)

3) Knowledge of existing industry logographic conventions

4) Talent for representing concepts visually when no agreed-upon concept exists

If you're serious about designing icons, the best place to start is with a pad of paper and a Uniball pen. Learn to draw first. Then master drawing with a software tool.

Benwithjamin on May 26, 2007

Ah right. I admire you and the other chefs even more now that I know there's a lot more to it.

Well, I suppose if you've got an eye for perspective and light and shadow it'd be easier than if you had to learn it or refer to a diagram or something.

I can't really explain what I mean. I suppose it's one of those things you can't teach but you can improve yourself over time.

Tachi on May 26, 2007

I'll never be an expert, but it's sure a fun hobby. ^_^

The worst part (aside from the artistic skill you need to make icons OTHERS can appreciate ^^;) seems to be finding a program that can save the images as transparent icons. There is a photoshop plugin out there somewhere (I want to say it was recently updated even) that can save to the .ico format.

For my part, it's just something fun to do because I like to play in photoshop. lol

I dare say, though... cursors are worse. Speaking of freeware only, I have yet to find a decent cursor maker that can handle transparency. (Which given the technology of today, I think is really, really sad.)

louiemctool on May 26, 2007

If you're still looking, and you don't mind paying a little bit o' moola, I have found one tool that lets me turn images into icons. It's a program called IconWorkshop, by Axialis Software. You can download a trial from Download.com...

I think the "personal" license is ~$30. It's a neat little program that lets you stack prefabricated "objects" to create icon projects. The neat thing is that you can import images to create your own "objects" and also export the icon as an image for vector projects.

i apologize to josh & co. if i'm stepping on their toes here. i mean no disrespect. i love their work!!

bjendrick on May 26, 2007

Tachi, as a cheap alternative for making transparent cursors & such, I use Microangelo, but I've heard that IconWorkshop is definitely the way to go. Pretty soon, I think I'll want it in my software collection as I continue playing with icon tweaks for some of my software projects.

Steax on May 26, 2007

I've got this one favorite effect I use a lot (including on this arrow avatar). The use of inner glows in Fireworks instead of beveling gives a more crystal feel to it.

Benwithjamin on May 27, 2007

Shame all the programs are Windows only!
Although, Fireworks and Illustrator work nicely on my iMac.

debbye on May 27, 2007

what format do you want to create? i like GraphicConverter for gifs. i've been using it forever. it's good for converting files into other formats [say: into bmp, for avatar!] it's crappy for masks.

which OS are you using?

Benwithjamin on May 27, 2007

I'm into creating gifs and pngs now, but mainly gifs, because of the browser support.

I'm using Mac OS X Version 10.4.9