This is about the art aspect of icon-making, NOT the technical stuff. I had no problems figuring out how to use BTN, DISBTN, etc. My icons work in-game just fine! 
I recently dove into making icons and I'm getting a bit addicted to it, but I've got some general questions I was hoping more experienced artists could ramble about some:
1) What size do you start making your icon?
I found myself going straight to 64x64 and working on a pixel-by-pixel basis. This is kind of anal retentive, but I've been satisfied with the results, sort of. My blending seems to come out too "organic" or "soft", whereas WC3 icons and some of the other custom work I've seen around here has more of a "comic book" / anime shading style to it, with harder lines.
I understand this is done because icons are so small, and sharp contrasts in color changes, shading and highlights makes it stand out more given the scale icons are viewed at.
I also noticed that when I copy & paste others' icons and then zoom in, they have a certain color detail to them that I don't think I could replicate pixel-by-pixel. It looks as if many of these are done on a larger scale and then resized, creating a huge variety of color in just a small space, that looks great when viewed at normal zoom. Tell me someone knows what I'm talking about...please?
2) Is it considered cheap/bad practice/big no-no to create icons from actual photos/google images/other artwork?
I'm not asking if it's ok to blatantly rip off someone else's work without at least permission and/or credit. I'm asking if using the aforementioned sources for images, including a google search, which is often live photos, makes for bad icons?
I actually did this for a chunk of iron ore and rather liked the way it came out, but it made me realize I could get pretty lazy and just start using photos all over the place. I was just curious about others' usage and stance on this.
3) What general reccomendations/tutorials, etc. would you point me to?
I've taken 2 years of studio art classes in college/university, so I'm not beyond hope in the art department, I'm just not a digital artist and this is new territory for me. I'll see about posting the 3 icons I've done so far to maybe show you guys and gals where I'm at with it.
Thanks in advance for serious replies, +rep guaranteed
I recently dove into making icons and I'm getting a bit addicted to it, but I've got some general questions I was hoping more experienced artists could ramble about some:
1) What size do you start making your icon?
I found myself going straight to 64x64 and working on a pixel-by-pixel basis. This is kind of anal retentive, but I've been satisfied with the results, sort of. My blending seems to come out too "organic" or "soft", whereas WC3 icons and some of the other custom work I've seen around here has more of a "comic book" / anime shading style to it, with harder lines.
I understand this is done because icons are so small, and sharp contrasts in color changes, shading and highlights makes it stand out more given the scale icons are viewed at.
I also noticed that when I copy & paste others' icons and then zoom in, they have a certain color detail to them that I don't think I could replicate pixel-by-pixel. It looks as if many of these are done on a larger scale and then resized, creating a huge variety of color in just a small space, that looks great when viewed at normal zoom. Tell me someone knows what I'm talking about...please?
2) Is it considered cheap/bad practice/big no-no to create icons from actual photos/google images/other artwork?
I'm not asking if it's ok to blatantly rip off someone else's work without at least permission and/or credit. I'm asking if using the aforementioned sources for images, including a google search, which is often live photos, makes for bad icons?
I actually did this for a chunk of iron ore and rather liked the way it came out, but it made me realize I could get pretty lazy and just start using photos all over the place. I was just curious about others' usage and stance on this.
3) What general reccomendations/tutorials, etc. would you point me to?
I've taken 2 years of studio art classes in college/university, so I'm not beyond hope in the art department, I'm just not a digital artist and this is new territory for me. I'll see about posting the 3 icons I've done so far to maybe show you guys and gals where I'm at with it.
Thanks in advance for serious replies, +rep guaranteed
