Fantastic work, I love 'em!

I was wondering how things were coming along with this collection Starcandy. Looks like you have been busy. Looking good !!       --Ace --

Thanks guys, I appreciate the support.

DITTO! 

Another four, another update. Live folders suck ass, lol!

A few things worth mentioning:

1) I've decided to make this into an iconpackage, rather than just folders and drives. It is going to take quite a while to get finished, but I'll be aiming for the big enchilada and making 100+ icons.

2) I'm a little weary of the folders at the moment, so I'm going to start working on the drives and come back to the folders at a later date.

3) The time on the Recent folder's clock is six minutes to midnight. Anyone want to guess why?

4) Updates are going to be less frequent for here on in. The next update will be posted upon completion of the drives.

5) On that subject, I'd like opinions on whether it's worth doing the floppy drive icons. I don't know of anyone who still uses them, so it seems unnecessary to make icons for them. If you feel otherwise, let me know.

Cheers

Helen.

i still do them.....not sure why, but do them anyways.

It was only about a week or so since I was asking myself the same question, "why do this?" I can't say that this thread has received the support that I'd hoped it would, and that had really got me down until I talked to some people and they all pointed out that I should be doing this (skinning) for myself. They're damn right, and I wonder how I lost sight of that fact considering that before now I've always done my artwork to please myself, first and foremost. It's the primary reason any artist should do what they do.

So while it may take me until next year to get all of them done, I will persevere and push myself to complete the iconpackage. I'm doing it for myself, and so that I'll be able to look at them and feel I've achieved something I never saw myself achieving.

Well, as I am not much of an icon skinner, the only support I can offer is that I think you're doing and awesome job!  The attention to detail is what makes your work so great. Xiandi suggested that I try icons, I dunno....but you are doing superbly!!

You're doing a beautiful job! Take your time and have fun with them.

Making icons is like doing a bunch of mini projects. The advantage of them is that once you finish one, you get a sense of accomplishment, make another, get that again. With other types of skins, you have lots of work to do before you get that feeling of being finished, wiih icons, you get that every time you finish just one.

Oh, and don't worry about the activity on this thread... people are watching (and approving) even if they are not commenting. There are plenty of threads that I don't comment on, but I read them (all of them) and revisit them when comments are added.

Looking very good, they will be done when they are done, don't rush it, do it at your pace. 

Thanks guys.

A comment is all the support I'd ask for. Whether that comment says my work is good, bad or anything else isn't the point (though it is helpful). To me it seems odd that a thread about some skinning in progress, on a site devoted to skinning, would get so little support. Views are one thing, but comments are another. Comments can give a skinner a boost in morale, especially when they're working on something that is more arduous than they'd expected, whether that be a Windowblind, icons, cursor or anything else. A skinner would only like to feel that their work, and the time they've put into creating it, is appreciated. That's what will drive them to continue contributing their work to the community. I imagine it's not necessary to tell them that their work is the dog's bollocks time after time. Just that their work looks good. I don't speak regarding just myself, but all those who contribute their work on here. Anyone who's used it can tell you that Photoshop is a profoundly complicated piece of software. Most of us will only ever graze the surface of what it's capable of doing. But it still takes a lot of time and effort to get to the point where you have acquired the knowledge to graze that surface. Each and every skinner is working to push the envelope when it comes to their ability to skin. As I see it, a boost in morale from the community can only help them to achieve their skinning goals. It's an everybody wins scenario.

Damn skippy, lol! I can't work at anything but a pace I feel comfortable with anyway. Which is something that seemed to greatly annoy my Degree tutors. For me, whether it's a painting or an icon, if I'm not happy with it I won't make it available. To do otherwise would be a cop out in my eyes. I've never concerned myself with how long the creative process takes, so long as the end result is to my liking.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Since there were no guesses forthcoming, the reason for the clock displaying six minutes to midnight is because... that's the present setting of the Doomsday Clock.

You may not have noticed, but if I've seen a chance to incorporate a dominion in some way (however loosely) then I've done so. The poem used in the documents folder suggests the dominion of the mind; Cthulhu was used for the pictures folder, and Cthulhu's dominion was R'lyeh; the dominion of religion and the fiery hell that invariably accompanies it is in the star and arrows; and the time on the Doomsday Clock points how close we are to global disaster/global nuclear war, a time when the dominion of man may end completely.

I'd still like input on whether or not to make floppy drive icons, please. Thank you.

do teh floppy, it takes 2 mins, a black square with some stuff inside to differenciate (cant spell) between floppy 5 and 3.  those are the easy ones...hahha my icons can take up to 3 hours just to make one, but i put alot of detail into mine.... I have some suggestions for you though,

that folder with the cd icon, make the cd larger, dont forget that people see these from a small resolution most of the time, so they have to be able to visually conect with the icon on eye contact. it sounds stupid, but its what we all do.

I would also make the torch burner icon and the square icon thingy beside it larger too, and the cd with the cross on it larger too, the folder sizes are perfect.

one thing though..... in folder icons you have two folders one is called "front" and the other is called "back"  these two folders, windows 7 and vista uses to make up their own folders. you have to make sure they are aligned and in the correct position so when they are used to make up a folder, no pictures, documents ect are sticking out the back of it.

the best way to see how your folders are working is make a new icon package, and just import those two folders then apply go to my pictures or something and see how they are working and then adjust till they are spot on.

I did this with techno mi icons 5 times till i got it right, but now i have the template for it, so i wont have to do that again !!

it dosent matter how long it takes to make them, they will get finished eventually......

I reduce all the icons down to 4-5% in Photoshop before I save a copy in. png format. I'd been bothered that they may be unrecognisable at such a scale, but I was reassured that it's not something I should worry too much about. I just looked at the icons that come with Iconpackager at 16px, and unsurprisingly, they look like shit. No offence to their respective authors, but they do. Even the Windows icons look pretty shitty at 16px, so to be honest I'm not going to worry too much about it. I will enlarge the cd if I can remember. Thank you.

I've already crossed that bridge, and the Live folders are taken care of. I agree, they are a pain in the ass.

Thanks for your input on the floppy discs too.

no wukkers, sounds like you have everything sorted, good luck, looking forward to the end result xx

uuumm.....well, o.k., I'll put in my two-cents worth of advice here. First of all, don't get too caught up in the details. Remember, most people keep their icon sizes to a minimum on their computers, so details that are too small and intricate get lost in the smallness or resolution ,whatever you want to call it. Secondly, I wouldn't go with the folder inside a folder. At almost any resolution it will just become undefined and too much of a conglomeration for people to feel comfortable with. My philosophy is , keep it simple and straight forward and BIG. Most people want to be able to just glance at a folder to tell them what it is. Keep your icons in the folders BIG, CLEAN, and SIMPLE. Not only will it be alot easier on you as the artist, but it will also garner some extra attention when people are browsing for icon sets. Anyway, that's my humble opinion. Keep up the great work. You are definitely a talented artist.       --Ace ---

Hmmmm, where have I been... missed this thread entirely... 'til now.

Anyhow, Helen, like WOW, these icons are top notch in every way.  Yup, love 'em.   They're right up my alley, with a bit of a Medieval look and that bonded leather appearance.   Yup, looking forward to these, that's fer sure.

Starkers - Cheers for the comment. Glad you like them (so far).

AceMatrix - Thank you for the input. But I feel I have to reiterate some points I've already made. I've looked at icons by people far better at making them than I, and they look awful at lower resolutions. I for one do not have my icons at a small scale. It seems kind of redundant for skinners to make icons that look amazing at 256px if people are just going to have them at the smallest scale and miss out on all the sweet,juicy goodness that has been put in to them. However, if people think my icons look awful at low resolutions, they have choices. They can make the icon resolution bigger, or they can use different icons. Either option is fine by me. I can never hope to please everyone, and if I start changing things purely to appease the masses, where does it stop. We have to please ourselves first, regardless of how selfish that may sound.

I do not disagree with you necessarily on all the points you made. It's just maybe we have a different approach to icon making, which is certainly not a bad thing. Thank you for your continued support, it's greatly appreciated.

The way I see it, is if your icons are tiny, like when you have your documents in 'list view 'or 'details' then you don't really look at the icons, you are looking at the text not the icon. The icons at that size are usually just a 'suggestion' of the program or folder, because they are so tiny and usually pretty crappy looking, if you know what I mean.

Obviously it's important to make them look as clean as possible, but if you look at any icon at 16px, it is not really a good image no matter how awesome the 256px one is, no matter who made it.

You're doing great Helen! You have really captured the look and feel of the windowblind in the ones you've made so far. I'm really looking forward to seeing more!

Cheers Cyndie

Took a day off form the icons today to spend plenty of time with my better half, but I should have the drives finished by Monday at the latest. Then I'll get back to the folders and then start the system files and control panel stuff, which I think make up the bulk of any iconpackage.

I like skinning for a few reasons but mostly because it allows me to work with graphics again. I was good at Graphic Design when I had to do it on the courses prior to my degree, but I never wanted to pursue it as a career because I viewed it as being much the same as marketing and advertising, which I loathe. Skinning is a kind of niche area of Graphic Design to me, only we're not trying to hawk some cheesy wares on people while making them think they're getting something they can't be without. My two penneth, I guess.

Oh yeah, and there's the whole thing with skinning making me feel productive, keeping me sane(ish) and generally stopping me from wanting to do nothing but sit, drool and eat burgers.

Another thing we have in common - apart from the weird things that happen to us at Full Moon  - and that's a complete and absolute abhorrence of advertising/advertisers.  They're right up there with effing bankers... or should that be down there?

So glad you're putting your talent to much better use here.... and the more I see the preview the more I like the look of these icons.

Shhhh... ipsnay on the ansformationtray!

Keep up the great work, the detail is amazing! This is shaping up to be a "must have" Icon Package.

Thanks, Wiz! I'm getting there slowly but surely, and hopefully when I get to the system files it will be easier.