127. One Guide + One Q&A

[novindalf]

I was going to finish my AtM request from last year before starting on any of this year’s, but I started identifying the textures I most use and before I knew it I’d done a whole texture guide, plus organised all my texture folders. I’ve sorted the textures into rough categories and given a load of examples of them in use, plus a bit of general spiel. Some of the textures have been shrunk to fit, just click on them for full size. There’s also a little bit at the end about using ‘stock’ images instead of textures. I hope this is useful! (Fair warning, this post is VERY image-heavy – I think I’ve included about 60% of my texture arsenal...)


for adriftingsea

Absolute Favourites / Most Used
One or more of these icons feature in 99.99% of all my icons :P

innocent_lexys x2 | pandavirus | sarisafari | tinebrella

Borders & Frames
I generally use borders/frames for negative space + fake gradient background + centre crop icons, either to frame the subject better or to add some more detail to an icon that’s looking a bit empty.

adriftingsea | hyperboreans | innocent_lexys x2 | jim_panse

rebel | scoobyatemysnax x3 | talipuu

talipuu | scoobyatemysnax x2 | unknown | scoobyatemysnax

unknown






Decorative Accents
My most commonly used kind of texture! Pretty much entirely used for centre crop icons, most of the time for centre crop + negative space + fake gradient backgrounds so the background doesn’t look too empty, but sometimes I’ll use them to jazz up an icon which uses the original background, or a close crop. A lot of the decorative accents I use come from textures like these, but I also use clip art/vector images (e.g. Sansa little bird, Ruby wolf, Brienne sapphires) and sometimes details from the screencap/image itself (e.g. Elsa coronation)

adriftingsea x2 | anajchan | brutal | chodingdino

cielo_gris | fassy | fuuurs x3

fuuurs | hyperboreans x3 | innocent_lexys

innocent_lexys x4 | lemonrocket

lookslikerain | madeofstone | midnight_road x2 | pandavirus

queen_bartonia x4 | rebel

rebel x4 | slayground

so_ghislaine | stewark | unknown | innocent_lexys | unknown

unknown x5

unknown | violateraindrop x3 | wicked-fate

wolfatmidnight | youcallitwinter









Grunge
Very versatile! I use them sometimes for muted-colour costume drama icons (e.g. Outlander close crop, Catelyn, Marian) to enhance the overall historical/period impression, sometimes as decorative accents (e.g. Cersei), sometimes for lighting purposes (e.g. Regina purple cloud, Captain America), sometimes to emphasise elements of the original screencap like rain (e.g. Outlander rain)

12feethigh x2 | callmebrandon x2 | cielo_gris

colordrop | fouroux | innocent_lexys x3

innocent_lexys | jaehos x2 | mm3butterfly x2

mm3butterfly | ohfreckle | raiindust x2 | scoobyatemysnax

slayground x2 | softstarless | unknown | val_valerie

val_valerie | vetica






Light & Gradients
My most used kind of texture alongside decorative accent. I reckon light/gradient textures feature in about 99% of my icons. I mainly use them to highlight light sources in the original image (e.g. Guy & Marian), direct the visual focus of the icon (e.g. close crop Ariel, Constance), or to stop the background from looking too flat (e.g. Aurora, Regina).

12feethigh | absolutelybatty | ellaangelus | innocent_lexys x2

innocent_lexys x5

innocent_lexys x2 | lemonpunch | lumsx | madeofstone

midnight_road x2 | mm3butterfly x3

raiindust x2 | talipuu | tinebrella x2

unknown | vetica x2







Painty & Patterned
I never used to use painty textures, but recently I’ve started using them to add more texture to fake background icons.

callmebrandon | fuuurs | hyperboreans | longerthanwedo | lookslikerain

lookslikerain | mrs-padfoot | nightbulbs | queen_bartonia | sarisafari

scoobyatemysnax | esgeee x2 | softstarless | spartapuss

superjesster | toktoks | unknown | ibtextures | unknown

unknown




Stock
Again, mainly I use these to make fake background icons more interesting than just a plain colour gradient. A lot of the time though, rather than using stock textures, I’ll use screencaps of landscapes/scenery/nature from other tv shows/films (see later).

accio-glow | aguamentis | callmebrandon x3

hyperboreans x4 | mrs-padfoot

mrs-padfoot x2 | northerndawn x3

northerndawn x5

nyvelvet | pandavirus | scoobyatemysnax | tanja92 | unknown

unknown x3 | violateraindrop | wicked-fate





Text
Very useful for decorative accents, especially in Harry Potter/magic-related icons, and numbers are always appropriate for Lost icons :P

azuremonkey | barstr7 | butterphil | cielo_gris x2

fuuurs | juanxyo x4

violateraindrop | windsonnetss




Favourite Texture Makers
I recommend anyone to build up a good folder of textures because they are so useful when making icons! If you’re looking for more resources, these are some of my favourite texture makers:
callmebrandon | hyperboreans | innocent_lexys @ satine_violet | juanxyo @ terempaty | lookslikerain @ soaked | mm3butterfly @ encorevous | mrs-padfoot | northern-dawn | raiindust @ aintafairytale | rebel @ criminal | scoobyatemysnax @ burnedbreads | violateraindrop @ iwillnotdance
contextures is also fantastic!

And then lover_of_narnia asked for a list of textures I used in this icon:


I actually only used one texture (this one by innocent_lexys) to make this icon, the majority of it is in fact from a screencap from one of the Harry Potter films, which I used as a stock image for the background :P

Basically I knew from the original screencap that I wanted to do a negative space icon with Claire in the centre and a scenery background, but the screencap didn’t show much scenery itself. I looked through my arsenal of stock textures and couldn’t find anything that worked, so I went to my folder of stock images (basically screencaps from tv & film that look pretty/could prove useful) and found this cap from HP3:


I thoroughly recommend using screencaps for stock images, especially for nature stock. Da Vinci’s Demons, Harry Potter, Merlin, Once Upon a Time, Outlander, The Pillars of the Earth Reign, Robin Hood, Stardust, Tristan and Isolde, Vikings and The White Queen are some of my favourites to snag ‘stock’ images from.

Comments

[adriftingsea.livejournal.com]

TEXTURES *O* Your stock texture section was my favorite part because I'm been looking for some new ones :3 I also recognized a bunch of textures you didn't know who made them soo:

and are by scoobyatemysnax, and I've seen this one (http://i.imgur.com/oMgwFXR.png) around but I can't remember if it's scoobyatemysnax or innocent_lexys

is innocent_lexys and is munrikki @ dA

absolutelybatty used this one (http://i.imgur.com/8wOsZBu.jpg) in her texture guide and it's ibtextures

is scoobyatemysnax

and just for kicks slytheringurrl is now esgeee :3

and wow we use a lot of the same textures; I guess great minds think alike ;p  I will constantly be referring to this guide, thanks again! ^o^/♥

(and thanks for including some of mine too :3)

[novindalf]

Glad it may be helpful! And thanks for pointing those out :)

[adriftingsea.livejournal.com]

you're welcome! ^^

[adriftingsea.livejournal.com]

this is going to sound real silly but I was texture hunting and I found this one (http://i.imgur.com/CGURBoG.jpg)! ^^ It comes from this set (http://rosebein.deviantart.com/art/Rosebein-Texture-Pack-21-298904771) by rosebein @ dA :)) (can you tell I get excited by the little things in life ;p)

[lover-of-narnia.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much for the guide on that icon. :) Using screencaps from other films for backgrounds is a unique idea!

I also love your texture guide - I use many of the same, and seeing so many new and beautiful ones was great.

[novindalf]

You're welcome! I hope it's useful :D

[lumsx.livejournal.com]

THANK YOU SO MUCH, THIS IS AMAZING! I'm saving everything, EVERYTHING! Thanks for including examples, they're super useful!

[novindalf]

You're very welcome! Glad you're finding it useful!

[tinny]

Awesome post! Now I just need the ol' "save them all" addon back. :D

[novindalf]

Thanks!