So, I have been sucked into the the ST:AOS fandom, and I feel the need for having more Star Trek icons. I've had my Spock icon for a long time, and also have a Borg which, while not all that suitable for the TOS/AOS time period, aptly describes being assimilated into a new fandom. But now I'm considering to make an Uhura icon.

The snag I've run into is that I'm not sure which hairstyle I should choose. For rather obvious reason with my icon theme "resemblance" for a character depends a lot on things like associated symbols, tools, clothes and hairstyle. While I intend to use it for the new movie fandom, I somehow feel that TOS Uhura's hairstyle would be more recognizable to represent the character. So what do you think?

Poll #1411642 iconic hairstyles
This poll is closed.
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 9

Which hairstyle should I pick for an Uhura!RatCreature icon?

It's been a while since I've made icons for others to grab, but I just spent some time catching up with the webcomic Two Lumps: The Adventures of Ebenezer and Snooch by J. Grant and Mel Hynes, and thought while reading that some of the images would make good icons. Also, if you're like me and somehow missed this webcomic, you should check it out.

Just comment if you take one (or more), say if you're willing to share, otherwise the icon belongs to the first person to claim it, and of course you can modify them any way you want.

Some examples:


( all icons behind the cut )

To keep the comments by people taking them in once place despite x-posting to two journals, I've disabled comments in the IJ post and enabled anonymous/Open ID comments for the LJ post. Sorry for the added inconvenience for people only or primarily using IJ, but more people are reading my journal on LJ.

I decided to make a Borg!RatCreature icon, because I thought it might be good for fandom pimping post, even recs and such, maybe. (Also Borg are kind of cool to draw with the tubes and machine parts and such.)

I have finished the pencils (see below), but now I'm wondering whether or not the icon to be should have some text. I thought about maybe the obvious, like "Resistance is futile!" or "You will be assimilated." but then wondered whether that was even necessary? Or maybe someone has an idea for something wittier? I am indecisive. Help? Opinions?

( pencils of a Borg!RatCreature )

After seeing all the IBARW icons around, I've been trying to come up with an idea for an anti-racism icon that would fit with my icon theme, but so far I've kind of failed. Looking at my existing icons I'm even conspicuously lacking in icons of my avatar dressing up as COC. I have only a Teyla!RatCreature, and I haven't yet done the Ronon one I planned to complete my SGA team set (+ Wraith!RatCreature). Maybe I could be generous and count my Che!RatCreature too...

I never really thought about this until today, but in my icon set COCs (okay so there's no plural warranted yet, but I mean in principle) are also white through the design, which is that my creature avatar for fandom icons generally dresses up as different characters rather than icons showing images of the actual media characters themselves. "Blackface" disguises wouldn't be an appropriate design, so the idea to give my Teyla!RatCreature a different skin color didn't seem right to me. Though I actually didn't reflect about it much when I drew her. So it's just clothes, and I guess potentially hair, but most other "ethnic" features are kind of out with my avatar not being really human.

Actually looking closer I have to revise that statement, I do change my avatar's eyes making them narrower and slanted to varying degrees to make it look "evil", which is of course a fairly common cartoon technique. I'm not actually sure how much of that is racist stereotyping, because of the way that "cartoon eyes" don't work like actual human eyes. I mean, it's not like Asian people's eyes are actually positioned differently in the face when you draw them, they just appear slanted because the epicanthic fold reaches lower and some Asian eyes have a single fold eyelid rather than a double-fold one, so the area that's visible of the eyeball changes a bit, but human eyes have obviously a "fixed axis" what with being in a bone socket, and what changes for expression is the eyebrows. However for *cartoon* eyes to convey expression their axis is often changed like that of the eyebrows (though more subtle) to make the overall expression more intense. So for an angry look you don't just change the eyebrows, but actually tilt the axis of the eyes (you can see that when looking at Donald Duck cartoons, his character uses the eye-axis thing to great effect, you can look at classic model sheets explaining this effect this entry in an animation blog), and of course you make them narrower, because humans narrow their eyes in anger, and for happy, laughing eyes you change the axis of the eyes in the opposite direction. But looking closely I actually do draw the corners of the eyes differently for the evil characters as well, if you look at my Voldemort!RatCreature, my Sith!RatCreature and the WraithRatCreature. Umm, well, I don't know.

However, the only times my avatar is a different color are the aliens, that is the "Roswell/Gray Alien" type icon, which I made gray for obvious reasons, and the Wraith one, which ended up gray, because I wanted its hair look really white in contrast. Anyway, apparently I have no trouble changing its color then, but all the "human representing" creature versions have the same "skin" color (or maybe fur color, to be honest in my design it's not quite clear how much fur they have). In the rare color drawing containing my avatar (like this card) that color is actually a light gray, sometimes a light blue-ish gray, because that looks better than no color, so it's not really any kind of human skin tone. (I'm just pointing this out so that you don't imagine my avatar some kind of horrible light pink or something in a color drawing when I say that it is "white", that would just be ugly on it.)

So do you have any ideas for icon anti-racist motifs that would work?

All day yesterday there appeared these avatars on my f-list which were made with this generator, and frankly I think they look kind of crappy, and I don't even like manga-style. Yet in a fairly irrational response I started to feel like I missed some fun, so I checked out the generator, but I actually didn't have much fun playing, because really the choices don't fit at all with my virtual self-image. For one, the noses offered are all far too small. :D

When I tried whether my cartoon might lend itself towards a maga-style adaption however, the results were fairly horrible and slightly scary. You can judge for yourself:



(I can't draw worth crap in manga style, so I only did the head, no clothes or anything elaborate.)

Since my fortieth icon is Memesheep!RatCreature, I thought it only fitting to be a memesheep, too:

Take a look at my icons. Comment with the following:

1. One that makes you automatically think of me.
2. One that you think I should TOTALLY use more often.
3. One that you don't get/needs more explanation/you have no idea why I have it.

Comment using an icon of yours that you LOVE, and tell me why you picked THAT one too.

Finally, a poll:
Poll #596712
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 6

Which icon should I draw next?

Or should my next icon be something else altogether? If yes, what?

I've made some icons from Superman #210 (written by Brian Azzarello, pencils by Jim Lee, inks by Scott Williams). As usual, comment if you claim one, say if you're willing to share, otherwise the icon belongs to the first person to claim it, and of course you can modify them in any way you want:

( eleven icons from Superman #210 )

I've read Superman #204 (written by Brian Azzarello, pencils by Jim Lee, inks by Scott Williams), and I liked it. Okay, it is a bit of trick to start telling your story starting at the end to hook readers so that they wonder what brought the characters there, and Azzarello does it both on the level of this issue, with not revealing for quite some time what the monumental event Superman and the priest were both referring to was (I know I'm kind of vague, but I don't want to spoil), and for the cliffhanger, because we still don't know what Superman did exactly, and I guess the tension will be kept up for a bit in that fashion. But the trick with the narrative structure totally worked. I'm thoroughly hooked.

The art is very much eye candy, the way Superman is often backlit with lots of shadows gives him a great look, and Lee has the iconic poses down pat. Gorgeous.

So naturally I couldn't resist and have icons for your enjoyment, the usual rules apply, comment if you claim one, say if you're willing to share, otherwise the icon belongs to the first person to claim it, and of course you can modify them in any way you want:

( twenty Superman icons from #204 )

So he's "only" a supporting character, but who wouldn't need an icon or two of a cute, geeky and gay ex-supervillain?

( Piper icons! )

As usual, comment if you claim one (or a reasonable number of them), unless someone says they're willing to share the icon belongs to the first person who claims it (so check the previous comments), and of course you can modify them any way you want.

( 14 icons with Tim as Robin )

As usual, comment if you claim one (or a reasonable number of them), unless someone says they're willing to share the icon belongs to the first person who claims it (so check the previous comments), and of course you can modify them any way you want.

( 50 Zero Hour icons )

After this inspiring post in scans_daily I just couldn't resist and made a few icons from the "The Rainbow Batman" story, published in Detective Comics #241 from 1957. He's "a rainbow of dazzling action," and who could resist that? Feel free to modify them in any way you want, but please comment if you take one.

( some Rainbow Batman icons )

I've made some Batman and Nightwing icons of the animated characters, from Batman Adventures #12. (BTW, that I bought that comic in the first place is entirely lcsbanana's fault.) As usual, please comment if you take an icon, unless people say they're okay with sharing, the icon belongs to whoever claims it first, and feel free to modify them any way you want.

( icons )

I made some Flash icons. The icons from issue #195, #198, #199 and #200 have artwork from Scott Kolins (pencils) and Doug Hazelwood (inks), the ones from issue #205 have artwork from Alberto Dose (pencils and inks). You can see in the filename which issue the icon from. As usual, please comment if you claim an icon, and of course you can modify them any way you want.

( 30 icons from those Flash issues )

Yesterday I read the latest Superman/Batman issue (by Jeph Loeb and Pat Lee) so this morning I ended up making icons from it. Some Superman and Batman, but more Robin and Superboy, as the issue is mostly about them. Comment if you want one, feel free to modify them as you like. (Also, there's a disturbing connection here between me having university stuff due and the frequency of my posts, especially of icons and the like. Ahem.)

( see the results of my procrastination )

In order to pimp my favorite superhero, here are twenty NIghtwing icons, made from art from the Nightwing issues #44-#50. Please comment if you take one, of course you can customize them any way you want.

( Nightwing icons )

I made a bunch of JL cartoon icons. Please comment if you take one, of course you can customize them any way you want.

( JL icons )

Icons with Batman, Catwoman, Nightwing, Arsenal, Tempest, the JLA, Krypto... You can see which comic the original image was taken from by moving your mouse over them. Please don't direct link. Comment here before you use icons for your LJ or elsewhere, so that it's clear which ones are claimed. Of course you can customize them any way you want.

( pretty! )

I'm less than happy with the current breakup scenario between Dick and Babs. I mean, it's not so much that Dick/Babs were my OTP, though I like them together, but that the why and how of the breakup isn't done in a way that makes me appreciate this development. About the only thing that I can really say in its favor is that so far they synchronized quite well, so that there are references to this in the recent BOP, Nightwing and Batgirl issues.

So as a kind of flashback to happier times, I offer a few Dick/Babs shipper icons as well as two of just Nightwing, with art from Birds of Prey #8. For once, the lightening is bright and cheery, not dark, rainy and gloomy... (not that there is anything wrong with dark and rainy, it's just that it makes it hard to get good icons from comics set in Gotham or Blüdhaven.)

( icons, from Birds of Prey #8, don't click if you can't take sappy ship =) )

I've made some icons from the Elseworld comic Superman: Red Son (written by Mark Millar, pencils by Dave Johnson and Kilian Plunkett, inks by Andrew Robinson and Walden Wong). I've wanted to for some time now, because I just get a kick out of seeing Superman with a hammer and sickle symbol instead of his customary S. BTW, the comic, a three part prestige format Elseworld that I think is also available as a paperback (or will be soon) is quite good. At least I enjoyed reading it. But then I have a thing for AU stories.

As usual, comment if you'd like one, feel free to customize them yourself if you want, or ask me to add text, and I'll do my best. Credit would be nice, but if you usually don't do GIP posts, or list icon creators with your icons that's fine too.

1)2)
( a few more behind the lj-cut )