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

DITTO! 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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......

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

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.

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!

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.

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