Top 5 Iconmakers for Whom I Regularly Redo My Userpics

[amybnnyc.livejournal.com]

I have several lists today, but I'm going to try to space them out so I'm not terribly spammy, though I am posting close to the bell.  Eep.

 

Anyway, list number one is devoted to the icon makers whose new icon posts always mean that I'm going to be overhauling my userpics in the very near future, and who are the reason that I am so very glad we can have 100 icons now. 

 

Top 5 Icon-Makers for Whom I Regularly Overhaul My Icons:

 

1.                  crackers4jenn

c4j does a wonderful job of the gorgeous, the unique, the funny, the touching—her icons run the full spectrum of emotion, and are never anything short of awesome.  The icon below just haunts me—the coloring, the image, the text, all of it perfect and evocative and how I like to think of my vampires in AtS season 5:

2.                  earth_vexer

earth_vexer is a fairly recent discovery of mine, but the strength of e_v’s icons is a force to be reckoned with.  The “exploring negative space” icon series is a personal favorite, and it yielded many gems, among them the below:

3.                  inxsomniax

inxsomniax has such a talent for taking images we’ve all seen many times and recasting them in ways that make us see new beauty, make us believe that we’ve never seen these characters before in quite this light.  The icon below makes me teary every time, because it reminds me of just how much I love both Spike and Buffy, and how proud I was of both of them in that moment:

4.                  red_sunflower

red_sunflower was one of the first icon makers that I really fangirled from afar, whose posts I squealed over and whose work I collected.  She goes to great lengths to offer us something new each time—a new perspective, distinctive cropping, different coloring, caps we don’t see used often—and every time I’m amazed all over again.  The icon below is one of many favorites of her work, from her seasonal_spuffy contribution, and I picked it because it resonates so with the Spuffy part of my heart:

5.                  awmp

awmp’s icons, much like crackers4jenn’s, run the spectrum from touching to funny to poignant, and they’re always amazing.  The below is from her “Favorite Spike episodes made into movie posters” project for summer_of_spike; I love the juxtaposition of each of his incarnations here:

 

And yes, it’s cheating a little bit, but I also have to mention madelineanne’s icons, particularly her humor icons—some of the best ones out there, and generally guaranteed to yield many “OMG Icon!!!” comments.  Below is one of my favorites, not least because Sesame Street always freaked me out as a child, and I still think that even a vampire puppet couldn’t’ve made it any scarier than it already was:

Comments

[lillianmorgan.livejournal.com]

What a great idea for a list! :) Thanks so much for sharing. These are all really talented icon makers, and you've hit the nail on the head with the descriptions.
Love the title of the post too ;)
Um, you won't be cheating every time will you? *g*

[amybnnyc.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Glad you liked. There's one other art-centric post that I'll be putting up later; I just put up my first fic-centric one.

Um, you won't be cheating every time will you? *g*
Hee! No ma'am, I'll be good... this was the only one where a cheat was sort of critical. All of the others I've been very good and strict constructionist with the "top 5" thing, even when it's been really hard. I'm quite pleased with my restraint. ;)

[lillianmorgan.livejournal.com]

Glad to hear :)
Though I hope you get to bed soon ::hugs::

[sly-nott.livejournal.com]

oh thats so great! i love love love icons! thank you so much

[amybnnyc.livejournal.com]

Hee! You're so welcome! They're all wonderful, so happy icon-collecting! :)

[petzipellepingo.livejournal.com]

Excellent choices, every single one of them.(They're way up on my list as well). I'm a major icon ho and wish every day we could have 200 icons.

[amybnnyc.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I'm a rather ridiculous icon ho myself, so I'm right there with you on the campaigning for even more userpics. I wonder, if we begged nicely... :)

[petzipellepingo.livejournal.com]

BTW, you have an animated mood them - how cool!

[amybnnyc.livejournal.com]

Hee! I do indeed! It's by the very, very generous falcons319 and is shareable, if you're so inclined. :)

[slaymesoftly.livejournal.com]

Wonderful choices *runs off to get to know these people*

and- in the interest of getting to work on time - thanks for the fic recs above -will be checking those out also. *hugs*

[amybnnyc.livejournal.com]

You're so welcome--lots of wonderful stuff to choose from! Hope you find something you like! *hugs*

[drusplace.livejournal.com]

I think I have hundreds and hundreds of icons on my HD and yes a whole ton of them are done by those people you listed above. Great list!

[amybnnyc.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I, too, have the harddrive full of icons, from so many different people, but the above are really the ones who make me instantly right-click, save, and head straight to Manage Userpics. :)

[beanbeans.livejournal.com]

Great big humongous ginormous "me too"'s here. :)
Fabulous recs. These folks all desever more cred for their exceptional work.

[amybnnyc.livejournal.com]

Thanks, sweetie! And they absolutely deserve massive recognition--each and every one of them do incredible work!

[earth-vexer.livejournal.com]

Eeeee! that is some amazing company to be grouped with! I'm hardly worthy, but thank you so much!

[amybnnyc.livejournal.com]

Hee! You are absolutely worthy of the company--you do fantastic, original stuff that I adore. *g*

[earth-vexer.livejournal.com]

Aww, thanks. :)

[yourlibrarian]

I have decided I am simply going to have to start an icon collection on my hard drive (on the one hand, categorizing could be fun, on the other TIME!) There's too much good stuff out there.

I'm familiar with most of your list and in hearty agreement but have to give a special "yes" to awmp's icons which were among my first back in the three (3!) icon days and that SoS movie poster series she did just blew me away.

[amybnnyc.livejournal.com]

Hee! The icon collection on my harddrive is a thing of beauty (or obsessive-compulsive collection and categorization--potato, potahto). There are so many incredible fanartists out there--I love seeing all of the different styles and perspectives!

awmp's movie icons really just left me speechless--they were absolutely incredible, weren't they?