retro_icontest Round 26: All Things Random

[setsuntamew]

This month's challenge at retro_icontest was honestly so much fun; I love random options. A lot of these really made me think and helped get me out of the creative rut I was falling into, so that' nice, too. My list of prompts + ramblings on them can be found under the cut, beneath the full set of icons.

Mostly Ensemble Stars! & Final Fantasy VII; all fandoms and characters can be found in the tags.

01	02	03	04	05
06	07	08	09	10
11	12	13	14	15
16	17	18	19	20

1. Random character: Naminé
It's honestly been so long since I made Kingdom Hearts icons- too long, even!!! So this was a delightful blast to the past combined with forcing myself to keep trying to use text more in icons...

2. Random retro_icontest challenge: 15 watchnicon - choose any of the inspirations from part A or B
I ended up using both parts- an inspirational prompt (backstory) from part A and some of the textures from part B. I used a shot of Aerith from Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth, during a cutscene that delves into the history of the Cetra, and I'm quite pleased with how the colors came out.

3. Random praise: Love the simplicity of this icon - the texture use is beautiful and makes the icon very unique.
This was really hard for me, a person who cannot resist the urge to put too much shit in an icon XD I managed to hold back enough to focus on a statement texture + some light textures.

4. Random screencap: THE DRESSMAKER (2016)
Real talk, I had no idea what this was from, so I ended up going off of vibes + the existing colors in the cap to make an icon.

5. Random song: Radiohead - Talk Show Host (youtube | lyrics)
I like Radiohead but I'd never heard this particular song, and I ended up listening to it on repeat one night when I couldn't sleep. Very good, very pleased for the song rec ;D I ended up picking through the lyrics for something to use for an icon, and 'You want me? / Fuckin' well come and find me' really spoke to me for Madara. I already had screencaps of his demon outfit on hand and it was pretty much a perfect fit :D

6. Random tutorial: Tutorial #11 by justmyb0nes
I ended up following the tutorial pretty closely, since it's a different way of getting some effects I already do. I also had a particularly dark screencap of Natsume on hand and I had fun trying out something new! idk if it's my strongest work, but I'll consider it a win for a new technique.

7. Random movie poster: The Pianist (2002)
I took inspiration from the piano itself and used a screencap from the newest Switch MV: Wish upon a MUSIC!! Featuring, of course, Tsumugi, who was the focus of the event. My own mixed feelings on the story itself aside, the set design is cute and worked for the piano theme~

8. Random quote: “No, our science is no illusion. But an illusion it would be to suppose that what science cannot give us we can get elsewhere.” - Sigmund Freud, The Future of an Illusion
I had no idea what to do with this one, but thankfully I have a very smart wife who gave me inspiration ;D I ended up making an icon of one of the lifesprings in Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth, which ties into the theme of humans trying to bleed the planet dry in a quest for "science" and advancement.

9. Random textures: tinny akilah92 alannabases
I actually used all three of these, though I did move them around a bunch/cut them apart + change the colors. I always love playing with new textures, though, so this was delightful.

10. Random font: Subspace
This immediately made me think space, so who better to icon than Leo in his Star Wars-inspired outfit? I'm honestly very pleased with the overall composition of this icon!!!

11. Random trope: Finger in the Mail
For all that I'm a villain fucker, I had a lot of trouble picking who/what to icon for this one :T BUT THEN I REMEMBERED THE BEST ONE OF ALL: Legato and his paper bag full of loose hot dogs and a severed head :D

12. Random remake: this icon
This was honestly quite exciting to remake!! The original was only made back in October - for a different retro_icontest challenge, no less! - but I feel like I've leveled up a lot in the past 6 months or so. I ended up grabbing a screencap from the =EYE= MV instead of using flat card art of Kohaku and tried a very different text composition. It's the same words, but different fonts. Overall, I'm really pleased with the new version~

13. Random song title: Heartache Avenue
I ended up looking at the lyrics to two different songs with this title and then made up my own text for the actual icon XD I've been on a FFVII kick lately and all I could think of with heartache was Zack and his tragedy with Aerith ;w; The animation is kind of a "blink and you'll miss it" sorta thing on purpose, because ain't that the way with how Aerith haunts the narrative?

14. Random inspiration icon: this icon by haebin
Bright eyes peaking out from a shadowed area....definitely fits for both Sephiroth a cute kitty cat XD I snagged this screenshot from finally finishing up Final Fantasy VII: Remake this week, and it just spoke to me (of the inspiration icon).

15. Random palette: Marnie's
Despite the bright green and teal in it, this palette was surprisingly hard to work with...it just had a lot less contrast than I expected! But the greens made me think of Gongaga, and I think I made something nice from a video game jungle setting~

16. Random art: XII, Traditional women’s costume, district of Quiquijana, province of Quispicanchi, Cusco, Peru 2007 (Mario Testino)
Since it was shot directly from behind, I wanted to use the some type of shot for my icon. I didn't end up carrying the colors through, but I'm still pretty happy with the parallels :D

17. Random album cover: Empire & Magnetar - Two Are
I took inspiration from the composition of the album for this, since I liked the clear division of sections. Also, I'm always delighted to use the Antiques Fair Double Face outfits- they're some of my faves ;D

18. Random book cover: All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
Much like the album cover, I took inspiration from the composition of the cover for my icon. I don't think this is necessarily my strongest work, but 1) I was working on it at nearly 4 am and 2) I'm always extra nervous about working with text.

19. Random word: crisis
You already know I had to make something from Crisis Core!!!!! I was so excited to see this as my random word~ I loved the composition of the screencap I picked but hated working with it; the original was very flat thanks to the quality of graphics for the PSP. I remade it a bunch of times, but I DO like the final version.

20. Random screencap pool: Link Click (caps from fancaps)
ALWAYS DELIGHTED TO MAKE MORE LINK CLICK ICONS!!!!! As much as I love the main two boys, I was quite excited to see Qiao Ling in the pool of caps and I knew I had to make one of her :D


If you use any of the icons, I would love if you could comment. At the very least, please credit either setsuntamew or killiansicons.

Watch/join the community if you like what you see!!!