[Zyote]

Hi, i've been inspired lately by Dave Brasgallas's fantastic Matrix icon sets to come up with a set based on the movie Fight Club.

I'm very much a novice at icon creation with photoshop. (I normally use only illustrator).. and so creating pseudo photorealistic icons is tough work.

I'm not creating system replacement icons or anything. but more so working on my skills at creating good looking icons.

any comments and suggestions are very much appreciated. and also could you remember, these are "work in progress"

Thanks

[jerseyfreeze]

Sweet!

These are approximately a million times better than I could do, so not criticism from me. I can't wait to not talk about fight club with my computer.

[Zyote]

Thanks!

Also, any praise or kind words will help keep me motivated on this project too!!

so if you like them! let me know..

:-)

i sometimes draw simple box shapes in illustrator to help me choose the perspective i want.. and then after i copy that simple graphic into photoshop.

i render that in photoshop at 512x512pixels, and draw from there with the airbrush tools.

[benign]

A picture is worth a thousand words...

[kovacs]

Originally posted by benign:


A picture is worth a thousand words...

Hehe, spooky but I just saw this movie yesterday...

The icons look great and I can't think of any possible additions...

[Zyote]

yeah, i've compiled a list of about 20 items from the film that i think would translate well into icons. So ive got a few more to go still.

but my technique and style is getting better as i go.... so who knows.. i might have to redo these first few as i get better!

;-p

[benign]

Like the contrast between a hard-hitting anti-everything
movie and a bar of pink soap. Do you really expect guys
are going to be queuing around the block for a bunch of
pink soap related desktop icons.

[Zyote]

Originally posted by benign:
Like the contrast between a hard-hitting anti-everything
movie and a bar of pink soap. Do you really expect guys
are going to be queuing around the block for a bunch of
pink soap related desktop icons.

Nope! :-) but at least my icon skills will have improved. and perhaps one or two people might like them.

[Fonzie]

I'd like to see benign do ANYTHING that's better and that someone would want to wait around the block for

What's your agenda, benign ?

[kovacs]

Originally posted by Fonzie:
I'd like to see benign do ANYTHING that's better and that someone would want to wait around the block for

What's your agenda, benign ?

He can complain better than anyone but I don't see people waiting in line for that ...

[Zyote]

Well, regardless. I thought i'd share what i was working on..

if nobody ends up downloading them or using them, it doesn't really bother be too much anyway, because at least my design skills will have improved.

;-p

[monkeybrain]

Wasn't benign quoting from the movie/book there?

Oh, have you seen the fight club soap icon from ages ago? I tried to find the author but couldn't.

looking good so far, I particularly like the bag of fat. The ying&yang table needs some tweaking I think.

[kwyjiboy]

Originally posted by Zyote:
Nope! :-) but at least my icon skills will have improved. and perhaps one or two people might like them.

Ignore that bitch. I am looking forward to these icons. OOH NO!!! PINK!!! MY MASCULINITY IS THREATENED!!!

Please continue.

[Zyote]

yay!

i will then!

:-)

[benign]

Originally posted by Zyote:
yay!

i will then!

:-)

I'm sorry to have offended so many counselors,
mentors and sycophants and you the artist, your icons
are excellent 128pixels -illustrative masterpieces. Nowhere
did I mention the artistic merit of your icons being deficient.

What I don't understand is pink desktop icons and
this films iconic anarchistic ideas don't really match.
It's your topic for icon making that I had a wee problem with.

A pink desktop icon will never convey any message
except - this is a pink icon.

Matrix will work because it is so heavy with rich imagery,
I can't really say the same thing for FC because that's
exactly not what that movie is about.

Ho-hum and apologies... mancurian

[Zyote]

Originally posted by benign:
I'm sorry to have offended so many counselors,
mentors and sycophants and you the artist, your icons
are excellent 128pixels -illustrative masterpieces. Nowhere
did I mention the artistic merit of your icons being deficient.

What I don't understand is pink desktop icons and
this films iconic anarchistic ideas don't really match.
It's your topic for icon making that I had a wee problem with.

A pink desktop icon will never convey any message
except - this is a pink icon.

Matrix will work because it is so heavy with rich imagery,
I can't really say the same thing for FC because that's
exactly not what that movie is about.

Ho-hum and apologies... mancurian

Actually, i do now understand what you're saying. and you have a valid point. there wasn't much thought into the "reason" behind choosing fight club really. it's a film i'm quite familiar with, and enjoyed quite a bit. I have picked about 30 items to draw from the film, but some of them are rather "generic". ie, a "pill bottle" (used by marla to overdose), and a coffee table. etc.

They do not relate at all to system icons. and as such, i guess are just simply illustrative icons. Ie, like those icons of monsters, or silly faces and such. Ie, you can't really use them on a desktop for anything besides "fun" folders, ichat icons and such.

So i do understand where you're coming from. and i apreciate you taking the time to explain it a bit more.

I think i'll continue on with this set however, for completeness sake, but perhaps next time, i'll try to make sure that their is a point to the icons, a user for each one, etc.

cheers,

[Slayer-X]

Good thing you didn't make an icon out of the "penis filmstrip piece" or else it might just cause everyone to go downright awol.

[gdiddy]

Actually the Paper Street Soap company figures quite prominently in the movie and I believe the use of the color pink ties into the whole men being raised by women. I could be wrong.

We're here, we're pink, get used to it.

[Dave Brasgalla]

Originally posted by Zyote:
I had a lot of trouble on one of my first fight club icons, and that was creating bubbles for it. You have to one, make them look realistic in the 3d sense, but also to have transparency aswell! and reflection! Same goes for my most recent icon i'm working on, the bag of fat, it's a lightweight plastic bag, filled with liquid. so it has to sit on the table correctly, with proper displacement, and also show the users desktop colour through using the transparency! argh! :-)

Yeah, I find rendering actual glass objects to be one of the most difficult icon jobs. In the real world, not only do you have varying degrees of transparency, but there is also refraction to think about. There is no way to get that to really work in an icon, since the refractions would need to change as you moved the icon around the desktop. It's certainly theoretically possible, but man, would it be processor-intensive. Talk about putting Aqua Extreme to work!

Also, there are "caustics" to think about - areas of light being concentrated on the surface under the object. Put a glass of liquid on a table in the sunlight and you'll see caustics on the surface. I guess there are good reasons people use 3D apps to do this kind of thing!

With soap bubbles, I would think that the reflections and light behaviour would tend to be pretty uniform across the majority of them - and at the size they will finally appear, you might as well make one large master "hero" soap bubble and dupe/resize it as needed.

Originally posted by Zyote:
Actually, i do now understand what you're saying. and you have a valid point. there wasn't much thought into the "reason" behind choosing fight club really. it's a film i'm quite familiar with, and enjoyed quite a bit. I have picked about 30 items to draw from the film, but some of them are rather "generic". ie, a "pill bottle" (used by marla to overdose), and a coffee table. etc.

They do not relate at all to system icons. and as such, i guess are just simply illustrative icons. Ie, like those icons of monsters, or silly faces and such. Ie, you can't really use them on a desktop for anything besides "fun" folders, ichat icons and such.

So i do understand where you're coming from. and i apreciate you taking the time to explain it a bit more.

I think i'll continue on with this set however, for completeness sake, but perhaps next time, i'll try to make sure that their is a point to the icons, a user for each one, etc.

cheers,

Obviously, you can do as you choose, but personally, I don't worry too much whether an icon has a specific system "purpose" or not. I think you are more likely to work on an icon of something you are interested in drawing. Make whatever you want - who knows who might find it to be something they want to use?

[Dave Brasgalla]

Originally posted by Slayer-X:
Good thing you didn't make an icon out of the "penis filmstrip piece" or else it might just cause everyone to go downright awol.

Well, some folks, at least...

However, why not do something like: two film reels or canister, one labelled for a Disney flick and one porn? With a razor blade badged on it...?

Same general idea, and it makes a good "Movies" icon...

[Zyote]

Well, the bright pink soap was a huge part of the advertising campaign for the movie itself, you can get pink soap with the words "fight club" on ebay! and they were given away at press screenings of the film.

As such, i believe the pink soap to be one of the strongest images from the film's release.

now the question of if soap translates to be suitable as an "icon", is a whole other matter!

:-)

some of the other ideas i have on my list are the following:

"imperfect" handcrafted glass bowl
Corporate Art (huge metal sphere)
Bottles of Lye, vinegar, and soap/bomb making stuff
film reels (with splaced single frame!! hahaha)
"Power Animal" - Penguin.
Paper street Soap - business card
flight coupons
Single serving set of items from plane
bomb
"hello my name is bob" name tag
mattress, black boots, black socks, $300 personal burial money
old national geographic books ("I am jacks...")

etc.

[Zyote]

Originally posted by Dave Brasgalla:
Yeah, I find rendering actual glass objects to be one of the most difficult icon jobs. In the real world, not only do you have varying degrees of transparency, but there is also refraction to think about. There is no way to get that to really work in an icon, since the refractions would need to change as you moved the icon around the desktop. It's certainly theoretically possible, but man, would it be processor-intensive. Talk about putting Aqua Extreme to work!

Also, there are "caustics" to think about - areas of light being concentrated on the surface under the object. Put a glass of liquid on a table in the sunlight and you'll see caustics on the surface. I guess there are good reasons people use 3D apps to do this kind of thing!

With soap bubbles, I would think that the reflections and light behaviour would tend to be pretty uniform across the majority of them - and at the size they will finally appear, you might as well make one large master "hero" soap bubble and dupe/resize it as needed.

yeah, i've seen how complex caustics can be, even to make it look right with a 3D package. let alone doing it freestyle. Thats the thing, with translating icons from films, generally the images you have for reference can be very dark and noisey, ie, lighting in the film might be "dark and moody"... but drawing a icon of that object all dark and moody isn't going to work very well. Generally icons are well lit, and very visible. There is no hiding your dodgey work in the dark here! etc.

I think i will have to revisit the main soap icon. cause thats a very important one.. and currently the bubbles just do not cut it. however i might leave it till last, cause i think i'm already improving, and perhaps 10 icons down the line i might be capable of doing it better! and perhaps i'll have figured out a good perspective to use with it too.

Originally posted by Dave Brasgalla:

Obviously, you can do as you choose, but personally, I don't worry too much whether an icon has a specific system "purpose" or not. I think you are more likely to work on an icon of something you are interested in drawing. Make whatever you want - who knows who might find it to be something they want to use?

yay! thanks.. thats what i needed to hear aswell. although i do believe even if noone uses it for anything, my skills + portfolio will get bigger and better! the more icons i do the better i get. sure, some of them might suck, but the next could be fantastic!

[moofman]

Love the movie and the icons look great! The only thing I see odd about them is with the icon of the soap in the top right. The angle of the soap and the angle of the "Fight Club" text seem to be a little off...

[MaxPower]

Be sure to put in the rubber gloves that pitt was wearing and marla's 'partner' that was sitting on the dresser!

[Zyote]

Originally posted by moofman:
Love the movie and the icons look great! The only thing I see odd about them is with the icon of the soap in the top right. The angle of the soap and the angle of the "Fight Club" text seem to be a little off...

thanks for the comments.. yes, i think the whole perspective on this doesn't work.

Ie, what reasoning did i have for putting it on this perspective? does it actually help at all?

i think the answer is no. it just complicates things. thanks for reconfirming my thoughts. :-)

[Zyote]

Originally posted by MaxPower:
Be sure to put in the rubber gloves that pitt was wearing and marla's 'partner' that was sitting on the dresser!

hehe, i want to use the rubber gloves somewhere...

i have to admit i always found that highly amusing.. :-) i'm a little unsure about doing marla's 'Partner'... think i might have to leave that one for the time being..

:-)

haha

[kwyjiboy]

Originally posted by benign:
What I don't understand is pink desktop icons and
this films iconic anarchistic ideas don't really match

While I realize you are trolling, I'll make it really simple for you. The pink soap is a large icon of this movie. Have you even SEEN the movie? Did you ever pop the dvd in and have a glance at the menus, which are a gigantic, full-screen bar of pink soap?

Go and die, troll.

[kwyjiboy]

Originally posted by Slayer-X:
Good thing you didn't make an icon out of the "penis filmstrip piece" or else it might just cause everyone to go downright awol.

Actually, that's BRILLIANT idea for the Movies toolbar icon. And no, Fight Club isn't a PG-13 movie, so if what's in the movie offends you, and if you're offended by your own genetalia, go find some icons of flowes and elves.

[kwyjiboy]

Originally posted by Zyote:
hehe, i want to use the rubber gloves somewhere...

i have to admit i always found that highly amusing.. :-) i'm a little unsure about doing marla's 'Partner'... think i might have to leave that one for the time being..

:-)

haha

Don't worry. It's no threat to you.

[mrfrost]

Great stuff Misha.

[Zyote]

I think the spliced film frame is quite an important icon to do... however i do wanna do it right, without offending the easily offended :-) i mean, the film has a huge giant **** at the end of the film for everyone to see. but like it's such a comedic thing when seen in context, but i think maybe with it being seen in an icon would be too much.

I like dave's idea about showing just the canisters, which could be labeled accordingly.

"snow-white" and "hot porn" or whatever..

:-)

[Zyote]

Originally posted by mrfrost:
Great stuff Misha.

Hahaha.. how you doing man!

:-)

nice to see ya here.

[Zyote]

One question:


Anyone have any ideas how i could use the following quote from the film in an iconic way?

"Can we have the icon in a corn-flower blue?"


would be rather amusing.. but i just can't figure out how i could illustrate this quote.

[mrfrost]

Originally posted by Zyote:
Hahaha.. how you doing man!

:-)

nice to see ya here.

Doing good.

Nice to see you're really pushing pixels.

[Zyote]

New Icon:

"Bomb"

[gdiddy]

Originally posted by Zyote:
One question:


Anyone have any ideas how i could use the following quote from the film in an iconic way?

"Can we have the icon in a corn-flower blue?"


would be rather amusing.. but i just can't figure out how i could illustrate this quote.

A man wearing a tie. From the collar down. Holding the tie in one hand with the other pointing at the tie.

[gdiddy]

Originally posted by Zyote:
One question:


Anyone have any ideas how i could use the following quote from the film in an iconic way?

"Can we have the icon in a corn-flower blue?"


would be rather amusing.. but i just can't figure out how i could illustrate this quote.

Here are some images:

one

two

[Slayer-X]

Originally posted by kwyjiboy:
Actually, that's BRILLIANT idea for the Movies toolbar icon. And no, Fight Club isn't a PG-13 movie, so if what's in the movie offends you, and if you're offended by your own genetalia, go find some icons of flowes and elves.

Oh trust me, I am way not offended by penises. I just thought that since the pink soap got some people all out of sorts that a penis might really bother them. I personally think a penis icon woul dbe durned hilarious.

[Zyote]

Originally posted by gdiddy:
Here are some images:

one

two

Ooooo yeah, great idea! i forgot about the neck tie thing..

oh and getty images! quality source...:-)

[Holigen]

The shiny booklet thingy looks inside out for me... Maybe add a drop shadow or soemthing

[Zyote]

Originally posted by Holigen:
The shiny booklet thingy looks inside out for me... Maybe add a drop shadow or soemthing

yeah, the "flight safety" card aint so hot...

I found the actual graphics used on it, and just distorted it to fit in that shape. ie, pretty much a rip off. :-( but redrawing all the graphics for something so small seemed silly.

but i do agree the angle is odd. i might change it to be sitting down flat instead.... or perhaps fully open on a straighter angle.

thanks for mentioning it! :-)

[Holigen]

No prob

[Dave Brasgalla]

Originally posted by Zyote:
yeah, the "flight safety" card aint so hot...

I found the actual graphics used on it, and just distorted it to fit in that shape. ie, pretty much a rip off. :-( but redrawing all the graphics for something so small seemed silly.

but i do agree the angle is odd. i might change it to be sitting down flat instead.... or perhaps fully open on a straighter angle.

thanks for mentioning it! :-)

This might help you decide what angles to use for which icons:

Apple HI Guidelines (look for Icons section)

You can download this as a PDF for easy reference. One can find great icon examples of almost everything they discuss in the Utilities folder (I believe the icons in that folder are mostly the work of the great Matt Evans).

For the flight card (which is a great idea), I agree about re-drawing something so small, but why not draw one or two frames so that you can make them larger, like two on a page? Maybe use a few of the simpler illustrations for increased clarity...

Hope this helps...

[Dave Brasgalla]

By the way, that "bomb" icon looks great! Way to go...

[Zyote]

Originally posted by Dave Brasgalla:
This might help you decide what angles to use for which icons:

Apple HI Guidelines (look for Icons section)

You can download this as a PDF for easy reference. One can find great icon examples of almost everything they discuss in the Utilities folder (I believe the icons in that folder are mostly the work of the great Matt Evans).

For the flight card (which is a great idea), I agree about re-drawing something so small, but why not draw one or two frames so that you can make them larger, like two on a page? Maybe use a few of the simpler illustrations for increased clarity...

Hope this helps...

yes, i think i need to go through those guidelines again. I have seen them and read them a few times, but i never seem to think about them when working on a new icon. as you say, those utilities icons are a great source of icon design. looks like some of them, like the "Directory Access" is a similar type of graphic that i'd use for the flight safety card.

But if i were to just include one or two of the original illustrations, i think the icon would need to be cropped, however one thing i'm not sure about how to do yet is how to crop icons.. ie, incomplete objects. ie, if i was doing a "hand" or something, i'm not sure how i could severe it, or would it fade out? or what? thats why all the objects i choose are shown completely.

If i could figure out how to crop things that would be useful. Ie, i wanted to do the "Paper Street" road sign, but obviously, if i showed the whole sign and post, it'd be so thin! but if i could crop it successfully that would mean i could zoom in on the sign, and a partial post.

I'll have a go at what you've suggested. fingers crossed!

[benign]

Originally posted by kwyjiboy:
While I realize you are trolling, I'll make it really simple for you. The pink soap is a large icon of this movie. Have you even SEEN the movie? Did you ever pop the dvd in and have a glance at the menus, which are a gigantic, full-screen bar of pink soap?

Go and die, troll.

What a few merchandizing men do with a product
to sell it has very little, almost nothing to do with
a directors intent - you are looking at the packaging
and not seeing the movie - just like all the other
mindless consumers.

All you are contributing is juvenile trolling behavior
yourself - look at your own actions before pointing
any fingers - or I'll metaphorically break then off.

[kwyjiboy]

Originally posted by benign:
What a few merchandizing men do with a product
to sell it has very little, almost nothing to do with
a directors intent - you are looking at the packaging
and not seeing the movie - just like all the other
mindless consumers.

All you are contributing is juvenile trolling behavior
yourself - look at your own actions before pointing
any fingers - or I'll metaphorically break then off.

You really ought to learn what a troll is before you try to use it in a response. A troll causes trouble in a conversation by saying nything to deliberately rile people up. I was riled up. I replied -- OH. OH WAIT. LOOK. I didn't cause the situation, I was a victim. Would you like another gold star to stick beside your name? Would that make you feel like a better forum user? Would it make you feel important, that nobody betta' mess wit' you, or they be gettin' tongue-lashed?

Back to the topic, of pink soap being relative to the movie, Corky.

The bar of pink soap is a symbol of this movie. Or should we go through Tyler's history of soap? The Paper Street Soap Company. Jesus. Forget it. You must not have been watching the same movie. Someone played a joke on you, I think.

[Zyote]

So any preference as to which icon i work on next?

one of these perhaps:

"imperfect" handcrafted glass bowl
Corporate Art (huge metal sphere)
Bottles of Lye, vinegar, and soap/bomb making stuff
film reels (with splaced single frame!! hahaha)
"Power Animal" - Penguin.
Paper street Soap - business card
flight coupons
Single serving set of items from plane
"hello my name is bob" name tag
mattress, black boots, black socks, $300 personal burial money
old national geographic books ("I am jacks...")
"dealing with tuberuloses" pamplets, etc.

?

[Dave Brasgalla]

IKEA catalog?

[Zyote]

Originally posted by Dave Brasgalla:
IKEA catalog?

Ooo. i thought about that yesterday on the train home from work,

but forgot to write it down.

:-)

Dave, one question...

What do you think about things like copyright issues? ie, IKEA catalogue. Now, i'm just a small little icon designer, and as such probably only a handful of people will ever see the icon. and such, but even for such small things as this, do you think it's right or necessary to contact the copyright holders on the various things you illustrating?

i know it's just a tiny icon.. but you know... your icons get very well known, from The Icon Factory, and so do you need permission from like WB for your matrix set?