Rockstar Icon Designer - Kate McInnes [42]
Perspective
A desk view icon has no formal perspective, instead the icon's perspective should be chosen to show the object in the best view possible. If you look at icons from platforms such as Windows or Mac OS, you will see that larger objects with balanced dimensions, such as peripherals or animal mascots, are shown in a variation of the isometric view point. Objects that are thinner or smaller in appearance are shown with a smaller perspective view to create the best view of the object's surface. Paper should be drawn like it's placed flat on a surface, and objects should look like they're coming out from the picture plane.
A desk view icon looks like it's viewed resting on an imaginary desk and viewed from above.
Lighting
There's more to shading an object than simply adding some light to a dark gradient, so let's take a closer look at how to effectively use light to turn shapes into forms. Once you're confident with using light and shade properly, you will notice a dramatic improvement in the quality and realism of your work.
To shade different objects, you need to apply a highlight, halftone, core shadow and reflected light.
Highlight: This is the area where the light directly hits the surface of the object. The intensity of the highlight will depend on the material you're drawing. Highly reflective surfaces will have super bright highlights, while porous materials will absorb some of the light, making it a few shades lighter than the other tones.
Halftone: This is the area between the shade and the light. On textured surfaces you will notice that the texture may create little shadows and highlights depending on how raised it is.
Core Shadow: The core shadow is the darkest part of the object with the least light, this doesn't mean that it should be de-saturated. Make the best use of the HSB color sliders to subtract light without muting the tones.
Cast Shadow: The cast shadow falls over the surface the object is sitting on. The cast shadow is defined by the object that's forming it and becomes lighter and less defined the further away from the object it's drawn.
Reflected Light: This is light that is reflected from the surface the object is sitting on. Reflected light shouldn't be lighter than the Highlight.
When light is bounced off a surface it will change color but it will not get darker. Colored light hitting an object from a surface of the same color will enhance the saturation of the reflected light. Light bouncing off a dark surface will not be bright enough to change the color of the light, rather the dark surface will absorb it.
Light reflected from surfaces behaves differently depending on the material the surface is made from.
Look at the object you want to create as an icon. What are the surfaces like? Consider the shape of the object and how light will move from one side to the other. Using photos as a reference is a great place to start studying the play of light on an object, but remember that it shouldn't be used to trace and copy. Icons should be brighter than a photograph and have an exaggerated appearance. Images in photographs can also have perspective that doesn't necessarily look good in the context of icon design.
How Light Behaves on Different Surfaces
One you've chosen the perspective of the icon and have established how light will move across the surface, you need to think about the materials you want to render. Light behaves differently depending on the object. For example soft and fluffy fur will absorb light and remain luminous, while chrome will bounce light with super bright and blown out highlights and reflected tone from the objects around it. If you're not familiar with creating different finishes and effects, you should spend some time learning the characteristics of various materials and render samples. It