Rockstar Icon Designer - Kate McInnes [59]
Calculator Icon Replacement - Photoshop CS5.
KM Where do you see yourself and the field of icon design in 5 to 10 years time?
BN I hope to have improved significantly and continue to do so. As long as there is a form of progression in everything I try to do, I'm happy.
KM What's the biggest mistake you can make when creating icons and how can people avoid it?
BN I'd say using only raster when creating icons should be avoided. When it comes to icon design you really need to be able to scale your icon, so you need to use vector shapes. This is most likely also the easier way to achieve an effect you're otherwise trying to achieve using raster methods.
KM What's the most important skill or trait to have for people who want to make icons?
BN I'd say the first thing you need is passion, a love for your craft. If you love what you do, you'll never feel you have to work to get to know your program. Besides that I'd say an eye for detail is definitely required. Patience however can be learned.
KM Do you have any advice or tips for people wanting to break into the field of icon design?
Try to join communities and get as much feedback from other designers as possible. And when you're ready, be sure to put out an online portfolio as soon as possible. It's a great way to get some experience in the field.
Benjamin Nathan
twitter.com/benjaminnathan
dribbble.com/benjaminnathan
benjaminnathan.nl
Tatyana Suhodolska
Tatyana Suhodolska is an accomplished freelance icon and interface designer based in Latvia. With a keen eye for realism, Tatyana creates amazingly realistic icon sets that carry her own signature style, aesthetic, and cheeky sense of humor.
KM How did you first get started in icon design and what drives your work now?
TS Turns out I've been working with icons a long time ago, only I didn't know they were called "icons" officially. :) I had created basically small images with transparent backgrounds for some social networking websites, and only later in 2009 I started to work on that more seriously.
KM Are you self-taught or did you attend a class or school?
TS I'm self-taught through to my bones. I learned software by the trial and error method, I'm just that kind of person. Only these days I've become a bit lazy to teach myself, so I look for help and tutorials to get result faster, because time is money. I think this is an individual choice to get education or learn by yourself. If my country offered a good design education, I would go learn there, but unfortunately we are very behind in that area.
If you want to work with icons you have to love small details, because icons are usually small. Also you have to be able to see things - by "see things" I mean to see through the image. If you really like someone's artwork, you must be able to see what exactly is so cool about it. Are the soft shadows really good? Is it the colors? Or is it really good composition and form? If you can "see" the strong parts of the artwork, you will remember it (you will, believe me), and you will use it in your work. Finally of course, you should have a general love for icons, they're small, they're cute, and you want to touch them.
KM Do you work freelance, in-house or are you part of a team?
TS Currently I am a freelancer, but with a company based in France, so we work online and keep in contact via chat during the working day, so I don't work on weekends with them, so I'm like a real worker but not sitting in their office, and not even in their country. In my free time I work with some other clients, and so it turns out that all my work happens online, and not face to face.
KM Do you work exclusively in icon design or do you work in different fields?
TS Icon design is a small part, but it's my favorite part. In the beginning of my career I was positioned as an animator, but later animation transformed into banners, then into small gif images, than small static images, than big static images, than websites, then icons, and here I am. Animation is still