Icons 04/09/2005 My name is Clive Allen; I am an icoholic.Ah, how releasing it is to say those words! Even though for several years now I have managed to control my addiction, the fact is that once you're an icoholic, you are always an icoholic. Any moment of weakness and suitable tools to hand, and the icoholic can slip back into his addiction, spending hours every day creating tiny pictures that will serve as the icons that we computer-users click on so thoughtlessly. I am free now but was once enslaved.For some time I have been wanting to share my terrible experiences in the dim and dreary world of icoholism but was always constrained by the fact that I have none of my extensive collection of icons here in the States. But this morning I remembered a Dutchman named Johan Spee and realized that, through him, I still had access to at least a few of my icons. Let me explain:Way back in the days of Windows 3.11, I became bored with the standard uninteresting icons supplied with the operating system. I wanted my desktop to look tasteful and individual and it seemed to me that I could achieve this by designing my own icons. Upon investigation, I discovered that there were such things as icon editors and that many of them were free. It wasn't long before I was hard at work, learning the intricacies of icon design and producing ever more competent creations.The icon editor is essentially a tiny graphics program intended for use with very restricted pixel sizes and colors. In those days the standard was 32x32 pixels and 16 colors and this remains the ideal of the true zen of icon design. It's the restriction that makes it, you see. There is something compelling about the discipline of such tight constraints; there is real achievement in being able to fool the eye into seeing a detailed picture with full color when limited to so few pixels and colors.But no-one warned me that icon design is addictive. I was an easy convert, quickly becoming desperate for my hours of designing every day. Before long, I was a zen master of icon design.I thought I was the only icoholic in the world and then, one day, I discovered Johan Spee. He had put a collection of his icons on the net; I downloaded them and ended up by having a short email correspondence with him. This is what he has to say about his latest collection (probably his last, for he seems to have disappeared into the ether, no doubt freed at last from his addiction just as I have been):Icons are simple, little, colorful and seemingly harmless things. Be careful though, appearances are deceptive. Once you get a taste there is no turning back. I know. My name is Johan Spee, I am an Icoholic.This is the Icoholics Anonymous icon collection version 4.b. Most of these icons were made from scratch, others were extracted from different sources and redesigned; over 2100 altogether. One thing they all have in common: these icons are the cream of the crop.That does not mean they are in 256 colors or 48 x 48 pixels or any other Win 95/98 novelties that contravene the Zen of Icoholism. In my philosophy an Icon is a visual Haiku, not a picture, so I stick to 32 x 32 pixels and 16 colors. Call me old-fashioned, I don't mind. Just take a look: this is still the ultimate icon collection.The reason that Johan's surfacing from the depths of my memory has enabled me to write this post is that I also recalled that he included some of my icons in his collection. There is no copyright on icons and it is a compliment if another icon designer includes any of your work amongst his own. And this happy chance has enabled me to add to this post a few examples of my work of so long ago.src="/images/icon01.jpg" alt="icon 1" />src="/images/icon02.jpg" alt="icon 2" />src="/images/icon03.jpg" alt="icon 3" />src="/images/icon04.jpg" alt="icon 4" />Ah, happy memories...If you would like to see Johan's full collection (it is called Icoholics Anonymous), it can be downloaded here. A small viewer is included to make it easy to see the icons.And, if you dare flirt with the possibility of addiction, a simple freeware icon editor called IconArt can be obtained by clicking here. But don't say I didn't warn you!
Clive
Josh Boy, You really need XP, Clive. ;) I myself prefer Snico Edit, as it is the most flexible I have found when it comes to importing bitmaps, pngs, and such. I am much more comfy with the PSP UI, so I do my icons in BMP there and then import them into Snico, add the appropriate transparency, and voila. :) Date Added: 04/09/2005
Mad Don't forget that I tinkered briefly with this art form. In fact this very site has a small collection of icons I've designed, click here to download 'em. Date Added: 04/09/2005
Gone Away XP has taken all the art out of making icons, Josh. As I said, it's the limitations of older OSes that draws out real creativity. Were I ever to get serious about icon creation again, I'd reactivate my registered copy of Axialis, a French icon editor that beats even Microangelo. Trouble is, I hardly have any need for icons anymore... Date Added: 04/09/2005
Gone Away Ah yes, I'd forgotten about the icons you have on the site, Mad. How close you came to catching the addiction. ;) Date Added: 04/09/2005
ME Strauss Woo ooo Yippee!! I can breathe a sigh of relief! Date Added: 05/09/2005
Gone Away LOL Liz. Date Added: 05/09/2005
John (SYNTAGMA) I too have wrestled with Icomania, Clive. But even smaller ones. Trying to get a "favicon" into a Blogger template is not as straightforward as it seems. Maybe your resident panel of experts can help out. A favicon is a 16x16 icon that pops up whenever your site appears in an RSS aggregator, or similar. The url has to end in .ico but doesn't always catch the hook dangling for it.
I think the icons you show are brilliant, you should really continue with your art. The advantage of icons is that you can hold an exhibition in a doll's house :-) I like your current gravatar ~ the orange one with a little man who looks as if he's jumping down from a window as the young lady's husband appears on the scene. I hope this doesn't relate to incidents from your past, Clive? Date Added: 05/09/2005
Madmin I love Favicons John. Both of the ones on this site are by me. I think the download I linked earlier has some favicons in it. As for the "little man who looks as if he's jumping down from a window as the young lady's husband appears on the scene" you have a very active imagination! It was just meant to be my Dad going to America lol. :D Date Added: 05/09/2005
Gone Away Makes me look very energetic, Mad! The icons I put in the post were all of mine I could find in Mr Spee's collection, John. I did many more that I think are better than those. The main problem with continuing the addiction is that there's very little use for icons of that size any more. Perhaps I should try my hand at favicon design instead... As to the URL always picking up the favicon, this does seem to be something of a hit and miss affair. Why that should be, I have no idea. Date Added: 05/09/2005
John (SYNTAGMA) Btw, Clive, the link you give for the icon reader serves up a 404. I've got the icons on board and I can see I'll while away many an hour looking at them all. Maybe there's an alternative reader? Also, you can now get what's called a Gravatar, which is essentially an Avatar. There's a link on Yzabel's blog for it ~ I believe it's a French company that does it. Date Added: 05/09/2005
Gone Away The viewer is actually amongst the icons, John. Have a look in the folder where you put them and you should see the setup file. And I have a gravatar already. ;) Date Added: 05/09/2005
Josh Actually, Gravatars were invented by a guy in california. Date Added: 05/09/2005
Josh This was the link I meabt to stick in there, but I botched the href. :) Date Added: 05/09/2005
Ken I look on in amazement, as one does at people behaving strangely on the other side of the glass, and think to myself: Why don't I feel this way? Everybody else does, so why must I be different? Am I abnormal? Date Added: 05/09/2005
Gone Away Don't worry, Ken - we're the abnormal ones. You're perfectly sane. ;) Date Added: 05/09/2005
Erin I was unaware of this world of icon graphic making. Congratulations on your recovery. Perhaps you could print your icons on high quality paper and ink with nice binding to keep a treasury of your sweat and toil. Date Added: 05/09/2005
keeefer Nice one Gone, as always your art is inspiring (though this type may be limited to geekdom). Thankfully im about as artistically talented as three ferrets wrestling in an empty tupperware container and so will easily refrain from icoholism (which must make it the only vice in the world i dont have). Date Added: 06/09/2005
Gone Away Perhaps so, Erin. :) Date Added: 06/09/2005
Gone Away It's good to know that there are some temptations you can resist, Keef! :D Date Added: 06/09/2005
melly I'm with Ken. What are you all talking about? Leaving now and going back to my sane world... Date Added: 06/09/2005
Gone Away Melly, perhaps it's best you don't know... ;) Date Added: 06/09/2005
Mark Cross I loved the phrase 'visual hailku.' It painted the picture perfectly. Although a Machead I can still relate to the creativity permitted more freely under earlier OS's. I miss the fun I had on my old Apple IIgs, the predecessor of Macintosh Computers. Now I just zip along on my Powerbook with OS X like a [name your favorite sports] car flying down the Interstate missing the little out of the way wonders one finds on the backroads. Date Added: 06/09/2005
Gone Away Yes, Mark, I think that it's easy to forget the simple pleasures of times gone by. But that's progress, I guess... Date Added: 06/09/2005
Josh *cough* geezers! *cough* Date Added: 06/09/2005
Mad A vice too far eh Keef? .o0(Wuss) Josh I like to think I speak very good Amurican but I am deeply puzzled by geezer. Date Added: 06/09/2005
Mark Cross Gone, Do you hear what Josh is calling you and Mad? Are you two going to put up with that? :) Mad, "GEEZER" - Old, REALLY Old. That's how I knew he wasn't talking about me. :) I'm a coot, not a geezer. My older brothers are geezers. Date Added: 06/09/2005
Gone Away Nothing wrong with being old, Mark. :D Date Added: 06/09/2005
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