ratbones

Finally! Here's my progression post for 2025! (click here for: 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016)


# of icons: 1230
# of icon posts: 65

Graph instead of words for distribution this time:



Last, year the busiest months where May, October, June, and March - well there is some overlap - and the quietest ones February and December - nope, not even close. :D

Biggest achievements/progress made/observations: I don't think I made any huge leaps. My work was so busy and exhausting that I resorted to mostly minimalist icons without text. The most complex icons were around March, and after June the text use dropped significantly. I'm not bothered by this, because apparently it meant I made more icons, and I can't say I had less fun making them than I would have had making more complex ones. It's all good, then!

New this year: I made a gallery for 2025, just one huge pile without any text/descriptions/explanations, which you can see here: https://tinpix.de/2025/gallery_page_1.html. They go from new (page 1) to old (page 24).

Now for the monthly details:

Every icon post is linked separately, through the example icons for each month. But you can also click on the month names for that month's calendar with links to all my posts. Or you can simply look at my art-icons tag. Every month states the number of icons posted that month, plus the number later posted in drop posts, to get a better idea when I made what.

-> -> ->

( My progression over the last 12 months )



Wow, I got way over 1000 icons this year - probably due to the fact that monthlyinspo died and I had to deliver lots of 20-icon sets for all the 20in20s in which I participated instead, plus the landcomms. And I was under a lot of stress at work so that carried over into my need to relieve the stress by making a lot of icons. Those were less complex, but didn't end up ugly, just minimalistic and more focused on coloring and lighting. Overall, I'm not complaining. Iconmaking is stress relief for me, and I really needed it.

My resolutions for 2025 were:

- Be a little more adventurous with obscuring the subject, either through crop or using text
- Do experiments with coloring

I feel like I did the second one. I love recoloring icons, and that's why I love iconcolors so much, too. I did a retro_icontest round where a new coloring method was the focus of the challenge, and I found a coloring tutorial that I've been experimenting with. So I guess those both count, and this worked out.

The first one... eh. I kind of did it. At least I remembered that I had it this year, lol, unlike the previous years. :D I made an icontalking challenge with the goal of practicing it (it worked a little, could have been more). So I am keeping that one.

I didn't have a third one in 2025, but since I'm firmly back into cdrama and have made way too many textless icons last year, I'll add the old resolution back. Then I realized how great it was to shake up my process, I'm adding a resolution to that effect, giving me these three:

- Be a little more adventurous with obscuring the subject, either through crop or using text
- Do experiments with changing my process, either by starting from textures or by following guides/tutorials
- Add text also to cdrama icons

Looking back at the year, I'm happy as always that the iconmaker community still exists. Some new (and old!) makers joined us again, and my comms are all a source of joy. I'm also happy to have found seasons_of_fandom, a landcomm that works really well at integrating iconmakers, which no other landcomm I've seen has done as successfully, and I enjoy participating there. It's in fact the first landcomm that I've managed to stay in for more than one round. (Well, okay, I managed a few rounds at fandom_empire, too.)

Many thanks to everyone who mods, participates, or even just comments. You all make my life better. <3

Last but not least: the graph!

comparison with last year

Compared to last year, the number of Zhu Yilong icons dropped considerably *again*, from 175 to a measly 33. I feel like my Zhu Yilong addiction has well and truly run its course. My new obsession is Wu Lei, who leads the count with 374 icons, then HPI with 323, neither of which were at all a thing in 2024. All in all, adding cdrama (104) + BL (51) to the Zhu Yilong and Wu Lei numbers, Asian fandoms still come to almost half my total number (560).

Last year, I thought that I would icon more western fandoms, but apart from HPI, that prediction has not come true. It's all Wu Lei's fault of course. :D

So far, 2026 has started out well where iconmaking is concerned, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it stays that way.