ariad | This is a post about icons.

I am not much of an icon maker, but I am an icon epicure. I spend hours shifting through icon journals and culling the ones I've already downloaded. It seems a shame not to share the beauties I have found. (Note: Some of these are linked to the maker's personal journal instead of their icon journal.)

This post is heavily biased in favor of video game icons. This is not just because I like video games; I like a lot of things. IMO, video game graphics just look better on icons. They're smooth and perfect and color well.

Teaser:

all_creation

I tend to prefer busy icons to crop-and-color ones, but

all_creation's are so attractive that I could not help myself. Very good color and sharpness. Also makes Code Geass, Mario Bros., and Legend of Zelda icons.

anniereckless

One of my longtime loves,

anniereckless seems to have stopped making icons! Or else she has a new journal that I don't know about. Sadness. Her icons make great use of text and textures. Also made Cowboy Bebop, Ouran High School Host Club, and Studio Ghibli icons.

darklight_art

Another dead journal. Beautiful stock icons.

hella

One of my most favorite icon makers! It was so difficult for me to choose icons to feature because I wanted to show off

hella's interesting crops, strong colors, aesthetically pleasing text, sense of humor, supereffective image choices, and GUH. Also makes D.Gray-Man, Kingdom Hearts, and Dragon Age icons.

ipsius

Very pretty colors. Likes to use images of the sky a lot, and oh! the blues. ♥ Also makes Naruto, Code Geass, and Harry Potter icons.

powercorrupts

Another absolute favorite.

powercorrupts uses colors that are becoming increasingly common, but I think a lot of them are imitators of

powercorrupts, who still uses them best. Hasn't updated in about a year, though. Also makes Gundam 00, Star Wars, and Kurohitsuji icons.

ryfee

ryfee has a distinct airy style to her icons. She likes to put video game characters against a stock background and fill the icon with an effulgent light. The resulting icons are very pretty. Also makes icons for Code Geass, Pandora Hearts, and Persona.

sweet100x100

sweet100x100 caught my eye with a set of five Final Fantasy X icons in the style of the third icon above. As far as I know, those were the only icons she has done in a sequential format, but they were stunning. I wish she or other people would make more sequential video game icons because they have to potential to capture a scene better than a single still can, and for me, capturing a moment is the best thing an icon can do. Also makes icons for Lord of the Rings, Gilmore Girls, and Pride and Prejudice.

whispyr

whispyr has nice icon layouts. I didn't feature any here, but she makes a lot of icons of art, as in stand-alone paintings and illustrations, not comics or video game art. Her journal contains some cool manips, too. Also makes icons for Lacuna Coil, Lineage II, and Victoria Francés.

These are some more icons I particularly like, some of them for their humor, some of them for composition, and some of them because I remember the scene depicted and, oh, how the icon captures the scene. The makers' usernames are included in the file name, except for the second Riku/Mickey one. No idea who made that.