Max’s Blog … LOL!!!: entry

I had recently purchased Sebastiaan’s collection (dubbed Icon Resource) of about 20 HD video tutorials for 95€ getting me started into icon design. Yeah, it’s not iconography as I, and many others, thought. That was what I learned in one of his vids.

Now, I have seen quite a lot of reviews (one of the good ones being from Matt Gemmell) out there in the internet about Icon Resource - but I don’t think to many really capture what IconResource is.

Let’s talk $$$

Many start of by complaining about the price of 95€. I have to be honest that the first moment I saw that price, I was a bit shocked as well. Is that guy nuts - 95€ some vids that I can do myself? Yet, I decided to spend the money and it was well worth it! If you think about it, a book from Amazon trying to teach you icon design costs about 30€. Then you realize the book is only the first out of 3 and so you end up buying the other 2 for 30€ as well. You are already up to about 90€ - but, the books are a complete waste of money. What they tell you is complete crap and the authors behind aren’t even recognized icon designers. Soon you see that they use the first version of Photoshop, images showing you colors effects are printed in black & white and the less-handy A4 sized pages make it hard to navigate through.
IconResource on the other hand offers you fine quality, Keynote-powered (Mac-version of PowerPoint) slideshows with a very relaxing voice sometimes making nice speaking mistakes (lol, their funny cause I make EXACT the same ones … seems to be a European thing) and just stunning techniques that are modern and allow you to create the most perfect icons ever.

How the whole thing works

IconResource starts off by giving you a brief overview of the whole kit, then starts going into some theory which, even though Sebastiaan suggest you skip, you don’t skip it! It gives you some nice and interesting facts and modeling tips that are important for the icon. For example, having the most stunning icon with great filters and stuff might look good in Photoshop - but as soon as you place it in your dock it looks like a black hole and you wanna trash it right away! So be sure to watch (and read through the attached docs) before going into the hardcore stuff.
After theory, Sebastiaan will guide you through making a drawing-application icon by creating a document, a brush and a pencil. The objects might seem simple - but they really teach you the basics and then allow you to get creative.
After the movies are done, you can start trying the stuff and play with the attached project files worth about 100MB! This also shows how icon design is just a play with filters. :-D Sorry guys! LOL

Now, let’s just summarize all of that in a quote (feel free to quote):

IconResource is a fantastic resource bringing and teaching you the basics of icon design in about 20 HD videos that will just burn the techniques in your mind. IconResource is a must-have for everyone who wants to get into icon designing and wishes to learn from one of the best icon masters out there in the world. The price, which might shock you, is a well-worth investment and should not be a wall to hinder you buying IconResource for 95€. Just Enjoy!

My summary; 9.7 from 10 points

Although IconResource is so great in many ways, there are three tiny things that bug me (and probably only me)! IconResource could have been placed together in one main video that could go into iTunes (with the correct format) with a large album art cover. I did ask Sebastiaan for such an album art cover and I did get it and Icon Resource just fits into my iTunes library like a shining star!
Lastly, although the typical drawing-application icon design helps you in learning the basics, a more advanced section for an icon that could include objects such as a camera or a anything more three-dimensional would be useful as well.

Having said that, on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the best, I would award IconResource would be a definite 9.7. Clap! Clap! Clap!