InsaneJournal

It's really hard to be a new icon maker and build up a base of people watching your journal. So, below can be found a number of suggestions for gaining popularity as an icon maker.

Obviously, you need to make icons - and lots of them. Every time you make a new set is a chance for advertising that set on pb_updates.

Also, think about how many icon makers are out there and post a day on pb_updates. Most of them have a ton of sets and a lot of variety to those sets. To be competitive with them, you're going to need to make a lot of sets and variety as well.

Five or ten is a good number of icons to start with. It gives viewers an idea of what sort of people you generally PB, how well you clean icons, etc.

As mentioned above, your sets need to have variety. If you only PB girls, only people who play girls will be interested in your icons and add you to their list. The same goes for PBing strictly scene kids and what have you. The way to get people interested in your icons is to pay attention to what PBs people most want to see and do requests. You don't have to do this all the time but doing it once in a while helps to expand your audience.

Even if you can't toss out ten or so sets of icons a week and aren't interested in doing requests, you can gain an edge over other icon makers by paying close attention to the quality of your icons. Because, honestly, it doesn't matter if you make all the icons in the world if you can't clean them properly. No one likes grainy/blurry/too dark/etc. icons. If your icons aren't up to par, people are likely to look elsewhere or just make their own. Remember, icon making is mostly cleaning up pictures - not just cropping and resizing.

So, where can you learn to clean icons? Try iconning and Good Tutorial.

Keep your icon journal organized. Make sure the directory is being kept up to date and easy to find. If people can't find your icons they won't be able to use them and you won't get the advertising that comes with their use. Put a link on your user info and include a link in the layout (the best way to do it is to link it as the webpage in your profile/user info here). Also, if possible, make your directory the latest post to your journal (or dated in the future).

Also, link back to it on the posts with your actual icons (maybe put a [Return to Directory] link at the bottom of the page).

In your directory, make sure you make it easier for people to immediately find what they're looking for by doing the following:


SPLIT UP SECTIONS.
Split up the icons into sections of males, females, and stock images (or of what you have). If you have a lot of icons, perhaps consider splitting them up by the letter of their first or last name.

USE ANCHOR LINKS.
At the top of your page, include links so that people viewing your icons can skip straight to a section (males, females, stock, rules, etc.).

INCLUDE NAMES AND PICTURES.
Include PB names under the pictures so people can ctrl+f what they want. Also, make sure you include pictures. Some people might be browsing for a character with a certain look and unfamiliar with the names presented.


You can find a layout for your icon directory that does the above here.

You can also tag/memory your icons. Especially if you wanted to split them up into certain categories like people with dark hair or something a la pb_updates.

It's true - no one likes having their icons stolen. However, you're doing yourself a disservice by locking down your journal.

First off, making your icons friends only doesn't prevent theft. It might actually encourage it as people will get friends to save icons for them and they won't bother with the name of the person who made the icons. Or their friend will go "I donno - I got them from a bunch of places" when asked who to credit.

If the person using your icons has to wait for you to add them back, they'll probably find different icons or, if they can't and it takes maybe a week, make their own. So, if you absolutely have to have things locked down for your piece of mind, make your icon journal a community people can get automatic access to if they join. (Remember - you can turn a journal into a community.)

Also, this will make people skip over your icons in favor of others'. As chatoyant mentioned, a lot of people will see a PB that looks interesting and could be what they're looking for. However, they lose interest upon seeing it's f-locked and just move on.

But, okay, I'll admit it. Friends only journals usually get more members because people want to be able to access the journal in the future. When you do this, make sure to 1) make it a community viewers can join and 2) leave your directory public so they have a good idea of what sort of icons you make.

Now repeat after me: people are going to steal your icons whether you lock them down or not. If you can't handle that, you don't need to (or need to stop) making icons.

But remember, for every person who steals your icons, there's at least one who credits you. Those are the people you're making icons for. When you decide you no longer want to make icons/keep them open solely because people are not crediting icons you're punishing those people who were considerate enough to credit you and comment. At the very least, you can leave your icons public so those people can find them again if they need them.

As Kelly would say, don't be a bitch. If people want to add a border, edit your icons, etc. it should be their prerogative even if you still want credit for the original icon. Likewise, you shouldn't harass people who haven't credited you (although asking nicely is fine). You're making icons for other people so they don't have to. It's supposed to be a nice gesture. Why ruin that by being a bitch to them when they use them?

By using your icons, whether players credit or not, they're advertising for you. They're helping to make your community's following what it is. If people see a cool set of icons that isn't credited and they recognize the PB, they're probably going to check find_icons or wikicon to see if they can find that set.

That doesn't mean people shouldn't credit, just that making icons doesn't justify having a ridiculous, OCD amount of rules and harassing people if they don't credit.

Also, as musesandicons stated, make sure you're being respectful in the comments on your icon journal. This includes everything from bashing others makers' icons to other individuals' PB choices (such as saying one PB is terrible for a certain character).

If you do the above, a lot of people are probably going to think you're a bitch. The RP world is too small for that and there's a good chance it could screw you over in the future, perhaps even get you rejected from a game.

When people view your icons on your journal or their f-list, they don't want to see them all because they hog up space and make it take forever for the page to load. Still, they want a visual of what's there. So, put your icons behind a cut but leave a few outside of it like the layout previews on this community (three's recommended because it's not too many but still enough to give a good idea of what the rest of your icons are like). Also, it's a good idea to put the PB's name and the number of icons in your post in the subject, cut, or under the preview (preview being the three icons before).

Also, as pointed out by chatoyant, it's also a good idea to leave your icons open for a week (as is done by embargo. This gives viewers a chance to see an example of one of your complete icon sets.

wastintime, who runs wikicon, has a fabulous list of icon makers here that you should ask to be added to if you're not on it already.

A lot of times, it seems impossible to find a good banner for a certain PB. So, do the people watching your community a favor and make a few along with your icons. When you do, you can post them over at karakul, a community primarily for banners.

Post your icon journal (and a sample or three) to accessories.

find_icons - Perhaps you've made icons for a PB someone's looking for. Perhaps you're interested in making icons for them.

find_a_pb - If someone's looking for a pb, you can suggest one of the people you've PBed. Only do this if the PB you're suggesting actually fits. Otherwise, you'll look like a douche.

If you show people how to clean up/adjust icons using one of your own sets, you can post it to several places including iconning and rp_tutorials. A lot of times people will follow this link to your user info to see who you are and to your directory to see your icons (another good reason to keep organized).

These are suggestions that might get a few people to discover your icons but in the long run don't do a whole lot of good. Still, it's no reason not to do them. One person might find your icons this way and tell someone else. And they might tell someone else. And so forth.


INTERESTS.
Include the names of the people you've PB'd in your user info's interests section so that people can find your journal when searching for the PB's name in user interests.

AFFILIATES.
Ask other icon journals and communities focused on icons to affiliate. If you decide to do this, pick an interesting journal name that really grabs people's attention so you'll stand out on others' affiliates.

x-posted to rp_tutorials & iconning
Any additions are welcomed!