Close-cropping guide

[apologizeg]

erzsebet asked me to make a guide at icon_talk's ask the maker. I'm so sorry this is so late!
I've never done one of these before, so please bare with me! :P


Let's start with how I choose caps for close-crops. 99% of the time I choose caps that are already close to the subjects face, this is mostly for quality reasons. I mostly choose caps that have a certain depth to them, I'm really bad at explaining, so let's just look at some pictures:

Caps that are good for close-cropping:



Caps that are bad for close-cropping:



See what I mean?

I'm not saying you can't make pretty icons with the last 2, all of this is just my personal opinions and experiences. :)

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Now some talk about how to crop different screencaps.

Let's take this cap:

Subject's facing to the side.

These kind of caps I think look best when cropped just above the eyes, or below, and also including the rest of the head. That is, not too close cropped.

or



Facing down and a bit to the side.

A crop on the side where the subject is not facing I think works best for these kind of caps. It can look kinda weird if it's cropped on the other side.





Subject facing a bit to the side.

I think there are two ways of cropping this. Either on the left side, to focus on her hair, or on the right to make the "viewer" wonder what she's looking at.

or



Almost facing forwards, with a bit of shadow on one side.

After trying a bunch of crops on this cap, I found out the left side is the best to crop. If I crop on the right side, I feel like it looks too "crowded", with his shoulder getting in the way.


I always include the lips when close-cropping, and almost always the eyebrows. This is just a personal preference. :)



A really close up cap.

On this cap, I want to crop the right side, and I know this sounds weird, but I think it looks better when it's not too much skin showing. :P





Facing forwards.

This is where crops including the whole face works best. Also, this is one of the times where it doesn't look weird if you don't include the eyebrows.

or



Facing/hanging down on the side.

Basically always crop the side you can see most of. I don't think there's enough to work with on the other side.





Straight forward with a lot of shadow on one side.

I almost always crop the shadow side. I think the icon can appear "flat" if you crop the really bright side. And also, I love playing with shadows. :P




And that's it! I really hope this was helpful, and if you need any deeper explanations on anything, don't hesitate to ask. :)

Comments

[a-cheshire-grin.livejournal.com]

I found your community yesterday and I immediately fell in love with your wonderful icons!! *.*<33

Your tutorials are always very helpful!
I love doing close-crop icons myself and it's always nice to know how other icon makers make them.

Thank you for sharing. ^.^

[apologizeg]

Oh wow, thank you so much! I'm so glad you think so! <3

[neonspider]

Oh, this is a fantastic guide! I love the specific tips for each type of cap. Thanks for making this, really well written and thought out!

[apologizeg]

Ah, thank you soo much! I'm really glad you think so!

[agalaxyaway.livejournal.com]

I know this is old, but this is very helpful! Thank you!

[apologizeg]

Well, I'm glad you think so :)

[lovablesins.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for this! This is amazing and helpful. I was wondering if ever in the future, you could do a cropping guide with like multiple people (meaning like hugging, one facing the other etc. if possible) thanks again for this amazing guide!

[apologizeg]

I'm glad to hear that!
I don't think I'm very good at cropping with multiple people, so I'm sorry but I don't think I will create a guide for that.
But, if you take a look here there are several other cropping guides, maybe you can find what you're looking for there. :)

[mermaidcurse.livejournal.com]

this was so helpful, thank you for taking the time to post this.
♥

[apologizeg]

:)