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tinny

Communities for sharing and finding icons

icons

allstockicons - for any stock icons

animeicons - icons from anime

comicbook_icons - icons from comic book sources

disneyicons - icons and graphics from disney productions

dwrp_icons - avatar icons for role playing

fandom_icons

graphics - for all graphics, including icons

horroricons - horror-themed icons and graphics

iconic

icon_library - icons from books and about reading books

sg_art - all kinds of Stargate fanart including icons

smallbatchicons - only 5 icons at a time

tf_icons - Transformers icons

walker_graphics - The Walking Dead icons and graphics

xmen_icons - X-Men icons

Communities for (icon) resources

capshare - find and share caps here

capspiration - daily caps to inspire you

cdramacaps - find and share cdrama (and other Asian drama) caps here

dwresources - resources for RP, including icons and screencaps for icon making

icontalking - we have a regular ask the maker activity with guides and tutorials

icon_resources - find and share textures here

resourcelove - find and share textures here (less active than icon_resources atm)

smallbatchicons - has a tag for tips and tutorials

Icon Challenge Communities (periodic) (newest first)

iconcolors - bi-weekly color palette challenge for up to 3 icons - Round 183: Resistant to Change (from 2026-01-05)

itsabattlefield - monthly battle: make 1-20 icons for a given theme within one month - Monthly Battle : 24 (from 2026-01-04)

iconthat - various themes, up to 5 icons every 2 weeks - Challenge 200: Icon Pass It On 6 (from 2025-12-22)

your_favourites - icon your favorite of the given theme, up to 4 icons in 2 weeks - Challenge #229 - Favourites 2025 (from 2025-12-21)

icontalking - various monthly challenges, 1 icon minimum - Activity #101 - Rainbow Mystery Box (from 2025-12-20)

tvmovie20in20 - claim a tv show or movie and make 20 icons in 20 days, voting mandatory - Round 22 Themes (from 2025-12-16)

ships20in20 - claim a relationship and make 5, 10, or 20 icons in 20 days, voting mandatory - Round 04 Themes (from 2025-12-14)

retro_icontest - reviving a different old challenge from LJ every month, 1 icon minimum - Round #34 - theiconquest #2 (from 2025-12-13)

characters20in20 - claim a character and make 20 icons in 20 days, voting mandatory - Round 20 Themes (from 2025-12-10)

screen_icons - up to 7 themed icons from provided caps in 2 weeks - new round soon

ic_animated - up to 5 icons in 2 weeks, animated cartoons/comics/games, (lj-imported, participation on both sides) - new round soon

celebrity20in20 - claim a celebrity and make 20 icons in 20 days, voting mandatory - new round soon

icons10in20 - 10 icons in 20 days (+extension), 10 themes, claims optional - new rounds in irregular intervals

fandom10in30 - 10 icons in 30 days, one provided theme, fandom claim is optional - new rounds in irregular intervals

perioddrama_ic - up to 5 icons in 2 weeks, see profile for eligible period fandoms - new rounds in irregular intervals

fandom_itest - up to 3 icons, various fandoms, irregularly run by volunteers - currently no active round, you can run one, look at the info post here.

queermedia_ic - provided caps of canonically queer characters, 4 icons in 2 weeks, run by volunteers - currently no active round, you can run one, look at the info post here.

iconbattles - various types of battles, irregularly run by volunteers - why not run one yourself? Choose any theme you like and go for it!

Icon Challenge Communities (constantly open)

100fandomicons - new table for 2026! Make 100 icons in 100 fandoms, pick your own deadline of 6, 12, 18 or 24 months [sign-up post]

10variations - Make 10 icons from one image. Choose one of two theme sets.

20icontables - Choose one of many prompt tables and make 20 icons. No rounds/deadlines.

dailyicons - Claim a theme and make 10/25/50/100 icons in 1/3/6/12 months for daily prompts within 48 hours

hannibalinsp - Let the inspiration posts inspire you to make Hannibal icons. No limit or deadline, all Hannibal canons welcome.

lgbtrainbow - pass-it-on challenge through the colors of the rainbow, only canonical LGBTQ+ characters, regular voting (optional)

nexticon - pass-it-on challenge: pick a theme from the last icon and make a new icon, voting (optional) in regular intervals

Multi-Medium Challenges open for icons (periodic) (newest first)

fan_flashworks - all-fandoms flashworks, monthly prompts - Challenge 502: Sand (from 2026-01-01)

allbingo - monthly challenge, 1+ icon per square - December Monthly Post (from 2025-12-31)

sweetandshort - short fanworks (incl. icons) for monthly/weekly prompts and a mini bingo - December: Bingo (from 2025-12-23)

femmeslashfete - weekly prompts, femmeslash pairings only, collect badges, 1 icon minimum, [admin tag | prompt masterlist]

fffc - weekly, collect badges, 1 icon minimum, more for special challenges [challenge tag]

Multi-Medium Challenges open for icons (constantly open)

100ships - 100 different relationships, 1 icon per square, no time limit [sticky post with prompts table]

genprompt_bingo - semi-annual, 3 icons per square [sticky post with comm info]
graphic and design april drift - pick a challenge and make graphics/icons for it until December 2025 [challenge post]

hc_bingo - semi-annual hurt/comfort, 10 icons per square [challenge tag | rules]

ladiesbingo - fanworks about relationships between women, running September-May, 10 icons per square [comm info | sign ups]

tic_tac_woe - apocalyptic bingos info post | claim a bingo card

who_allsorts - claim 3/6/9/12/15/20 prompts and make Doctor Who fanworks [guidelines and prompt tables]

Land Comms (what is a land comm?)

fandom_empire - multi-medium comm, round=4 months, 1-3 icons/banners/wallpapers per week, round 3.26 Monopoly starting NOW

land_of_art - Long rounds, signup any time. Two teams compete in challenges to create art of all kinds from any source. Apply for a team here.

seasons_of_fandom - previously lands_of_magic, now reopened - sign-up post

Other challenge finder communities

fandomcalendar - Bingos, exchanges, prompt fests, most of which allow icons

ipromo - Icon promo community, you can promote your own icon comm there

If you know of challenges we don't have on this list, please let us know in comments!

last updated January 10, 2026

tinny

Time to look back on 2025 with a focus on iconmaking, to draw some conclusions, and get some feedback! \o/

1) ICON PROGRESSION

Tell us what icons you made last year, select the best/the most extraordinary/the most representative, and tell us about them.

Tell us about your progress, your fandoms, your ideas and techniques. What changed over the course of the year?

If you want, you can make resolutions about your iconmaking: what you would like to do this year, techniques you want to try, goals you want to achieve - for resolutions, also see bestof_icons below.

There are quite a few progression posts made by our members in previous years, where you can look for ideas how to go about it:

=> https://icontalking.dreamwidth.org/tag/progression+post

( more examples and layout code links )

* You can post your progression/resolution posts as new posts directly to this comm, use the tag "progression post"
* If you post(ed) a progression post to your journal, you can make a new post here and link to your journal
* If you have more than 5 icons in your post, put them under a cut
* Note: you must be a member of this community to be able to post

Deadline: any time you want! These things take time. Post them to the community any time you like!

2) BESTOF_ICONS

bestof_icons is here again, too. Voting is not open yet, but you can make:

Remakes

Resolutions

3) ICON FEEDBACK/CONCRIT

When this comm was new, there was a concrit/feedback thread on every post, but it wasn't used by many people, so I stopped making them. In case you do miss getting feedback on your icons, there's a concrit/feedback thread in this post again!

Plus, there's a relatively new comm where you can request concrit:

iconcrit

Have fun, and be nice!

p.s.

If you'd rather participate in a challenge this month, check out our List of current active iconmaking communities. It's a sticky post at the top of this comm, and you can also find a link to it in the comm's sidebar. I update this list about once a month. You're always welcome to let me know if there are new comms I should add to it.

tinny

Wow, we got a huge rainbow from 11 makers! \o/

If you want to snag all the boxes, here are the links:

7 rainbow mystery boxes

The randomizer (and people's preferences) were not actually very fairly distributed. *g* The highest numbers (5-7) were for b/w, orange, red, and purple. There was only one person who got a blue box, and not a single yellow one. Now you can enjoy them all!

https://www.mediafire.com/file/pq0zmjruspedxb0/icontalking_box_purple.zip
https://www.mediafire.com/file/f6cjhgec4ikffq7/icontalking_box_red.zip
https://www.mediafire.com/file/gsyv6s42gbm9cva/icontalking_box_orange.zip
https://www.mediafire.com/file/f7rf6nxb64u7veb/icontalking_box_yellow.zip
https://www.mediafire.com/file/ey2y4uue71vdnav/icontalking_box_green.zip
https://www.mediafire.com/file/5c7j5fharj9kg4k/icontalking_box_blue.zip
https://www.mediafire.com/file/t4ed5x90fdsju33/icontalking_box_bw.zip

( and here's our rainbowy result: 62 icons by 11 makers )
Feel free to comment here or on each maker's threads linked next to their name.

Our next activity will be the yearly roundup/review activity, and it'll be coming right up.

tinny

icontalking current round

I'll be busy today rounding up the icon quest and starting the new round at

retro_icontest, so I'll keep the Rainbow Mystery Box challenge here open for another week. Not everyone who got a box has submitted icons yet. So you now still have another week to submit what you have. A single icon is enough to participate.
New deadline: January 23.

icontalking next round

Our next round here at icontalking will be the yearly review round. It will be exactly like in previous years, so if you want to look back on how your iconmaking year 2025 went, you can start thinking about that and start writing your progression post if you like. I will start that next round sometime this week.

bestof_icons

In the meantime, the deadline for icon nominations at

bestof_icons has been extended until January 18! If you haven't nominated icons for everyone yet, you can still do so HERE! I'll definitely try and fit this in tomorrow.

tinny

The Remake activity is up! \o/

ICON REMAKE - JOIN IN!

tinny

One of the few challenges that wasn't part of the round 100 free-for-all was the Mystery Box challenge, so we'll rectify that now. Welcome to our second Mystery Box challenge!

I created seven different themed boxes, and since I didn't manage to limit myself, they're actually kind of huge... Each contains 30-40 textures and color palettes with one predominant color. You can choose from:

purple

orange

yellow

green

blue

black/white

You can also request a random box, then I'll choose one for you.

There's a comment thread where you can leave a comment to request a box. I will send you the download link for your box as a dm.

Note: I also need a box, and when I was assembling them, one in particular seemed like it would be very challenging for me personally, so that's the one I'll pick.

Special rules for this activity:
* You have to use at least one of the provided textures OR a palette for every icon you make
* You don't have to use all of the provided materials - if you want, you can make all your icons with the same texture
* It would be nice if you mentioned which resource you used for each icon, but it's not absolutely required
(the maker name is enough for me to identify it and link it in the result post - you dont have to link it yourself)

The usual rules:
* You can make as many icons as you like (if you need a goal, five is a good number :))
* There is no minimum, 1 icon is enough to enter this activity
* Please submit your icons (and URLs!) to this post, all in one comment (if possible)
* Everyone can participate, you don't have to be a member of this community

* I will collect all the icons from the comments and make a result post
* Everyone can leave comments on this post and the activity result posts
* There is no voting

Deadline: Saturday, January 17, 2025, your end-of-day

tinny

We had a huge turnout for this round, and icons for six different challenges!

( 43 icons by 8 makers )

Feel free to comment here or on each maker's threads linked next to their name.

Our next activity is coming right up.

tinny

retro_icontest - Blast From The Past Icontests - is once more embarking on

Are you ready to ride? Pack your satchel of art supplies and join us in another round of the Icon Quest!

tinny

Can you believe that we're already on our 100th activity? I certainly can't. O_O This will be our second celebratory activity. You can make icons that fit any of our previous challenges! I left out the texture activities, the ask the maker ones, the new year activities, the cap chains, the mystery boxes, and the wishlist. Everything else is fair game! Have fun!

( all the rest )

* Your icons must adhere to the rules of the activity you choose
* Please mention the activity when you post your icons
* You can make icons for more than one of our previous activities
* You can make as many icons as you like (if you need a goal, five is a good number :))
* There is no minimum, 1 icon is enough to enter
* Please submit your icons (and URLs!) to this post, all in one comment (if possible)
* Everyone can participate, you don't have to be a member of this community

* I will collect all the icons from the comments and make a result post
* Everyone can leave comments on the inspiration and activity result posts
* There is no voting

Deadline: Saturday, December 13th 2025, your end-of-day

tinny

Wow, I am delighted by the turnout! Hairstyles ftw! \o/

( 37 splendid icons by 8 makers )

Feel free to comment here or on each maker's threads linked next to their name.

Our next activity is the celebratory activity for round #100, and it'll be coming right up.

tinny

vampiremedia is hosting 20 vampires in 20! A community event that aims to create 20 vampire icons in 20 days.

Our theme for the first round is WOMEN.

Join

vampiremedia today and participate!

tinny

I can't believe we haven't had this theme here yet! Focus on hair, that's it. You can go wild and paint the hair, and I looked up two tutorials for you, but painting is absolutely not a requirement. Just have fun!

This is a free inspirational challenge.

( Some inspirational icons under here )

plus two tutorials:

how to get a painted look without painting anything by

afeastforme
hairpainting by

naive_astronaut

* You can make as many icons as you like (if you need a goal, five is a good number :))
* There is no minimum, 1 icon is enough to enter this activity
* Please submit your icons (and URLs!) to this post, all in one comment (if possible)
* Everyone can participate, you don't have to be a member of this community

* I will collect all the icons from the comments and make a result post
* Everyone can leave comments on the inspiration and activity result posts
* There is no voting

Deadline: Saturday, November 15th, your end-of-day

tinny

Thank you all for participating! \o/

( Here are all 24 icons by 5 makers )

Feel free to comment here or on each maker's threads linked next to their name.

Our next activity will be posted later today.

tinny

This is a pretty straightforward theme: show some kind of checkered or grid pattern in your icon. The pattern can be there in the source, e.g. someone wearing a plaid shirt or standing in front of a wire fence or playing a game of chess, or you can add it using textures.

( Some inspirational material under here )

* You can make as many icons as you like (if you need a goal, five is a good number :))
* There is no minimum, 1 icon is enough to enter this activity
* Please submit your icons (and URLs!) to this post, all in one comment (if possible)
* Everyone can participate, you don't have to be a member of this community

* I will collect all the icons from the comments and make a result post
* Everyone can leave comments on the inspiration and activity result posts
* There is no voting

Deadline: Saturday, October 18th, your end-of-day

tinny

Three participants smelled the sweet air and made 22 icons! \o/

( admire them all here )

The next challenge will be posted later today (or tomorrow depending on how long it takes me to come up with one ;)).

tinny

I've watched a lot of romances lately, and I thought, why not turn this into a theme this month?

Icon things that you associate with love or romance! Any interpretation is fine, this is a free inspirational challenge.

( Romantic inspiration material under here )

* You can make as many icons as you like (if you need a goal, five is a good number :))
* There is no minimum, 1 icon is enough to enter this activity
* Please submit your icons (and URLs!) to this post, all in one comment (if possible)
* Everyone can participate, you don't have to be a member of this community

* I will collect all the icons from the comments and make a result post
* Everyone can leave comments on the inspiration and activity result posts
* There is no voting

Deadline: Saturday, September 20th, your end-of-day

tinny

Wow, I am so impressed by everyone's blocking skills! Thank you everyone for participating!

( 39 icons by 7 makers )

Feel free to comment here or on each maker's threads linked next to their name.

Our next activity will come right up!

tinny

This year, we had a very low-key Ask The Maker, but it wasn't a total bust - we ended up with a guide and three tutorials!

Tutorials and Guides

littlemissnovella wrote a guide on how to make animated icons using giphy:

aurora_amethyst wrote a tutorial for this icon:

and I wrote tutorials for these two icons:

Questions

There was some discussion on how to install G'Mic and/or Resynthesizer and/or Darktable on GIMP on a Mac.

See you again next year!

tinny

We're going to try blocking this month! Use any rectangular shape to cut off/obscure/divide your icon. Text is roughly a rectangular shape, too, so it counts. You don't have to use more than one image to achieve blocking. Textures or even single color shapes can be used to great effect.

This is a free inspirational challenge.

( Some inspirational material under here )

* You can make as many icons as you like (if you need a goal, five is a good number :))
* There is no minimum, 1 icon is enough to enter this activity
* Please submit your icons (and URLs!) to this post, all in one comment (if possible)
* Everyone can participate, you don't have to be a member of this community

* I will collect all the icons from the comments and make a result post
* Everyone can leave comments on the inspiration and activity result posts
* There is no voting

Deadline: Saturday, August 23rd, your end-of-day

tinny

Early summer is always a quiet time, but we had four makers bravely tumble down the waterfall!

( 35 icons by 4 makers )

Feel free to comment here or on each maker's threads linked next to their name.

Our next activity will be coming up later today.

p.s.: if you're a maker who still has to answer a question, take your time! I'll make Ask Your Maker roundup post only when you're all done.

tinny

I've been extremely busy this past month, maybe you've been the same...

This year, we've had six makers sign up, but this is the first time that we've had no requests at all.

If you'd like to use the opportunity now to ask one of the makers something, you're welcome to do so.

Here's the post: https://icontalking.dreamwidth.org/94046.html

If you're a maker who'd really like to write a guide or a tutorial, how about you pick the icon you've made (maybe this year? or in the last 12 months?) that you yourself find the most interesting and write a tutorial about it to share with us. I for one am always happy to read guides and tutorials.

I will leave the round open for another week and then move on to the next activity.

If you want to make icons instead, our list is up to date, and the waterfall round is still open until then, too.

🗨

Admin Post: Sticky: Current active iconmaking communities

Activity #102 - Happy New Year 2026

1) ICON PROGRESSION

2) BESTOF_ICONS

3) ICON FEEDBACK/CONCRIT

p.s.

Activity Results for #101 Rainbow Mystery Box

Promo and Reminder

Best Of is back!

Activity #101 - Rainbow Mystery Box

Activity Results for #100 Free For All

Promo for theiconquest

Activity #100 - Free For All

Activity Results for #99 Hair

vampiremedia promo

Activity #99 - Hair

Activity Results for #98 Checkers

Activity #98 Checkered

Activity Results for #97 Love is in the Air

Activity #97 - Love Is In The Air

Activity Results for #96 Around the Block

Activity Result for #95 - Ask The Maker 2025

Activity #96 - Around the Block

Activity Results for #94 Technique Waterfall

Ask The Maker

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January 2026

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