Back in July, I released my first ever icon set — called Drawn — to the world for purchasing. Drawn contains 270 hand-drawn icons in a variety of shapes, sizes, and formats. I tweeted about it, friends retweeted about it, and then one day, Dan Cedarholm tweeted about it.
Whoa
Right? It was shortly thereafter that I received an email from Jon Hicks. He introduced himself politely and explained that he was writing an icon book. He asked if he could include Drawn in his book. As Johannes from Booyant put it, “that’s like Hanna Barbera saying that they liked your drawing of a dog.”
Of course I said yes.
After a bit more back-and-forth, I was asked by Mr. Hicks to explain how I created the icons. For the most part, it goes like this: they look hand-drawn because that’s all I know. I don’t have patience (or know-how, or consistency) to make many little icons with perfectly shaped sides and angles. Instead: I took the long road. Every shape is hand-drawn with a pen and then maybe adjusted with the direct-select tool.
I got technical and precise in my explanation, because when writing to someone that is highly considered to be a master of the artform, it’s best to not to sound lacking, inadequate, or foolish. I wrote out my methods which made it look like I had a plan, but really it grew from habit; I had taken what little knowledge I have of art, doodling, and icon-making and combined them all into the set that is out today.
And to my surprise, he dug it!
Now On Sale
Starting today, you can buy The Icon Handbook from Five Simple Steps. Inside of it you’ll (of course) find deep knowledge about icons, but you’ll also find my full explanation as to how I do what I do (along with a couple of examples of Drawn all nicely laid out in print form).
One of my resolutions for this year was to write a book, but instead I made something that ended up in a book (that, let’s face it, will sell way more copies than anything I’d have come up with). I’m counting that mission as accomplished.
Definitely Check It Out
If you have any interest in why we need icons, where they come from, how they’re made, or just want to see a whole bunch of beautiful examples, buy a copy. I've read through about half so far (although have skimmed the whole thing a couple of times) and can tell you that it’s certainly worth it.
