I still remember several months ago when I had a chat with a girl via MSN. I asked her what she did on the internet (graphic design, web design, etc.) and she promptly said, “Oh, I’m an artist.”

An artist! How nice! In my mind, I am imagining one of those beautiful artistries that make the Popular front page on Deviantart.com.

So I inquire further. “What kind of an artist are you?”

“I’m an icon artist.”

That’s weird. Hadn’t I envisioned one of those grand pieces of art that people spend days, weeks, and months preparing and creating? Regardless, I was slightly disappointed.

An icon. Typically 100×100 pixels, that can be made through the lowest of low photo editing programs like Paint, to more designer programs like Adobe Photoshop CS. And of course, those lovely web based photo editing tools.

So, what is an artist? An artist of words? An artist of music? An artist of paint?

Merriam Webster defines an artist as:
“One who professes and practices an imaginative art; a person skilled in one of the fine arts”

So, is icon-making a “fine art”? Anyone can do it, if you think about it.

I used to watch Iconator.com, almost everyday. There, I believe, is the heart of community-based submission sites. Believe me, I’ve seen the most brutal internet arguments on this place, where all the comments on the icon are about religion and not the artwork. The few icons that are chosen as best are those that:

1. Have copyrighted images/pixel art.
2. Include “you broke my heart” or “fall in love with me” or “I love you so much” or “you made a big mistake and now you broke my heart”  in it.
3. Use media and quotes of little importance plus flashy blinkies and humorously stupid stick men.
4. Some touching message that is destroyed into smithereens by the above.
5. Have unoriginal splatters, brushes, and textures used from resource sites without credit.
6. Have some random clueless words thrown in there creatively like “Feel the burn” or “Clip my wings” or “Seeking and Waiting” or “I’m bringing sexy back.”

These six or so similarities pretty much sum up what I’ve seen.  Notice how I used bold and italics in the first one. This is the BIGGEST problem I’ve seen. I mean, the REAL artist goes through all this trouble to draw/create the image. And look, thousands and millions of squealing love=sick teen girls are adding splatters and words like “Fall in love with me” onto a 100×100 canvas of your work. Believe me, I would be mad too.

I have no idea what to say now. Your opinion on “icon artists?”