qos | Icon Discussion

My dear

saskia139 expressed curiosity today about peoples' icon usage, and requested a bit of discussion and exploration based on her friends icons.

I love LJ icons, but not quite enough to become an icon artist myself. I've made a few simple ones for myself, and lifted the others from icon communities and artists who put their works up to share. I pay for space for 50 icons, and recently brought my gallery up to 49. I've retired a few, but not many.

I think that, for me, the appeal of a large icon collection is the opportunity to play with them almost like dress-up, or costumes. (

poliphilo once referred to LJ as a costume ball, and I've always liked that image.) In some respect, my icons are designed to reveal, rather than conceal. On the other hand, I have never used an icon with my own photographic image.

I use my icons to reflect the content of my posts, although sometimes the "reflection" is ironic. For example, I frequently use my icon of Julia Ormond playing Catherine the Great to accompany posts about housework and domestic frustrations. I have a few suites of icons: 4 Princess Leia, 4 Aragorn, several royal women, and at least half a dozen which resonate with various aspects of my spiritual life.

Taken as a whole, they provide an interesting mosaic of my LJ identity.

Saskia requested examples of 10 or so, so here are mine.

My default icon: the Queen of Swords card from the Robin Wood Tarot deck. I selected her because she is the most beautiful representation of the Queen of Swords that I have ever seen. Unlike many artists, who choose to focus on the bitter qualities of this archetype, Wood finds wisdom and compassion in truth-telling, discernment, and selectivity.

Not Well Behaved
I use this when I'm feeling disinclined to acquiesce to the rules or convention. I took the image from a t-shirt for sale at a pirate-themed webshop. The original caption is one of my favorite sayings: "Well-behaved women seldom make history."

My other piratical icon, taken from an uncredited online image, with text by

tamnonlinear as a wonderful favor to me:

Star Cross
This one is from the Star card of a unique tarot deck. I tend to use it when I'm writing from the part of myself that is strongly influenced by my Christian roots, or when in conversation with someone who identifies as Christian and I want to emphasize common ground. I love it because it incorporates the stars, which have always been an inspiration to me.

Beanstalk
This is from a painting by Michael Whelan. I use it when I'm writing about challenges, especially the day-to-day trials that simply have to be endured. And floods.

I also like to use Boromir shot by arrows for those Real Bad Days.
(Icon by Underdark Icons)

Veronica Smiling
This is actress Catherine MacCormack playing Veronica Franco in the movie Dangerous Beauty, which is one of my favorites. She's beautiful, witty and warm, and I like to use her in daily conversations and comments.

Cub Love
I use this icon almost exclusively for posts about my daughter.

Alleged QoS
The Queen of Swords card from the Alleged Tarot, which I found online. I use it when I'm making jokes or taking part in whimsical or silly conversations.

Aragorn - Reverence (Icon by Burning Ice)
I use this one when responding to entries or comments which move me to deep respect, compassion, and/or gratitude.

Homemade Queen
Made with an online icon maker, this one turned out far better than I could have imagined. She's almost my default icon right now. I like her because she reflects both the archetype of the Queen of Swords and the everyday me.

Deidre
This is Julia Ormond, one of my favorite actresses, and I chose this image because it is the one which served as the character portrait for my Star Wars RPG character, Princess Deidre. I use her very rarely, almost exclusively with gaming-related posts, or posts involving game-related writing.

Gibson Lady Writing
This is a general conversation icon when I'm not feeling quite expansive enough for Veronica Franco. Also used for posts related to writing.

Isabel (Icon by eledwhen_girl)
Sophie Marceau as Princess Isabel from Braveheart
I took this from an icon community because I thought it was beautiful and I love this character. She's a royal woman of courage and passion and intelligence. I use her at random.

No Master
Cate Blanchett as the title character of Elizabeth. I made this icon this past weekend because her declaration from the movie: "I will have one mistress here, and no master," has been running through my mind. It will probably be in rotation with my other royal women icons, used at random.

Grumpy
I've used this only a few times. I always feel a little guilty when I do. It's for when I am really, really torqued off about something.

Prophets (Icon by poisoninjest)
I think this is Buffy. I snagged it from

ladyvivien because it so beautifully reflected the way I've been feeling in seminary the past few months.

The full collection can be seen here, if you're interested: http://www.livejournal.com/allpics.bml?user=qos