My task was to create 12 icons following a central theme. I chose to make icons for exotic pets, mainly because I just really wanted to make an axolotl.

I started my sketches wanting to do different types of lizards and salamanders, so the majority of my sketches revolve around those types of animals. I also played around with a few fish, bugs, and a few non-conventional animals, the platypus and hedgehog.

I knew from the beginning that I only wanted a headshot from each animal, but it got a little tricky when it came to the lizards deciding how to show the snout sticking out if I showed a frontal point of view or the eyelids covering the eyes if I choose a bird's eye view. In the end, I decided to have the snake's head (icon middle second row) from a bird's eye view to show off the eyes while all other animals are show from a frontal view.

I began my draft with the five icons that I knew I wanted to do because they were the most dynamic. I decided to go against my usual palette and use light and pastel colors with no strokes. I changed the background to a teal blue to give contrast from the pale, stroke-free icons. I did run into a problem with the black-colored animals, so I decided to de-saturate them instead with gray to remain consistent.

I received some feedback to put a larger emphasis on the eyes thrown to the side of the animals, as well as add the glints in the pupils which I added to the axolotl. With the exception of the chameleon and the goldfish which I added later (whom are supposed to have dead-looking eyes) I added glints to all of the pupils that were circular while leaving the stroke and oval-shaped eyes without. I was told that the axolotl seemed out of place because it was too happy, so I lessened the stress of the mouth's curve to make it closer to neutral and made sure my other icons were either completely neutral or showing a slight emotion.

I also made the colors more consistent between the animals; most notably, I changed the salamander's spots the same shade of yellow as the snake's and used the same shades with each new icon. I also cranked up the contrast on some of the colors such as the pink gills of the axolotl, the orange stripes on the snake, and the pale green eyes of the chameleon.

I decided all of the head shots would be ovular when I started working on the design, and I wanted a mix of horizontal oval shapes and vertical. I chose four verticals and the rest horizontal, which allowed me to then arrange the vertically-stressed headshots in the middle row of four with all of the horizontally-stressed headshots occupying the sides to give the final project a nice diamond-shape to the artboard.

My icons follow a central theme, and I did my best to make sure they were all consistent in style, color, stress, theme, and have consistencies for each. Examples include the irises highlighting the pupils, the eyebrows or eyelids, the glints in the pupils and the nose or nostril shapes. The pastel colors and lack of stroke make the images soft and give a cute-sy feel to the icons whether it be for the axolotl, the goldfish, the snake, or the spider.