Differences that make you think

Someone here on LJ posted a link to xoa's edits of Final Fantasy X: International, which, as some of you know, includes the English voices but with Japanese subs... er, normally (I'm assuming there's a way to turn the subs off). What xoa did was take the Japanese audio from the original FFX released in Japan and time it to the Japanese-only (afaik) release of FFX: International's cutscenes and FMVs.

Basically, it's dubtitling. He calls it "undub," which I don't find a common OR accurate term, but whatever. We get the English script set to the Japanese voices. It's cool to hear the differences, at least, and there are times when I can tell there's been a discrepancy between the edited FFX in English that got turned into FFX: International and the actual, original game's audio. Sometimes it's a bit telling about the character; there was one scene where someone says "Thank you, Yuna," but the English script changed it to "I have to, Yuna." Completely different things there, folks!

Anyway, after watching the latest episode (29, which is right before the gang enters Djose Temple), I happened upon a subtitled version of FFX International's bonus scene, "Another Story,"-- a.k.a. "Eternal Calm," the prologue for FFX-2. This was never part of FFX in the States, because, again, it was ONLY part of FFX International, which is the English version of the game, edited and with extra goodies added (like Dark Aeons). The only way English speakers could see this scene was if they got a magazine that came out with it on a disc prior to the release of FFX-2. That scene version was edited and dubbed (and subtitled) in English. To see the unedited/original Japanese scene with Japanese audio, you had to hunt around. Well, someone subtitled it....

FFX: Intl. "Another Story" (a.k.a. "Eternal Calm"), subbed in English and Japanese, Japanese audio. Part 1/2

( Commentary + Part 2 )

*wails*

Well, I was eliminated in the very first preliminaries of Battle #18 over at bssm_battle. It was my first ever icontest-type competition in a long while, and having lurked on the community and scoped out the competition, I knew it'd be a miracle if I DID make it past the prelims. Still, I'm a bit bummed about not just being eliminated (which means I wasn't in the Top 10), but scoring SECOND TO LAST. Yeah, I'm sure you can figure out which icon I made and which character I was from that. *sigh*

So, I have a lot of icon makers on my FL. What are your secrets? How do you go about making an icon? (Regardless of whether you do icontests or challenges, that is. If you do, by all means, talk about how you fit your idea to the restrictions.)

Tackle these hard-thought subject areas such as
* Originality: how do you stand out from the crowd?
* Aesthetics: how do you make it "eye-catching" or "pretty?" What combination of effects, be they layers of images, opacity, overlays, brushes, shapes, and/or fonts do you use?
* Timing: be honest, how long does it really take to churn out a "good" icon? How about a "great" or "excellent" one?
* Anything else....!?

Give examples (e.g. images) if you can. Point me at tutorials. Show me plugins, favorite brush download sites, whatever! I want help!

If I were to ever try again, I'd like some Pro Tips (so to speak) to help me out. I tried even though I wasn't very confident... matter of fact, the icon I did submit was the second one I attempted to make. I knew an image I wanted to work with, but it was getting that image into an idea, a coherent "form" that I struggled with. And even then, when I thought I'd decided on something, I hadn't. I scrapped everything-- format, layers, opacity, font, etc. for a new idea with the same art. I'm sure either way I would have failed, but... urgh, I want to try again! Someday....