: How can I make my graphics look less "cartoony"? To begin with, I'm a programmer -- not a graphic designer, so I'm not very good at making pleasing looking images. But I want some that

@Ann6370331

I think getting 'real' lighting/reflection/highlights/whatever you want to call them(!) right is very important. I think cartoon-y looking icons are great, but they still need to look realistic/believable. Try drawing over images of real items for a while, and take note on where light falls and where highlights are prominent etc. - the more you do it, the easier it will become to start from scratch and easily be able to judge where light or shadow needs to rest on the object for it to look real, whilst still maintaining that cartoon-y edge that icons seem to favour. Here is one I did recently:



I think it looks fairly realistic, but still fun and cartoon like. There's a lot of layers on there that you can barely see, which are just subtle colour differences, but without them it looks flat.

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@Nimeshi706

Your current icon is bordering upon iMovie infringement. :) If Apple approved it, then I guess they feel it's okay. But knowing Apple, things could change.

A Few psychological notations:


Curved paths always feel less serious and more friendly. Using
straight paths for the star would give it more of a serious
impression.
High contrast also lends to a more professional feeling, especially
where icon design is concerned. You want things to be equally
distinguishable at 16px as they are at 256 px.
Your shine, or reflection on the center has a couple issues. It's
curved the wrong direction for its' size and it covers far too much
of the center. You may benefit from looking at real water droplets to see how light plays out on them. There are generally a couple small highlights and a subtle larger highlight, but nothing as dramatic as you currently have.
The first thing I saw was "iMovie". That's not a bad thing
necessarily, but if you want to distinguish your app as something
unrelated to iMovie, you may want to rethink the star with a camera in the center of it.


The more you use curved paths and low contrast the more "cartoony" an icon will seem.

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@Twilah924

Icon design is really, really difficult, especially if you're aiming for the standard set by other top apps. I think you've done an ok job, but it may be worth considering hiring an icon designer, as the icon is the first and last thing your users will see. It's unfair, but they will likely base their purchase decision, at least in part, based on the icon.

And an icon is something you can potentially keep for several major versions. If you think the app is likely to succeed, it may be a good investment. Dribbble is full of talented icon designers looking for work. That might be a good place to start.

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