Icon Library

Michael Flarup is one of the most promising icon artists today. We began to notice his work earlier this year when researching for our list of the best movie themed icons in the web, and since then never stopped including his work on our reviews. His creations are incredibly detailed, with  superb arrangement of colour and shape. This is a guy that ever wastes a pixel. Anybody interested in where icon art is heading in the future should keep on eye on Michael. We at Iconshock truly believe this is an artist that will bring many surprises to the industry in years to come.

1. Can you tell us a bit about yourself? How old are you? Where did you study?

I’m 25 years old, I studied Informatics and communication at Roskilde University in Denmark. I enjoy walks in the forest, long showers and a good cup of joe.

2. Are you a freelancer by conviction or by circumstance?

I think most people start freelancing by circumstance. You know a friend of a friend who needs this and that.

My own story is that after spending two years in a horrible design school in Denmark, I graduated with flying colors and a whole bucket of disdain for that business. In a rebellious tone I enrolled at Roskilde University to study some hard science, math and programming. I became chairman of the local frat bar and in an ironic turn of events started using my graphic skills to produce promotional materials for parties. I also started up a few other projects, such as a frat blog/forum and party photo service and ran the entire thing on a custom themed Expression Engine setup. Eventually some people got wind about my drunken escapades and figured they could employ my skills to their needs.

Before I knew it I was doing both print and web design. In the fall of 2007 I launched the first iteration of Pixelresort where I could showcase some of my work. This was around the time I got my first Mac and coincidentally became interested in Interface design. I started doing icons for the love of it and shared them on Pixelresort. I guess this is where my international freelancing career really took off.

3. Do you have any special song stuck in your head these days? What music do you usually listen to while you work?

I think I have a pretty roomy iTunes library, but when I need to focus and be creative I almost always listen to Jazz. When I need to be productive I usually listen to Electronica.

4. Do you recommend freelance work for an aspiring designer/illustrator?

Indeed. Freelance work is such an important aspect of polishing your skillset. Doing freelance can be a gateway to landing a perfect job, but It can also be a way of keeping you reminded about what you love doing or what directions you don’t want to go.

Freelance work also plays an important role in constantly keeping you in creative check. Ideally you never know what the next assignment is going to be and how you are going to solve it. This keeps a fresh stream of challenges flowing into the everyday humdrum of things and helps you widen your horizon.

5. How do you attract clients? which strategy do you employ? (direct contact, search engine, mouth to mouth, constant prayers)

I get asked this a lot. And the answer is really, really, really simple. You attract clients by being awesome. In fact, I never really had any strategy to attract clients in the first place. Ideally you should just do your thing well enough, and someone, somewhere is going to want to pay you money for it. I give away freebies on pixelresort because I love making icons and it’s nice that someone wants to decorate their computer with them. People like and appreciate free stuff, so the bi product of this entire operation is attention. More people are looking at my stuff, and if it’s presented well enough, some of those people are going to be possible clients looking for my unique style or consulting.

6. Did your free icons attract the clicks you were expecting? how many of those clicks have turned into customers?

Even though I’m a statistics nut and enjoy diving into my mint installation to see stalk my visitors– I don’t have any numbers on that. I try not to expect too much, that way you’ll always be positively surprised when a large blog picks you up. I am however aware that a large portion of my clients come through my website because I give away free stuff.

7. What could be the highest point of your life? Having kids? Fly to the moon?

Wow, I have no idea. Whatever it is, I hope it’s far into the future – it would be really sad to peak at 25.

8. Do you ever feel desperate working at home?

Up until recently I was full time employed at a Danish design studio, so I’ve never really had long stretches of sitting around at home. But generally I try to sprinkle my day with a lot of other things than just sit in front of the screens. Get out of the house, work with other people, meet clients.

Besides, this is the Internets, you can work from anywhere. We’ve got a cabin in the Swedish woods where the crackling of the fireplace, the view over the lake and a good walk in the forest puts a completely different perspective on things.

9. Which application is your weapon of choice for icon creation?

Photoshop, hands down.

10. Any advice to any aspiring artists out there?

You become a good designer by designing a lot of stuff. Learn the rules and then break them. Get to know the industry, but only to a degree where you still have something left of yourself to put in it. And above all, do you own thing, do it well and everything will pan out.

First move for any aspiring designer is to create a platform from which they will showcase their work – so get a portfolio together and start showing your awesomeness. And while freelancing is an important aspect of becoming a better designer, I believe that you must never let go of your own personal projects they are the physical embodiment of your ambitions and dreams. So spend some due time nurturing them.

Iconshock has featured Michael’s work here: 50 Best free movie themed icons

here: 100 icon sets for the most common used applications and file types

and here: 100 Best hardware and gadget icon sets on the net

Follow Michael on Twitter