In my first semester of college, I was stressed more than I thought humanly possible. I was under the impression that high school was exhausting. Well high school, meet 14 college credits. I remember one day feeling particularly tired and stir-crazy to the point that I just had to have some sort of creative release. So I snagged my sharpie and opened the fridge. Those first dozen “emotional eggs” were just the beginning of a character building and personality defining quirk.

To date, I am notorious for sneaking into peoples’ fridges and drawing faces on their eggs. So in all reality, this icon set has been a year in the making.

I wanted some icons that were distinctly “Lacy,” icons that anyone who knew me could identify as “on brand.” I wanted them to be funny, original, and organic (pun intended).

You know, there’s a lot more to an egg than just an oval. It was awesome figuring out how to make it all look good and realistic.

Here are some 3D renditions. Egg courtesy: My roommate.

So many hours and giggles and sketches later….

Dun dun dun duuuunnnnn! The draft:

I was pleased with how they were looking so far but I also realized there was still a lot of work to be done. I got some feedback about shading on the eyes, the shapes of the oozing, and the expressions of the lil' tikes. So I looked up the planes of the face, analyzed some oozing examples, and kept at it with my sketching and reworking. With these new ideas and concepts in my pocket, I got cracking and came up with the final icons you see below.

I set out to make some icons that were original, organic, and funny. Something that just said "Lacy." I personally don’t know anyone else who habitually draws on eggs to relieve stress so I would say it’s pretty on brand. 

All my expressions use irregular, organic shapes to convey emotion that feels real. They are odd and quirky and make me laugh. The faces are so relatable. I love showing people these icons because they have felt the same way.

WARNING - DEEP END NOTE: It’s an interesting concept, shells that feel emotion… I think we all have felt like an empty shell at least once in our lives. I love putting these icons into that context because it adds a new level of dimension and depth to the seemingly surface level humor. We might feel like a shell, whether the notion is self inflicted or society inflicted or other human inflicted I can't say, but despite them all, emotions aren’t the enemy. There is really no shame in feeling any sort of emotion, it’s all about what you do in response to that emotion. So yeah, even shells have emotions, maybe we all need to be a little more willing to admit that.