someone requested a tutorial on how i get decent quality out of crappy caps.
hope this helps someone.
"House" Icon Tutorial
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1. Sharpen your base
2. I selected the icky red-colored background and removed the color (desaturate)
3. Duplicate your base 4 times, and set the first three to screen at %100
4. Set the top duplicate to softlight at %100
Here is where I'm at now
5. create a new layer and fill with #b4b4b4 set to color burn at %100
6. create a new layer and fill with #003157 set to exclusion at %100
7. create a new layer and fill with #b2fbfe set to color burn at %100
8. create a new layer and fill with #00ff8a set to softlight at %20
Here is where I'm at now
9. copy your base and bring it to the top, competely desaturated, set on softlight at %60
Here is where I'm at now
10. Merge all layers, and create a new layer filled with black
11. Take any circle brush and paint a white line and then blur it to your liking
12. Set this layer to screen at %100
And your done :)