My first tutorial!

[icon_make_icons]

Okay, this is my first tutorial, so hopefully it's not too confusing. I use Adobe Photoshop Elements, so it should be able to be translated into any image program.

We'll be going from this to this:


We're starting out with this:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v728/RichieFoley/Tutorial/Snowtut1.gif
Now, it's too big, so I resized it to icon-worthy proportions.

It's a little bit blurry, so I went to "filters" then "sharpen".
So this is what I have:


I made a new layer and flood filled it with "#041F6C" and set it to exclusion.

This is what I have now:


I thought it looked really good like that, but it seemed to be lacking something.

So I duplicated the base image (your bottom layer) and brought it to the top. Set it to "Overlay"

I then made a new layer and used this texture by angel_elf_icons


Set it to "Overlay"

Then for another cool effect, I made a new layer and added this texture by _joni


Set it to "screen"

Then all you have to do is find a nice border to put on there.

Flatten and save. That's all.
End Product:


I hope that wasn't too hard to follow and that you liked the results. I'd love to see anything you come up with using this! And please, credit is not required, but appreciated.