Another tutorial...

Hopefully better than my last :)

Done in PSP 9

Here is the finished icon:




I started with this image of Jennifer Garner:



I cropped, cut and pasted into a new 100x100 image:




I created a new raster layer and filled it with a shade of brown from her hair. Then I applied this brush by crumblingwalls in white.



and was left with:


Next came a second raster set to soft light 100% layer filled with this gradient:





Then I decided it made the icon look a little to blurry, so I went back and sharpened the entire background layer.

It now should look like this:


I filled another new raster layer set to opacity 30% with #d5b191 (or any basic skin tone from her face)
and then erased part of it that was covering her face, making it look like this:



New raster layer, 100%, set to darken.
I added this brush (I'm pretty sure made by cala_jane) in this color #362a2d



Still in this same layer I used a very small square default brush to make the checkerboard pattern (this would have been significantly easier had I just used a checkered brush, but I don't have one)

And here is the final product again:



I hope everyone likes this tutorial! It should be pretty easy to follow, there's nothing too complicated in it.

Also, feedback is appreciated, and please comment and show me your finished icons if you make anything using this tutorial.