Good afternoon. I hope this post isn't unacceptable and if so, I am terribly sorry. I've gone through the memories, scanned tutorials and my problem is that I am not quite what it is I am looking for. I find the style used in these icons to be quite interesting:
(Made by 
noveltea)
And I have no desire to simply copy it. But I was wondering if there was a method to make colors looked more muted. I have Adobe PhotoDeluxe (I posted a question here a few months ago and can't afford regular Photoshop) and thus I lack certain functions like Exclusion or Color Burn and can do very little text-wise. I am still able to use most brushes and gradients make icons, however most of the time, the color is either vibrant or faded:
(and my user picture)
I often fool around with Overlay and Darken and Ligthen and usually end up with the same way. Is there any possible method I can employ to deal with this dilemma? And forgive me if I am wasting time.
(Made by noveltea)And I have no desire to simply copy it. But I was wondering if there was a method to make colors looked more muted. I have Adobe PhotoDeluxe (I posted a question here a few months ago and can't afford regular Photoshop) and thus I lack certain functions like Exclusion or Color Burn and can do very little text-wise. I am still able to use most brushes and gradients make icons, however most of the time, the color is either vibrant or faded:
(and my user picture)I often fool around with Overlay and Darken and Ligthen and usually end up with the same way. Is there any possible method I can employ to deal with this dilemma? And forgive me if I am wasting time.