PSP8: full tutorial -- gradients, blend modes, light textures..
I got bored, so I decided to make a tutorial...
How to go from this:
to this: 
Start out with the base. For this icon, I used an image of Reese Witherspoon and Jonathan Rhys-Meyers from Vanity Fair.
Then, duplicate your base, desaturate the duplicate to -100, and set it to Hard Light at about 75% opacity. It now looks like this:
Not much of a difference, but you can tell that it's darker and more defined.
Next, make a new layer and set the blend to "Lighten" at about 60% opacity. I took a gradient by
crumblingwalls and used the paint bucket tool to fill it up. The image now looks like this:
--> 
I don't like how little contrast there is, so I go back to the duplicate of the base image, and duplicate that, leaving its settings at Hard Light at 75% opacity.
It's almost kinda boring. However, following this, I used one ofblue_orchidea's light textures set on Hard Light. I also used the eraser tool at 0 hardness with about 20% opacity do delete parts of the texture, so you can see Reese's & Jonathan's faces clearer.
--> 
It needs a bit more color, so I add a gradient that I made beneath the light texture layer.
--> 
Now it's time for text!
I used "Nonserif-Regular" at size 14, then added a black dropshadow at 61% opacity to make the white text stand out more. Next, I take the eraser tool and erase the bottom half of the word -- make sure you erase it on BOTH layers, otherwise it'll be kinda.. weird-looking.
Next, I added some tiny text beneath the half-"love" -- Nonserif-Regular at size 3. It doesn't really matter what you write. I wrote "another revolutionary romance" beneath it and set the text to screen at 70% opacity, then added a dropshadow layer with the same settings, and then put that also at 70%.
Now I'm going to add some brushes. First I added some "stars" byinxsomniax and a heart by teh_indy. And then I created a new layer set on "Burn", opacity at 42%, and added a thin 1px border.
And we're finished! Hope this was helpful.
How to go from this:
to this: Start out with the base. For this icon, I used an image of Reese Witherspoon and Jonathan Rhys-Meyers from Vanity Fair.
Then, duplicate your base, desaturate the duplicate to -100, and set it to Hard Light at about 75% opacity. It now looks like this:
Not much of a difference, but you can tell that it's darker and more defined.
Next, make a new layer and set the blend to "Lighten" at about 60% opacity. I took a gradient by
crumblingwalls and used the paint bucket tool to fill it up. The image now looks like this: --> I don't like how little contrast there is, so I go back to the duplicate of the base image, and duplicate that, leaving its settings at Hard Light at 75% opacity.
It's almost kinda boring. However, following this, I used one of
blue_orchidea's light textures set on Hard Light. I also used the eraser tool at 0 hardness with about 20% opacity do delete parts of the texture, so you can see Reese's & Jonathan's faces clearer. --> It needs a bit more color, so I add a gradient that I made beneath the light texture layer.
--> Now it's time for text!
I used "Nonserif-Regular" at size 14, then added a black dropshadow at 61% opacity to make the white text stand out more. Next, I take the eraser tool and erase the bottom half of the word -- make sure you erase it on BOTH layers, otherwise it'll be kinda.. weird-looking.
Next, I added some tiny text beneath the half-"love" -- Nonserif-Regular at size 3. It doesn't really matter what you write. I wrote "another revolutionary romance" beneath it and set the text to screen at 70% opacity, then added a dropshadow layer with the same settings, and then put that also at 70%.
Now I'm going to add some brushes. First I added some "stars" by
inxsomniax and a heart by teh_indy. And then I created a new layer set on "Burn", opacity at 42%, and added a thin 1px border. And we're finished! Hope this was helpful.