Learn to make this icon: 
Start here with this image:
Okay, crop and resize your image.
Her skin is smooth as it is, but just for the sake of doing it, we'll smooth out her skin (and her neck too). Click on the smudge tool. Set the strength to about 10%-- zoom in so you don't accidentally distort any features, and smooth over the entire face (avoiding the eyes and lips).
Not much of a difference, but overall it'll look better once we're finished. :D
We're going to sharpen the eye. You can either use the Sharpen tool, or, how I did it, I zoomed in and selected my Lasso tool, and circled the pupil. Then went to Filter>Sharpen>Sharpen.
Now, duplicate your base. Set the duplicate to Color Burn. Mine was set to 65% opacity, play around with it for what's best with your image.
Okay, here comes the fun part. Select the Eraser tool. Erase everthing except the mouth and eyes (and a bit surrounding the eyes).
Select your original base.
Example:
Click on the Burn tool (or, press the O key on your keyboard). Brush: 9px (the one with the softer edge); Range: Midtones; Exposure: 30%.
Brush under the eye (and maybe even a little on the lid too) with the burn tool.
Add a border; go to Edit>Stroke.
Layer>Flatten Image; and you're done!
Add whatever you want to your icon. If you make anything, I'd love to see it. And feedback would be great. :D
Start here with this image:
Okay, crop and resize your image.
Her skin is smooth as it is, but just for the sake of doing it, we'll smooth out her skin (and her neck too). Click on the smudge tool. Set the strength to about 10%-- zoom in so you don't accidentally distort any features, and smooth over the entire face (avoiding the eyes and lips).
Not much of a difference, but overall it'll look better once we're finished. :DWe're going to sharpen the eye. You can either use the Sharpen tool, or, how I did it, I zoomed in and selected my Lasso tool, and circled the pupil. Then went to Filter>Sharpen>Sharpen.
Now, duplicate your base. Set the duplicate to Color Burn. Mine was set to 65% opacity, play around with it for what's best with your image.
Okay, here comes the fun part. Select the Eraser tool. Erase everthing except the mouth and eyes (and a bit surrounding the eyes).
Select your original base.
Example:
Click on the Burn tool (or, press the O key on your keyboard). Brush: 9px (the one with the softer edge); Range: Midtones; Exposure: 30%.
Brush under the eye (and maybe even a little on the lid too) with the burn tool.
Add a border; go to Edit>Stroke.
Layer>Flatten Image; and you're done!
Add whatever you want to your icon. If you make anything, I'd love to see it. And feedback would be great. :D