My first tutorial ever. Gradients/brushes are from 
dearest.
Featuring Spot Conlon from Newsies:
to 
I'm using PSP (not sure what version, it's a free trial), but I'm sure that you can translate it to PS or whatever you use.
Let me know if you have any questions / suggestions. And show me what you made!!
Step 1: Prepare your base. I cropped it to a square, making sure all the important aspects (Spot's face and slingshot) were in the shot. This tutorial looks best with the character over to the right a little.
Step 2: Duplicate your base 3 times: top layer - screen 100%, next - hard light 100%, next - hard light 100%
is what you should have so far. You'll notice that spot is a little bit clearer, which is always good.
Step 3: Set this:
to exclusion 100% 
Step 4: Set this
to multiply 56% 
Step 5: Set this
to soft light 50%
Step 6: Duplicate the base again twice, and bring them to the top. Set the lower one to soft light 100%, and then desaturate the top one and set it to screen 34%
Step 7: Set this
to screen 8%, and make sure to erase the part over your characters face 
Step 8: Set this
to multiply 42% 
Step 9: Add this brush (just copy and paste it)
screen 100%
Step 10: Now for text. I used Times New Roman size 7, and some tiny text brushes
(if you are using this, set to screen 100%)
And here is your final result:
Some other icons made with this effect -
dearest.Featuring Spot Conlon from Newsies:
to I'm using PSP (not sure what version, it's a free trial), but I'm sure that you can translate it to PS or whatever you use.
Let me know if you have any questions / suggestions. And show me what you made!!
Step 1: Prepare your base. I cropped it to a square, making sure all the important aspects (Spot's face and slingshot) were in the shot. This tutorial looks best with the character over to the right a little.
Step 2: Duplicate your base 3 times: top layer - screen 100%, next - hard light 100%, next - hard light 100%
is what you should have so far. You'll notice that spot is a little bit clearer, which is always good.Step 3: Set this:
to exclusion 100% Step 4: Set this
to multiply 56% Step 5: Set this
to soft light 50%Step 6: Duplicate the base again twice, and bring them to the top. Set the lower one to soft light 100%, and then desaturate the top one and set it to screen 34%
Step 7: Set this
to screen 8%, and make sure to erase the part over your characters face Step 8: Set this
to multiply 42% Step 9: Add this brush (just copy and paste it)
screen 100%Step 10: Now for text. I used Times New Roman size 7, and some tiny text brushes
(if you are using this, set to screen 100%)And here is your final result:
Some other icons made with this effect -