The dirty little secret of icon making...

So, I've been reading all y'alls tutorials on icon-making, and I thank all of you - even if not everything is applicable (PS 5 is lacking a lot of modern features), I'm finding a few applicable things, and am delving into the world of layers without a textbook. It's tricky.

But, what I'm really discovering, especially as I work with scanned images, is the real secret you're keeping to yourself - that icon-making isn't just a click, click, click, combine layers, done kind of thing. Oh, I'm sure you get faster at it with practice, but, the magic wand isn't all that magic sometimes, and there's no substitute for painstaking pencil-work at 800% magnification.

So, I ask - for reference here, and perhaps for future tutors, how long does it take for you to go from raw image to finished product?

And if anyone wants to come up with a special tutorial for working with scanned, printed material, where the 4-color process makes using something like a paint bucket an exercise in frustration, I'd be happy for that, too.

Thanks in advance.