Icon Tutorial
The coloring isn't that spectacular, but I was really pleased with how it turned out, so I thought I'd share :).
INTO 
I use PSP 9, but I believe it will work in other versions.
1. Here is the original image from flickr. Re-size and crop to get the base. There's a gray line at the bottom, but when we're done with the coloring, it won't be noticeable. So don't worry about it!
2. The picture is fairly light, especially with the white part of the background, so duplicate the background layer twice. Set the top layer to Multiply at 80% and the one beneath it to Screen at 55%.
3. Above all of the layers, create a Color Balance layer. Input the values: 30, 0, -10 for Midtones. Using red and yellow tones will warm up the coloring of our icon.
4. To get rid of the white background, create a raster layer in between the duplicate layers. Fill it with a tan color. I used #f4e1c2 (
), but any one will do! Set the layer to Multiply at 100%.
5. Directly above the background layer, create another raster layer. Fill it with #40ffff (
) and set it to Soft Light at 100%.
6. We're going to add this texture by
graphic_sl to the icon. The subject of our icon is at the bottom, and the most interesting part of the texture is also at the bottom. If we added the texture as it is, the icon would look messy. So flip the texture and then paste it as a new layer in between the tan layer and the top most duplicate layer. Set this layer to Multiply at 100%.
7. The light blue layer that we added earlier is making the coloring very dull. To fix this, temporarily set the blue layer to invisible. Make a merged copy of the image and paste it above all the other layers. Set it to Soft Light at 55%. Change the blue layer back to invisible.
8. For the finishing touch, we're going to add another texture, also bygraphic_sl. This one doesn't need any alterations. Simply paste it as a new layer above the merged copy layer. Set the layer to Multiply at 75%, and you're finished!
INTO I use PSP 9, but I believe it will work in other versions.
1. Here is the original image from flickr. Re-size and crop to get the base. There's a gray line at the bottom, but when we're done with the coloring, it won't be noticeable. So don't worry about it!
2. The picture is fairly light, especially with the white part of the background, so duplicate the background layer twice. Set the top layer to Multiply at 80% and the one beneath it to Screen at 55%.
3. Above all of the layers, create a Color Balance layer. Input the values: 30, 0, -10 for Midtones. Using red and yellow tones will warm up the coloring of our icon.
4. To get rid of the white background, create a raster layer in between the duplicate layers. Fill it with a tan color. I used #f4e1c2 (
), but any one will do! Set the layer to Multiply at 100%.5. Directly above the background layer, create another raster layer. Fill it with #40ffff (
) and set it to Soft Light at 100%.6. We're going to add this texture by
graphic_sl to the icon. The subject of our icon is at the bottom, and the most interesting part of the texture is also at the bottom. If we added the texture as it is, the icon would look messy. So flip the texture and then paste it as a new layer in between the tan layer and the top most duplicate layer. Set this layer to Multiply at 100%.
7. The light blue layer that we added earlier is making the coloring very dull. To fix this, temporarily set the blue layer to invisible. Make a merged copy of the image and paste it above all the other layers. Set it to Soft Light at 55%. Change the blue layer back to invisible.
8. For the finishing touch, we're going to add another texture, also by
graphic_sl. This one doesn't need any alterations. Simply paste it as a new layer above the merged copy layer. Set the layer to Multiply at 75%, and you're finished!