Avatar/LJ Icon Tutorial:
Written by Aly. Done in PS 7.0

LEVEL - ADVANCED-BEGINNER

How to turn this:	Into This:

1: Open your image, crop it and resize it to 100x100px.
 

2: Sharpen your image once. (Filter >> Sharpen >> Sharpen)*

3: Duplicate your sharpened image and set it on top of itself and set layer to screen.

4: Floodfill your image with #EBE9D0, set to Multiply 100%

5: It should look pretty nice right now, so from here on you can follow the rest, or leave it.



7:Set this gradient from Elusive Perversion as Hard Light100% Do not merge/flatten your layers.
 

8: Now use your eraser tool to get those lines off the face.
 

7: Now you can add some text and you're done! I'm using Arial Black pt 11.
(The way you achieve the text effect in this icon, is by taking your selection tool and dragging it across the midsection of your text, then deleting the selected portion)

 

*Please remember that sharpening always depends upon the image you are using.