InsaneJournal

hello, everyone! So, I'm not exactly new to the community but this is my first time posting and while browsing through all the extremely helpful links but I still haven't really found a basic icon making tutorial. I'm not looking for anything fancy, just your simple tutorial on how to properly icon photos so they don't look blurred or grainy, etc. For example these. (my apologies if that's your journal but I totally dig how simple and clean the icons look!) can anyone help me out? Also, what programs do you as icon makers prefer to work with? Any and all help is greatly appreciated!