Tutorial/Guide: What makes a good icon?

As requested by vixenofargentum I've made a tutorial/guide on how I make icons. I don't intend to teach anyone how to use Photoshop with this tutorial, or to make really beautiful icons just by reading this - but I do hope to give people an idea of how I make icons.

This is also a guide, because in addition to the tutorial, I explain how to select, crop, and enhance base images, why high quality images are important, examples of textures I use, etc.

Keep in mind, this is VERY LONG, and it took me a very long time to make. I actually spent all day yesterday making this, only to lose the second-half of the post due to a server error. This is also my first real tutorial, but I hope that it's clear enough.

( Under the fake cut )

Tutorial/Guide: What makes a good icon?

As requested by vixenofargentum I've made a tutorial/guide on how I make icons. I don't intend to teach anyone how to use Photoshop with this tutorial, or to make really beautiful icons just by reading this - but I do hope to give people an idea of how I make icons.

This is also a guide, because in addition to the tutorial, I explain how to select, crop, and enhance base images, why high quality images are important, examples of textures I use, etc.

Keep in mind, this is VERY LONG, and it took me a very long time to make. I actually spent all day yesterday making this, only to lose the second-half of the post due to a server error. This is also my first real tutorial, but I hope that it's clear enough.

( Under the fake cut )