Ok, first of all this will be a very simple how to. I do things simply myself and I wouldn’t want to confuse you with any other form of Icon making. That aside, here is Kahn Iceay’s “How to make JC Icons with GNU Image Manipulation Program“

Part 1: The Scaling Method

Overview: There are many ways of making Icons, some simple, some hard. This is the simplest method of making an Icon, the scaling method. You can make a variety of icons using this method. Other methods, such as Colour variation, and Lightsaber Icons will come in later guides.


Step One: First and foremost you’re going to need a picture. The image you pick out needs to be at least twice as large if not larger then the end product (in my experience) though the larger you are, the more pixilated it gets as you shrink it down. For our purposes today we will be making a Revan icon from this image Pictured here on the left.

Step Two: I shouldn’t have to mention this but it is a how to post so, open GIMP (If you don’t have GIMP scroll to the bottom of this article for instructions on where to find it). If you have the source image on your hard drive open it from there if you’re loading it form an internet source (such as myself) use “Open Location”. Keep in mind that if the image you’re using is very large either in pixels or in megabytes you may find yourself lagging when you open it. Such is especially the case with older computers.
http://vincentmikaru.twilightmainframe.net/Stored%20Images/JC_Icons/How%20To/HowTwo1.png
Step Three: Once you have GIMP Open you should give yourself plenty of operating room. If my knowledge serves me right GIMP on windows is all one window, if so maximize it. With cases such as myself arrange your windows how you are most comfortably working, for sake of reference however we’ll use the picture to the right.
http://vincentmikaru.twilightmainframe.net/Stored%20Images/JC_Icons/How%20To/HowTo2.png
Step Four: Now this is when we truly begin the Icon making process, and its a simple start, you pick the kind of Icon you’re going to make. For the JC there are three basic styles of icons, 50×50, 90×30, and 30×90. All operate under the same
principals of editing but for simplicity I’m going to show you the easiest one for me to make, the 50×50 icon. Once you understand what icon you’re going to make you need to select the section of the image you’re going to craft into the icon. While doing this you need to keep in mind proportions. Its easiest to go in increments of ten over your final product, 60, 70, 80, and so on. In this case I’m making a 420×420 selection of Revan’s head, by doing so I can make the scaling to 50×50 later much easier. Once we have the selection we’re going to crop the image to that selection which should look like the image on the right. To do this simply open your image menu and select the option “Crop to Selection”.

Step Five: Now step five is where the editing happens. Some Icons don’t require editing, some icons do. Sometimes an icon needs colouration changes, which can be done by going to colours and then clicking Hue-Saturation like this. Other edits you can do might be including a lightsaber blade which I will make in a later How To. For this edit however we’re going to give Revan a little border. Borders are simple additions to icons that can add just enough of a visual effect to make the icon more visually appealing. This is not to say that you should always include one. Borders should be light, and not detract form the icon, in this case, due to the size 420×420 aspect of the image we’ll be utilizing a 5px border that will scale down with the icon later. The simplest and most easy method of evenly bordering your icon is to select all of the icon that you will not be marking over and then going to Select and selecting invert. The end result should look like this.

Step Six: Now we’ll be scaling the image down which is done by going to Image then Scale Image like so this will open the image scaling window (pictured to the left). Here you’ll scale your icon down to your desired size, in this case from 420×420 to 50×50. When you do this you are essentially looking at your icon as it will appear when you post it. Take this time to examine it for errors or any changes you may want to make. I am fond of the icon as it is so I will make no changes and will save the image as Revan_How_To_Icon.png If you are making a series of icons of the same image, both a standard, wide, and tall image,  suggest you re open your source image AFTER SAVING! Then return to step four and continue the process as listed changing the size of your selection only and adjusting the numbers there for.

Step Seven: Now that you’ve made your icon most of the work is done. The next step is simply uploading it to your source of choice. Image Shack and Photobucket provide free image storage, or you may, like me have a Blog you upload images too. When you’ve finished uploading it either submit it, and others you’ve made in blog format, or directly too the Icon thread in Communications at the JC. Once you’ve done that you’ve completely entered the world of Icon making! I hope my How To guide has been helpful to you and I hope you enjoy making Icons as much as I have.

http://vincentmikaru.twilightmainframe.net/Stored%20Images/JC_Icons/How%20To/Revan_How_To_Icon.png

GNU Image Manipulation Program

Gimp, known as GNU Image Manipulation Program, is a freely distributed piece of software that allows users to do photo retouching, image composition, and many other functions. It is available for download here. Help documentation is available here. Many operating systems, Linux distributions like Ubuntu have GIMP pre-installed. Others have GIMP available in their package managers. Visit your distributions website for instructions on how ton install it via package managers. GIMP.org’s instillation page also carries basic instructions for installing the program.