First Tutorial!

[ediblewoodwinds]

Go from this to
.

1. Crop your base to 100x100 pixels. Use Auto Color/Auto Contrast/Auto Levels.
Result:


2. Duplicate your base four times. (I know that's a lot.) Set the first (closest to your base) to Multiply at 100%, the second and third to Screen at 100%, and and the fourth to Soft Light at 100%.
Result:


3. Create a new layer and fill it with #001d49 set to Exclusion at 100%.

>>


4. Make a new layer and fill it with #96eff5 set to Color Burn at 100%.

>>


5. Make another new layer and fill it with #faaae2 set to Soft Light at 50%.

>>


6. Duplicate your base, desaturate it (Ctrl+shift+U), drag it to the top, and set it to Soft Light at 100%. Go to Filter>Blur>Guassian Blur and set it to 1.0.

>>


7. Take this texture by
gender, paste it on top of all your layers, and set it to Screen at 100%.

>>

It's finally coming together! 8D

8. Duplicate your base again, drag it to the top, and set it to Soft Light at 100%. (No blur.)

9. Go to Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Channel Mixer
These were my settings:
Red:
Red +100
Green 0
Blue +46
Constant 0

Green:
Red 0
Green +120
Blue 0
Constant 0

Blue
Red -20
Green +24
Blue +100
Constant 0
Result:


Mess around with the settings to suit your icon.
Hope you enjoyed the tutorial! It was my first.
Comments and your own results are loved! I'll be happy to answer any questions. ^-^