Go from
this to
in PSP9.
I already set up my base by going through Automatic Contrast Enhancement and putting in these: Bia - Darker, Strength - Mild, Appearance - Bold. Then I used Automatic Saturation Enhancement under these settings: Bias - More Colorful, Strength - Strong, Skintones Present - checked.
In the next step, create a new raster layer and flood fill in black. Then set the layer to Color so the image should look desaturated. I erased the black on Kurogane's eyes and on the wings. It's your decision if you want to do the erasing part.
Duplicate the base twice and bring them on top. Both were desaturated and set to Soft Light.
Take this
texture by
_joni_ and set it to Hard Light. Since the texture covered around Kurogane's face I erased some of it with a blur eraser.
Once again duplicate the base and bring it to the top. Then I used Gaussian Blur and set it to 5. Set the layer to Soft Light.
Take this
texture by
myrasis and set it to Screen. Duplicate the texture again, leaving it on Screen. My icon now looks like this.
Use another one of
myrasis'
textures and set it to Screen.
Apply this
texture by
angel_elf_icons, then set it to Screen.
Now that I'm done with textures, the next steps are optional. I added in a 2px border in #f3e6d4 that I picked from the Dropper Tool and then a 1px border above it in black. Some final touches by adding text and tiny text and I'm finished.
Here are other icons I made by switching around the textures.