Desktop Icons
A friend asked me to dig up and post some info on creating interesting and personalized icons for a desktop.
Free Icons
First, I would recommend that you look at some cool, free icons that are already made:
- www.brushesdownload.com/icons.asp – Note, after you select a group of icons you like, it will take you to the next page. You will need to click on the “Download Free” link at the BOTTOM of the page.
Icon Tutorials
Here are some links that I found if you still want to make your own (See the Photoshop Info below!!):
Prepare Photoshop
Before opening Photoshop to start working on your icons, you’ll need to download and install a plugin that allows you to save an icon. (Note: this information is an excerpt from the [cref favicon-tutorial] Page.)
Download Plugin
I recommend the “ICO (Windows Icon) Format Plugin” at www.telegraphics.com.au/sw/. Make sure you get the correct one for your version. I had to get the Windows Standard version for my work computer and the 64-bit version for my Windows 7 machine at home.
Install Plugin
Unzip the folder. Read the “Readme.txt” file for the installation instructions, but you will need to get the ICOFormat.8bi file from the unzipped folder and copy it into the “File Formats” folder inside your Photoshop Plugins folder. On my machine, that is located in the “C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\File Formats” path.
