I'd appreciate feedback, especially if I'm unclear on something, as this will eventually be archived on a high-traffic site and I'd rather contribute something that makes sense. Also, I'm going to be writing a few coloring tutorials for the same site and they will reference this with the shorthand, "prepare your base." Thanks!

This is a tutorial for achieving a clear, crisp base to make into an icon. The degree of clarity needed depends on the subject and crop. It's most critical in a close-up and less so in scenery icons. I have a personal "tried & true" method for making bases of people and several tricks for others.

Part I. The extreme close-up
From =>

I first learned about base preparation from this excellent tutorial written by icon_ascension. I highly recommend it. Over time, I've adapted my own version that allows me to control every single pixel. Quite probably there's a faster and easier method out there that can get reasonably close results but this gives me the quality base that I want.

( How I get a crisp, clear image )

Part II. The scenic icon
Examples:

( This one's a lot less time intensive... )

Hope some of that was helpful. Feel free to ask any questions you want. I can't guarantee that I know the answer but I'll happily answer any that I do!