Screencaps are among the most popular images used in icon making.  A screencap is simply a still shot of a moving picture.  There are many screencap galleries on the internet. 

It’s not hard to find images to use for icon making, but knowing what to look for before you start can save time.  If you’ve found an icon maker you like, and they have a credit page, you can look at their sources and save yourself searching.  But not every icon maker will have a credit page (even though it’s polite) and you may want something they don’t have a source for.  In that case you’ll have to look for yourself.

I’m not a particularly neat person in real life.  In fact, my apartment could probably qualify as a bio-hazard zone.  But when it comes to icon making I’ve found that keeping your files organized helps maintain sanity.  It’s also a good way to keep track of your sources so that you can create and update your credit page.

I am not a graphics expert, really I'm not.  I have enough experience to teach some of the basics, but that is all these are, the basics.  These tutorials (which are actually for a school project, believe it or not) are meant for those who have absolutely no experience and no idea where to begin.  I’m including “no experience” to mean no experience with basically any step involved, including searching for images and how to copy/paste.  This is meant to be, for lack of a better term, an idiot's guide to basic icon making.  If you already make icons and are looking for some more advanced techniques there's plenty of other tutorials around livejournal.  If you’ve never made an icon in your life and don’t know the first thing about Photoshop, this is the place for you.

Seriously, last warning, this is not the place for anyone with actual experience.  I don’t want to hear any comments about how all of this is so obvious.  Not everyone knows everything you do and this is only for people who are true beginners.