Check out this fantastic collection of completely free gradients! LadyOak has provided over 300 sets of nifty, useful colours for download. Load them up into Photoshop and start putting them to good use!

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I’ve published a tutorial before on how to make a favicon from scratch, how to turn it into an .ico file, and how to get it working on your webpage. Remember?

However, if you’re having trouble shrinking that logo down to pixel-size, there’s an online generator that will help you in that process. Upload your logo to Genfavicon, adjust the area you want to shrink, pick your size (a drop-down list of the standard sizes are at your fingertips), then preview and save your creation. This saves you the trouble of adjusting and saving the same image in Photoshop again and again, then converting each one individually to the required .ico file!

[via WebAppers]
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Image from Vector Magic

Vector Magic is an online vectorization tool, which will convert your raster image (jpg, gif, png, bmp, or tiff) into a scalable vector (eps, svg, png). While automatic-tracing programs are not a substitute for hand-traced images, if you need something quick, Vector Magic will spit out something workable in a few easy steps. In fact, they claim that their online program is actually more accurate as a tracing tool in comparison to the other leading commercial programs on the market (namely Adobe and Corel). Their samples are certainly impressive, and for the low low price of FREE can you really say no?

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Icons are usually small, detailed works or art that are useful for a heckuvalotta things. I’ve seen them used a lot on the web as navigation or used to accent a button, as well as in interfaces/program design, and on desktops for us compulsive customizers.

Here I’ve collected a list of sites which provide free icon sets. Although you don’t need to pay for these, since they are free, it does not mean you can do whatever you want with them. Make sure to read the respective terms and conditions for each website!

FamFamFam
http://www.famfamfam.com/lab/icons/

Icons provided by FamFamFam (the brainchild of Mark James) are frequently spotted all over the web. Offering a massive collection of over a thousand different carefully crafted icons, this should be one of the first places you stop by on your hunt. His Silk Set is immensely popular, and he’s designed a Mini Set purposely for the web, as well as a collection of minilicious Country Flags.

2pt3 – Twotone Icons
http://2pt3.com/news/twotone-icons-for-free/

Design by Paul Jarvis, this pixel-perfect 75 icon set comes in – you guessed it – two tones. Bold, forward, simple, and straight to the point! He’s also provided the PSD files as well, should you wish to change the colours.

MouseRunner
http://www.mouserunner.com/Spheres_Icons_Index.html

MouseRunner is run by Ken Saunders, a legally-blind graphic artist. That hasn’t hindered his ability in the least – he has designed quite a handful of different icon sets, all of which sport a very Web 2.0 glossy style. His icons are well-crafted and come in a variety of colours. Being spherical, they probably will find their use as buttons or badges of honour (He’s a big Firefox fan, and it shows!).

Drunkey Love
http://www.el73.be/drunkey-love/downloads/

The Drunkey Love iconset is another large collection (100+!) of tiny, hand-pixelled icons. Similar to the FamFamFam Silk set, but with a more rugged look, these icons will surely find it’s calling on the web. Either that, or they can be left to ferment in a folder, available for whenever you need a quick pick-me-up.

Crystal Icons
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Crystal_Clear

Everaldo Coelho has painstakingly made and collected over 200 large, slick, crystal icons, and has passed them on to you to use freely. The link above leads you to a page where you can view all the icons available. Make sure to visit Coelho’s Development Website to download the (huge!) icon files.

N.Design
http://www.ndesign-studio.com/resources/mini-pixel-icons/

Gorgeous and practical, N. Design Studios has really outdone themselves with this icon set. Designed by Nick La, these are all extremely well-made, and dead useful. The set includes alternate icons for file types, shopping carts, credit cards, navigation buttons, print icons – you name it! Most icons also come in complementary colours as well. However do take a look at the license – at the time of writing you’re free to use up to ten icons without credit, but after that it’s either link back or pay a small fee.

Matt Ball
http://www.mattballdesign.com/portfolio/

Enter Matt Ball, and his delightful, colourful Mac-looking icon sets. His Developer Icon pack is particularly useful for toolbars and application design, and he’s also got a small set of icons featuring mobile phones to download freely as well.

Mini Icons
http://www.brandspankingnew.net/archive/2006/12/hohoho.html

Mini means mini! These eyeball-straining icons are a mere 10×10px, and look clear and great. It takes skill to design something so small and yet still recognizable! Not to mention, this is quite a large collection, with 113 icons to date. He’s also created slightly larger (16×16px) Doctype Icons, with 42 of those making up the set.

IconBuffet
http://www.iconbuffet.com/

I’ve saved my favourite for last! IconBuffet offers a tasty platter of icons in bite-sized morsels. They work differently from the other free icon sites – click on ‘Free Delivery’ at the top – you will need to sign up to receive your first (random) icon set. Following that, you will receive a free ‘delivery’ each month – and you can even trade and give deliveries to friends! But keep at it and soon you’ll be sporting a large collection of slick, scrumptious, and whimsical icons.

Hope that was enough to get you started with your collection. If you’ve found other great icon resources leave a comment and I’ll check it out!

Have a burning question? Something puzzling you in Photoshop? Can’t find the right free generic graphic for your website? Feel free to send in a request for a tutorial, article, design, you name it! If you include your website address, I’ll make sure to link to your site within the post.

The Minty Ferret is pleased to take on your requests! Head on to the Requests Page and send me a question!

Every time I open a new canvas, it seems I’m racking my brain for colour combinations. Here is a list of my favourite colour scheme tools which I frequently use when designing.

Kuler
http://kuler.adobe.com/

Kuler, run by Adobe, is a great place to browse user-submitted palates. You can browse by Most Popular, Highest Rated, Newest, or just search for a certain phrase or colour (try typing in ‘apple’!). It’s also very easy to create your own colour scheme to share with others.
Palattes open as large solid blocks across the top of the page, which can be expanded down the entire screen when clicked. From this you can easily take a screenshot, open it up in photoshop, and use the eyedropper tool to grab the colours.

Colour Lovers
http://www.colourlovers.com/

Another great site for inspiration is Colour Lovers. It operates on the same user-submitted principle as Adobe, but instead of just displaying palates you can also browse solid blocks of colour. Checking the Trends section lets you browse what colour schemes are popular in today’s websites and magazines.

Colr
http://www.colr.org/

Another way to come up with a great colour combination is to pull them directly from a photograph. Using Colr, upload your image. It will then automatically create a scheme using colours from that image.

Color Blender
http://colorblender.com/

If you already have a base colour in mind, this tool will help you choose complimentary colours.
What’s more, you can download the schemes for photoshop or illustrator, or even email them to yourself for safe-keeping.

Color Schemer
http://www.colorschemer.com/online.html

Color Schemer works on the same premises as Color Blender, but is more user-friendly. You can enter in the HEX code and let it automatically find matching colours, or choose from a standard palate at the bottom. It’s also easy to adjust your scheme using the Lighten or Darken tools.