[Help] Icon Advice For a Beginner.

Hi ....

I've recently been trying my hand at Icon making and while all is well in the design area - The actual Icons themselves are having trouble. I design the Icon in PS CS on a 256x256 Canvas, The actual Icon itself is about 250x250. When I save the Image as a transparent PNG and try and use it in a dock, Alot of the detail is lost plus it looks really crappy at any other size (128x128 96x96 ...etc)

The same happens when I use Axialis to change the PNG into an Icon. The Icon has text on it that gets totally blured, The gradients loose their intensity ...etc. Are their any guides to making Icons/Dock Icons? Can any of the great Iconists here give me some tips on Icon creation? Or perhaps maybe point me to some indepth tutorials on the net (I've searched but only come across Step by Step stuff) Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks -

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