after spending 15 minutes searching for good LJ icon tutorials, i've finally decided to actually ask for help rather than plain searching =P

i would like to know how the icons went from:

to


from:

to


the first set isn't the same exact images but the colors are basically the same. I'd like to know how these people managed to get that bright and soft color. It's so vivid compared to the original but i can't seem to get that effect.