Ubuntu Wiki

Here's an IconGuide for IconCleanUp made for the ArtTeam

Start Inkscape with the scalable vector graphic (.svg) you want to work with.

export it to a .png

Open the bitmap with gimp.

Sharpen rocks for a quick starting point. grab it from the menu under filters>enhance>sharpen or just use the sharpen tool

Now, sharpen wont instantly fix all the blurry things in your icon. infact when overused it can cause more noise than it removes.

You may still have to face copying pixels from sharper areas of the icon and paste them along the blurry edges, selecting and clearing (erasing) out areas of pixels that should otherwise be transparent, redrawing semi transparent areas with the pencil tool set to 50% opacity and possibly redceate shapes altogether. This is way more fun than an ugly desktop.

After all your efforts, the difference is quite noticable