PTU - Pretty Girl

This tutorial was written on 03/25/2014 and assumes you have working knowledge of PSP. Any simularities to other tuts is purely coincidental and not done on purpose.

For this tutorial you will need:

PSP - I use X3 but most versions will do

Tube of choice, I used the art of Cliff Thomas

This tube will soon be available for purchase at CDO. Do not use without purchasing a license first.

Two papers of choice, mine are from IB-CaronVinson-66-1, also from CDO

MB and SW mask 34

Wordart by Creative Misfits

Ding Font FG-Hearts Galore

 Eye Candy 4000, or any other filter with a gradient glow

Font of choice, I used Adios Script Pro

Let's begin, remember to save often!

Open new image 700 x 700, we'll resize later. Flood fill white. Click on your text tool, find your ding font in the list, size 225, foreground null, background a color from your tube or kit. I used the dark grey from the kit, #403d48. Click on the center of your canvas, type an uppercase G. I used the nodes to drag it in just a bit on the right and left side and a bit longer on the bottom but this is optional. When you have it like you want it, convert to raster.

Copy your tube and paste as a new layer, line her up on the frame where you like her and then move this layer under the frame layer for now.

Open a paper of choice, I used paper 1. Copy and paste as a new layer. Place this layer under your tube layer and resize it down so it's just slightly larger then your ding frame. Activate the ding layer, click inside with your magic wand, expand by 2 and invert. Activate the paper layer and press delete. Deselect. Activate the ding layer again and give it a drop shadow of 0, 0, 60, 10.

Now activate your tube, give her a drop shadow of -3, 3, 60, 10. Repeat the drop shadow at 1, -1, 50, 5.

Now with your tube layer still active, click on your selection tool and draw around the top part of the tube that's under the top part of the frame. Make sure you fully select around any drop shadows so they won't get cut off in the next step:

Now promote selection to layer. Click on the original while still selected and press delete. Deselect. Move the promoted layer above the frame.

Now activate the original tube layer. Zoom in about 600%. Click on your freehand selection tool, set to point to point. Carefully go along the bottom of the frame and then around any parts of the tube that stick out below the frame like so:

Make sure you go around any drop shadows like in the screenshot above so they get removed properly. When you have the whole area needed selected, press delete and deselect. You can now zoom back out to 100% again.

Activate the white flood filled layer on the bottom. Copy another paper of choice, I used paper 5. Paste as a new layer. Add mask from image, merge group. My mask was a bit too large so I resized it down 85% and then aligned it up with the frame using the raster deform tool. I also dragged the top node up so it extends a bit beyond the tube's head and drop shadow.

When you have your mask where you like it, duplicate and change the blend mode of the duplicate layer to multiply. You might need to use a different blend mode depending on the paper you chose to get the results you like. Merge down and yes it lightens the mask a tad, I wanted it to do that.

Now with your mask layer still active, click on your crop tool. Make sure no parts of your tag will be chopped off especially drop shadows and crop layer opaque. Now if you wish to resize your tag, now is the time to do it, I resized mine down 85%, all layers checked.

Activate the top layer in your palette, should be the promoted section of your tube. Open up your wordart. Duplicate and close the original. Now working on the wordart, add a new raster layer and flood fill it with a bright color so you can see the wordart easy. Move this layer down. Now activate the wordart layer and using your selection tool, select around the wordart and then crop to selection. I had to zoom in a bit cause I got the top part of the wordart below it and had to erase that. Then copy and paste as a new layer on your tag. Click on your manual color correction tool. Make the source color the grey which is #808080. Then for the target color, I used a bright pink to match the tube, #ee60ba. Move the wordart down to the bottom of the frame (see my tag for reference) and give it a gradient glow with the glow width at 3 and the color tab like below:

Then give the wordart a drop shadow of 0, 0, 50, 5 just to make it stand out a bit better.

Click on your text tool, remember to change the font and size, add your copyright info, license and tagger's mark. Don't forget to credit the scrap kit if required, which it is if you're using the same scraps as me.

Now add your name using colors from your tube. I used the same pink for the background and a darker pink for the foreground. Give it an inner bevel:

Then give it a slight gradient glow with the color tab now like below:

Rotate your name 30 degrees to the left, then give your name a drop shadow of -2, 2, 50, 5. Arrange where you want it. Delete the white background layer, merge visible and save as a png or merge all and save as a jpg. Congrats, you're done!

PTU - Blue Faery

This tutorial was written on 03/16/2014 and assumes you have working knowledge of PSP. Any simularities to other tuts is purely coincidental and not done on purpose.

For this tutorial you will need:

PSP - I use X3 but most versions will do

Tube of choice, I used the art of Renee Biertempfel

You can purchase this tube at CDO. Do not use without purchasing a license first.

Scrap Kit of choice, I'm using IB-RossanaCastellino-10-1, also from CDO

Big Mask019 by Vix

 Eye Candy 4000, or any other filter with a gradient glow

Font of choice, I used Miss Le Gatees

Let's begin, remember to save often!

Open a new workspace 700 x 700. Open frame 2 from your kit, copy and paste as a new layer. Resize 65% and rotate 90 degrees to the right. Copy your tube and paste as a new layer, move below the frame layer and arrange her where you like. I moved her so the cut off part on the right side would be hidden. Duplicate your tube and move the duplicate above the frame layer and hide for now.

Open paper 6, copy and paste as a new layer. Resize 50% and move under your original tube layer. Activate your frame layer. Click inside with your magic wand, expand by 5 and invert selection. Activate your paper layer and press delete. Do the same with the original tube layer. Deselect.

Activate your frame layer again and give it a drop shadow, I used 0, 0, 100, 10. Unhide your top tube layer and give it a drop shadow of -3, 3, 70, 10. Repeat the drop shadow at 1, -1, 50, 5. Lower the opacity on this tube to 60%, zoom in about 400% and erase any parts of the tube that sit on top of the frame that you don't want to be there. When you're done, return opacity to 100% and hide and unhide the tube a few times to check on any pixels you missed and remove them. Zoom back out to 100% when you're done.

Open element 15, copy and paste as a new layer. Rotate 20 degrees to the left and resize 70%. Place on the right side of the frame, I put it so it covers up the part of her hair that got erased. Drop shadow 0, 0, 70, 10.

Open element 9, copy and paste as a new layer. Resize 40% and move over on top of the leaves. Duplicate and mirror and move next to the first flower. Duplicate a second time and resize this one 80%. Arrange the 3 flowers how you like them and drop shadow each 0, 0, 70, 10.

Open element 13, copy and paste as a new layer. Make sure it's on top of the flower layers. Resize 40% and place over the flower stems to hide them a bit. Drop shadow as before.

Open element 1, copy and paste as a new layer, resize 40% and place on top of the blue leaves you just added in the last step. Drop shadow as before but change the opacity to 100.

Open element 7, copy and paste as a new layer. Move under the paper layer that's in your frame. Drop shadow as before. Optional: I erased the part that was showing below the bottom left of the frame. Now duplicate this layer and mirror. I moved this duplicate layer down and in towards the center a little bit and then had to again erase the parts that I didn't want to show below the frame.

Open element 2, copy and paste as a new layer. Place to the bottom right of your frame, under the paper layer as before. Use your eraser tool to remove any part that shows on the left side of the frame, there was a bit on mine. Drop shadow as you've done the rest. Duplicate, rotate the duplicate 90 degrees to the left and move up to the top right of your frame, see my tag for reference. Now merge down, duplicate and mirror.

Activate the frame layer in your palette. Open element 11, copy and paste as a new layer. Resize 50% and mirror. Rotate 45 degrees to the right and then apply the rotate again. Move it to the bottom left of the frame, see my tag for reference. Drop shadow as before.

Open element 16, copy and paste as a new layer, resize 70% and move under the layer you just added in the last step. Arrange at the bottom of the frame and give same drop shadow as before.

Activate the bottom layer on your palette, copy and paste a paper of choice. I used paper 2. Add new mask from image. Merge group and click on your raster deform tool. I dragged the top and bottom nodes out a bit so I could see a bit more of the mask. Then duplicate the mask layer and merge down.

With your mask layer still active, click on your crop tool. Click to crop layer opaque, make sure that no elements or tubes will be chopped off and then double click or click the green check mark to crop.

If you want to resize your tag, now is the time to do it. I resized mine down 80%, all layers checked.

Activate the top layer in your palette, add your copyright, license and tagger's mark. Don't forget to credit your scrap kit if required.

Add your name using colors from your tube/kit. Give it an inner bevel, I used:

Apply a slight gradient glow, I used white and then a drop shadow of -3, 3, 60, 5.

Merge visible and save as a png or merge all and save as a jpg. Congrats, you're done!

FTU Forum Set - Shimmering Elegance

This tutorial was written on 03/09/2014 and assumes you have working knowledge of PSP. Any simularities to other tuts is purely coincidental and not done on purpose.

For this tutorial you will need:

PSP - I use X3 but most versions will do

Animation Shop

Tube of choice, I used the art of Jennifer Janesko

You can purchase this tube at CDO. Do not use without purchasing a license first.

Template 83 by Spawn

Dave makes awesome templates so be sure to leave some love when you download

Xero, Porcelain and Radiance

 Eye Candy 4000, or any other filter with a gradient glow

Font of choice, I used Centeria Script Demo

Let's begin, remember to save often!

Open forum template and tube, duplicate both and close the originals. On your template, delete the credits layer. Activate the main background layer. Select 2 colors from your tube. I used a dark brown for my foreground, #201611 and a lighter goldish brown for the background, #75551e.

Flood fill your background layer with the darker color. Now activate the Small Rounded Squares layer. Create a foreground-background gradient with linear, angle 45, repeats 4, invert unchecked. Add a new raster layer and flood fill with your gradient. Activate the squares layer again. Select all, float, defloat and invert. Activate your flood filled layer, press delete and deselect. Activate the original squares layer and press delete once on your keyboard. Activate the flood filled layer once more and merge down.

Now activate your shape background layer, select all, float and defloat. Flood fill with your lighter color. Copy your tube and paste it as a new layer. If your tube has a closeup layer, use that, otherwise you can resize it up like I did. I resized mine 115%. I arranged her so I could see her head inside the frame but you could use another part of the tube if you wish. Apply Xero, Porcelain at default but move the blue slider to 0. Give her a drop shadow, I used 0, 0, 60, 5. Now activate the shape outline layer. Click inside with your magic wand and expand by 3. Invert selection, activate your tube layer, press delete and deselect. Activate the outline layer again and give it a drop shadow. I used 0, 0, 100, 10.

Now paste your tube as a new layer again, I mirrored her and moved her over so I could see the closeup plus my tube has her legs cut off on the end. Once you have it where you like it, duplicate this layer. On the original, apply the porcelain filter again, then on the duplicate apply Xero Radiance with these settings:

Change the blend mode on the duplicate to Luminance. Then give the bottom tube a drop shadow of -3, 3, 80, 10. I then repeated my drop shadow with 1, -2, 50, 5.

Now activate the border layer. Select all, float and defloat. You'll need to zoom in so you can see it well and flood fill black. Do not deselect. Zoom back out to 100%. Add a new raster layer, name it gradient, flood fill with your gradient but invert the colors so the lighter color is the foreground. Contract your selection by 4 and press delete. Do not deselect yet. Add a new raster layer, name it border 2, flood fill with black again, contract by 1 and press delete. You may now deselect.

Now add a new raster layer again, name it border shadow. Select all, flood fill with black. Contract by 6 and press delete. Deselect. Drag this layer under the first border layer and give it a gaussian blur of 3.

Now activate your gradient border layer, duplicate 2 times for a total of 3 layers. Rename them from the bottom as gborder1, gborder2 and gborder 3. Activate the first one and add noise at random, 40%, monochrome checked. Activate the 2nd gradient border and add noise but change it to 43%. Repeat with the 3rd gradient border and the noise at 46%. Hide the top 2 gradient border layers for now.

Now go down and activate your rounded squares layer, duplicate this layer twice for a total of 3 layers. Rename them from the bottom up as squares 1, squares 2 and squares 3. Starting with squares 1, give this layer a bit of noise at gaussian, 10% and monochrome still checked. Repeat noise on square 2 with the noise at 13% and then on square 3 with the noise at 16%. Hide squares 2 and 3 for now.

Activate the top layer in your palette, should be the border 2 layer. Add your copyright info, license and tagger's mark.

Add your name using the same colors as before, turn off the gradient and switch the darker color back to the foreground again. Give it an inner bevel, I used this one:

Then give it a light gradient glow, I used these settings, the color is #c4b26f, but you'll want to pick a light color that compliments your tube, I chose mine from her outfit she's wearing:

 

 Then give your name a drop shadow of -2, 2, 60, 8.

Now to animate:

Make sure your gborder 2 and gborder 3 are hidden. Also you want squares 2 and squares 3 hidden as well. With the top layer in your palette (should be your name) active, copy merged. Go over to animation shop and paste as a new animation, I use CTRL V.

Go back to psp, unhide gborder 2 and squares 2. Again copy merged, over to AS. This time you want to paste AFTER current frame, easy way to do that is to press SHIFT CTRL L.  

Then back to psp again, this time unhide gborder 3 and squares 3. Copy merged and over in AS paste AFTER current frame again. Save your tag, you're done!

Optional - Make a matching avatar:

Go back to your tag, duplicate so you don't mess up your original and delete every layer above the squares 3 layer and activate this layer.

Open a temporary new workspace 150 x 150. Select all, flood fill with black, contract by 1 and press delete. Deselect. Copy this and paste as a new layer onto your forum tag duplicate. Click on your raster deform tool to make it easier to move it where you want the background to show through.

You should now have only 5 layers in your palette. From the bottom: main background, squares 1 2 and 3, and the thin black frame you just pasted. With this top layer still active, click on your crop tool, it should snap to around the frame, if it doesn't click on layer opaque on the tools options menu. Double click or click the green check mark to crop. You can now close the temporary 150 x 150 we opened up cause we no longer need it.

Now on your avatar, you're going to make the border like you did before. Rename the little black border to border 1. Click inside with your magic wand, add a new raster layer, flood fill with your gradient again. Contract by 4 and press delete. Keep selected, add a new raster layer and flood fill with black. Contract by 1, press delete and deselect. Rename this top little black border as border 2 and rename the gradient layer as gborder like before. You can repeat the border drop shadow like we did before with the forum tag if you wish.

Now activate the squares 3 layer and paste your tube as a new layer, I mirrored mine so she was going the same direction as the forum tag. Then lined her up within the frame where I wanted her, duplicated this layer, applied the porcelain to the bottom and radiance to the duplicate and change the blend mode on the duplicate to Luminance like we did before. And then give the bottom tube layer a drop shadow of 0, 0, 70, 10.

Now back up to your gborder layer again, I wanted it animated like my forum tag so I duplicated it 2 times for a total of 3, renamed them as before and added the noise with the same amounts as before, which were random, monochrome checked and 40%, 43% and 46% from the bottom up. Remember to hide gborder 2 and 3 when you're done.

Activate the top layer in your palette, should be border 2. Add your copyright and license info. Now since this is an avatar, url's are not required.

Add your name or your initial using the same font and colors as your forum tag. Give it the same bevel, gradient glow and drop shadow as before also. Then follow the same animation instructions as you did your forum tag and save your avatar. Congrats, you're done!

PTU - Goodnight Moon

This tutorial was written on 03/02/2014 and assumes you have working knowledge of PSP. Any simularities to other tuts is purely coincidental and not done on purpose.

For this tutorial you will need:

PSP - I use X3 but most versions will do

Tube of choice, I used the art of Melissa Dawn

You can purchase this tube at CDO. Do not use without purchasing a license first.

Scrap kit of choice, if using the same scraps as me, it's the matching kit with Pack 24

You may ONLY use these scraps with Melissa Dawn's art.
Mask84 by WSL

 Eye Candy 4000, or any other filter with a gradient glow

Font of choice, I used Adios Script Pro

Open new image 700 x 700. Copy frame 3, paste as a new layer and resize 80%.

Copy your tube, paste as a new layer, then activate the frame layer again and drag this layer above the tube. Click on your raster deform tool, move the frame down to near the bottom of the tube and then click on the top middle node and drag it upwards till it's almost as tall as your tube.

You can move the frame layer back under the tube layer now. Click inside the frame with your magic wand. Expand by 3 and add a new raster layer. Open a paper of choice, I used paper 7. Copy and paste into selection on your tag and deselect. Move your paper layer under the frame.

Now we're going to add our elements. I used the following resized at the percentage noted, see my tag for reference:

Element 9, resized 60%, mirrored and place behind the tube on the right.

Element 8, resized 40%, placed to the left of the tube.

Element 10, resized 50%, placed to the bottom right of the tube. Duplicate, mirror and move the duplicate layer under the tube. Activate the original, click on your selection tool and select around any stars you don't want to sit on top of the tube layer and press delete on your keyboard. I removed the 2 big white stars, but left the smaller ones around the bottom where they were. Deselect.

Now give your frame and elements all a drop shadow of 0, 0, 60, 10. I gave my tube a drop shadow of -3, 3, 55, 12. Then repeated the drop shadow at 1, -1, 40, 5.

Activate the bottom layer in your palette, copy and paste paper of choice, I chose to use paper 7 again. Add mask from image and merge group. Then I used my raster deform tool to pull it out a bit on all 4 sides so I could see more of the mask. Then once I had it where I liked it, I duplicated the mask layer, changed the blend mode on this layer to Multiply and lowered the opacity to 60% and merge down.

Now with your mask layer still active, click on your crop tool. Crop layer opaque but make sure you don't cut off any tubes or elements in your tag.

Now I don't like large tags so I resized mine down 75%, all layers checked.

Activate the top layer in your palette and add your copyright, license and tagger's mark. Don't forget to credit the scrap kit if required.

Click your text tool and add your name using colors from your tube. Give it an inner bevel, I used:

Now give your name a thin gradient glow and a drop shadow of -2, 2, 60, 5.

Merge visible and save as a png or merge all and save as a jpg. Congrats, you're done!

FTU - Hot Stuff

I have a new exclusive tutorial over at Creative Addictions. You can find it here. Remember you don't need to be a member to view or even post on the threads of my exclusive tuts. I love to see what people make from my tutorials so please share.