Gingham Beauty

YOU WILL NEED:

* Paint Shop Pro and Animation Shop or similar. I used PSPX but you should be able to make this tag in other versions.

* Tube of choice. I am using the artwork of Michael Landefeld. You need to purchase a license to use his art. You can buy his images and tubes from CILM

* Font of choice - I used RiotSquad.

* DSB Flux - Bright Noise filter. This is a free filter and you can download it HERE.


LETS START!

1. Install your plugin and re-open PSP if necessary. Open your tube and minimize. Open your font (by double clicking in Windows Explorer) and minimize to use later.

2. Open a new image 200 x 200 with a transparent background.

3. On the materials palette, select a dark colour from your tube for your gingham pattern. Set this colour as the foreground and have the background as white. Change your materials foreground from colour to gradient and select the Sharp Duo gradient that comes with PSP. Change the repeats to 5 and floodfill your image.

4. Sharpen your image using Adjust menu - Sharpen - Unsharp Mask at the following settings.

5. Duplicate the layer and Image menu - Free Rotate - 90 degrees. Reduce the top layer opacity to 50% and merge visible. Resize your image according to how fine you want your gingham check. I resized to 50 x 50 pixels. Minimize your gingham pattern to use later.

6. Open a new image 500 x 500 with a white background.

7. Copy and paste your tube to the canvas. Resize your tube if needed (I resized to 80%). Sharpen your tube (if necessary) using Adjust menu - Sharpness - Unsharp Mask at the following settings -

8. Change the background on the materials palette to pattern, and click in the pattern preview box. Click on the down arrow and find your gingham pattern - it should be near the top. Close the foreground. Activate your preset shape tool . Select one of the heart shapes that come with PSP. Draw out a heart shape using the screenshot below as a guide to size -

9. Once satisfied with the size of the heart, convert to raster layer. Apply Effects menu - 3D Effects - Inner Bevel at the settings below.

10. Apply Effects - 3D Effects - Drop Shadow at the following settings. I used the dark colour from the gingham pattern for the colour.

11. Drag your heart layer below the tube layer. If the colour of your gingham heart is still not quite right, you can use Adjust - Brightness and Contrast to change it slightly. Only adjust the brightness, negative number for darker, positive for brighter.

12. Duplicate the heart layer and apply Adjust - Blur - Gaussian Blur at the following settings to the bottom heart.

13. Position your tube so that there will be enough room to write a name on the heart. I mirrored mine (Image menu). Set the foreground and background on the materials palette to white. Activate your text tool using the following settings and type your name. Stretch out your vector until your name is a suitable size. Convert to raster. Apply Inner Bevel to your name using the same settings as before. Add your copyright information and watermark.

14. Make sure your name layer is active and duplicate. Apply the Bright Noise filter at the settings below. Activate the other name layer and apply the filter again but this time click on the word Mix to change the position of the noise.

15. Apply drop shadow to each name layer twice. Use the same settings as before. I changed the colour to a slightly darker colour #800000.

16. Activate your preset shape tool again. With the gingham pattern as your background and the foreground closed, draw out a series of smaller hearts around your large heart using my tag as a guide. I converted each heart to a raster layer as I drew it so it was easier to position it where I wanted it. When you have enough extra hearts, merge all the small hearts together and apply inner bevel at the same settings as before.

17. Crop the excess space away from your canvas being careful not to cut into any of your blur layer. Close off the two name layers and merge visible. Duplicate the merged layer. Merge a name to each background layer. Save as an Animation Shop .psp file.

18. Open your tag in Animation Shop and save as a .gif. I used the optimization settings given below.

I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial.