Jeff Lyons Girl

YOU WILL NEED:

* Tube of choice. I used the artwork of Jeff Lyons and you can check out his site HERE

* Font of choice (a fat font works best)

LETS START!

I used PSP X but this can be done using any version of PSP. Open your tube in PSP.

Open a new image 500 x 500. If you want a background floodfill your canvas with the a light colour/gradient to compliment your tube.

Paste your tube as a new layer and resize if necessary. Position your tube so that it sits at the top of your canvas. Add a drop shadow of Vertical and Horizontal 2, Opacity 50, Blur 3, colour black. If you are using a transparent background I find it is better not to add drop shadows but that is just personal preference.

Set your text tool to vector, stroke 2 and font size 72. A fat font works best. Set foreground and background colours to compliment your tube. Type the name your want on your tag. Size the name so that it sits under your tube (use the tutorial sample as a guide). Convert layer to raster and apply any effects you like to use to your text. Add same drop shadow as before (unless transparent background).

Crop your canvas to get rid of excess space around your tag.

If you want to add a border or a frame add it to the canvas now. Add your watermark and the appropriate copyright. When you are satisfied with the position of all the elements of your tag, merge the layers together. Duplicate so that you have two layers.

Activate the duplicate layer. Choose which eye you want to wink and zoom in nice and close. Basically we are going to paint out her open eye. Have a look at the line and colours the artist has used. Use your eye dropper tool on the colour palette to select the same colour the artist has used. Using your brush tool on the following settings paint the eye out pixel by pixel giving the impression of eyeshadow.

Use as many different colours as you can. Extend the bottom eyelash line to look like closed lashes.

When you have painted the eye out use your soften tool to blend the eyelid colours together.

Use the soften tool to "soften" the rough edges on the lashes. Use the smudge tool to help blend or lengthen the lashes and eyelid colour as well.

Reduce your image back to 100% to check if you are happy with your finished paint job (it looks sooooo much better smaller). When you are satisfied with your finished product, save as an Animation Shop .psp file.

Open your file in Animation Shop and change the frame speed for each frame. Frame 1 = 120 and frame 2 = 20. View your animation to make sure you are happy with it. Save file as a .gif file.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial!