Collage Tutorial

I claim the copyright to this tutorial.  You are free to do whatever you please with the graphic you make (except make money from it), but please do not take my tutorial.  Do not send the tutorial through email.  Only share my link.

The purpose of this tutorial is to learn how to manipulate and apply layers to making a graphic.  It is intended for the beginner to immediate level.  Please feel free to email me if you have any questions.

To do this tutorial you will also need Paint Shop Pro.  I used Paint Shop Pro 7.0 .  You may download a free trial at Jasc.

You will also need 4 to 5 graphics.  I chose these graphics:

You may click on the thumbnails and save these to your computer if you wish to use them.

Remember to save as a psp file often!

Before we begin, you might want to study the PSP tool bars.  I have labeled the tools on another page.  Click on the link and it will open a new page.  You may want to keep this page open while you work on the tutorial, to refer to the names now and then.  PSP Tools

Now that you have studied the tools and the layering, let's begin!

1.  Start by opening each of the graphics that you plan to use to make your 
     collage. 

2.  If any of these  pictures are bigger than 200 X 200, I suggest you resize them. 
     You can resize one of two ways:
     a.  Click on Image--Resize.  Click the dot next to circle.  At the bottom make 
          sure that all layers is checked and maintain ratio is checked.  Click the dot 
          next to  pixels at the top.  Type in 200 in the width box.  The height box 
          will change accordingly since we are maintaining the ratio.  Click ok. 

     OR

3.  Click New File in the top menu bar.  Enter these settings:  width=600, 
     Height=500, Resolution=72.000 pixels/inch, Backround color=transparent, 
     image type=16.7 Million Colors (24 Bits).  Click Ok.  This is a large area, but 
     we will crop when we are finished.

4.  Click on the first graphic you want to use.  Then copy it:   In the top tool bar, 
     click Edit--copy.

5.  Click on the new file again.  Then paste the graphic this way:  In the top tool 
     bar, click Edit--paste--paste as new layer.  This graphic is now Layer 2. 

6.  This graphic is now Layer 2.  You can see this by looking at the layer palette. 
     Now we will be using several layers, so let's give this layer a name.  While in 
     the layer palette, Right-click on Layer 2 and click rename.  Type in a name for
     this layer.

7.  Now add the other graphics to your new file, each as a new layer, by repeating 
     Steps 4 - 6.  Then save your work by clicking File--Save as.  use the drop-down 
     arrow in the Save In box to find the folder where you want to save your 
     work.  In the file name box, type the name you want to call your graphic.  In 
     the save as type box, use the drop-down arrow to choose Paint shop Pro 
     image (.psp, .tub)

8.  Now you will notice that we cannot see each graphic clearly, so we will move 
     the graphics around to fill up the space.   Click on the mover tool in the Left 
     tool bar.  In the Layer Palette, click on the layer for the graphic that you wish 
     to move.  (It is best to start with the topmost graphic first).  Then Left-click 
     on the graphic, and holding the left mouse button down, drag the graphic to 
     the space that you want to place it. 

9.  Repeat step 8 until you have moved all of your graphics into place.

10.  Now you will notice that my collage, still has gaps in it.  I could fill in those 
     gaps with layers of more graphics, but I want to use some of my graphics 
     more than once.  (If your collage doesn't have gaps, then you may skip to 
     Step #13.   To reuse a graphic, I could repeat Steps 4-6 again with that 
     graphic, but let's take a shortcut.  In the Layer Palette, right-click on the layer 
     of the graphic you wish to re-use.  Click duplicate.  Now you will see in your 
     Layer Palette that another layer has been created that says Copy of "layer" 
     (whatever layer you copied).  Click on the mover tool, and move that 
     duplicated layer into place.

11.  Now I want this duplicated layer to be on top of all the other layers.  So in 
     the Layer Palette, left-click on this duplicated layer, hold the button down, 
     and drag the layer up the Layer Palette, until it is on top of all the other 
     layers.

13.  Now we will crop the picture:  Click on the rectangle selection tool and drag 
     out a rectangle over the picture, selecting the area you wish to keep.   Click 
     Image--crop to selection.

14.  To use this image as a gif or jpeg, you must merge the layers.  In the top 
     tool bar, click Layers--merge--merge visible.  Click File--Save

If you want to make the mosaic splash, then  stop here, save,  and click here. 
Otherwise, continue.
15.  Let's add a border, so that it looks like a framed collage!  In the left tool bar 
     click on the eye dropper.  With the eye dropper, right click somewhere on your 
     collage to pick up a color that you would like the frame to be.  Your 
     background color box will change to that color.  Click on Image--Add border. 
     Check Symmetric.  Change the first box to 15.  Click ok. 

16.  In the tool bar on the left, click on the magic wand.   In the tool options box, make 
      sure that the tolerance is set to 0.  With the magic wand, click on the border that you 
      have just made.  Then click on Effects--3D Effects--Inner Bevel.  Apply these settings: 
     bevel shape=pie, width=14, smoothness=15, depth=12, ambience=0, shininess=50, 
     angle=315, intensity=50, elevation=30.

17.  Now resize the image to the size you want.  Click Image--Resize and change 
     the pixels or the percent to get the size you want.  And there you have it! 
     Your own collage.

Collages make for good awards and splash graphics.  Here's an award I created with this method.

 Please do not remove this tutorial from my site.  Share my url.