The copyright to this tutorial belongs to Lorie.  I am only hosting this tutorial for her.  You are free to do whatever you please with what you make, but please do not take her tutorial.  Do not send the tutorial through email.  Only share our link.

This tutorial was created for some friends of mine who wanted to begin learning more about PSP.  It is intended for intermediates to learn how to use preset shapes and to shade.  If you have any questions, please feel free to email me.

To do this tutorial you will also need Paint Shop Pro.  I used Paint Shop Pro 8, but the steps used may also be done in Version 7.04.  You may download a free trial at Jasc.

I also used Toadies Filters-- Blast Em!  and Blast N Blur.

Download the brush that you need here.

Remember to save as a psp file often!

1.   If you have PSP 7, place the brush into your psp 7 Brushes folder.

If you have PSP 8, you must import the brush.  Open PSP 8.  Click on File > Import > Custom Brush.

2.  Click Open, and browse to the folder that contains the brush.  Click on the brush:  hbgbrushes0004.jbr in the left pane to highlight it.  Then click add, and it will appear on the right side.  Click ok.

3.  Open a New transparent, image size = 500 x 500.  We will crop later.

4.  Choose the brush tool.  In the tool options bar at the top, choose the brush tip:  hbgbrushes0004.   Set size = 255, Step = 25, Density = 100, Rotation = 0, Opacity = 100, Blend Mode = Normal.

5.  Open the tube that you wish to use.  With the eye dropper tool choose two colors from the tube that you wish to use.  Left-click and that color becomes your foreground color.  Right-click and that color becomes your background color.

6.  Select the brush tool again.  Left-click on your blank image somewhere to the left and above the center of the image. (orange in the picture below).

Change the Rotation angle to 92, and Right-click on your image somewhere to the left and below the center of the image (pink in the picture below).

Change your foreground color to white and Rotation angle to 167, and Left-click on your image somewhere to the right and above the center of the image.  (white in the picture below).

It is ok if they overlap some.

7.  In the top menu, click Effects > Distortion > Twirl.  Set Degrees = 600.

8.  In the Layer Palette. right-click on the twirl layer and choose Duplicate.  Duplicate one more time.  You should now have 3 layers of the twirl.

9.  In the Layer Palette, click on the middle layer to highlight it.  In top menu, click Effects > Plugins > Toadies > Blast 'em!  Set Diffuse = 20, Transparency= 211.

10.  In the Layer Palette, click on the top layer to highlight it.  In top menu, click Effects > Plugins > Toadies > Blast 'n Blur   Set X-Effect = 5, Y-Effect = 17

11.  In Layers Palette, right-click on top layer and choose Merge > Merge Visible.

12.  Maximize the tube that you used earlier.  In top menu, click Edit > Copy.

13.  Click back on Twirl image and in top menu, click Edit > Paste > As New Layer.

14.  You may need to resize your image so that you can see the twirl better.  In top menu, click Image > Resize.  Set to Percent.  Resize between 65 - 85 percent.  Mine had to be resized to 75%.  Lorie's image at the top was resized to 50%. (After you resize this much, you may need to sharpen your image:  Adjust > Sharpen > Sharpen).  Be sure that Resize All Layers at the bottom is UNCHECKED.

15.  In top menu, click Effects > 3D Effects > Drop Shadow.  Apply these settings:  Vertical = 5, Horizontal = -5 (Negative), Opacity = 80%, Blur = 15.  Color = a darker color of one of the two colors you used to make your twirl with (or use black).

16.  Now open a bat tube (included in supplies folder).  In top menu, click on Edit > Copy.

17.  Click back on your Twirl Image and in top menu, click Edit > Paste > As New Layer.  Resize the bat if necessary ( Image > Resize).

18.  Choose the Deformation Tool from the tool menu.  This puts a deformation box around the bat tube.  Move your mouse over the rotation handle (this is the handle that sticks out).  When you see the rotation cursor (curved 2-headed arrow), drag the mouse up or down to rotate the bat into position like you want.  You can also grab the center handle and move the bat into position.

19.  In top menu, click Effects > 3D Effects > Drop Shadow.  Apply the same drop shadow settings as before (Step 15).

20.  Add more bats if you want, each on its own layer.  Resize them if you need to.  Rotate and position them with the Deformation tool.  Then add the Drop shadow on that layer.

21.  Choose the Selection tool set to Rectangle.  In the tool options bar, click on the last Customize icon (Merged Opaque).  This will put a selection box around all of your tag images.

22.  In top menu, click Image > Crop to Selection

23.  In top menu, click Layers > Merge > Merge All (Flatten).

24.  In top menu, click Image > Resize.  You don't want your tag to be too large in an email.  A good size would be no more than 300 pixels.  So set it to pixels and set the largest dimension to 300.  After you resize this much, you may need to sharpen your image:  Adjust > Sharpen > Sharpen

25.  Choose your font tool.  Open (double-click on) up the Morpheus Font (included with supplies) and minimize that on your desktop.  Back in PSP, set Font options bar to Vector, Font to Morpheus, Size = 48 (to 72--depends on font used and name length), stroke = 2.0.  Foreground & Background colors to same colors as used to make your twirl.

26.  Type in your name.  Use the Vector box to position name into place.

27.  Right-click on vector layer in Layer Palette, and choose Convert to Raster Layer.

28.  In top menu, click Effects > 3D Effects > Inner Bevel.  Apply these settings:  Bevel #2 (pie shape), Width = 12, Smoothness = 16, Depth= 5, Ambience = 7, shininess = 5, color = white, angle = 315, Intensity = 50, Elevation = 30.

29.  In top menu, click Layers > Merge > Merge All (Flatten).

30.  Save the tag as a jpeg.

Here are my examples:

Thanks Lorie for sharing this tutorial with us!
 

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