©Cathy's Corner - Hang in There Tutorial

(Click on the above graphic for an explanation of the FBN skill ratings.)

This tutorial written by Cathy on February 6, 2004,
using Paint Shop Pro Version 8.1,
but will work with Paint Shop Prop Version 7.04 also.

*** PREPARATION ***

For this tutorial you will need:

Paint Shop Pro, which you can get at the Jasc site.

My "Cathy's_Corner-Hang_in_There.psp" file which contains the selections you need in the alpha channel. This image is compatible with PSP7.

Left click here and save to your hard drive. (You can also right click and choose "Save Target As...).

The best advice I can give you is to SAVE, SAVE, SAVE!!! There's not much worse than losing all your hard work due to a program or computer lock up or melt down!!! So...save your work often...I will be putting reminders throughout the tutorial:

Save

As with any of my tutorials, please feel free to use any colors you like to create you own unique image.

Okay, let's get started...

**** PART I *****

1. Open the file you downloaded (Cathy's_Corner-Hang_in_There.psp).

2. Duplicate your image and close the original.

3. Save your duplicate image to your hard drive as "my_hang_in_there.psp".

4. Add a new layer and name it "tail".

5. Click on Selections\Load/Save Selection\Load Selection From Alpha Channel to open your "Load Selection From Alpha" box:

(Image cropped to save download time.)

6. In the drop down box click on the selection named "tail" and click Load.

NOTE: We will be loading selections from the alpha channel throughout this tutorial. In future steps I will simply say "Load the *** selection" without all the details.

7. Flood fill with black.

8. Contract your selection by 2 pixels (Selections/Modify/Contract).

NOTE: We will be contracting our selections by 2 pixels throughout the tutorial, also. In future steps I will simply say "contract selection" without all the details.

9. Flood fill with #F4CB4D.

10. Invert your selection (Selections/Invert).

11. Apply a Drop Shadow (Effects/3D Effects/Drop Shadow) with the following settings:

Vertical: 5
Horizontal: 0
Opacity: 100
Blur: 10
Color: #CA9310

12. Apply a Drop Shadow again, changing your Vertical setting to: -5.

Save

13. Add a new layer and name it "ears".

14. Load your "ears" selection.

15. Flood fill with black.

16. Contract your selection by 2 pixels.

17. Flood fill with #F4CB4D.

18. Invert your selection.

19. Apply a Drop Shadow with the following settings:

Vertical: 3
Horizontal: 0
Opacity: 100
Blur: 5
Color: #CA9310

20 Apply a Drop Shadow again, changing your Vertical setting to: -3.

Save

21. Add a new layer and name it "body".

22. Load your "body" selection.

23. Flood fill with black.

24. Contract your selection by 2 pixels.

25. Flood fill with #F4CB4D.

26. Invert your selection.

27. Apply a Drop Shadow with the following settings:

Vertical: 15
Horizontal: 0
Opacity: 100
Blur: 20
Color: #CA9310

28. Apply a Drop Shadow again, changing your Vertical setting to: -15.

Save

29. Add a new layer and name it "chest".

30. Load your "chest" selection.

31. Flood fill with black.

32. Contract your selection by 2 pixels.

33. Flood fill with #F6EAD0.

34. Invert your selection.

35. Apply a Drop Shadow with the following settings:

Vertical: 5
Horizontal: 2
Opacity: 100
Blur: 10
Color: #C09A40

36. Apply a Drop Shadow again, changing your Vertical setting to: -5 and your Horizontal setting to: -2.

Save

37. Add a new layer and name it "branch".

38. Load your "branch" selection.

39. Flood fill with black.

40. Contract your selection by 2 pixels.

41. Flood fill with #B6795E.

42. Invert your selection.

43. Apply a Drop Shadow with the following settings:

Vertical: -5
Horizontal: 0
Opacity: 100
Blur: 10
Color: #8C5820

Here is what I have so far:

Save

**** PART II *****

1. Add a new layer and name it "feet".

2. Load your "feet" selection.

3. Flood fill with black.

4. Contract your selection by 2 pixels.

5. Flood fill with #F4CB4D.

6. Invert your selection.

7. Apply a Drop Shadow with the following settings:

Vertical: 10
Horizontal: 0
Opacity: 100
Blur: 20
Color: #CA9310

Save

8. Add a new layer and name it "feet detail".

9. Load your "feet detail" selection.

10. Flood fill with black.

11. Contract your selection by 1 pixel.

12. Flood fill with #F6EBD1.

13. Invert your selection.

14. Apply a Drop Shadow with the following settings:

Vertical: 3
Horizontal: 0
Opacity: 100
Blur: 7
Color: #CE9130

15. Apply a Drop Shadow again, changing your Vertical setting to: -3.

Save

16. Add a new layer and name it "inner ears".

17. Load your "inner ears" selection.

18. Flood fill with black.

19. Contract your selection by 1 pixel.

20. Flood fill with #FEBCD2.

Save

21. Add a new layer and name it "muzzle".

22. Load your "muzzle" selection.

23. Flood fill with black.

24. Contract your selection by 2 pixels.

25. Flood fill with #F4CB4D.

26. Invert your selection.

27. Apply a Drop Shadow with the following settings:

Vertical: 5
Horizontal: 0
Opacity: 100
Blur: 15
Color: #CA9310

28. Apply a Drop Shadow again, changing your Vertical setting to: -5.

Save

29. Add a new layer and name it "nose".

30. Load your "nose" selection.

31. Flood fill with black.

32. Apply an Inner Bevel using the "Round" preset form the drop down list (see settings below):

33. Apply an Inner Bevel again, changing your Angle to 45.

Save

34. Add a new layer and name it "paws".

35. Load your "paws" selection.

36. Flood fill with black.

37. Contract your selection by 2 pixels.

38. Flood fill with #F4CB4D.

39. Invert your selection.

40. Apply a Drop Shadow with the following settings:

Vertical: 5
Horizontal: 0
Opacity: 100
Blur: 10
Color: #CA9310

41. Apply a Drop Shadow again, changing your Vertical setting to: -5.

Here is what I have so far:

Save

**** PART III *****

1. Add a new layer and name it "leaves".

2. Load your "leaves" selection.

3. Flood fill with black.

4. Add a new layer and name it "inner leaves".

5. Load your "inner leaves" selection.

6. Flood fill with #3AEC39.

7. Invert your selection.

8. Apply a Drop Shadow with the following settings:

Vertical: 5
Horizontal: 0
Opacity: 100
Blur: 15
Color: #347834

9. Apply a Drop Shadow again, changing your Vertical setting to: -8.

Save

10. Add a new layer and name it "bird".

11. Load your "bird" selection.

12. Flood fill with black.

13. Contract your selection by 2 pixels.

14. Flood fill with #7AC4FD.

15. Invert your selection.

16. Apply a Drop Shadow with the following settings:

Vertical: 2
Horizontal: 0
Opacity: 100
Blur: 15
Color: #1273BE

17. Apply a Drop Shadow again, changing your Vertical setting to: -8.

Save

18. Add a new layer and name it "bird feet".

19. Load your "bird feet" selection.

20. Flood fill with #C66403.

21. Add a new layer and name it "details".

22. Load your "details" selection.

23. Flood fill with black.

Save

If you want the image only, without the text, skip to Part IV.

24. Add a new layer and name it "text".

25. Load your "text" selection. (If you'd like, you can add the text yourself, using the font of your choice.)

26. Flood fill with black.

27. Contract your selection by 1 pixel.

28. Flood fill with a color of your choice.

29. Deselect (Selections/Select None).

Save

The following step is optional. If you plan on using your image as a Picture Tube, you may not want a drop shadow.

30. Apply a Drop Shadow with the following settings:

Vertical: 7
Horizontal: 6
Opacity: 50
Blur: 5
Color: black

Here is what I have so far:

Save

**** PART IV - SAVING OPTIONS *****

1. If you'd like to save your image as a Picture Tube, merge your visible layers (Layers/Merge/Merge Visible). Make sure all your layer visibility options are turned on!

2. Click on File/Export/Picture Tube, to open your "Export Picture Tube" options box:

3. Use the default settings (as shown above), typing in a name for your picture tube.

4. To save as a jpeg, merge all layers (Layers/Merge/Merge All). This will give you a white background. Save to your hard drive with a jpg extension.

Save