©Cathy's Corner - April Showers Tutorial

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

I would like to thank Flutterby and Jill and Peggy, my fellow FlyByNight members, for testing this tutorial for me! Thanks guys for for helping me get this thing straightened out...

This tutorial uses vectors! Wait...don't leave...I promise to make it as painless as possible! As with all my tutorials, I write them for the novice and include screen shots for you to follow along.

For this tutorial, I am trying something new. I am including a minimal amount of screenshots in the main tutorial and offering the option of a second window with all the screenshots. If you feel you need lots of screen shots, click here to open a second window with all the screen shots for this page of the tutorial. (If you think you'll need the screenshots, click the link now so the page can load while you continue reading!) You can then switch back and forth between the windows as needed. You can also open this second window by clicking on the screenshot number (i.e.: Screenshot 1). This option will be available on each page of the tutorial.

We will be using the Guides - a tool available in Paint Shop Pro. If you've never used the guides before, first check out my PSP Guide Tutorial.

The best advice I can give you for any tutorial is: "SAVE OFTEN". There's not much worse than losing your work due to PSP crashing or a computer glitch.

With any detailed tutorial, such as this one, you will eat up lots of your computer's memory in the command history. Throughout the tutorial you should empty the command history (Edit/Empty/Command History) to free up memory. If you notice your mouse moving very slowly, emptying the command history will probably help. Be sure you are happy with what you've done so far as you will lose the UNDO function when you empty the command history!

I will be putting reminders along the way to save your work as well as reminders to empty your command history . (These are the icons for the commands - if you don't have them on your toolbar, I would recommend adding them.)

For this tutorial, you will need:

Paint Shop Pro (written using version 7) which you can get at the Jasc site.
My color swatch (see below).
My pigtail shape. Click here and save this file to your Shapes folder in PSP.
(usually C:\Program Files\Paint Shop Pro\Shapes)
My dash line. Click here and save this file to your Styled Lines folder in PSP.
(usually C:\Program Files\Paint Shop Pro\Styled Lines)
My cc_rainbow.psp file. Click here and save to your hard drive.
A pattern of your choice for the dress. I used a blue check.
If you'd like to use the one I'm using right click and save to your hard drive:

Right click on the following color swatch and open in PSP. These are the colors we will use to create our image, along with black and white.

1. Open a new image 350x500, transparent background, 16 million colors.

2. Save your image as "showers.psp". You can now save your image at any time by pressing Ctrl+S or hitting the save icon .

3. Set your foreground color to black and your background color to yellow.

4. Place five guides on your canvas:

Three vertical - one at 120; one at 175; and one at 230
Two horizontal - one at 90 and one at 210
Right click on the marker for your center vertical guide and change the color to red. We won't be moving this guide - it
will mark the center of our canvas for the remainder of this tutorial:


This picture shows the blank canvas with the guides in place.	This picture shows what you should have after completing all your "rain gear" items, with only the center guide showing. You can use this as a reference as you add your layers. (Click here to open full size image.)

~~~ HAT BRIM ~~~

1. Add a new vector layer (Layers/New Vector Layer) and name it "hat brim".

2. Click on your Preset Shapes Tool and choose ellipse, vector and antialias both checked.

3. Click at the upper left intersection of your blue guides and holding your left mouse button, draw out an ellipse until your cursor is over the bottom left intersection of your blue guides. Now we have a focal point for our image - everything we add will be placed on our canvas in proportion to our hat. We will arrange our layers later.

(Screenshot 1)

~~~ INNER HAT ~~~

1. Add a new vector layer (Layers/New Vector Layer) and name it "inner hat".

2. Change your guide positions as follows (left click on the "marker" to change your guide properties):

Vertical - one at 140 and one at 210
Horizontal - one at 110 and one at 185

3. Using the same method we used for our hat draw an ellipse for your inner hat. (Screenshot 2)

4. Deselect.

~~~ COAT ~~~

1. Add a new vector layer (Layers/New Vector Layer) and name it "coat".

2. Change the position of your top horizontal guide to 340.

3. Click on your Preset Shapes Tool and choose rectangle, vector and antialias both checked.

4. Draw a rectangle using your guides for placement. (Screenshot 3)

5. Change your vertical guides to 90 and 260; and your bottom horizontal guide to 320.

6. Click on your Object Selector Tool and click Node Edit in your Tool Options window.

7. Drag the two lower nodes up and out to the intersections of your guides.

8. Right click on the lower left node and choose Node Type and then Curve Before.

9. Right click on the lower right node and choose Node Type and then Curve After.

10. Each of your nodes now has a "control arm handle". Pull each of these handles down and toward the center of your canvas to get the bottom curve of your coat. (Screenshot 4)

11. Change your vertical guides to 150 and 200.

12. Click on your Object Selector Tool and click Node Edit in your Tool Options window.

13. By holding down your control key and clicking with your mouse add 3 nodes to the bottom curve of your coat, place two where your vertical guides are and the third between them. (Screenshot 5)

14. Change these three nodes to cusp. Right click on your node, click Node Type and click Cusp.

15. Change your lowest horizontal guide to 270.

16. Click on the center node and drag it up to your guide, placing it in the center. (Screenshot 6)

REMINDER:

~~~ COLLAR ~~~

1. Change your vertical guides to 140 and 210; and your lower horizontal guide to 210.

2. Add a new vector layer (Layers/New Vector Layer) and name it "collar".

3. Using your Preset Shapes Tool set to rectangle, draw out a rectangle using your guides for placement.

4. Change your vertical guides to 105 and 245. (No need to change the horizontal guide this time.)

5. Using the same steps we used for the coat, create your collar. (Change your vertical guides to 165 and 185 for the placement of your extra nodes.) (Screenshot 7)

~~~ BELT and BUTTONS ~~~

1. Add a new vector layer (Layers/New Vector Layer) and name it "belt".

2. Change your vertical guides to 150 and 200; and your horizontal guides to 265 and 285.

3. Using your Preset Shapes Tool set to ellipse, draw out an ellipse using your guides for placement.

4. Edit your nodes to give your belt a nice curve look. (Screenshot 8)

5. Add a new vector layer (Layers/New Vector Layer) and name it "buttons".

6. Using your Preset Shapes Tool set to ellipse, draw out two circles for your belt buttons. (Screenshot 9)

REMINDER:

~~~ PLEAT and SLEEVES ~~~
1. Change your lower horizontal guide to 330. 2. Add a new vector layer (Layers/New Vector Layer) and name it "pleat". 3. Using your Preset Shapes Tool set to rectangle, draw out a rectangle using your guides for placement. 4. Duplicate your "pleat" layer twice. Rename one of these new layers "right sleeve" and the other "left sleeve" (This saves us from creating two new vector shapes.) 5. Move your pleat layer beneath your coat layer. 6. Make your "left sleeve" layer active. 7. Click on your Object Selector Tool . Open your "left sleeve" layer (1) then click on "Rectangle". (This will make your rectangle the active object.) (Screenshot 10):
8. Move your rectangle where your left sleeve should be. 9. Click on Node Edit and create your "sleeve" by moving your nodes. (The sleeves are more or less freeform so the guides don't offer any benefit here.) Since we will be moving this below the coat layer later, don't worry about the portions of your sleeve that will be hidden by the coat and collar. (Screenshot 11):
10. Repeat for your right sleeve. (Screenshot 12)
REMINDER:

~~~ BOOTS ~~~

1. Add a new vector layer (Layers/New Vector Layer) and name it "right boot".

2. Change your vertical guides to 190 and 230; and your horizontal guides to 400 and 450.

3. Using your Preset Shapes Tool set to rectangle, draw out a rectangle using your guides for placement.

4. Click on your Object Selector Tool . Click on Node Edit and create your boot, adding nodes as needed. (TIP: double click on one of your nodes to select them all; then right click on any node, click on Node Type and choose symmetric, right click again and choose cusp. This will give you more control of your angles. Click on a blank area of your canvas to deselect your nodes.) (Screenshot 13):

5. Add a new vector layer (Layers/New Vector Layer) and name it "left boot".

6. Change your vertical guides to 135 and 180.

7. Repeat this process for your left boot. (The toe of your left boot is going to be hidden behind the right boot, so don't worry too much about that part.) (Screenshot 14)

Okay, we're done with all the "rain gear". Let's rearrange our layers as follows to see what we've got at this point. (Screenshot 15):

You should now have this (I turned off my guides for this screen shot by clicking Views/Guides - repeating this will turn them back on.) (Screenshot 16):

REMINDER:

~~~ PAGE 2 ~~~

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Thanks for stopping by Cathy's Corner! I hope you enjoyed your visit...come back soon!