AWDesigns Tutorials

Please help us help Kim & Peter

2011-09-22T08:55:00.002-04:00

UpYourArt has generously offered to hold a 24-hour promotion on Friday, September 23, 10am USA Central Time until Saturday, September 24, 10am (CT), in which 50% of the total sales will go towards helping to raise funds for Kim and Peter (owners of PSP-Playground, Artists That Allow and Dragon's Lair Tubes groups), who lost everything by the recent Hurricane and floods.

For those who purchase tubes on that day, there will be a random drawing where customers will have a chance to WIN tubes. 1st pick wins 3 tubes,
2nd and 3rd wins 2 tubes. The 3 lucky winners will be announced on Saturday, September 24 by UpYourArt.

All Order receipts must be sent on or before the deadline, September 24, 10am USA Central Time, otherwise they will not count towards this promotion.

You may either send them to:

Dragon's Lair Owner's email
DragonsLairTubes-owner@yahoogroups.com

or Raps at UpYourArt Customer Service
customerservice@upyourart.com

with the EXACT SUBJECT line "We Love Kim and Peter"

Sales will be tallied up for that day and 50% will be sent directly to Kim's PayPal account.

So please spread the word, go grab some tubes at UpYourArt.com on Friday, September 23 and help us raise as much as you can to help Kim and Peter during this difficult time.

On behalf of Kim and Peter, Thank you, your help is immensely appreciated.

Electric Rose Tutorial

2011-09-09T12:46:00.003-04:00

©AWDesigns Tutorials - September 2011

This tutorial is my own creation and any resemblance to others is purely coincidental. This tutorial was written for those with a working knowledge of PSP. Please do not copy or claim as your own. Anything you produce from this tutorial is yours to do what you wish for personal use only. No profit is to be made from your results.

Materials Needed:

PSP X or any version should work.

Animation Shop

Eye Candy 4000 – Gradient Glow

Alien Skin Xenofex 2 - Electrify

A tube of your choice. I used the wonderful artwork of Jamie Kidd which you can purchase at Creative Design Outlet. You must have a license to use this art.

Mask by AWDesigns Scraps – Download Here

Let's Begin

Open your tube in PSP – duplicate and close original. Open a new transparent image 600 x 450, 72dpi.

Set foreground color to #e58ea7 – Set background color to black and set to foreground-background gradient – Linear – Angle 0 – Repeats 5 – Invert checked. Flood fill your new image with gradient. Apply AWD-Mask2 with Source Luminance checked – Fit to Canvas checked – Show all mask checked. Merge Group.

Add a new raster layer and move below masked layer in your palette. Flood fill with #f5d7fc or color that compliments your tube. Merge visible with Masked layer.

Resize 90% with Resize all layers unchecked. You will have an even space around your work without color. With Eye Candy 4000 add Gradient Glow with these settings:

Color is #edb1cf

Resize your tube if needed then Copy and paste your tube as a new layer on top of the masked layer. Position your tube within the border of the mask. See above tag for positioning. Duplicate your tube layer. Close the eye on the top tube layer. On the other tube layer – resize 90% with Resize all layers unchecked. Move your resized tube to the left side within the border of the mask. Set the Blend Mode of this layer to Luminance (L) and 60% Opacity. Duplicate this layer and mirror it. If needed position the mirrored layer within the mask border. See my tag for positioning.

Open the original tube layer and add drop shadow to V&H at 3, Opacity 30, Blur 10. Merge visible. Add copyright layer and any text you like on new layers and merge visible again.

Add a new raster layer and move to the bottom. Flood fill new layer with black. Duplicate the black layer so you have 4 of them.

Go to your layer with the tubes and using your magic wand click in the empty area around your tag to select it. Go to Selections – Invert. Close the eye on all layers except the bottom black layer.

On the bottom black layer - Go to Effects – Alien Skin Xenofex 2 – Electrify and use these settings.

For Basic Tab:

For Glow Tab:

Do Not Deselect!!!

Repeat Applying Alien Skin Xenofex 2 – Electrify to each black layer but click the Random Seed button under the basic tab when applying to each layer.

Go to Selections – Select None.

Open all layers and duplicate your top layer (image layer) so you have 4 copies of it in your palette. Move a copy of each image above each black layer in your palette like this:

then merge down images with each black layer one at a time so you have this:

Resize by 90% with all layers checked.

Now Save As – PSP Animation Shop (.*psp).

Animate by going to Animation Shop and opening your saved tag – it will have 4 frames. Go to Edit and Select all frames. Go to Animation – Frame Properties and set to 20 or a speed of your liking. Save as Gif.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial.

From Photo to Painting

2010-06-25T14:27:00.001-04:00

©AWDesigns

This tutorial is my own creation and any resemblance to others is purely coincidental. Please do not copy or claim as your own. Anything you produce from this tutorial is yours to do what you wish for personal use only. No profit is to be made from your results.

This is a great technique for dressing up your photos for scrapbooking.

Materials needed:

Photograph of your choosing. I have used one of my own photos. You are free to visit my photography blog and use any photo you like.

AWD-Photography

I also used a wordart brush by Lori M.

The photos you choose do not have to be of excellent quality as the beauty of this technique will disguise any imperfections in the picture.

Open your photo in PSP - Shift D to duplicate it and close out your original photo. Resize your photo to approximately 600 pixels on the longest size. Use the Bicubic resampling method and be sure to check Lock Aspect Ratio to keep the ratio of the dimensions correct.

Now let's smooth out the graininess of the photo by going to Adjust - Digital Camera Noise Removal with these settings:

Go to Layers - Promote Background to Layer

Go to Layers again and duplicate, repeat twice more and you should have 4 layers in your palette now.

Rename your layers top to bottom as follows:

Pencil

Brush

Topography

Background

Close the eye on your Pencil and Brush layers. Make sure you are on your Topography layer. We are now going to add some Topography effect to give our painting some depth and texture to resemble a real painting.

Note about Topography effect:

The higher the width setting the more the effect will spread outward expanding the area the effect covers. If you have fine details you want to keep then use a lower width setting. The density setting controls the number of layers your paint will have. So if you want less texture to the paint then you must increase the density setting.

Go to Effects - Artistic Effects – Topography

Here are the settings I used - you can adjust these to your desired look.

This is what the above settings have done to the image:

Let's blend the pixels of this layer with the ones of the background layer. Make sure you are on your Topography layer and set your blend mode to Screen. To change blend mode click the little arrow next to the word normal and choose Screen as below.

Now move to your Brush layer so we can add some brush strokes. Open the eye on this layer.

Go to Effects - Art Media Effects - Brush Strokes

At this point you can adjust the settings to achieve a look you like. Note that if you have lots of details in your photo, using lower bristle and stroke settings will allow for the details to be more visible. Play around with the settings or try some of the presets in the Presets drop down box at the top of the Brush Strokes settings window. Here are the settings I used:

Go to your layers palette on the Brush layer and set the blend mode to Luminance (L) to give it some light.

Lower the opacity of this layer to 60 or 80 depending on how much of the topography you want showing through. I have set mine to 75 for this flower image and my choice was made as a personal preference. Here is how mine looks so far:

Now move to the Pencil layer and open the eye on this layer.

Let's add some definition to our painting.

Go to Effects - Art Media Effect - Black Pencil

Use these settings:

Go to layers palette and set the blend mode of this layer to Soft Light and lower the opacity to 80.

Merge all layers flatten. Resize your painting to 500 pixels on the longest side. Go to Adjust - Sharpness - Unsharp Mask with these settings:

Now you can frame your painting. You can use a premade frame included with PSP or use the Add Borders feature of PSP. You can embellish your painting however you like. Add some text that is appropriate for the theme of your painting and add your watermark. If you use my photographs you may credit with ©AWDesigns Photography http://awd-photography.blogspot.com but it is not necessary.

I hope you have enjoyed learning this technique.

Hugs & Blessings

Anna

Scarlet Fever - Tutorial

2010-02-09T10:45:00.003-05:00

Scarlet Fever

©AW Designs

Credits:

Thank you Majik of Mystee Designz for the use of her gorgeous scrap kit “Scarlet Fever”.

Materials Needed:

Scrap kit of your choice, should you wish to use the Scarlet Fever kit you must purchase it before using and you can do so at Intoxxikated-Intentionz.

It is assumed you have a working knowledge of PSP. Tutorial was written using Paint Shop Pro X but can be worked in any version and Animation Shop should you wish to animate your tag.

Plug-ins Used:

Alien Skin Xenofex 2 – Constellation

Let’s begin:

1) Open a new transparent image 700 x 500, 72 DPI. Go to Selections – Select all.

2) Open temp.lace from the scrap kit – copy & paste into selection on your new image. Selections – Select None.

3) With the selections tool set on rectangle – add(shift) mode – feather 0 draw out a selection in each frame like this: Do not overlap the bows.

4) Add a new raster layer. Open Paper 15 – copy & paste into selection.

5) Go to Adjust – Blur – Guassian Blur with a radius of 5. Go to Effects – 3D Effects – Chisel – Size 2 – Solid color black.

6) Selections – Select None.

7) Open Elements 7, 8 & 11 from the kit (silhouettes) – copy Element 11 and paste as new layer. Resize this layer only by 55 percent so silhouette fits nicely inside the first frame. Add drop shadow:

Vertical 2/Horizontal -25/Opacity 25/ Blur 3.00

8) Repeat for each silhouette pasting as new layer and resizing to fit into each frame – don’t forget to add drop shadow to each. Though with the right side frame you want to change the horizontal position of the drop shadow to 25 so the shadow is on the right side of the silhouette.

9) Merge all layers visible and add drop shadow:

Vertical 2/Horizontal 0/Opacity 35/Blur 0

10) Open Element 2 – resize by 45 percent – copy and paste as new layer. Move this layer to the very bottom and position between the two outside frames like this:

11) Colorize Element 2 to match the green in the background of the frames.

12) Add drop shadow to Element 2 – Vertical 2/Horizontal 0/Opacity 35/Blur 0

13) Open Hearts – resize to 40 percent and position it on the left side of the middle frame – colorize to the same green we used for element 2. Duplicate this layer and mirror – position the second set of hearts on the right side of the middle frame. Add drop shadow to each set of hearts – Vertical 2/Horizontal 1/Opacity 35/Blur 2.

14) Merge all layers visible.

15) Open Love2 word art – resize 80 percent. Copy & paste as new layer – position centered over the green glitter element between the two outside frames. Colorize to a darker pink and add the same drop shadow as in step 13.

16) Merge visible and resize your work by 90 percent but uncheck Resize all layers as we only want our tag resized to make room for a name at the bottom. Slide your tag up to the top edge leaving room at the bottom.

17) Open Glitter2 and leave open – copy & paste as new image - colorize to green – resize to 50 percent and copy green glitter & paste as new layer then position near bottom of tag. Move glitter layer below tag layer.

18) Set your font to one of your choice – I used Rage Italic LET as size 100 pixels with – stroke width 1 – create as floating. Set foreground color to #002810 and background color to #029a85. Type a name. Promote this layer to raster layer & keep selected.

19) Add noise – Gaussian – Monochrome – 100%. Selections – Select None. Add drop shadow to your name and inner bevel if desired.

Add proper credits & watermark.

Resize if desired.

Animate

In PSP – grab your magic wand with these settings:

Repeatedly click your magic wand on all the areas you want to add sparkles. I have chosen the corner diamonds on the frame, the diamonds on the bows and the green circle shapes at the top of the tag.

Once you have all areas selected – duplicate your layer 2 times so you have 3 layers.

Make sure you are on your bottom layer – go to Effects – Plugins – Alien Skin Xenofex 2 – Constellation and use these settings:

Repeat for each layer except hit the Random Seed button each time for each of the last two layers.

Go to Selections – Select None.

Save as – PSP Animation Shop (*.psp) file.

Go to Animation Shop and open your tag you just saved.

All layers should be there.

Select all frames and set frame property to your liking.

I used 10 for mine.

Save as gif file.

All done!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial.

Hugs~Anna

Make A Wish

2010-01-03T01:26:00.003-05:00

Materials needed:

Tube of your choice – I used the beautiful artwork of Caron Vinson which you can purchase from CILM.

Scrap kit of your choice – I used the beautiful kit My Xmas Tree by Black Widow Creationz – thank you Cari.

This tutorial was written for use with Paint Shop Pro X but can be done in any version. It is designed for those with a working knowledge of PSP.

No plugins required.

Let’s Create

Remember to save often.

Open a new image 700 x 700, transparent, 72dpi.

Add a new raster layer. Select all.

Open from scrap kit StarsScrap1 – copy and paste it into selection. Select none. Resize this layer only by 90%. Add drop shadow to the snow layer – Vertical 2/Horizontal -2/Opacity 30/Blur 0/Color Black.

Open scrap kit Frame2 – copy and paste as a new layer. Resize this layer only by 90%. Move frame to upper right within the boundaries of the stars so that bits of stars are seen on the right edge of the frame.

With the magic wand select the inside of the frame. Go to Selections – Modify – Expand by 2 – keep selected. Add a new raster layer and move it below the frame layer.

Open scrap paper Glitter2 – copy and paste into selection. Lower the opacity of this layer to 75. Select none.

Activate the frame layer and add drop shadow – Vertical -2/Horizontal 2/Opacity 30/Blur 0/Color Black.

Open scrap Tree2 – copy and paste as a new layer. Resize this layer only by 70%. Move this layer down below the frame layer. Move tree to the left inside the frame. Add drop shadow – Vertical & Horizontal 0/Opacity 35/Blue 20/Color Black.

Go to the frame layer and select inside the frame – expand selection by 1 – add a new raster layer and move it below the frame layer.

Open fairy tube – duplicate and close original. With the Selection tool on rectangle select top portion of the fairy below her shoulders. Copy & paste into selection. Add drop shadow – Vertical -1/Horizontal 1/Opacity 35/Blur 5/Color Black.

Open scrap Snowwave1 – copy & paste as new layer above the frame layer. Resize layer by 90%. Add same drop shadow we just used.

Copy & Paste fairy as a new layer. Place her on top of the snow wave yet within the boundaries of the stars in the background. Add drop shadow – Vertical -2/Horizontal 1/Opacity 35/Blur 5/Color Black.

Open scrap bow1 – copy & paste as new layer. Resize layer by 90%. Add drop shadow Vertical & Horizontal 0/Opacity 35/Blue 5/Color Black. Position in upper right of frame and using the pick tool turn it at an angel.

You can add any embellishments as you wish. I added some sparkles at random.

Add any text you desire. I used the alpha contain in the scrap kit and GE Montage. Add credits and any copyright info.

Resize to 550 x 550 and sharpen using Adjust – Sharpen – Unsharp Mask with Radius 3/Strength 40/Clipping 4.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial.

Hugs & Blessings

Anna