Workshop #7.2 : How to Make Blends With Jasc Paintshop Pro
Held on September 25th, 2004, organized by the CMM Support Team.
Speaker : Leon
Welcome to Workshop Summary 7.2, part 2 of our 3 part blending series. This summary will explain how to make simple blends using Jasc Paint Shop Pro. If you haven’t got Paint Shop Pro, you can download a trial version HERE. Most PSP releases work the same, so this guide should work for you if you have any version over 4.
Open the program once you’ve installed it. First, we have to start by creating a blank image to work with. Go to File > New and you’ll see a dialog box. For “Width”, select 500, for “Height”, select 300. Make sure it is set to 16 million colours and the “Transparent” box is clicked. It will look a little like this:
This will create a canvas 500 pixels in width by 200 pixels in height. You need to pay attention to the size when entering graphics contests or making signatures.
Next, save your image, just in case your computer has an error. Go to File > Save and save it somewhere.
Now we’ll look at the Materials panel. This should be on the right hand side of your screen. If you can’t see it, press F6 to display it. It looks like this:
Look at the two overlapping boxes below the colours. The top box is the stroke, or foreground colour, and the bottom box is your fill, or background colour. Look at the top box and select the first button under it:
Select the fading circle. That sets up a gradient, and you’ll see the colour of the first box change. Click on the box and a window will open. Click on the box in the centre and a menu of colours will open. Select “Duotone Light”:
In the “Angle” box, type 45, then click OK. You’ve just selected the “Duotone Light” gradient at a 45 degree angle.
Now we need to put that gradient into the image. Click the fill tool button:
...and then click on your blank image. This will create a blue fading background. Save your work.
One of the best things about modern graphic editors is the ability to have layers. Using layers, you can make it look like on image is on top of another, or under another.
Now we’ll learn about how to create a new layer by pasting in an image. First, save this PSD (a PSD is a pre cut image) of R’n’B singer Natalie Brown here. Save it to the same folder you saved your blend.
In Paint Shop, open the image you just saved by going File > Open. The picture will open in a new window. Copy this image to the clipboard by going to Edit > Copy, then close the image. Go back to your blend, and select Edit > Paste, then select Paste As New Layer. You’ll now see the image covering the background.
Now we’ll move the image to the right hand side. On the toolbar, select the Move tool, which looks like this:
Drag the picture to the right side of the image, close enough so the edge is touching her elbow. It should look a bit like this:
Next we have to erase the white of the image. Select the Magic Wand tool from the Selection drop down box:
Click on the white part of the image to select it, then hit the Delete key to delete it. Save your image.
Next, we’ll add a new layer which we’ll use for text. Make sure the layer window is open (if it isn’t, hit F8 or go to View > Palettes > layers to open it). Click the first icon on the left (it looks like a plain white square and a blue square overlapping). A dialog box will open. Name the layer “Text” then click OK. Make sure the text layer is selected in the layer box.
Click towards the bottom left of the image. A box will open. Type in “Natalie Brown” and hit Apply. Move the text to the left of Natalie’s wrist. It should look a little like this:
Save your work.
Now you’ve created your blend, but it’s basic, with no effects. If you want to add more to your blend, then you can add multi tone scan lines and flare effects to the background gradients. To do this, make sure the Layer window is open, and select the last layer in the list - it should be the background layer. Go to Effects > Texture Effects > Blinds. A box will pop up. Set the Width to 2 and the Opacity to 25, then make sure the Colour box is black, and the two checkboxes are selected, as below:
Click OK. This will create subtle blinds on the background. Now we’ll add a sunburst behind Natalie’s head to fix the white background around her hair. Go to Effects > Illumination Effects > Sunburst, and a box will pop up. It will take some practice moving the cross at the top until it’s in the right position behind Natalie’s head, but once you get it right it will look good. Click OK to set the sunburst.
As for the text, you can make it look like it’s 3D by making it look bevelled. Go to Effects > 3D Effects > Inner Bevel. Select the preset “Soft Edge” from the top drop down box and make sure the bevel is selected as shown:
Click OK to set the bevel.
If you are SURE your finished, you’ll want to save your image in JPG form so you can use it on the Internet. Go to File > Export > JPEG Optimiser. Set the compression value to 15, so it will load well for 56K users. You can check out the Download Times tab to see how long it will take to download depending on your connection. Once you’re happy with your settings, click OK and save it to the folder you want. Your blend will look a little like this:
© 2002-2008 L.B. Mixed Multimedia, a service mark of Leon Bacud. All rights reserved unless noted otherwise.