Tuts by j0eswife

A Midnight Snack

Supplies

 

Scrapkit – This tutorial uses my PTU kit “Majestic Midnight”. You can purchase it at Stargazer Scraps or Digital Chaos.

Tube of choice – Artwork used in this tutorial is ©Cane Hoyer, www.canehoyer.com. You must purchase this tube and obtain a license from MPT before you can use it.

Brushes – None if you use the Hoyer tube I used. If you use a different tube, you will need a blood splatter brush of some kind.

Font of choice – I used “Fiolex Mephisto”

Optional – Eye Candy – I used Gradient Glow for text.

    - For the animation, you will need Animation Shop.

 All links and supplies shared with permission.

 You will need a good working knowledge of PSP to complete this tutorial. This tutorial was written using version X2.

Let's Go!

 

Open a new canvas – 500 x 500, transparent.

 

Open paper 28 and resize to 500x500. Copy and paste it onto your canvas.

 

Open Moon 1 and resize 40%. Copy and paste it onto your canvas. Move it to the upper right corner. Save your progress.

 

Open the Cane Hoyer tube, or if you’re using something different, you will need to use your blood-spatter brush here.

 

Open the blood tube supplied with the Cane Hoyer tube, arrange it over the moon, and change the blend mode to Multiply.

 

Activate your moon layer. Selections>Select All, Selections>Float, Selections>Defloat, Selections>Invert.  (Hot keys are: CTRL+A, CTRL+F, STRL+Shift+F, CTRL+Shift+I)

 

Activate your blood splatter layer and hit delete.

 

Selections>Select None (Hot key: CTRL+D). Save.

 

Open Spooky Tree, resize 60%. Copy and paste it onto your canvas. Move it down slightly (you need room for the raven to sit on it). It doesn’t have to be perfect, you can move it later.

 

Apply a drop shadow to your tree. I used 5, 5, 45, 8, black. Save.

 

Open Raven 1, resize 30%, and copy and paste onto your canvas. Move it so that it looks like it’s sitting on the branch of the tree. You may need to adjust the tree’s placing.

 

Apply a drop shadow to the raven, I used 0, 4, 45, 6, black. Save.

 

Open Gate 1, resize 45%, and copy and paste it onto your canvas. Move it to the bottom of the canvas.

 

While still on your gate layer, at the top of the screen you should see your pick tool toolbar. If you don’t see the toolbar like the one below, hit your F4 key. Change your “X Position” to 70 and your “Y Position” to 162.

 

Duplicate your gate layer. Move your duplicate layer below your original gate layer. On the duplicated layer, move the gate to X Position: -253 and Y Position: 162.

 

Duplicate this newest gate layer. On the duplicated layer, Image>Mirror (Hot Key: CTRL+M). Save.

 

Merge your 3 gate layers together and apply a drop shadow. I used the same drop shadow that I used for the raven.

 

Open Lantern 2, resize 28%, and copy and paste it onto your canvas. Move it so that it looks like it’s hanging from the tree branch.

 

Erase a portion of the lantern’s handle (or you can select using freehand select, then delete), so that it appears to be hanging – see screen shot below. It’s easiest if you zoom in quite closely.

 

Add a drop shadow to your lantern. I used 0, 4, 65, 6, black. Save.

 

Open Black Cat and resize 31%, copy and paste onto your canvas. Image>Mirror (Hot Key: CTRL+M), then arrange so that it looks like he’s standing on the fence.

 

Apply a drop shadow to your cat, I used 0, 4, 45, 6, black. Save.

 

Open your tube, resize it 80%, copy and paste it onto your canvas. (If you’re using the same tube as me, play dress up and choose how you want her clothed. Then hide all the other layers, and Edit>Copy Special>Copy Merged.)

 

Apply a drop shadow to your tube, I used 4, 4, 65, 10, black. Save.

 

If you are going to resize, do so now.

 

Now, add your copyright, license info, and tagger’s mark (if you use one).

 

Add your name – I used “Fiolex Mephisto” and used the color red from the blood on the moon. Optionally, you can add a gradient glow (I did so in light grey).

 

If you are not going to animate, you are done (although you may want to follow the first animation step to illuminate your lantern).

 

Animation:

 

Open Animation Shop, then go back to PSP.

 

Activate your lantern layer and select your selection tool (freehand selection). Use the settings below:

Zoom in on your lantern, and select the lattice work area like I have below. You will need to select one section, then select the other section. If you have your tool mode set to Add, you should be able to select both sections without any problems.

With this area still selected, go to Effects>Illumination Effects>Sunburst.

 

Choose the color you want to light your lantern with, I used #6e0202. Use the settings below.

Selections>Select None (Hot Key: CTRL+D)

 

Edit>Copy Special>Copy Merged

 

Go to Animation Shop and Edit>Paste>As New Animation (Hot Key: CTRL+V)

 

Go back to PSP.

 

Edit>Undo, Edit>Undo (Or, hit CTRL+Z twice) You should now be back at the step where the lantern is selected but not illuminated.

 

Repeat the sunburst effect, but this time change the 75’s to 88’s (Rays: Density and Brightness and Circles: Brightness).

 

Selections>Select None (Hot Key: CTRL+D)

 

Edit>Copy Special>Copy Merged

 

Go to Animation Shop and Edit>Paste>After Current Frame (Hot Key: CTRL+Shift+L)

 

Go back to PSP.

 

Edit>Undo, Edit>Undo (Or, hit CTRL+Z twice) You should now be back at the step where the lantern is selected but not illuminated.

 

Repeat the sunburst effect, but this time change the 88’s to 100’s (Rays: Density and Brightness and Circles: Brightness).

 

Selections>Select None (Hot Key: CTRL+D)

 

Edit>Copy Special>Copy Merged

 

Go to Animation Shop and Edit>Paste>After Current Frame (Hot Key: CTRL+Shift+L)

 

Now, still in Animation Shop, activate Frame 2, Edit>Copy (Hot Key: CTRL+C)

 

Activate Frame 3, Edit>Paste>After Current Frame (Hot Key: CTRL+Shift+L)

 

Select all frames (Hot Key: CTRL+A)

 

Animation>Frame Properties (Hot Key: Alt+Enter) Set the frame time to 15.

 

Save and you are done!

 

I would love to see your results! Email them to tutsbyj0eswife@gmail.com

 

This tutorial was created on July 25, 2009. Tutorial is © tutsbyj0eswife and is registered with TWI.

 

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Alternate version

For this version, I used a light grey color when applying the sunburst effect.