This tutorial was created January 10, 2003
and updated for PSP 9 on March 24, 2005.

Copyright Bunny's Attic.
*terms of use*

You will need the following for the tutorial ...

"Xero Set 2~Illustrator" by Pete of Xero Graphics.
He offers his filters free of charge and they are wonderful filters
that give beautiful results . Please go visit his site and tell him how
much you enjoy them! You will need *Set Two~ Illustrator* for this
tutorial. Set 2 was updated on May 9, 2004 so make sure you
have the newest version .

Paint Shop Pro 9 *30 day free trial* here.

Zip containing the image, my brush and tubes here.
The dragonfly tubes are used here compliments of Joy
by Designs by Joy!

If you need help installing custom brushes I have a little tutorial here.

Eye Candy 3 here.

All screen shots have been resized to fit this page, yours will be larger.

The photo used in this tutorial was taken by Marga de Bruyne
and she has graciously allowed me to use it for this tutorial.
You may visit her website by clicking on the photo below.
The image is included in the zip.

Now go to Adjust/Brightness and Contrast/ Brightness/Contrast
and apply these settings...



This is what you should have now



Open your dragonfly tube now and let's select one. Using the Selection Tool
set to Rectangle, Feather 0, make a selection around one of the dragonflies.



Go to Edit/Copy, then go back to your image and go to
Edit/Paste/Paste as New Layer. Going back to the dragonfly tube again
go to Selections/Invert and this will select the other dragonfly. Repeat
the steps to Copy and Paste the second dragonfly on your image.
Click on your Raster Deform Tool to position
the tubes where you want them.



Once you get the tube into position you will need to click on another
tool to apply the deformation, or you will never get rid of the deform box, lol!!
Then go to Adjust/Sharpness/Sharpen for each tube. Sometimes when
you use the Raster Deform Tool the tube can get blurry.

Apply the Illustrator filter to each dragonfly with the settings below.

Then go to Adjust/Brightness and Contrast/ Brightness/Contrast
and apply these settings...
Brightness -88 Contrast 11

Go to your Layers Palette and reduce the opacity of these 2 layers down to 74.



Now add a drop shadow to each dragonfly.


We didn't merge the dragonfly tubes so you can still move them if you like.

Make sure you are on the Background layer in the Layers Palette and go to
Layers/New Raster Layer and name this layer Brush.
Click on your Paint Brush and go to your Tool Options Palette. Click on
the Brush Preview Window and locate brush gh_swirly-002.

Make your foreground color to #5A5D35. Hold your brush
over the image and position it like below..



(if you don't see a brush outline go to File/Preferences/General Program
Preferences and click on the Display and Caching tab. In the Presentation
section check "Show brush outlines".)

Click once to apply your brush, size 499.

Now lets add a drop shadow to the brush. Go to
Effects/3D Effects/Drop Shadow with settings of...
Horizontal and Vertical 8
Opacity 100
Blur 16
In the Layers Palette lower the Opacity of the brush layer to 86.

Now for the finishing touches.
Go to Image/Add Borders and add a 2 pixel symmetric border with color #5A5D35. Using the Magic Wand with these settings ...
Tolerance 0, Feather 0 and Anti-Alias unchecked
select the green border.

Go to Selections/Invert.
Go to Effects/3D Effects/Cutout and use these settings..
Horizontal and Vertical 4, Opacity 100, Blur 15.
Repeat the Cutout but change the Horizontal and Vertical to -4.
Go to Selections/Select None.

Go to Image/Add Borders, change your color to black and add a
20 pixel symmetric border.

Go to your Layer palette, right click on your background layer and
choose Promote Background Layer.

Now we need to increase the canvas size so we can add our glow.
Go to Image/Canvas size and increase canvas size to 475 width by 415 height.
Check center placement too, click OK.



Go to Effects/ Plugins/ Eye Candy 3/ Glow.
See the screen shot below for the settings.

Go to Layers/New Raster Layer and drag this new layer below Raster 1 in the
Layers Palette. Flood Fill with black.
Go to Image/Add Borders and add a 2 pixel symmetric border with color #5A5D35.

Add a new raster layer, add your signature and you are done!

I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial and if you need help or have any questions please feel free to send an email to at ginny hopping at comcast dot net.

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tutorial ©bunnysattic/ginnyhopping 2003