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Today we are going to make Butterfly Glass. I found a tut about a year ago and got the basics and have since made this my own. I love to play with the color, gradient or ding. You get a unique result and can personalize by using favorite colors or dings that fit the recipient's personality. I do one in a pastel gradient that I make the same for everyone, otherwise, these are a bit different each time I make it. Once you see how EASY it is you can make these in a hurry and they look quite impressive when finished.
Here is a sample of what we are making:
Ok, let's get started!! The supplies you will need are as follows:
Paint Shop Pro (I am using version 8 but this can be done in 7 or 9 very easily)
Gradient or color of your choice (today we will use the "Midnight Blues" file attached)
Three fonts and gradient HERE
Chopin Script
Curly Art Nouveau
Butterflies (for the di ngs)
Super Blade Pro (can download demo HERE)
Super Blade Pro preset coconutice (available HERE)
OK first things first. Start a new image, 550 wide by 350 high and transparent background. That should give you plenty of room, but if you have a long name you may want to make your canvas a bit wider yet. If the necessary fonts are not installed, go to where you downloaded them to and simply double click and open the files. While font files are open, PSP can "see" them and use them. Minimize the font files and let's move on. Place the gradient in the directory C:Program Files/Jasc Software Inc/Paint Shop Pro 8/Gradients. Simply copy it and paste it into that location to make it available in PSP. I'll answer Super Blade Pro questions on this thread as they come up.
Let's create the base for the name to sit on first. Go to the text tool and select the Curly Art Nouveau font. Set the text tool to the following settings:
Now set your background color to the gradient attached to this tut, "Midnight Blues CC" and set the settings to the following:
Now type the letter h which will look like one half of that base with the marching ants around it. Go to Effects/plugins/flaming pear/super blade pro and select M_coconutice.q5q then click OK. You have now applied the "glass" look to the base. Go to Selections/Select none. Now duplicate the layer you just created and go to Image/mirror.
Now using the move tool, place the two pieces together overlapping the center so it looks like this:
Time to add the name! Add a new raster layer and go to the text tool once again. Select the Chopin Script font and a size of 72. All other settings stay the same as you type the name you wish to use into the text entry box. As the text floats with the marching ants, again apply the Super Blade Pro plug in exactly as you did before. Once the plug in is applied, go to Selections/Select none. Using the move tool, adjust the placement of the name so that it rests on the base the way you want it to. Don't worry if the curly edges of the name overlap the curly edges of the base. There is no right or wrong, it's all about how YOU want it to look. Once the base and name are all the way you want them to be go to Layers/merge/merge visible. You will now have one layer.
Almost done now! Time to add the butterflies. Add a new raster layer and again go to the text tool and this time select the ding font Butterflies. Change the font size to 20 leaving all other settings the same. Select the butterfly you like best, I used the letter p. Again apply the super blade pro plug in with the same settings as before. Duplicate the butterfly layer twice, so that you have three butterfly layers total. Use the move tool to place the butterflies in a way that looks good to you. There really is no right or wrong here, just move them around until you like what you see. Once the butterflies are place and you are happy with how it looks, go to layers/merge/merge visible.
Next use the cropping tool to crop the image to a size that get's rid of the excess empty space. Watermark your work and save as a jpg file.
Here are a few others I've done over the past months to show how a different ding or gradient can change the look and feel of the siggy.
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