Supplies
This time, we are going to make a forum sized tag, based on the sizes allowed in The Zone.
No scrapkit for this one! All you need is a tube or image, preset shapes, and a FTU filter.
Tube of choice – I am using art that is ©Amy Brown, http://www.amybrownart.com . You must have a license to use her work. For more information on getting a license and purchasing her art, visit CILM. The image I am using is called “Dark Faery.”
Font of choice – “Carolingia,” which you can get here
Plug-In – Mura’s Meister: Copies. You can get it here http://www.photoshop-filters.com/html/mura.htm
Optional – Eye Candy – any of the programs that offer “Gradient Glow”
I am using PSP X2, but this tut should be easy to use in other versions.
This tutorial is written assuming you have a good working knowledge of PSP.
Let's Go!
Open your tube or image of choice. Duplicate it into a new window (just use Shift+D). Close the original.
Open a new canvas that is 600x250, this is your tag canvas.
Using your preset shapes tool, draw out a diamond in the center of your canvas. It should be almost, but not quite, the height of the canvas. Line width 3, background/fill color set to null, foreground/stroke set to your color of choice (I used #3c2132).
Objects>Align>Center in Canvas. Convert to raster layer. Save your progress.
Duplicate your diamond layer.
Copy and paste your tube/image onto your canvas, below your diamond layers. Arrange it so that the portion of the image you want is framed by the diamond. (If you are using a tube, you will want to add another layer below your tube layer, flood fill it with color/pattern of choice, then merge those layers together.)
Activate one of your diamond layers. Using your magic wand, tolerance and feather set to 0, click inside the diamond. Selections>Modify>Expand by 2. Selections>Invert.
Click on your image layer and hit delete. Sometimes, if I have portions of my image outside of the canvas area, they don’t get deleted. So, go ahead and use your crop tool to select your entire canvas, and apply. That should crop out anything that is off the canvas. Save.
Merge one of your diamonds onto your image layer. Hide that layer for now.
This time, resize your image so that more of it is shown in the diamond. I resized the “Dark Faery” image by 60%. Copy and paste your resized tube/image onto your canvas, below your other diamond layer. This time, resize your image so that more of it is shown in the diamond. I resized the “Dark Faery” image by 60%. Arrange it so that the portion of the image you want is framed by the diamond. (If you are using a tube, you will want to add another layer below your tube layer, flood fill it with color/pattern of choice, then merge those layers together.)
Activate the diamond layer. Using your magic wand, tolerance and feather set to 0, click inside the diamond. Selections>Modify>Expand by 2. Selections>Invert.
Click on your image layer and hit delete. Again, go ahead and use your crop tool to select your entire canvas, and apply. That should crop out anything that is off the canvas. Save.
Sharpen your image if necessary, and then merge the diamond layer down onto the image layer. Save.
You should now have 3 layers – one transparent background layer and two diamond framed image layers. One image will be your main focal point in the center of your tag, the other will be your smaller corner accents. Doesn’t matter which is which, just whatever you prefer. To keep things clear, rename the diamond layers “main” and “accent.”
Duplicate your “main” layer. On the copy layer, apply Mura’s Filter Meister>Copies – Use preset “Tiling (feedback)” with the default settings.
On the Mura’s layer, apply Effects>Texture Effects>Mosaic Antique, using the preset “Grid Colors.”
Next, add a Gaussian Blur to this layer. Adjust>Blur>Gaussian Blur – radius 5.
Make this layer your bottom layer. (Right-click on the layer in the layers palette, Arrange>Send to bottom.) Save.
Go ahead and hide your “Main” diamond layer, and activate your “Accent” diamond layer.
Resize your accent layer, Image>Resize – 50%. Be sure that under “Advanced Settings” you have “Resize all layers” UNchecked. Save.
Move this diamond accent to the top left corner of your canvas. An easy way to do this is to click on your “pick tool” (the arrow). Then, in the menu bar, change the “Position X” and “Position Y” to 0.
Next, duplicate the accent layer. Then, Image>Mirror. Merge the two accent layers together.
Duplicate the merged accent layer. Move the duplicate layer to the bottom of your canvas. (“Position X” – 0, “Position Y” – 131)
Merge the two accent layers together. Save.
Add a drop shadow to this layer. Go to Effects>3D Effects>Drop Shadow. I am using settings 0, 0, 100, 15, color black.
Add a new raster layer as your top layer. Selections>Select All. Selections>Modify>Contract by 2. Selections>Invert.
On your new raster layer, flood fill the selection with a color of choice. I used #3c2132 (the same as the diamond color). This is your border. Selections>Select None.
Move the border layer below your main and accent layers, but above your blurred mosaic layer.
Go ahead and unhide your “Main” layer. Copy>Paste as a new image. This will be your avatar, we will come back to it.
Add a drop shadow to this layer. Go to Effects>3D Effects>Drop Shadow. I am using settings 0, 0, 100, 15, color black. Repeat. Save.
Now add your copyright info and tagger’s mark (if you use one).
Finally, add your name. I am using font “Carolingia,” foreground set to null, background set to #3c2132 (the same as the diamond color). Font size 72.
Optional: Convert your text to a raster layer and apply Eye Candy>Gradient Glow (I used a width of 5 and color #ece4ea).
Add a drop shadow to your text. Go to Effects>3D Effects>Drop Shadow. I am using settings 3, 3, 80, 5, color black.
Save and you are done with your tag!
Now, go to the diamond image that you copied and pasted as a new image. On this new image, resize so that the largest side is 150 pixels.
Add your credits and your name, and save as .png to retain the transparent background.
And you’re done!
I would LOVE to see your results! Email them to tutsbyj0eswife@gmail.com
This tutorial was created on