Welcome to Tracy's Graphics Christmas Country Wreath Tutorial. This was inspired by a wreath I bought the other day. I have tried to re-create it in this tutorial. I hope you have fun trying it out!
For this tutorial, you will need Paint Shop Pro 7, and my zip file.
This is best viewed in Microsoft Internet Explorer as Netscape covers up the text with the screenshots! It may take a while to load, so please be patient. This is a long tutorial, and it is recommended that you have some knowledge of PSP7 beforehand!
1 Open up the zip file and extract the selection files to your selections folder in PSP7. (You may want to create a new folder and name it accordingly so you know how to find them easily). Install the tubes into your tube folder (default settings).
2 Open a new transparent image to 450x450. Add a new layer and name it circle.
3 Use your shape tool to draw a circle in the middle of your canvas. Set it to start at 225,225 (look at the numbers inthe bottom left hand corner). Hold down the shift key and right click, and drag your circle out to measure 367x367. Or co-ordinates 408,408.
4 Add a new layer, name it ring 1. Use your line tool set to 8, freehand line, curve tracking set to 7, anti-alias checked, with the foreground colour set to a nice brown, and your background colour set to null. I used #7D3B27. Draw a line in a circle, using the circle you have already as a guide. It doesn't have to be perfect as we are aiming for twigs bent into shape.
5 Apply the bark texture within PSP. You can find this by going to Effects>Texture Effects>Texture. Use the settings shown below:
6 Go to Effects>3D Effects>Inner Bevel, and apply the following settings:
7 Repeat steps 4 to 6 until you have built up a few and looks nice and thick and full. (This will be the base for your wreath). Yours will look something like this:
Tip: You can use your mover tool to move over the rings you have done to make it look fuller and "pad" it out slightly. Also, you can duplicate the layers and go to Image>Mirror or Image>Flip to "cheat" and make new ring layers more easily ;-)
8 Now go through each layer in turn, and change the brightness. I used a setting of 20 and -20 to give a slight difference in the colour of the twigs. (The contrast is set to 0). Add a drop shadow to each twig ring using these settings: Vertical & Horizontal = 1, Opacity = 85, Blur = 2.
9 Switch off all of your layers by clicking on the glasses on the layer palette except the top two. On the upper most layer, slide the opacity down to 75%. Now zoom in on your image so you can see what you are doing. A shortcut I discovered by accident for this, is to press the + sign on your numeric keys to the far right of your keyboard. The reverse applies when wanting to reduce it back. (Press the - key).
10 Now, using the eraser tool, carefully erase parts of the twig that overlap the layer beneath. By doing this, it will make them look like they are really entwined as opposed to just sitting on to of one another. You don't need to do all of them, just a few. You can slide the opacity back up again occasionally to check to see how it looks. Once you are happy with the effect, restore the opacity back to 100% and click on the glasses to switch off the top layer. I used the eraser tool at a width of 5 to get the bulk of the erasing done, then went down to one, to clean up next to the edges. Be careful not to take away too much, or you will create a gap with no twig!
11 Repeat these steps, with the 2nd layer from the top and the third layer down, and so on, and so forth, until you have entwined all the twig layers. You should now have something that looks a bit like this:
12 Delete the initial ring we created with our shapes tool for our guide, and merge all layers visible.
13 Minimise the wreath, and open a new transparent image 500x500. Add a new layer and call it body. Go to selections>load from disk and find my selection file named 01_bearbody_TL.sel. Use your flood fill tool to fill it with an off-white colour. I used #F3EFEF.
14 Now invert your selection by pressing CTRL+SHIFT+I. Go to Effects>3D Effects>Drop Shadow, and apply the following settings:
15 De-select (CTRL+D), and add a new layer called legs. Go to Selections>Load from disk and find my selection file named 02_bearlegs_TL.sel. Flood fill wuth the same off white colour. #F3EFEF.
16 Now invert your selection by pressing CTRL+SHIFT+I. Go to Effects>3D Effects>Drop Shadow, and apply the same settings. Deselect (CTRL+D). Click on the legs layer, and drag it below the body layer. You should now have something that looks like this:
17 Add a new layer, call it arms. Load the selection file called 03_beararms_TL.sel. Flood fill it with the same white #F3EFEF. Now invert the selection (CTRL+SHIFT+I) and apply the same drop shadow. De-select. (CTRL+D). Click on this layer and drag it below the Body layer.
18 Add a new layer, call it head. Load the selection file called 04_bearhead_TL.sel. Flood fill it with the same white #F3EFEF. Now invert the selection (CTRL+SHIFT+I) and apply the same drop shadow. De-select. (CTRL+D)
19 Add a new layer, call it ears. Load the selection file called 05_bearears_TL.sel. Flood fill it with the same white #F3EFEF. Now invert the selection (CTRL+SHIFT+I) and apply the same drop shadow except change the blur to 15. De-select. (CTRL+D) You should now have something that looks like this:
20 Add a new layer, call it hat. Load the selection file called 06_hat_TL.sel. Flood fill it a nice red - I used #A31313. Now invert the selection (CTRL+SHIFT+I) and apply the same drop shadow. De-select. (CTRL+D)
21 Add a new layer, call it hat trim. Load the selection file called 07_hattrim_TL.sel. Flood fill it with the white we used before - I used #F3EFEF. Now invert the selection (CTRL+SHIFT+I) and apply the same drop shadow. De-select. (CTRL+D)
22 Add a new layer, call it hat shading. Load the selection file called 08_hatshading_TL.sel. Flood fill it with a deep red. I used #630B0B. De-select. (CTRL+D)
23 On the same layer, load the selection file called 09_hathighlights_TL.sel. Flood fill it with a medium red. I used #D91D1D. Deselect (CTRL+D) It should now look something like this:
24 Add a new layer, name it trim fluff. Click on your tube tool, and use the hairball tube that came in my zipfile. Set it to 25% and liberally tube the hair all over the hat trim. When you are happy with the amount you have applied, go to colors>adjust brightness/contrast and set the brightness to 250 and leave the contrast at 0. Your fluffy trim will now turn white.
25 Click on your hat shading layer. Add a new layer, name it hat fluff and repeat the hairball tube at the same size on the hat layer. Go to colors>colorize, and set your hue and saturation to 250. Click on your ears layer, and drag them above the hat fluff layer. You should now have something like this:
26 Add a new layer, name it ear fluff. Just put a few more hair tubes around the bottom edge of the ear where it meets the hat. We want to make it look like the ears are poking through the hat, not just stuck on top, so we will blend them in this way ;-) Then colorize them using the same settings as the hat. You should now have something similar to this:
27 Click on the body layer. Add a new layer, call it coat. Load my selection file 10_coat_TL.sel Flood fill with the red we used before. #A31313. Invert the selection and add the drop shadow we used before, changing the blur back to 25. De-select (CTRL+D)
28 Add a new layer, call it coat shading. Load my selection file 11_coatshading_TL.sel. Flood fill with the deep red we used before #630B0B. De-select. (CTRL+D)
29 Add a new layer, call it coat highlights. Load my selection file 12_coathighlights_TL.sel. Flood fill with the medium red we used before #D91D1D. Deselect (CTRL+D).
30 Add a new layer, name it coat fluff. Click on your tube tool, and use the hairball tube again liberally all over the coat. When you are happy with the amount you have applied, go to colors>colorize and have both hue and saturation set to 250.
31 Add a new layer, name it coat trim. Load my selection file 13_coattrim_TL.sel. Flood fill it with the white we used before #F3EFEF. (CTRL+SHIFT+I). Apply the same drop shadow we used before. De-select (CTRL+D)
32 Add a new layer, name it coat trim fluff. Click on your tube tool, and use the hairball tube again liberally all over the coat trim. When you are happy with the amount you have applied, go to colors>adjust brightness/contrast and set the brightness to 250 and leave the contrast at 0. You should now have something like this:
33 Add a new layer, call it buttons. Load my selection file 14_buttons_TL.sel. Flood fill it with a colour of your choice. I used a dark green #035303. De-select (CTRL+D) and apply the same inner bevel we used before for the twigs.
34 Using your tube tool, find Jasc's rope tube. Set the size to 18 and draw in some loose threads like this:
35 Add a new layer, call it scarf. Load my selection file 15_scarf_TL.sel. Flood fill it with the same colour as you used for the buttons. I used the dark green #035303. De-select (CTRL+D)
36 Add a new layer, name it scarf fluff. Click on your tube tool, and use the hairball tube again liberally all over the scarf. When you are happy with the amount you have applied, go to colors>colorize and have hue set to 50 and saturation set to 195.
37 Click on the head layer, and add a new layer - call it eyes. Load 16_eyes_TL.sel. Flood fill it with black.
38 Add a layer, call it face. Load my 17_face_TL.sel. Flood fill it with a rich brown. I used #6A2814.
39 Add a new layer, call it cheeks. Using your airbrush tool, spray a small circle of pink on each cheek - I used #F48C96. Then use Effects>Blur<Gaussian Blur at 2 to soften it. Airbrush settings as follows:
40 He should look something like this:
41 Add a new layer, call it stitching. Load my selection file 18_stitching_TL.sel. Flood fill with #FFFFFF. Add a drop shadow with the following settings: Horizontal & Vertical set to 1, Opacity set to 25, blur set to 2. You can now merge all your layers and save your bear as a tube.
42 On your wreath, add a new layer, call it banner. Load my selection 19_banner_TL.sel. Flood fill it with a colour of your choice. I used #7E1504. Invert selection (CTRL+SHIFT+I). Apply a drop shadow using the following settings:
43 Add a new layer, call it text. Load my selection file 20_text_TL.sel. Flood fill with a colour of your choice. I used #FFE7C1.
44 Add a new layer, call it bear. Activate your bear image, and re-size to 85%. Copy and paste onto your wreath image. Position it so his paws are just touching the ring. Mine looks like this:
45 Now comes the fun part. Decorate the wreath with tubes of your choice to give it a more country feel. You can use the ones I have enclosed in my zip file, or your own. I put each tube on a separate layer so that I can reposition them if necessary. I dragged one of my layers of pine clusters to below the bears feet... Mine looks like this:
I hope you had fun doing this tutorial. You can take a well deserved break now! ;-)
©Web Graphics & Tutorial were created on Sunday 3rd November 2002 and are the idea and copyright of Tracy's Graphics. They are not to be re-created, translated into other languages, uploaded to another server, e-mailed through any groups, copied or altered in any way, nor are they to be linked to. If this tutorial is seen on any other website other than mine http://www.tracysgraphics.com, then it is stolen!!