Di's Delights PSP Shaggy Dog Tutorial

PSP7 Shaggy Dog Tut

This tutorial has been written using PSP7 but should work in PSP8. Please take the time to read my terms.

Download the rope zip and extract to your PSP7/Tubes folder.

*I do not claim this tube as my creation, it is the rope tube given with PSP and colourised.

We are going to make a shaggy dog using the rope tube...................and an itsy bit of vectoring. I have included a zip file of the rope tube for your convenience. This is the rope tube given with PSP and colourised so feel free to play around to make you own tube. To do this open the rope tube, Shft+D to duplicate and close the original. In PSP go to Colours/Colourise or play with the different settings in Colours/Adjust or if you have the Variations Filter, use that. When you have a colour you are happy with go to File/Export/Picture tube. Give the Cell arrangements and Placement options as shown and name your tube.

You will notice during this tutorial I will tell you to start at the bottom and draw up with the tube. This gives a darker colour to the tube and when used as the underneath section gives the impression of depth.

OK, lets get cracking..............................well nearly :o)

If you want to use this image as a template you are more than welcome, if not, make your own template or start from scratch and dive straight in with the tube tool.

Right click and save to your hard drive. Open in PSP. Colours/Increase Colors/16 million colours.

If you are starting from scratch, open a new image with a transparent background approximately 250x220.

1. Create a new raster layer named fringe1. With the rope tube of your choice, at a scale of 50, starting at the crown going down, draw some hair.

Effects/3D Effects/Drop Shadow at the given setting.

Drop Shadow
Vertical 1
Horizontal 1
Opacity 30
Blur 3
Colour #404040

2. Create a new vector layer named fringe2. Layers/Arrange/Move down. Starting at the fringe going up to the crown, draw a few strands of hair. Make it so that the fringe is a tad longer than the top layer and so that they fill the gaps. Apply the drop shadow.

3. Create a new layer named r ear1. Layers/Arrange/Move down. Starting at the bottom of the ear going up to the top, make an ear shape.

Create a new layer named r ear2. Starting at the top of the ear draw a few strands.

Repeat this step for the left ear.

4. Create a new raster layer named body1. Layers/Arrange/Move down. Starting at the bottom of the skirt going up draw some strands. Don't worry about placing them too close together, we are going to be adding a few more layers. Apply the drop shadow.

5. Create a new raster layer named body2. Starting at the top going down draw some strands. Try to make it so that they overlap the gaps. Apply the drop shadow. Create a new raster layer named body3, draw some more strands. Apply the drop shadow. Create a new raster layer named body4 and draw a few short strands. Apply the drop shadow.

At this point it may pay you to create a new raster layer, send the layer to the bottom and flood fill with a contrasting colour to see if there are any gaps. If there are, make the body1 layer active and with the tube tool fill the gaps.

6. Make the body1 layer active. Create a new raster layer named tail. Layers/Arrange/Move down. draw in a tail.

Ok, now for the vectoring bit.

7. Make the l ear2 layer active. Set the stroke to black and the fill to #E9E9E9. Create a new vector layer named head. With the preset shape tool

, ellipse, antialias and vector checked, line width 1, line #1 solid. Draw an ellipse for the face.

With the object selector

, right click the ellipse and choose node edit from the menu. Bring the bottom node up.

Move the curser over the edge of the ellipse, hold Ctrl and you will see the word add, click to add a node just above the right node, move this in and shorten the control arms. Add another node above the left node, move this in and shorten the control arms.

Click on the top node. Crtl+S to make symmetrical, lengthen the control arms.

Now on to the left and right nodes, the original ones. Lengthen the bottom control arms and alter the top ones if needed.

8. Create a new vector layer named nose. Null the stroke colour. With the preset shape tool draw a small ellipse for the nose, you may want to magnify the image for this. Edit the nodes. Bring the bottom node down. Bring the control arms up and toward the center. Convert to raster. Effects/3D Effects/Inner Bevel, apply the following settings -

rounded bevel ( top 2nd left)
Width 9
Smoothness 15
Depth 9
Ambience 0

Shininess 50
Angle 4
Intensity 50
Elevation 30

9. Create a new vector layer named eye. With the preset shape tool draw an ellipse for the eye. Convert to raster. Apply the inner bevel. Duplicate the layer and move in place.

10. Make the l ear2 layer active. Create a new vector layer named tongue. Change the fill to #EBA7A2. Draw an ellipse for the tongue. Edit the nodes. Bring the left node in to the middle a tad. Move the top node out the left.

Null the fill. With the draw tool

, freehand line, width 1, antialias checked draw a line on the tongue.

11. Make the l ear2 layer active. Create a new vector layer named chin. Set the fill to #E9E9E9. Draw an ellipse for the chin.

12. Make the tail layer active. Create a new vector layer named foot. Draw an ellipse. Edit the nodes. Bring the bottom node up a tad and the right node down a tad. Convert to raster. Null the fill. With the draw tool, draw some lines.

13. Duplicate the foot layer 3 times. Move in to place. Convert all vector layers to raster. If you want to give some shading to the tongue and other touches do so now. When you are happy merge all layers visible and save as a tube or in PSP format.

Have a play to see if you can come up with some different poses :o)

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