Di's Delights PSP8 Hoopla ClownTutorial

PSP8 Hoopla Clown

This tutorial has been written for PSP8 but will also work in PSP7.

For this tutorial you'll need a basic knowledge of PSP and vector shapes.

Colour pallet used

If it helps you can save this image to your hard drive to use it as a template or simply for guidance.

1. Open a new image 240x500, 16 million colours with a transparent background. Create a new vector layer named ring1. Null the foreground and choose a colour for the bottom ring, I used #0228B4. With the preset shape tool, ellipse, antialias and vector checked draw out an oval toward the bottom of your canvas for the bottom ring. 2. Change the background colour for the next ring, I used #EEA800. Create a new vector layer named ring2 and draw out a smaller oval for the next ring up. 3. Repeat this process another 4 times until you have 6 ring layers in total, each getting smaller. 4. Create a new vector layer named head. Change the background to #FB9D8B and draw out a circle for the head. 5. Create a new vector layer named hat rim. Change the background to #EEA800 and draw out an oval for the hat rim.
6. Create a new vector layer named hat. Change the preset shape to rectangle. Draw out a rectangle from left down to right it needs to be done this way for the next bit to work. With the pen tool edit the nodes. Click on the top left node, right click, node type, curve after. Do the same for the bottom right node. Click on the top right node and change to curve before. Do the same for the bottom left node.
7. Move the control arm of the top left node up, do the same for the top right node. Bring the control arm of the bottom left node down, repeat for the bottom right node. You should now have the curved edges for the hat.
8. If you are happy with the placement and shape of the hoopla clown, go through and convert all the layers to raster. Make the head layer active. With the magic wand , Replace, RGB Value, Tolerance & Feather 0, click on the top ring to get the marching ants. Selections/Modify/ Contract by 1. Make ring6 layer active and delete. Ctrl+D (select none). You shouldn't see anything noticeable by doing this but we need to do this for the cutout effect used later, to shade the shapes correctly.
9. Still on ring6 layer, use the magic want to select the shape. Selections/Modify/ Contract by 1. Make ring5 layer active, delete. Ctrl+D. 10. Still on ring5 layer, use the magic want to select the shape. Selections/Modify/ Contract by 1. Make ring4 layer active, delete. Ctrl+D. 11. Still on ring4 layer, use the magic want to select the shape. Selections/Modify/ Contract by 1. Make ring3 layer active, delete. Ctrl+D. 12. Still on ring3 layer, use the magic want to select the shape. Selections/Modify/ Contract by 1. Make ring2 layer active, delete. Ctrl+D. 13. Still on ring2 layer, use the magic want to select the shape. Selections/Modify/ Contract by 1. Make ring1 layer active, delete. Ctrl+D. 14. Still on ring1 layer, Effects/3D Effects/Cutout at the given setting. Repeat for all the ring layers changing the fill colour as required. All the colours I used are on the colour palette given. If you are using your own colours the shadow colour needs to be darker than the fill colour. 15. Make the head layer active. Apply the cutout, change the Vertical to -4, Horizontal to -6, Blur to 40 and the colours as necessary. 16. Make the hat rim layer active. Apply the cutout, change the Vertical to 1, Horizontal -2, Blur 15, opacity 70 and the colours as necessary. 17. Make the hat layer active. Apply the cutout, change the Vertical to 3, Horizontal -7, Blur 20. 18. Make the head layer active. Create a new raster layer named highlights. With the paint brush, round, size 6, hardness 1, step 1, density 100, thickness 100, opacity 100, blend normal, paint some highlights using lighter shades of the fill colours or the highlight colours in the colour palette given. Adjust/Blur/Gaussian Blur with a radius of 5.
19. Make the hat layer active. Create a new raster layer named hat highlights. Change the size of the paintbrush to 4. Paint some highlights as shown, apply a gaussian blur with a radius of 2.50.
20. Make the highlight layer active. Create a new vector layer named eye. Set the foreground to black, background to white. With the preset shape tool, triangle, antialias & vector checked, line style +1, width 2, draw a triangle for the eye. With the pen tool, edit the nodes. Double click one of the nodes to select them all, Ctrl+S to make them symmetrical. Click away from the node to deselect them all. Now play with the bottom right node, bringing it down and in and moving the control arm until you are happy with the shape. Layers/Duplicate. Image/Mirror. Move the eyes in to place if necessary.
21. Create a new vector layer named mouth. Change the preset shape to ellipse, draw out a wide oval for the mouth. Use the pen tool to edit the nodes. Hold Shft and click the top middle and bottom middle node. Move them down to give a banana shape. Click on the left side node, Ctrl+S, lengthen the control arms. Do the same for the right side node.
22. Still with the pen tool, click new shape , drawing mode , create as vector checked, point to point , line style +1 solid, width 2, antialias checked. Null the background. Place the curser to the left side of the mouth. Click and hold, move the curser, you will see a node appear followed by control arms as you move your mouse. Don't worry too much about the angle of the control arms, we can play once we're done. Now move over to the right side of the mouth, click and hold, move the curser for the control arms to appear. You can now play with the two nodes and their control arms to get a shape you are happy with.
23. Create a new raster layer named nose. Null the foreground and change the background to red, I used #B50303. Use the preset shape tool, ellipse, vector unchecked to draw a circle for the nose. Effects/3D Effects/Inner Bevel at the setting given. Adjust/Blur/Gaussian blur with a radius of 0.75.
24. Create a new raster layer named eyes. Change the background to black. With the preset shape tool at the same setting draw out a black circle for the pupil of the eye. Duplicate the layer and move the duplicated pupil to the other eye.
25. Create a new layer named hair. With the tube tool , rope tube at a scale of 25, draw some hair starting from the fringe going up under the hat. We're doing this to give the hair some depth, using an upward stroke on this tube gives a darker image.
26. Create a new layer named hair2. Still with the rope tube make some more hair, this time starting under the hat going down to the fringe. You can leave the hair as it is or you can colourise it :o) That's it, merge layers visible and save in PSP format or as a tube.

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