Tutorial: Striped Backgrounds in Paint Shop Pro

Stripes are a pretty popular effect.  I've said before that I think they're more useful as an accent than as a main background, but I know a lot of folks who like striped backgrounds.  There are several ways to create striped backgrounds in Paintshop Pro.  This tutorial will take a look at all the methods and give some tips on other cool things you can do using a simple stripe pattern as a base.

All of the patterns and example images from the tutorial are free to use for any creative purpose.  You may not re-package or re-sell as resources.

Text content of the tutorial may not be re-used or reprinted without written permission.

Warning: This tutorial is long and image heavy.

Program: Paint Shop Pro (Any version)
Difficulty: Beginner to Intermediate (Tutorial has multiple methods; some may be easier than others, but detailed explanations are provided)
Translatable: Partly (Methods 2 and 4 should work in any program that has basic selection tools and an offset filter/effect.)

PSP Basics # 4: The Halftone Effect

I started writing this as part of a separate tutorial I was working on, then I decided that I might as well do a PSP Basics on it.  This is a pretty versatile set of effects in Paint Shop Pro and I use it for a lot of different kinds of work.

"Halftone" is a method of printing that is commonly used in newspaper, comics, and magazines.  Dots of different sizes, shapes, or colors are used throughout an image to simulate darker or lighter shading an degrees of depth.  (Have you ever noticed that if you look closely at the pictures in a newspaper or magazine, you can see small dots?  That's halftone printing.)

Halftone effects have also become popular in graphic art and design.  Search "halftone" or "halftone brush" and you'll see what I mean.

Photoshop has a few different ways of creating halftone effects.  PSP has one, but there are a lot of settings and ways you can apply them.  Let's take a look.

PSP Basics #1: Changing Your Default Workspace (Hide the "Manage" Pane)

  I can't be the only user who got frustrated and lost trying to understand the layout of the PSP X5 workspace with it's various tabbed "panes."

It took me a while to grasp what they were for and figure out how to change which one was active on startup.  So, I thought I'd write this in case anyone else was still having trouble.

Tutorial: Making and Using Custom Gradients In Paint Shop Pro

Program: Paint Shop Pro (Should work for most versions.)
Difficulty: Beginner
Translatable: Sorry, not this time!

The gradient tools in Paint Shop Pro are set up a lot differently from the ones in the other programs I've seen. They can seem a little daunting at first, but once you get used to them, it's pretty simple. I'm going to show you step by step how to make and save custom gradients.

I have 2 versions of PSP on my computer.  PSP 8 was made by JASC Software.  The latest version, PSP X5 was made by Corel (which bought out JASC several years ago.).

For compatibility purposes, I try to make my gradients in the older version.  I'm doing most of the work in PSP 8, but I include screenshots and directions for both programs.  The gradient editor hasn't really changed from one version to the other.   So, no matter which version you have, you should be able to follow along.


Click here for a set of gradients I made using the images in this tutorial.  It contains all of the ones in the examples and a bunch more.

Notices: Images used in this tutorial are public domain.  Links to the originals are provided in the text.
Tutorial content is (c) Rose B. Fischer and Encompass Rose Design.  It may not be reprinted without express permission.

Tutorial: Greeting Card Part 2, Create a Pattern Fill

Quick Tip: Rendering Clouds In Paint Shop Pro

 I started writing a tutorial last week on a graphic with a textured background that requires  a cloud render.  I realized that this could also be a stand-alone post (and it was making my tutorial really longer than I wanted) so here it is.

Tutorial: Quick Raised Watermarks In Paint Shop Pro

I haven't had much time to blog lately.  There are major renovations going on in my apartment complex, and it limits my free time.  I wrote this up a while ago, but just now got around to making the screenshots and title image because I'm waiting for some guys to get here with my stove.  

This tutorial came about after a conversation I had with someone on DA about the problem of watermarks that overpowered the image and were distracting.  As an artist, I like to have a signature or watermark of some kind on my work, but it's sometimes difficult to do that in digital media.  This is my favorite method of watermarking an image.  It's really quick, takes two or three layers at most, and you can save your watermark for later use.

Program:  Paint Shop Pro 8

Difficulty: Beginner to intermediate.  It's pretty easy, but I'm not going into as much explanation as I would in a beginner tutorial.  Comments are welcome if you need help.

Translatable: PSP 7-9.  Don't know about other programs or later versions.

Description: Here's a quick and easy way to place a watermark on your artwork that is visible but doesn't dominate or obscure the art.   You can save your watermark with the picture tube tool in Paint Shop Pro so that you'll be able to add it quickly without having to open another file or copy-paste.  Tubes are basically like rubber stamps for your computer.  They can be scaled and resized automatically, and they work with any image that has a transparent background, so they're a lot more convenient than a folder full of PNGs