Curlicues Signature and Avatar

A simple tutorial made entirely from effects within Paint Shop Pro.

Supplies needed:-

PSP - I am using PSPXI but this will work in most versions.

PSP Tube - The one I used is by Rachael Tallamy ,www.rtallamy.com, and is licensed through her. You may not use her images without the appropriate license. Licenses and tubes can be obtained at her site .

Font of choice. I used Monika which can be downloaded Here.

Open your ,tube and font and minimise them until needed. Remember to save your work often so that if your program or pc crashes you do not have to start from the beginning again. The tutorial appears to be quite long, but that is mainly because I have included a lot of screen shots to help you.

Open a new image 600 x 600 pixels, 72 dpi Resolution, we will crop this down to size later:-

Now find your Preset Shapes Rectangle Tool:-

Choose a colour from your tube as your Foreground Colour, Background Null and the tool settings as below:-

Create on Vector ticked, Line Style Solid Line, Width 18, and draw out a rectangle about 245 pixels high and 500 wide.Now go to your Objects tab at the top and align centre:-

Convert this to a raster layer:-

We are now going to make the rectangle a little more interesting. Go to Effects- Distortion Effects and find Curlicues:-

Click on the drop down box and locate the Twenty twenty Weak Setting:-

This should give you the following settings- Number of Columns and Rows 20, Radius 70, Strength 10. Click on OK.

Now go back to the same effect, and apply with the default setting. To return any effect to the default setting, click on the arrow as shown below:-

Now apply with the default setting:-

Number of Columns and Rows 10, radius 100, Strength 50 and Symmetric and Clockwise ticked.

Duplicate this layer:-

Go to Image, then Mirror and Flip the duplicate layer:-

merge this layer down, or x out your bottom layer and merge the two frames visible , depending on which version of PSP you have:-

Now , using your magic wand , click inside the frame, then expand the selection by 4:-

Create a new raster layer:

and flood fill the selection with a light colour to compliment your tube. Arrange this layer below your frame:-

Leave the selection in place for the moment and go to Effects - Texture Effects- Fine Leather:-

I used the following settings, but you can play around with them until you are happy with the effects:-

While you still have the selection active, copy and paste your tube and arrange to your liking. Then invert the selection:-

Hit delete on your keyboard to get rid of any excess tube. Selections - Select none.

Now add a drop shadow to your tube with the following settings:-

Ok, let's add some depth to our frame. make the frame layer active and go to Effects- Artistic Effects- Chrome:-

Play about with the settings, the ones I used are below :-

Flaws 4, Brightness 50, Use Original Colour ticked. Then add an inner bevel:-

Bevel 2, Width 4, Smoothness 2, Depth 1, Ambience 0, Shininess 0,Colour White, Angle 315, Intensity 50, Elevation 30. Finish the frame off with the same drop shadow as you used for your tube.

Now merge visible your layers:-

before we add our text and copyright layers, we need now to crop the image. Click on the crop tool:-

Now locate the Snap crop Rectangle Tool at the top of your toolbars:-

Click on the one on the right hand side:-

You will see that a box has now appeared around your framed image, click on apply. Now check the height of your image. It needs to be no more than 250 pixels high.

Ok, now add your name. I used the Font Monika. Create the text as vector using the same colour as you did for your rectangle. Once happy with the size and placement, convert to a raster layer and add the chrome effect if you wish. I also added the same drop shadow as use previously.

Now add your copyright, license number if applicable and taggers mark. I placed them on the frame so that they don't distract from the image itself.

Your signature tag is now made, so you can save is as a psp image in layers, then merge and save as a jpeg.

For the avatar to match your tag, open a new image about 160x160:-

Using the same colour as you did for the tag, draw out a square no more than 148 x148 pixels. If you hold down the shift key with the tool set on rectangle it will draw a perfect square.

Repeat the the steps for the tag, choosing an area of your tube you want to see in your avatar:-

Carry on until you are ready to add your text. At this point you might find that if you apply the chrome effect the name will not be noticeable. I therefore decided not to apply that effect to mine.

Once happy with your text apply the copyright. As avatars are small images, you need only apply a copyright to the artist without the url, and your license number if applicable.

Merge your layers, and save as a jpeg.

You should now have a matching set to use in a forum.

If you have any queries on this tutorial , please contact me. I would also love to see your results.

This Tutorial was written in July 2010 by Helen Peachey, and the concept of the tutorial is copyrighted.
Please feel free to LINK to the tutorial and/or print it out for your personal use,
but please do not copy it in any way to put online, pass out or re-write without permission.
The image you create using this tutorial is for you to do what you wish except for monetary gains or for merchandising.
© Peachies Designs and Tutorials. Any Resemblance to another tutorial is purely coincidental.