My new copy of PSP X3 is on its way and I am excited about creating and sharing new Paint Shop Pro X3 tutorials. Once I receive my copy in the mail this week I will post a review and some youtube videos of the new features. Speaking of new features, Corel Paint Shop X3 includes improved digital workflow, new advanced photo-editing tools, and built-in photo projects and sharing capabilities.

The price of the full version cost only $99.99, and if upgrading from PSP 10, X1, or X2 it will only cost you $59.99 to upgrade. Also customers that own Corel Paintshop Photo Express 2010 and Corel Digital Studio 2010 are eligible for the upgrade.

Click here for more details or to purchase directly from Corel’s online store.

Below is a list of new features for PSP X3 that were highlighted on the Corel’s website.

Improved digital workflow

Enhanced! Photo Organizer

Customize your digital workflow with new photo management capabilities. Use
multiple views, including thumbnails and image previews, to quickly select
photos.

New! RAW Lab, Image Quality and Control

Make RAW adjustments during the loading process and work with even more RAW
camera formats—faster than ever before.

New! Easy Batch Processing

Make adjustments to one photo, then easily apply the same changes to multiple
other photos right in the enhanced Organizer.

Enhanced! Speed and Performance

Get more speed and editing horsepower with more multi-threading support for
multi-core processors.

Enhanced! Express Lab

Apply common edits in just one click. Remove noise, sharpen images, and
quickly adjust contrast, local tone mapping and more.

New advanced photo-editing tools

New! Smart Carver

Seamlessly remove objects from an image with professional quality. The Smart
Carver also lets you expand or contract objects without distortion.

New! Vibrancy

Boost color in the least saturated areas of a photo without affecting the
rest of the image.

New! Object Extractor

The integrated Object Extractor isolates an object—even challenging cases
such as flyaway hair and fuzzy pet fur—so it can be copied to a new background
or a new background can be pasted behind it.

New! On-Image Text Editing

With the updated text engine, it’s easier, faster and more natural to apply
text to an image. Adjust font, color, placement, position, size and wrapping of
the text in context of the image. Reselect the text on the image and continue
typing, or apply text on a path.

New! HD Video Slideshows

As an increasing number of DSLR cameras capture HD video, PaintShop Photo Pro
now offers tools that let you combine photo and video projects. Create HD
slideshows and movies of your photos and videos, all with the same tool.

New! Windows® 7 Compatibility

PaintShop Photo Pro X3 is fully compatible with Windows 7, as well as
Windows® XP and Windows Vista®. Take advantage of new Windows 7 speed and
performance to experience a whole new level of creativity.

Bonus! Corel® Painter™ Photo Essentials 4

This fun program lets you turn a photo into a unique work of art in just 3
easy steps:

1. Choose a photo and the painting style you want to apply.

2. Let the Smart Stroke painting technology create a stunning painting.

3. Touch up your masterpiece by hand if desired.

Bonus! KPT® Plug-in Filters

A natural addition to your photo-editing software, KPT plug-in filters help
you quickly create remarkable image transformations and original effects.
PaintShop Photo Pro X3 includes KPT® Goo, KPT® LensFlare, KPT® Projector and KPT®
Equalizer.

Built-in photo projects and sharing

Easy Photo Sharing

Quickly share photos and videos directly on Flickr®, Facebook® and YouTube™.
You can also email, print at home or order prints online*.

Built-in Photo Projects

Using the new Project Creator, its fast and simple to make
great-looking photo books, HD slideshows, collages, cards and more.

Preview

Step 1

Open the image you want to add rounded edges or corners to in Corel paint shop pro X2. Next, right click the background image in the layers palette and Select Duplicate. Finally, turn off the visibility in the Background Layer.

Step 2

Press ‘S’ on your keyboard to select the Selection tool. Set the Selection type to Rounded Rectangle.

Step 3

With the Copy of Background Layer active, place the cursor on the photo and draw the selection on the area of the photo you want to keep.

Step 4

With the selection active go to Selections > Invert or press (CTRL+SHIFT+I).

Step 5

Press Delete and then CTRL + D to Deselect.

Step 6

Finally, export as PNG or GIF if you want to keep the background transparent. File > Export > PNG Optimizer or GIF Optimizer. Optionally, you can make your rounded corner photo really stand out by adding some soft edge effects with Paint Shop Pro. SKIP STEP 6 and Continue to step 7 if you would like to add a soft edge effect.

Continue if you would like to add soft/faded edge effects.

Step 7

Duplicate the Copy of Background layer.

Step 8

With the Copy (2) of Background layer active Press CTRL+A to place a selection marquee around the entire layer. Now, Press ‘S’ on you keyboard to activate the selection tool. Finally, place the selection cursor anywhere on the photo and left click once. The marquee will now be wrapped around outer edges of the cropped portion of the photo.

Step 9

Go ahead and save the selection to the alpha channel. Selections > Load/Save Selections > Save Selection to Alpha Channel. I named mine “rounded corner outline.”

Step 10

Invert the selection. Selection > Invert or press (CTRL+SHIFT+I).

Step 11

Next, Feather the Inverted Selection. Selection > Modify > Feather or press (CTRL+H). I set the number of pixels to 65. This number will vary depending the size of your photo and/or the size you want the soft edges to be. Keep the feather selection active.

Step 12

Right Click the Copy (2) of Background layer in the layers palette, and select New Raster Layer. The feather selection should still be active.

Step 13

Flood Fill (Press ‘F’) the background with black (#000000) or the color of your choice, on the Raster 1 Layer. You can repeat the flood fill until you are satisfied with the amount of coverage. OPTIONAL, save the feather selection to alpha channel so you can easily come back later to change and/or experiment with other colors. Go to Selections > Load/Save Selections > Save Selection to Alpha Channel.

Step 14

Press Ctrl+D to Deselect. Next, go to Selections > Load/Save Selections > Load Selection from Alpha Channel and Select the “Rounded Corner Outline” we saved earlier. Once the selection is loaded. Go to Selections > Invert (CTRL+SHIFT+I). Then Press ‘Delete.’ Finally, CTRL+D to deselect. Note: You can lower the opacity of the Raster 1 layer if it is too dark.

Step 15

Finally, export as PNG or GIF if you want to keep the background transparent. File > Export > PNG Optimizer or GIF Optimizer. Preferably you should use PNG because the GIF files will lose a tremendous amount of quality due to limited colors available to the GIF images.

Final Result

Preview

Step 1

Create a new 1000×800 image with a white background. File > New.

Step 2

Right click the background layer in the Layers Palette and choose New Raster Layer. Flood Fill this new layer with #fd0002 and then rename the layer to Red Background.

Step 3

Right click the background layer in the Layers Palette and choose New Raster Layer. Flood Fill this new layer with #000000 and then rename the layer to Shadow Background. Your layers palette should look like the image below.

Step 4

Create a new raster layer and rename it Brush Stroke. Next, go to View and activate Rulers or press (Ctrl+Alt+R). This places a ruler with the number pixel units available on the image you are working with. You should see 1000 units across the top (width), and 800 down the left side (height). This will allow you to measure the size of your brush strokes and it will assist you with making straight brush strokes and alignments. I almost always work with rulers activated.

Step 5

With the Brush Stroke layer active select your Paint Brush (Press ‘B’). Select a round brush and set the brush settings as seen in the image below.

Step 6

Using the ruler as reference, paint a straight line approximately 325 pixels high. To do this, align your cursor to the left of the 200 pixels mark (height), and 50 pixels mark on the width. Click the left mouse button one time and then let go. You should see one circular brush stroke. Now, press and hold down shift. While holding shift move your cursor down to the 525 height mark and and align with the 50 width mark, then left click the mouse button again. This will create a perfectly straight brush stroke assuming you aligned the ruler at 50 pixels on each click. See animated gif below for example.

Step 7

Next, duplicate the Brush Stoke Layer 4 times. See image below for example. The 4 duplicates are currently stacked on top of each other and we can’t see them. We need to bring them into view using the Move tool (Press ‘M’) . Start at the top (moving each stroke right) of the 4 Copy of Brush Stroke Layers and work your way down until all 5 brush strokes are in view. Your image should look similar to the image below.

Step 8

Use the image below to rename the Copy of Brush Stroke Layers to match.

Step 9

Turn off the visibility on the Letter I and Letter A layers.

Step 10

Now, select the Letter T Top Layer and press ‘D’ on your keyboard to pull up the deform tool. Use the deform tool to rotate/move the Stroke to form the top of the T. If you need to, you can turn on the Grids to help you get a straight alignment. View > Grids (Ctrl+Alt+G). Once the top of the T is aligned, right click the Letter T Top layer and select Merge > Merge Down to merge the two strokes into one Layer. Once merged rename the Layer to Letter T.

Step 11

Turn off the visibility for the Letter T Layer, and turn ON the visibility for the two letter A layers. Next, select the Letter A Left layer and press the ‘D’ to pull up the deform tool. Rotate and move the stroke into place to form the A. Still using the deform tool, scale the length of the stroke until it is even with the other side of the A. Use the Grids or Guides again to get the bottom of the A even. Once aligned, merge the two A layers together and rename the layer to Letter A.

Step 12

Turn ON the visibility of all layers. Use the Move tool (Press ‘M’) along with the Grids to align, create spacing, and center each letter. Once aligned, merge the three letters into one layer named ATI.

Step 13

Select the ATI layer and select the selection tool (Press ‘S’). Next press Ctrl+A (this will select the entire layer) and a selection marquee will appear around the entire layer. With the marquee active left click anywhere inside the layer. This will cause the selection to wrap around the object in that layer.

Step 14

With the selection marquee still active around the ATI letters, go to Selections > Load/Save Selections > Save Selection to Alpha Channel. Save the Alpha Selection as ATI outline. Press Ctrl+D to deselect. Then turn OFF the visibility of the ATI layer.

Step 15

Select the Red Background layer. Then go to Selections > Load/Save Selections > Load Selection from Alpha Channel. Select the ATI Outline and click Load. The ATI selection outline will load. Once loaded press “Delete” to cut a selection in Red Background. Press Ctrl+D to deselect.

Step 16

Select the Shadow Background layer. Then go to Selections > Load/Save Selections > Load Selection from Alpha Channel. Select the ATI Outline and click Load. The ATI selection outline will load. Next, go to Selections > Modify > Contract and contract the selection to 1 pixels. Next, press “Delete” to cut the selection from the Shadow Background. Press Ctrl+D to deselect.

Step 17

With the Shadow Background layer selected go to Adjust > Blur > Gaussian Blur and set the Radius to 4 or 5 and press OK. Temporarily turn off the visibility of the Red Background Layer. Next, use the Move tool to move the Shadow Background slightly to the right and down. Turn the Visibility of the Red Background Layer to view the results. You may have to adjust/move the Shadow Background a couple times to get it aligned properly.

Step 18

Create a new raster layer and name it Graphics Box. Select the Selection Tool and set the selection type to Rectangle. Next, draw a selection starting on the 650 pixel mark (height) and extend it all the way down and across. Flood fill the selection with Black #000000. Press Ctrl+D to deselect. Draw another rectangle selection over top of the black except this time start at 652 pixel mark. Leave the selection active.

Step 19

Set the foreground to #c0c0c0 and the background #ffffff in the materials palette. Next, double click on the foreground color to pull up the Material Properties. Within Material Properties select the Gradient Tab. In the gradient selection drop down, select the foreground-background gradient. Make sure Invert is checked, and set the gradient style to Sunburst. Then Flood Fill (Press ‘F’) in the Graphics Box selection we made. Press Ctrl+D to deselect.

Step 20

Create a new layer named Circle 1 A. Select the Selection tool and set the selection type to circle. Draw a small circle under the A, and then Flood fill with #ffffff. While the selection is still active, right click the Circle 1 A layer and select duplicate. Flood fill the duplicated circle layer with #000000. Next, go to Selections > Modify > Contract, and contract to 3 pixels. Press ‘Delete’ to remove the inner black of the circle. Now Press Ctrl+D to deselect.

Step 21

With Copy of Circle 1 A layer still active go to Adjust > Blur > Gaussian Blur and set the radius to 2. Next, draw another circle selection over top of the blurred black ring and position it like in the photo below. Finally, Press ‘Delete’ and merge the Copy of Circle 1 A layer with Circle 1A. To do this simply right click the Copy of Circle 1 A layer and select merge down.

Step 22

Create a new raster layer named Circle 2. Next, select the Selection tool and set the selection type to circle. Draw a small circle at the top of the I, and flood fill it with #fd0002. Next, Go to Effects > 3d Effects > Drop Shadow and use the settings in the image below. Press Ctrl+D to deselect.

Step 23

Create a new raster layer named Trademark. Set the Foreground and Background in the Materials Palette to #ffffff. Select the Text Tool (Press ‘T’), set the font to Arial Black, the size to 36, and the units to pixels. Then type in an uppercase ‘TM’

Step 24

Create a new raster layer named Overlay. Set the foreground to #000000 and the background #000000 in the materials palette. Next, double click on the foreground color to pull up the Material Properties. Within Material Properties select the Gradient Tab. In the gradient selection drop down select the fading-background gradient. Make sure Invert is NOT checked, and set the gradient style to Linear. Then Flood Fill (Press ‘F’) in the Overlay Layer.

Step 25

With the overlay layer selected press ‘M’ on your keyboard to pull up the Move tool. Use the move tool to drag the gradient down. See photo below for example.

Step 26

With the Overlay layer selected, select the Warp Mesh Tool. Set the Mesh Horizontal to 1 and the Mesh Vertical to 1. Grab the center node and drag straight down like in the photo below. Lower the opacity of the Overlay layer to 30.

Step 27

Select the Graphics Box Layer and drag it to the top in the Layers Palette.

Step 28

Create a new raster layer and name it Graphics Box Text. Set the Foreground and Background in the Materials Palette to #ffffff. Select the Text Tool (Press ‘T’), set the font to Arial Black or your preferred font (I used a font called Cacaphony Loud), set the size to around 140, and the units to pixels. Then type in a uppercase ‘Graphics.’ Use the grids to center the text.

Step 29

Create a new layer and name it White Warp Overlay. Next, select the selection tool using a circle selection type. Draw a circle selection like in the image below. Now, set the foreground to #ffffff in the materials palette. Next, double click on the foreground color to pull up the Material Properties. Within Material Properties select the Gradient Tab. In the gradient selection drop down select the fading foreground gradient.Make sure Invert is NOT checked, and set the gradient style to Linear. Then Flood Fill (Press ‘F’) the circle selection. Press Ctrl+D to deselect.

Step 30

Next, go to Image > Canvas Size and increase the canvas size to 2000 x 1600 (double the original size). This will allow us to make smoother curves when we warp this overlay. Now, open the Mesh Warp tool and set Mesh horizontal to 7, and the Mesh Vertical to 4. Adjust/pull the mesh nodes until they look similar to the image below. Now, press ‘M’ to pull up the move tool and drag the warped overlay toward the top some. Next, select the Mesh Warp tool again and make final adjustments on the layer. See image below as to where to place the mesh nodes. Set the blend mode to Screen and lower the opacity to around 25. Now, return to
Image > Canvas and decrease the size back to the 1000 x 800(original size). Finally, go to Selections > Load/Save Selection > Load Selection from Alpha Channel and load the ATI Outline. Once loaded, press ‘Delete’ to remove any of the white warp overlay that may be overlapping the ATI letters.

Step 32

This step is optional. I wanted to add more effects/graphics to the red background. For this step create a new layer named Technology Graphics right below the Trademark layer. Download this image http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1206711, or an image of your choice and open it up in Paint Shop Pro X2. Resize it to 1000×800 by going to Image > Resize. Next, go to Edit > Copy to copy the image to the clipboard. Now, with the Technology Graphics layer selected, go to Edit > Paste as New Selection. Set the blend mode to Luminance and the opacity to around 40 or 50. Once again load the ATI Outline from the alpha channel. Once loaded press ‘Delete.’ Press Ctrl+D to deselect. Finally , draw a circle selection around the Circle layers and press ‘Delete’ then Ctrl+D to deselect.

Final Results

Video Demonstration

Reserved for Youtube Video Demonstration. You are welcome to use it as reference once posted.

Step 1

Open up the baseball photo(s) you want to use. Create a new Raster Layer and name it “Border.” Then draw a selection around the edge of the photo using the Rectangle Selection Tool.Next, Flood Fill it with white.

Step 2

With the selection still active go to Selections > Modify > Contract. Set the number of pixels to around 30 (or set it to a number that works best for the size of your photo. Next, Flood Fill the new contracted selection with Blue (or color of your choice). Now, contract the selection again to about 12 pixels and Flood Fill it with Black. Finally, contract the selection to around 3 and then Press Delete. Press CTRL + D to deselect the selection.

Step 3

Create a New Raster Layer and name it “Left Corner.” Select the Freehand Selection tool(point to point) and draw a triangular selection in the top left hand corner. Flood Fill the selection with Black. Then contract the selection to 3 and Flood Fill with Blue or color of your choice. Press CTRL + D to deselect. Finally, drag this layer under the “Border” layer.

Step 4

Create a new raster layer and name it “Bottom Feather.” Select the Rectangle Selection tool and draw a selection towards the bottom of the photo. Once you have the selection drawn, go to Selections > Modify > Feather and set the number of pixels to 16. Finally, Flood Fill the feathered selection with a dark gray color.  Press CTRL + D to deselect.

Step 5

Create a New Raster Layer and name it “Rounded Square.” Select the Rounded Rectangle Selection tool, and draw a selection similar to size and location of the below photo. Flood Fill the selection with gray. Press CTRL + D to deselect.

Step 6

Create a New Raster Layer and name it “White Square.” Select the Rectangle Selection tool,  and draw a selection similar to the size and location of the below photo. Flood Fill the selection with white. With the selection still active go to Effects > Texture Effects > Tiles and use the settings similar to the photo below to create the tiles/bars. Press CTRL + D to deselect. NOTE: You don’t see the tiles in mine just yet, because it was an effect that I added after I had already finished screen captures for this tutorial.

Step 7

Now we are just going to keep repeating this process until we have all of our shapes for our bottom graphic created and in place. Use the photos below as a reference. Just remember to make a new layer for each new graphic/shape, and then rename each new layer. This will allow us to easily identify a particular graphic for future layer adjustments. You can use the naming conventions I used below to make it easier to follow along. You will either use the Rounded Rectangle Selection or Rectangle Selection tool to make the selections for your graphics. Once your selections are complete, drag the “Rounded Square” layer under the “Bottom Feather” layer.

Step 8

Open up another baseball photo of your son or daughter, or you can use another copy of the same photo and cut out the head from the shoulders up using the Free Hand Selection(point to point) tool. Once your selection around the head and shoulders is complete, go to Edit > Copy.  Next, create a new raster layer above the “white square” Layer and name it “Face.” Then go to Edit > Paste as New Selection. Use the deform tool to resize/adjust the head by pressing ‘D’ on your keyboard. Next, lower the opacity of the face layer, and use the Free Hand Selection tool to select the areas around the bottom to trim off. Press the Delete key to trim the selection. Turn the opacity back to 100 percent.

Step 9

Select the “Bottom Feather” Layer. Next, use the Rectangle or Freehand selection tool to trim up the “Bottom Feather” Layer like in the photo below. Just make a selection around the area you want to remove and press DELETE. At this time trim and adjust any other layers that need adjusting/trimming as well.

Step 10

Group all the bottom parts of the logo into one group. To create the group simply right click on the “Face” layer, and select New Layer Group and rename it. I named my group “Face and Stats.” Drag all the layers that make up the bottom logo into this group.

Step 11

Select the “Face and Stats” group layer, then right click and select Duplicate (We are creating a duplicate so that you can go back anytime in the future and make adjustments). Select the “Copy of Face and Stats” Group layer, and then right click and select Merge > Merge Group.

Step 12

Select the “Merged Face and Stats” layer and lower the Opacity toaround 40 percent. Using the selection tool, trim the areas covering the border like in the photo below. Turn the Opacity back to 100 percent.

Step 13

Create a New Raster Layer under the “Border” layer named “Gradient.” Next, use the Rectangle Selection tool to draw a selection like you see in the photo below on the “Gradient” Layer. Now, set the Foreground Color to Blue.  Next, double click on either the foreground or background colors in the Material Palette to pull up the Material Properties window. Inside the Material Properties Window select the Gradient tab and choose the “Fading Foreground” gradient and then select OK. The Foreground in your Materials Palette should look like the image below. Select the Flood Fill and fill the selection with the Fading Gradient.

Step 14

With the “Gradient” layer selected, select the Rectangle Selection tool and trim it up like you see in the photo below. Just make a selection and press “Delete” to remove then press CTRL + D deselect.

Step 15

Download this free stock baseball logo graphic and open it up in Paint Shop Pro. You can just grab the preview version because it will be large enough. Select the magic wand located in your selection tools.
Using the magic wand click the outer white area (the wand will automatically select all the white background) and press Delete to remove the white background. Press CTRL + D to deselect. Finally, go to Edit > Copy.

Step 16

Create a New Raster Layer named “Baseball Diamond logo” above the “Merged Face and Stats” layer. Select the “Baseball Diamond logo” layer and the go to Edit > Paste as New Selection. Press ‘D’ on your keyboard to pull up the deform tool to resize and position the logo.

Step 17

Create a New Raster Layer and name it “Team Number.” Set the foreground and background both to white,  and then select the Text Tool. Choose the Font and Font Size of your choice and type your son/daughter/players number. Use the Move tool(by pressing ‘M’ on your keyboard to position the numbered text into place. Next, go to Effects > 3D Effects > Drop Shadow to apply the drop shadow. See settings in image below.

Step 18

Keep repeating step 17 for the rest of the text you want to apply. Just create a new layer each time, and give it an easily identifiable name. To align the text evenly, turn on the grids by going to View > Grid. Repeat to turn off the Grids. Once you have added all the text you want to add, go ahead and group them together like we previously did in step 10.

Step 19

Finally, using your Rectangle Selection tool, make a selection around the outside of the border. Next, go to Edit > Copy Special > Copy Merged. Then go to Edit > Paste as New Image. Go to File > Export to export the image to your favorite format. Don’t forget to save your original baseball template as a pspimage or psd file.

Final Results

That’s it. Hope you enjoyed working through this tutorial.

If you do decide to join the site, please participate in at least one forum and be informative and respectful in your discussions. This will increase the site’s value to you and to other members. If the forum grows, then I will need a few volunteers to help me moderate it. If you are interested in helping moderate the forums, then contact me at paintshopblog@gmail.com or send me(torQQue) a private message over at the forum.

I will adding and discussing threads often in the forum. I encourage you to join the forums and help us build a fun and informative Paint Shop Pro community. And, if you need any questions answered or support concerning Paint Shop Pro, don’t hesitate to sign up and ask.

I look forward to chatting with you in the Paint Shop Pro forums..

torQQue

Step 1

Open up any photo with any texture. I used this stock photo of a brick wall. Then duplicate the photo so that you have two actual copies. To duplicate simply press SHIFT + D on your keyboard.

Step 2

Select either one of the two images, and turn the saturation all the way down using the Hue/Saturation/Lightness tool, so it becomes black and white.

Step 3

Next, take note of/remember the image number and/or name of the black and white photo, but make sure you don’t close it. Now, go back and select the color version of the image,  and then create a New Raster Layer (Layers > New Raster Layer). Select the new Raster layer.  Next, select the text tool by pressing T on your keyboard, and then write some text on one of the surfaces/textures in your photo. You can use any color you want for the text.  NOTE: large/bold font will produce more realistic results.

Step 4

Now that you have finished writing the text, convert the text layer to a raster layer by right clicking it and selecting Convert to Raster Layer. Now we are going to apply the displacement map to our color image by going to Effects > Distortion Effects > Displacement Map. Inside the displacement map tool, select the black and white image (remember you noted the image number earlier) to use as your displacement map. You can use the default settings and/or the custom settings you see in my displacement map settings below. I raised the intensity to 30 to give a more rigid realistic looking effect. I suggest you use a higher intensity than 10 so that you get more distortion. You can adjust/ experiment to your liking.

OPTIONAL: You can permanently save the black and white image as a displacement map. I don’t do this because I always just use the original texture, duplicate it, then de-saturate, and use it on the fly. However, if you want it to be available the next time you use Displacement maps, simply save the black and white image as a bmp into My Documents/My PSP Files/Displacement Maps folder.

Step 5

Finally, change the blend mode of the text layer Hard Light, or a blend mode that looks the best for your photo. Note: It’s good to experiment with different blend modes and opacity for different surfaces/textures to see which gives the most realistic results. Overlay, Color, Multiply, Hard Light, Soft Light, and Burn are all good candidates to try.

Youtube Video

You are to welcome to use the Youtube Video as a reference. I will post the video once it’s uploaded to the Youtube servers..

Step 1

Open up your photo subject and Duplicate the background layer. Select the copy of background layer and use the Freehand Selection tool (point to point) to outline the face. Once the selection is complete promote the selection to a layer by right clicking on the copy of background layer and selecting Promote Selection to a layer. Next, select the Promoted Layer and rename it white face. Now, go to Effects > Artistic Effects > Halftones and use the halftone settings in the photo below to create the white makeup effect. Set the opacity to around 70.  NOTE: you can increase/decrease the opacity depending on how much white makeup you want.

Step 2

With the white face layer selected, outline the left eye using the Freehand Selection tool (point to point). Once you have the left eye outlined, hold SHIFT and outline the right eye. Next, press Delete on your keyboard to reveal the eyes. Finally, with the eye selections still active go to Selections > Load/Save Selections > Save Selection to Alpha Channel. Name the Alpha channel to eyes outline and click Save.

Step 3

With the white face layer selected, outline the mouth using the Freehand Selection tool (point to point). Once you have the mouth outlined, press Delete on your keyboard to reveal the mouth.

Step 4

With the white face layer still selected, select the eraser brush and use the settings similar to the image below. NOTE: Your brush size will vary depending on the size of the image you are working with. You want to use a large eraser brush, with a low hardness and low opacity settings so you slowly blend the edges of the white makeup.

Slowly brush around the edges of the face until you achieve a realistic looking blend. It may take several passes of the eraser brush to get a realistic looking blend. Remember, to make numerous brush strokes so you can easily Undo any mistakes. I also brushed away some of the white around the nose and mouth to allow more of the facial features to show through.

Step 5

Create a new Raster Layer.  Select the new raster layer and then select the Preset Shape tool by pressing P on your keyboard.  Set your materials foreground to black, and set the materials background color to whatever color you want the eye makeup to be filled with. I used a green color for the left eye, and then a yellow color for the right eye. Next, set your Preset Shape Tool settings to the settings you see in the last image of this step.

Step 6

Select the Star Preset Shape, or a shape of your choice, and draw the shape over the left eye. Position the left eye shape into place. Next, draw the shape over the right eye, and position it into place as well. NOTE:: You can use the vector selections nodes to resize and rotate. The nodes are displayed immediately after you draw the shape. Once the shapes are in place, right click on the the vector layer and select Convert to Raster Layer.  OPTIONAL: After you convert the shapes to a raster layer you can use the Warp Brush Push to further align, mold, and/or just create some distortion in the shapes. Next, rename the layer to Eye Makeup, set the blend mode to multiply, and the opacity to around 45. Finally, go to Selections > Load/Save Selections > Load Selection from Alpha Channel and select the eyes outline selection, and then press Load. With the eyes selection outline loaded, press Delete on your keyboard to reveal the eyes.

Step 7

Next, create another new Raster layer and select it. Now, select the Ellipse Tool by pressing Q on your keyboard.  Set the Materials Foreground to Black and the Materials Background to a Red color(or color of your choice). Draw the ellipse over the mouth area and position it into place. Once the ellipse shape is in place, right click on the the vector layer and select Convert to Raster Layer. Now, rename the layer to Mouth Makeup, set the blend mode to multiply, and the opacity to around 45 or so. Next, select the Warp Brush tool and set the mode to push. The size of the warp brush should be rather large so that when you shape the mouth makeup you get uniform transformation. Warp push the shape until it looks similar to the photo below.

Step 8

After you completed warping the Mouth Makeup layer, go ahead and select the Freehand Selection tool (point to point) and outline the teeth of the mouth makeup layer. Once the selection is complete press Delete on your keyboard to reveal the teeth.

Step 9

Create a new Raster Layer and rename it Hat.  Download this stock photo of boy dressed up like a clown. The little boy is wearing a nice clown hat we can use. Using the Freehand Selection tool (point to point) draw a selection around the the Hat. Once the selection is complete go to Edit > Copy. Next, select the Hat layer, and then go to Edit > Paste as New Selection to paste in the clown hat. Press ‘D’ on your keyboard to pull up the deform tool to resize and move the hat into position. Use the Warp Brush Push tool again to push the edges of the hat over the hair and around the back of head to give the appearance that he is really wearing the hat. Next, select the Eraser brush using a opacity of 10 to slowly brush the hat to reveal some of the hair.

Step 10

Create a new raster layer and rename it Red Nose. Draw a selection around the nose using the Freehand Selection tool (point to point). Then Flood Fill the selection with a red color, and then lower the opacity to around 17. Select your eraser brush, and set the opacity of the brush to around 5. Slowly brush the edges of the red nose layer to blend it in.

Step 11

Create a new Raster Layer and rename it Bow Tie. Find a photo of a bow tie. I used this photo from a tie store. Use the magic wand to remove the white background. Optionally, you can cut out the bow tie with the Freehand Selection tool. Once the background is removed go to Edit > Copy. Next, select the Bow Tie layer and select Edit > Paste as New Selection. Again, Press D on your keyboard to pull up the deform tool to resize and move the bow tie into position.

Step 12

Temporarily toggle off the visibility of the Hat layer. Select the copy of background layer and outline the hair using the Freehand Selection tool (point to point). Once the selection is complete, right click the copy of background layer and select Promote Selection to layer. Next, rename the the Promoted Selection Layer to Original Hair. Now, Duplicate the Original Hair layer 3 times by Right Clicking it, and selecting Duplicate. Select the duplicate layers one at a time, and then colorize them. To colorize the layer go to Adjust > Hue/Saturation > Colorize. If you want to use the exact colors I did, use the colorize settings in photos below. Once you colorize a layer to a specific color rename that layer to reflect that color.

Now, select the highest/topmost layer of your colorized hair layers. Select a somewhat large eraser brush with an opacity setting of 10 or less, and slowly brush away random areas of that specific layer. You will notice the color of the hair layer directly underneath beginning to show through. Next, drop down to the hair layer directly underneath, and erase random areas of that layer to reveal color from layer underneath it. Repeat the process for all the colorized hair layers. You can go back and forth between the colorized layers brushing away certain areas until you are satisfied with the amount of coloration in the hair.

Step 13

Now, that you got a good mix of coloration in the hair go ahead and merge them into one layer. To merge them simply select the highest/topmost colorized hair layer, right click it,  and then select Merge > Merge Down.

Repeat until all three of the colorized hair layers are merged. Once they are all merged, rename the layer to Merged Hair Colors. Next, select your eraser brush and set the opacity setting to around 10 and brush the edges of the Merged Hair Layer to blend with the Original Hair Layer.

Final Results

I hope you enjoyed working through this tutorial.  BTW, if you would like to add a picture frame like below, go to Image > Picture Frame. I just used a couple of the default Picture Frames that come bundled with Corel Paint Shop Pro X2. Also, the different eye makeup is from either using different preset shapes and/or warping the star shape with the warp brush, as mentioned in the step 6 note.

For this tutorial I used the following stock photos. The girl in the bikini at the beach can be found at http://www.sxc.hu/photo/921229.

The tattoo’s I used can be downloaded at the following url’s.

The Stars - http://rene2shae.deviantart.com/art/My-Tattoo-49336516

The Big Roses -  http://pralinkova-princezna.deviantart.com/art/Flower-designs-100655634

Tribal Heart -  http://sketch-parody.deviantart.com/art/Tribal-Tattoo-Design-2-61877721

Digital Tattoo Video Tutorial

Steps used in the video.

1. Open up the photo that you will be adding the tattoos to, create a duplicate layer and then move it to
the side for now.

2. Grab some tattoo artwork. Preferably artwork with a white or solid background so you won’t have to do so much cutting out.

3. REMOVING THE WHITE BACKGROUND

*Duplicate the tattoo artwork layer and then toggle off the visibility of the background layer. Next, select the copy of background layer. Then select the magic wand.

*Magic Wand settings*
Mode = Replace
Match Mode = RGB Value
Tolerance = 20

4. Using the Magic Wand select the white/background areas while holding SHIFT and then press ‘Delete” to remove.

5. Now that the background is removed, select Edit > Copy.

6. Back to the photo subject. Create a new Raster Layer by right clicking on the ‘copy of background‘ layer and selecting New Raster Layer. Rename the layer to ‘tattoo1′

7. Next, select Edit > Paste as New Selection, to paste in the tattoo artwork on our new Tattoo1 layer.

8. Press ‘D’ on your keyboard to pull up the deform tool. Rotate and adjust the size and location of the tattoo.

9. Once the tattoo is in place lower the opacity to about 15 percent.

10. Select the Freehand Selection Tool.
*Selection Type = Point to Point
*Mode = Replace
Follow the contour of the body, and remove areas that covers the clothing,etc.

11. Once you have the area selected that you want to remove press ‘Delete’ on your keyboard. Repeat this process until you are satisfied.

12. Still on tattoo1 layer go to Adjust > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Set the Blur Radius to 1.

13. Next, set the blend mode of the tattoo1 layer to Multiply. Then lower the Opacity to around 55 percent.

14. Just repeat the process to add as many tattoos as you like. You can
also use your text tool to make text tattoos.

Before & After Results

Step 1

Select one of the preset vector shapes and/or use the pen tool to draw a custom vector path. Note: Make sure “create on vector” is checked.  Also, if you don’t want the shape to be filled with a background color make sure you set the background to transparent in the materials palette.

Step 2

After you have your vector shape complete, select the text tool. Hoover the crosshair of the text tool anywhere over the edge of the shape. The text tool crosshair will change to the image below which represents that you want to write text to that particular area of the path.

Step 3

Next, left click on your mouse to begin writing the text. Note: Make sure the path symbol is active under the “text crosshair” before you left click, otherwise the text will not be applied to the path of the shape.

Step 4

Once your text is complete you can turn off the visibility of the shape you used to write the text by expanding the vector layer, and toggling off the original shape.

Step 5

That’s it. Remember, you can also convert the vector to a raster layer by right clicking the vector layer in the layers palette, and then selecting Convert to Raster Layer. Converting to a raster layer will allow you to apply effects, such as drop shadows to your text.

For this tutorial I used a lovely photo of my wife in her Christmas hat. Yes, she is beautiful without the makeover, however, there’s nothing like a little digital makeup to further enhance her already amazingly beautiful face. (Trying to get a few of my brownie points in). And no, that’s not a hint that you need start wearing makeup more often.

Oh BTW, if you would like to read more about wife and our family, you can visit her blog over at her Contests & Sweepstakes website. Just in case someone is interested, she is always having contests for prizes, and she has several Christmas Gift contests going on through the Holiday Season.  It’s not a scam or spam site either (I help her choose many of the winners myself).  She and her sponsors give away a variety of different products ranging from multiple 500 dollar gift cards, Nintendo Wii’s and/or Wii accessories/games, clothes, dvd’s, books, tons of toys, etc.

Well enough rambling, lets get started. Oh wait, one more thing, I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. I hope you enjoy the tutorial, and thanks for stopping by. I look forward to your comments.

Youtube Video

You are also welcome to use the video for reference.

Step 1

Open the photo of yourself or someone that you would like to use.  Or you are welcome to use the same photo of my wife that I used.  Duplicate the original picture.

Step 2

Select the copy of background layer, and then select the outer edge of the face using the Freehand Selection tool (point to point mode). Once the selection is complete, hold CTRL on your keyboard down to subtract areas from the selection, such as the eyes and mouth. Next, save the selection to the alpha channel as we will need this selection again during Step 8. (NOTE: Saving selections to the Alpha channel is a good habit that will allow you to easily make future adjustments without having to make the selections again.)  With the selection still active, right click the copy of background layer and select Promote Selection to Layer. Rename the promoted selection layer to Skin smoothing. Finally, go to Adjust > Skin Smoothing, and set the amount to about 55 percent (or whatever you desire).

Step 3

Create a new raster layer, and name it Lip Liner.  Select the lip liner layer and make a selection around the outer edges of the lips.  Once the selection is complete go to Selections > Modify > Expand, and then set the pixels to around 4. (This will vary depending on the size of the photo, and how thick you wish the lip liner to be. Next, flood fill the lip liner selection with #b30809, or a color of your choice. Then go to Selections > Modify > Contract. Set the contract pixels to the same amount you expanded them. In my case it was 4. Now, press ‘Delete’ on your keyboard, then CTRL+D to deselect. NOTE: If your lip liner selection is a little crooked, use the Warp brush tool to straighten it up some.   Next, go to Adjust > Blur > Gaussian Blur and set the radius to about 2.  Finally, lower the opacity of the lip liner layer to about 45 percent.

Step 4

Select the copy of background layer, and draw a selection around the bottom lip. Once the selection is complete, right click on the copy of background layer and select Promote Selection to Layer, and then name the layer bottom lip. Next, go to Adjust > Hue and Saturation > Hue/Saturation>Lightness, and use settings similar to the photo below for a dark red color. Optionally, you can use the colorize tool. Lower the opacity of the bottom lip layer to around 50 or 60 percent.  Finally, repeat this step except this time select the top lip, and name the new layer top lip.

Step 5

Select the copy of background layer, and draw a selection around the left eye.  Once the selection is complete hold down ‘Shift’, and select the right eye. Now, right click the copy of background layer, and select Promote Selection to layer. Name the promoted layer, Eyes Sharpen.  Next, select the Eyes Sharpen layer and then go to Adjust > Sharpness > Unsharp Mask. Next, go to Adjust > Brightness and Contrast > Brightness/Contrast and use the settings in image below. Finally, lower the opacity of the Eyes Sharpen layer to around 50 percent, or whatever you desire.

Step 6

Create a new raster layer and name it blush. Select the blush layer. Now, select a round paint brush using a red color. The size of the brush will depend on the size of the photo you are working with, so adjust it accordingly. Set the hardiness of the paint brush to 50 and the opacity to 3. Next, begin slowly brushing around the cheeks and nose until you are satisfied. NOTE: Make several brush strokes so you can easily undo the previous step just in case you apply too much blush.  Also, you can always use the eraser brush with a very low opacity setting to help blend the blush.

Repeat this step except this time create a new raster layer and name it eye makeup. Select a blue color (or color of your choice) and slowly paint the blue strokes over each eye on the eye makeup layer. Make several passes around the bottom of the eye to get a darker coverage near the eyelid.

Step 7

For this step you will need the eyelash brushes. If you don’t have them you can download the eyelash brushes here.  Create a new raster layer and name it left eyelash.  Select the left eyelash layer and then select one of the eyelash brushes, set the size of the eyelash brush so it roughly fits the eye, and then apply the eyelash.  Now, right click on the left eyelash layer and select Duplicate.  Name the Duplicate layer to right eyelash. With the right eyelash selected go to Image > Mirror. This will reverse the orientation of the left eye eyelash to a right eyelash.  NOTE: The eyelash brushes you downloaded from here only come with left eyelash orientation, so you must mirror them to create the right eyelash orientation. After, you mirror the left eyelash, use the Move tool by pressing ‘M’ on your keyboard to align the right eyelash. Further adjust the size and orientation of each of the eyelash layers using the deform tool. To access the deform tool press ‘D’ on your keyboard. Use the warp brush push tool to align the eyelashes perfectly around the eye.

Step 8

Select, the skin smoothing layer that you created in step two. Right click the skin smoothing layer and select Duplicate. Name the Duplicated layer to Tan. Next, go to Selections > Load/Save Selecation > Load Selection from Alpha Channel, and select the face selection that you saved in step 2 of this tutorial. The selection will prevent you from painting a tan anywhere but on the face. In other words, it will keep brushed strokes inside the selection. Plus it will prevent you from painting any Tan over the eyes, since we subtracted eyes from the selection in step 2.  Select the makeover tool, and select the suntan brush and use a strength of about 50, or whatever you desire. Finally, begin painting the tan.  Brush slowly to assure you get even coverage.

Step 9

Select the copy of background layer, and draw a selection around the teeth. Once the selection is complete, right click the Copy of background layer and select Promote Selection to a layer. Rename the promoted layer to teeth. Finally, select the makeover toothbrush tool, and apply the toothbrush to the teeth layer. Optionally, you can flood fill the teeth with a white color and lower the opacity of the teeth layer to produce the same effect as the toothbrush tool.

The makeover portion of the tutorial is complete. The next part of the tutorial will cover how to make a Christmas card design using Paint Shop Pro.

Optional, but strongly suggested: You can group all the makeover effects into one expandable group layer to make the layer palette easier to work with. As you can see below I named the group layer that contains all the makeup/makeover effects to Makeover effects. To create this group layer simply select one of the makeover effect layers such as the left eyelash layer, then Right Click and Select New Layer Group. Then just drag all other makeup effect layers inside the group layer. You will have to drag then one at a time.  NOTE: You can still edit any of the individual layers in the group layer by hitting the ‘+’ sign next to the group layer.

Step 10

Download a Christmas background. You can find hundreds of free Christmas stock photos at http://www.sxc.hu/. If you want to use the Christmas tree background that I used then here is the link. The background I download was green be default. I simply used the colorize tool to change it to red, by going to Adjust > Hue & Saturation > Colorize, then apply the following settings.

Step 11

Next, select the copy of background layer and make a selection around outside of the head and hair. Go ahead and save that selection to the Alpha Channel, name it entire head selection.  Press CTRL + D to deselect the selection. Next, create a new raster layer over top of the makeover effects and name it black fill.  Flood fill the black fill layer with a solid black color. Then lower the opacity of the black fill layer to 71 percent. With the black fill layer selected, draw a selection in the middle, and more toward the right of the face. NOTE: The selection doesn’t have to be perfect. The reason I made the selection more to the right is because I wanted to simulate a light source shining on my wife from the right, thus creating some shadow on the left side of her face. Now, go to Selections, Modify, Feather, and feather the selection to around 25, and then press Delete. Finally, select your eraser tool using a large very large brush size, (at least a brush half the size of the face) and set the hardness to 5 and the opacity to 5 percent. Gradually brush around the face until you archive somewhat realistic shadowing and lighting effect.

Step 12

Create a new raster layer and name it Christmas Background.  Copy the Christmas Background you selected into this layer, and use the deform tool to resize the image to fill the entire background. Next, set the Blend Mode of the Christmas Background Layer to ‘Difference’ and set the opacity to 63. Load the entire head selection from the Alpha channel onto  the Christmas background layer, once the alpha selection is loaded press ‘Delete’ on your keyboard.

Step 13

Create a new raster layer named Final Darken Blend.  Select the paint brush tool and set the color to black and the brush opacity to 25 percent.  Next, slowly paint around the hair lines, and over the rest of the image to further blend the head with the background.

Step 14

Create a new raster layer named Merry Text.  Set the foreground and background colors in the materials palette to #d2061b or a color of your choice.  Select the text tool and set the font size to whatever size you want to use. Type in “Merry” on the Merry Text layer. Then go to Effects > 3d Effects > Drop Shadow, and use settings similar to the photo below. Repeat this step except this time create a new layer and name it Christmas Text, and use the word “Christmas” instead.

Step 15

Finally, create a new raster layer named Picture Frame. With the Picture Frame layer selected go to Image > Picture Frame and select the Edge Brush frame.

Final Results

Click to view full size.