| Vector Drawing Tutorial for Paint Shop Pro - Page 6 | |
(If you arrived on this page from a search, you can start the tutorial on page one.)
STEP 9 ....COLLAR
Kitty looks a little bare...let's give her a nice colorful collar! Because the back half of the collar must be behind the body, we will draw the collar on the CAT layer and move the layer button for the back half until it is behind the neck.
- Preset Shapes, rectangle, anti-alias and vector checked, line style solid, width 1
- Select a solid color for the fill color and black for outline (stroke)
- Draw a long narrow rectangle near kitty's neck
- Duplicate shape by selecting COPY > PASTE AS NEW VECTOR SELECTION This 2nd rectangle will be the back half of the collar.
- Change the fill color for the back half of collar to something darker by sliding the lightness control bar in the Materials palette. (PSP7 Color Palette) Click the Fill color to open the dialog box ...below the color wheel there's 3 indicators for H(hue), S(saturation), and L(lightness). Below each of those is a slider control. Use the L slider to darken your color.
Move the layer for the darker half of the collar so it is below the FRONT layer. Easy to do on the Layer Palette: Click the + sign next to the CAT layer button to reveal the sub-layers, then click and drag the layer button for the back half of the collar to a new position below the FRONT layer.
Now let's add some curves to the collar the same way we curved the mouth. Zoom in first to see better.
Pen tool, Edit Mode. Select a corner node, right click, select NODE TYPE, select CURVE BEFORE or CURVE AFTER depending on the position of the node within the path. Remember ...the 'path' moves in the same direction as the arrow points (on node handle). Keeping that in mind, place a curve BEFORE or AFTER a node. Then grab the node handle and pull/rotate until the line segment curves into a shape appropriate for the curve of a collar.
Repeat this for the front and back half of the collar. Line both halves of the collar up so they overlap, with outside edges in alignment (refer to screenshot). You can easily move the vector object without switching tools...just grab a line segment with your cursor and it'll move!
On my final version of Pretty Kitty, I added some airbrushed shading and an ID tag to the collar. Also gave it some sparkle with EFFECTS>ILLUMINATION EFFECTS>SUNBURST.
STEP 10 .... MAKE IT YOUR OWN!
This may be the end of the tutorial....but this is also where I challenge everyone...especially advanced users of PSP .....to create those details that will make Miss Kitty uniquely their own! Add some 3D effects or change the colors to make a cat that is a little more realistic or make it look like a stuffed kitty with a fabric pattern and some stitches! I've shown you how to use the tools by copying my Pretty Kitty ....now you show me what you can create with this knowledge....something original from YOUR own imagination! Enjoy! ....Arizona Kate
