The Sounds of the Sea

This tutorial was written by me on August 14th, 2012. Any resemblance to any other tutorial or tag is unintentional and is pure coincidence. Please do not claim my work as your own and do not post to any other website, blog or forum without permission from me. It is written with the assumption that you have a working knowledge of PSP and its components. It was written for PSP 9.

I recommend that you read through this or any tutorial you are attempting before starting it so you will know what to expect and how to get organized.

As with any of my tutorials when a plugin is required, change only the settings I recommend and leave the others on the default settings.

What you will need to accomplish this tutorial is this fun kit by the amazing Ladyhawwk Designs..LHD_Caron Vinson_Pack 68 that you can purchase at Creative Design Outlet HERE.  You can buy the pack of tubes HERE or you can buy the single tube HERE along with all of Caron's tubes.  Please support the arts and DO NOT use Caron's tubes without a license.  Plugins are Alien Skin Eye Candy 5/Impact and Xero. Font is 2 Peas Barefoot Professor, you can get it HERE.

Let's get started....

First start a new 700 x 700 white image and copy and paste Ele11 into it.  Resize it by 125% and give it a drop shadow using these settings:

Next copy and paste the frame, Frame 5, above it, resize it 55%, center it and give it the same drop shadow.  Now copy and paste Paper 9 below the frame, resize it 50% and then drag the edges to fit it into the frame.

Now copy and paste Ele9 above the frame, resize it 50%, duplicate it and put both on both sides of the frame, give each the same drop shadow.

Now copy and paste the anchor on the chain, Ele14, above the frame.  Resize it 50% and duplicate it.  Put each anchor on the left and right of your frame (see below)...

Merge the anchor elements together and duplicate it.  Drag the duplicate above the wheel layers and then erase the part of the chain that hangs over the wheels ( use my image as a reference.)  Add the same drop shadow.

Copy and paste you tube on the top of your canvas and resize it 90%.  Go to Effects/Plugins/Xero/Radiance and use these settings:

Then go back to Effects/Plugins/Xero/Porcelain and use these settings:

Next go to Effects/Plugins/Alien Skin Eye Candy 5/Impact/Perspective Shadow and use these settings:

 (You can tweak your shadows by moving the nodes around in the preview window. To move one node at a time hold down your CTRL key. It's very important to think about how a shadow would be cast realistically and how dark or how light it should be. This plugin is one of my favorites and one I use with nearly every single one of my tags.)

Now copy and paste the Starfish element below your tube layer and resize it 80% then give it the same drop shadow.  Duplicate it a few times and randomly place it around your tag...you can use my image as a reference for size and placement.  For precise sizing I use my Raster Deform tool.  It also prevents a lot of distortion that happens sometimes resizing in percentages.

Copy and paste the twig element, Ele38, above the frame layer...resize it 50% and then rotate it 90 degrees...use your Raster Deform Tool to tilt it just a bit...see my image for precise placement.  Duplicate and mirror it and then give both the same drop shadow.

Now we're going to colorize the shell..I wanted to kind of match it to the shell the little mermaid is holding...Copy and paste the shell, Ele29, above the starfish and resize it 25%.  Move it to the lower left of your frame.  Once you place it don't move it again until we're finished with our steps here.  Duplicate it twice.  Select the middle shell layer in your layer palette and then go to Adjust/Hue and Saturation/Colorize and use these settings:

Now in your layer palette select the second duplicate and go back to Adjust/Hue and Saturation/Colorize and use these settings:

Using your Selection Tool with a Feather of 30% select the bottom of the shell on this same layer and hit delete a couple of times...see below:

Now go to the middle shell layer and select the top of the shell with the same feather and hit delete a couple times until you get the desired effect...now merge the three layers together and you can resize and move your shell anywhere on your canvas you wish.  Add the same drop shadow.

Now copy and paste the blue fish.  You can always, always, always use your Raster Deform tool to achieve precise sizing.  You want several different sizes.  I chose three.  In a good design for most elements you want to use an ODD number...this gives an image more of a sense of balance and interest.  Your fish should be at the top of your canvas as they should appear to be floating by the mermaid.  Once you have them sized and placed, go to Effects/Plugins/Alien Skin Eye Candy 5/Impact/Perspective Shadow and use these settings

Since the fish is floating by, a shadow way below it give it much more depth and makes it appear to be floating.

Add your name ( for crisp edges on your fonts, your Antialias should be set to Sharp )...for the bevel go to Effects/3d Effects/Inner Bevel and use these settings:

Once again, add the same drop shadow....add your copyright, taking care that it's legal and legible.  For a professional-looking copyright I use pixel or copy fonts.  You can google and find hundreds of these fonts.  Most of them work best with your Antialias set to Off and at size six.  Resize to fit your needs and you're done.

Thank you for trying my tutorial.  I hope you had fun and maybe learned something to hone your PSP skills.

Blessings,

Trese