Tutorial: Creating a Basic Graphic Page in Paint Shop Pro

Making a Graphic Style page in Paint Shop Pro 8.

1. Create a new image. For this tutorial, I created an 8x10 inch image at 200 dpi.

2. Using your paint bucket tool, fill the image with the color you want for your background. Here I chose a bright orange.

3. Open the image you’d like to use as your background photo (FILE > OPEN). Click EDIT > COPY. Now be sure to click on the new layout you’re working on and click EDIT > PASTE AS NEW LAYER.

4. Select your DEFORM tool. Your image will now be highlighted. Using the squares on the sides of our image, pull the image to cover the entire background. If you do not like the dimensions of the deformed image, you might select only an area of your image and stretch that to cover the background.

5. Now we want to fade our background image so our main images and text will stand out later. On your layer palette, move the transparency slider for your photo to about 50. You can adjust this later to go darker or lighter if needed. Your background is done!

6. From your computer, open the photos you would like to use in your layout (FILE > OPEN). You’ll want to resize the images to fit on your layout. Since my completed layout is 8x10 inches, I’ve made my main photo 5 inches tall (5 inches x 300dpi = 1500 pixels tall) and my smaller photo is 3.5 inches tall (3.5 x 300dpi = 1050 pixels tall). Choose one photo and click EDIT > COPY. Click on your layout and choose EDIT > PASTE AS NEW LAYER.

7. Move your photo into place by clicking SELECTIONS > SELECT ALL. You can now move your mouse to the image and move it. Click SELECTIONS > SELECT NONE when you get it into place. You can move the image later if needed.

8. We’re going to repeat steps 6 and 7 to paste our smaller image on a new layer and move it into place.

9. Time to add some text! Create a new layer (LAYERS > NEW RASTER LAYER). I named mine TEXT and hit okay. Select your text tool and choose a basic font for the main “ART” on the top right. I chose Times New Roman, which just about every computer should have. I made my text size 250 and chose the color white. I moved the word to line up with the right edge of my main photo. I also added a dark drop shadow (EFFECTS > 3D EFFECTS > DROP SHADOW) with the following settings: Vertical:-10, Horizontal:-10, Opacity:100, Blur:0, Color:black, Shadow on a New Layer: unchecked.

NOTE: You can create each bit of text on a new layer, or work all on one. It’s up to you. Creating several layers gives great flexibility, but uses more of your computer’s resources and may slow it down. By creating on layers, you can manipulate the transparency of each level separately. You may want this flexibility for some projects.

10. To type vertically, as in the word “completes”, simply type c, hit enter, o, hit enter, etc. If you need more or less space between the letters, you can adjust the leading option. To stretch text, as in “bring to finish” at the bottom, you need to adjust the Kerning setting. Uncheck Auto Kern and move the slider to about 500. You may even type the words with a space between each letter then adjust the kerning to the desired look.

11. To add the transparent word at the top right, create a new layer. Select your text tool and choose a script font. Using a large size, type “art”. As in step 5, we want to lower the transparency of this layer. I used CK Cursive and lowered the opacity to 30.

12. To complete your layout, make a new layer and name it Lines. On this layer, use the line tool to create simple lines that give a sharp, clean look to your layout. You can adjust the thickness for various looks.

13. Always save in psp format to preserve your layers in case you want to make changes later. You can also resize the image and save as a jpg to share on the web!

For a printable version of this tutorial click here.