Folk Art
Painting
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Tutorial written July 25, 2006.
This tutorial is written using PSP X but can done in other version with a little modification
of tool locations..We will be using vectors in this tutorial so a working knowledge of vectors will come in handy
but none of the vector shapes are that hard. If you are new to vectors you may want to give
my Vectors 101 tutorials a try, there is one written for 7, 8, 9, & X and also an Exploring Node
Types tutorial that will show you what the different types of nodes can do. You can find them
listed on my tutorial index page.
SAVE OFTEN!
Let's get started first by making our trees we will be using in our painting.
1. Open a 200X500 transparent canvas. Save this canvas as a .pspimage
We are going to first make a silly tree, looks kind of like what you would see in a Dr. Seuss
book I think.2. Set your background color to #464c3f , your foreground color should be off.
3. Preset Shapes set to Ellipse with these settings...
4. At the bottom center of your canvas draw out an oval...
5. Right click on your oval, select, Convert to Path....
6. Activate your Pen Tool
. We want to first shape our oval into what looks kind of like a bell.
At the top of your oval, add a node close to the existing one. Move both nodes so that they
square off the top...7. At the bottom, add two nodes on each side of the existing node. Move them out to form the bottom...
8. Along the bottom place nodes and shape something like this...
9. Once you're finished, click Apply.
SAVE!
10. Go to Edit, Copy. Edit, Paste as a New Layer. Click on the Pick
tool. Move the layer
into position at the top of the first layer, resize the layer smaller and shorter.
Click on the Pen Tool to reshape the nodes a little. This is what I have....11. Go to Edit, Copy, Edit, Paste as a New Layer, move into position using the Pick Tool, resize
and use the Pen Tool to reshape...SAVE!
12. Go to Layers, New Vector Layer. Preset Shape, Ellipse, color same as we used for the first shape.
13, Draw out an oval at the top of your other 3 layers....
14. Right click, Convert to Path, click on the Pen Tool. This is the placement and shape of my
nodes....15. Convert each layer to a Raster Layer.
SAVE!
16. Make the top of your tree your active layer. Go to Selection, Select All, Selection Float.
17. Go to Effects, 3D Effect, Cutout and apply these settings...
Shadow color #17181618. Make yourself a small swatch canvas using these 3 colors....
#8c8434
#e0b054
#272c22.19. Activate your Airbrush Tool, set to these settings...
Note, this is just a rough guideline of the settings for the Airbrush, adjust them as you think best.20. Start by spraying some of the golden color on your layer, use the darker green to shade in some
areas.21, Use the Smudge tool to blend the colors....
22. Select and Float each layer, apply the same steps with the Cutout, Airbrush and Smudge tool.
SAVE often as you shade!
You should end up with a tree that looks something like this...
Now, out of this one tree we can make several trees, for this tute we will turn it into 3 trees,
23. Go to Window, Duplicate, do this again. You should have 3 images.
24. On one of the images, make the bottom layer of the tree your active layer. Delete the layer.
25. Add a New Vector Layer. Set your background color to #4c4516 foreground off.
26. Preset Shapes set to Rectangle, Anti-alias checked, Show nodes and Create on Vector
Layer checked.27. Draw out a long narrow rectangle as the trunk of the tree, Convert the layer to Raster....
28. Feel free to apply a cutout and add shading to the trunk if you wish.
29. Merge the layers visible. Save as a copy as tree2.pspimage if you want.
Remove the excess area and Export this tree as a tube.30. Make the second duplicate tree your active image. Delete the bottom, second from bottom and
the top layer on it. This should leave only the second from the top layer. It kind of looked like a
stump to me so that's what I'll be using it as....Save this image as tree3.pspimage if you want, remove the excess and export as a tube.
31. Back to our original tree image. Merge the layers visible, remove any excess there might be
and save as tree1.pspimage. Export as a tube.That's it for our trees!
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________Let's start on our painting now.
1. Open a 600 X 500 Transparent canvas. Flood fill Raster 1 layer with white. Name and save
the canvas as a .pspimage2. Set your foreground color to #81703c and your background color to #93934d
3. Preset Shapes set to Rectangle with these settings....
4. Draw out a large rectangle across the bottom half of your canvas, it doesn't matter if it over
hangs on the ends and bottom...5. Add nodes and shape as I have below to make your hills. Change the node types where needed....
6. Convert the layer to Raster naming as Hill.
SAVE!
7. Add a new Raster Layer. Turn your background color off. Set your Pen Tool to these settings...
8. At each of the valley points on your hills draw a small line. Click once to start your line then again where
you want your line to end. Zoom way in so you can see. Click Apply when you're happy with the placement of
each line....9. Make active your hill layer. Select and Float the layer so we can add some shading.
10. Set your background color to #4a4d47 and your foreground color to #baaa2a
You can also add lighter colors such as #e1d781 in small amounts here and there.11. Airbrush settings...
Note the brush size. Range it between the above 23 to as large as 145. When using the large size, make
one click sprays in areas you want heavier color.12. Spray in color and then smudge, a little more color and smudge. Smudge Tool settings are...
Sometimes with the smudge tool I went in a circular motion and sometimes I pulled down, other areas I
smudged very lightly to give the look of wild flowers.This is what my hills look like now...
Deselect your hills. SAVE!
13. Add a new layer so that we can add some of our trees. Use tree 1 and tree 2 to add some small trees
in the distance on the hills. Set the tube size to 10 then use the Pick Tool to make even smaller.
Use the smudge tool to blend them in. Add as many new layers as you need....14. Add more layers to place larger trees on, even using tree 3 once or twice. Use the Smudge Tool to
lightly blend the trees at the bottom if you want to...SAVE!
Let's make our Tipi.
15. Make your top layer your active layer. Add a New Vector Layer. Set your Preset Shapes to
Triangle with these settings...16. Set your foreground color to #e2ccab background color to #f4e8d0
17. Draw out a Triangle, click on the Pen Tool.
Right click on the bottom left node, change the type to Curve Before.
Pull down and over towards the center of the triangle to make a rounded bottom.18. Right click on the right corner node and change the type to Curve After. Pull the handle
down and over to complete your rounded bottom...19. Place a new node on the right and on the left of the triangle close to the top...
20. Take the top node and move it down so that it gives a rounded top...
21. Convert to Raster. SAVE!
22. Make your foreground color your background color, turn foreground color off.
23. Draw out another small triangle in the center of your tipi....
24. Click on the Pen Tool. Right click on the bottom left node and change the type to Curve Before.
Round off the bottom so that it matches the tipi bottom. Convert to Raster.SAVE!
25. Add a New Vector Layer. Draw out another smaller triangle to the left of the other one. Click
on the Pen Tool. Use the nodes to angle the triangle so that looks like the open flap for the door.
Change the left node to Curve Before....26. Convert to Raster.
SAVE!
27. Make your main tipi layer your active layer, go one layer below it and make it the active layer.
28. Preset Shapes set to Rectangle using the same settings we've used in this tutorial. Set your
background color to #70623d29. Draw out a long narrow rectangle...
30. Convert to Raster. Duplicate this layer and use the Pick Tool to rotate the layers to make
the sticks for the top of the tipi....SAVE!
31. Make active the main tipi layer, select and float the layer. Set your foreground color to #926d14
Use the Airbrush and the smudge tool to shade the tipi...32. Select and Float the tipi doors one at a time, using #5f470f to shade and then smudge the doors....
SAVE!
33. Add a New Vector Layer. Set your foreground color to the dark brown you used to shade the door.
34. Click on the Pen Tool and set to these settings....
Note the Line Style, it's called Arrowhead Ball.35. At the top of the tipi draw a line across. Allow it to over lap the edge of the tipi. Convert to Raster
and draw another line below it overlapping the edge. Convert it to raster. Draw two more lines about
middle the tipi. You can right click and change the node types to Curve before or after to shape the line
better around your tipi if you want....36. Click on the Move Tool
to click on the main tipi layer. Select and Float it, Invert the
selections.
Use the Move Tool to click on each of the lines you drew one at a time. Hit the Delete key on your
keyboard on each layer to remove the overlapped line....37. Deselect the tipi. Make it your active layer. Use the smudge tool to blend the bottom of the tipi
with the grass a little.SAVE!
38. Make your very top layer your active layer. Add a new Raster Layer. Set your foreground color
to #cb9f3539. Set the Pen Tool to these settings....
40. Where the sticks of the tipi meet draw a few lines crossing there. Click once to start the line then
again where you want the line to end. Click Apply after each line to set it.....SAVE!
All we like now is our sky!
41.. Make Raster 1 Layer your active layer. Should be the white background layer.
42. Making your sky is going to up to you. You can either make it a blue sky or a sunset
orange sky.42. What I did was; on top of the white I used the Airbrush with these settings.....
to lay in my sky. To make the sun I lowered the size and kept spraying until I got the sun as bright as I
wanted it. Below are the colors I used to make the sunset sky and to make my blue night sky...Sunset Night Sky
#f7af69 #82b1f4
#f27608 #0a408cFor my night sky I did use the Smudge Tool to blend the sky but didn't for the sunset sky. I also set my
color to a #deeafa and my airbrush size to 53 and heavily sprayed in a moon.
That's it, I hope you've enjoyed this tutorial.
Until next time, God Bless!
Connie
Designs By Astro Index of
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Tutorial written July, 2006
© Copyright
2006 Designs By Astro
All rights reserved.
