Di's Delights PSP7 Knight in Armour Tutorial

PSP7 Knight in Armour

This tutorial has been written for PSP7 but will also work in PSP8.

You will need my PSP Canvas - here.

By doing this tutorial you agree to my terms of use.

I decided not to give the selection files as I know some people have problems getting them to work.
The selections are there, they have been saved to the alpha channel on the canvas.

Don't forget to save often, I am not in the habit of giving this reminder
and 9 times out if 10 don't follow this advice myself and get struck with the dreaded freeze!!!!!

1. Open the ddpd-knight canvas contained in the zip file. Save the file to where ever you wish.

2. Make the l leg layer active. Selections - Load from Alpha Channel, load the l leg selection. Flood fill with #C3C3C3. Selections - Invert. Effects - 3D Effects - Drop Shadow at the settings given. Repeat the drop shadow changing the horizontal to 2. Crtl+D.

Drop Shadow Settings
Vertical 0
Horizontal -7
Opacity 100
Blur 20
Colour Black

3. Make the l shoe layer active. Selections - Load from Alpha Channel, load the l shoe selection. Flood fill with #C3C3C3. Selections - Invert. Effects - 3D Effects - Drop Shadow change the blur to 6. Repeat the drop shadow changing the horizontal to -4. Crtl+D.

4. Create a new layer. Set the foreground colour to white. With the paint brush at the given settings, Paint highlights as shown. Effects - Blur - Gaussian Blur at a radius of 2.5. Selections - Load from Alpha Channel, load the l leg selection. Selections - Invert, delete. This will get rid of any stray pixels from the blur of the highlight. Ctrl+D.

Paint Brush Settings
Round
Size 7
Hardness 1
Opacity 100
Step 25
Density 100

5. Make the l thigh layer active. Selections - Load from Alpha Channel, load the l thigh selection. Flood fill with #C3C3C3. Selections - Invert. Effects - 3D Effects - Drop Shadow at the settings given in step 2. Repeat the drop shadow changing the horizontal to 2. Crtl+D.

6. Create a new layer. Paint a white highlight as shown. Apply a guassian blur at the same setting. Selections - Load from Alpha Channel, load the l thigh selection. Selections - Invert, delete to get rid of any stray pixels. Ctrl+D.

7. Make the l knee layer active. Selections - Load from Alpha Channel, load the l knee selection. Flood fill with #C3C3C3. Selections invert. Apply a drop shadow changing the blur to 15, horizontal 2. Repeat changing the horizontal to -7. Ctrl+D.

8. Create a new layer, paint a white highlight as shown. Apply the gaussian blur. Selections - Load from Alpha Channel, load the l knee selection. Selections - Invert, delete to get rid of any stray pixels. Ctrl+D.

9. Make the r thigh layer active. Selections - Load from Alpha Channel, load the r thigh selection. Flood fill with #C3C3C3. Selections - Invert. Apply a drop shadow and repeat as in step 2. Crtl+D. Paint a highlight as shown and apply the gaussian blur. Reload the r thigh selection, invert and delete, to get rid of any stray pixels. Ctrl+D.

10. Make the r leg layer active. Load the r leg selection. Flood fill with #C3C3C3. Selections - Invert. Apply a drop shadow and repeat as in step 2. Crtl+D. Paint a highlight as shown and apply the gaussian blur. Reload the r thigh selection, invert and delete, to get rid of any stray pixels. Ctrl+D.

11. Make the r shoe layer active. Load the r leg selection. Flood fill with #C3C3C3. Selections - Invert. Apply a drop shadow with the horizontal at 2, blur 6. Repeat the drop shadow changing the horizontal to -4. Crtl+D. Create a new layer and paint highlights as shown. Apply a gaussian blur. Reload the r leg selection, invert and delete, to get rid of any stray pixels. Ctrl+D.

12.Make the r knee layer active. Load the r knee selection. Flood fill with #C3C3C3. Selections - Invert. Apply a drop shadow with a blur of 15, horizontal -7. Repeat the drop shadow changing the horizontal to 2. Crtl+D. Paint a highlight as shown and apply the gaussian blur. Reload the r knee selection, invert and delete, to get rid of any stray pixels. Ctrl+D.

13. Make the skirt layer active. Load the skirt selection. Flood fill with #C3C3C3. Effects - Texture Effects - Blinds at the settings shown. Selections - Invert. Apply a drop shadow with a blur of 20, horizontal -7. Repeat the drop shadow changing the horizontal to 2. Crtl+D.

Blinds Setting
Width 10
Opacity 60
Colour Black
Horizontal unchecked
Light from left/top unchecked

14. Make the body bottom layer active. Load the body bottom selection. Flood fill with #C3C3C3. selections - Invert. Apply a drop shadow with a blur of 30, horizontal -7. Repeat the drop shadow changing the horizontal to 2. Create a new layer. Paint a highlight as shown. Apply the gaussian blur. Reload the body bottom selection, invert and delete, to get rid of any stray pixels. Ctrl+D.

15. Make the body top layer active. Load the body top selection. Flood fill with #C3C3C3. Selections - Invert. Apply a drop shadow with a blur of 30, horizontal 10, vertical -3. Repeat the drop shadow changing the horizontal to -15, vertical 0. Ctrl+D.

16. Make the r arm layer active. Load the r arm selection. Flood fill with #C3C3C3. Selections - Invert. Apply a drop shadow, horizontal -7, blur 20. Ctrl+D.

17. Make the l arm layer active. Load the l arm selection. Flood fill with #C3C3C3. Selections - Invert. Apply a drop shadow, horizontal -7, blur 15. Repeat the drop shadow changing the horizontal to 2. Ctrl+D. Create a new layer. Paint a highlight as shown. Apply the gaussian blur. Reload the l arm selection, invert and delete, to get rid of any stray pixels. Ctrl+D.

18. Make the l elbow layer active. Load the l elbow selection. Flood fill with #C3C3C3. Selections - Invert. Apply a drop shadow and repeat as in step 17. Ctrl+D. Create a new layer. Paint a highlight as shown. Apply the gaussian blur. Reload the l elbow selection, invert and delete, to get rid of any stray pixels. Ctrl+D.

19. Make the l gauntlet layer active. Load the l gauntlet selection. Flood fill with #C3C3C3. Selections - Invert. Apply a drop shadow, horizontal 7, blur 20. Repeat the drop shadow changing the horizontal to -2. Ctrl+D. Create a new layer. Change the foreground to #292929. With the draw tool

, freehand line, width 1, #1 solid, antialias checked. Draw in the fingers as shown.

20. Create a new layer. Layer - Arrange - Move down. Paint white highlights as shown, changing the size of the brush to about 2 for the narrower highlights. Apply a gaussian blur.

21. Make the yolk layer active. Load the yolk selection. Flood fill with #C3C3C3. Crtl+D. Load the yolk shade selection. Colours - Adjust - Brightness/Contrast, bring the brightness down to -255. Ctrl+D. Apply a drop shadow, changing the vertical and horizontal 2, blur 5. Create a new layer. Paint highlights as shown. Apply a gaussian blur of 3.5. Reload the yolk selection. Selections - Invert. Delete, to get rid of any stray pixels. Ctrl+D.

22. Make the r shoulder layer active. Load the r shoulder selection. Flood fill with #C3C3C3. Selections - Invert. Apply a drop shadow, changing the blur to 30. Repeat the drop shadow changing the vertical to 6, horizontal to -8, blur to 20. Ctrl+D. Apply a drop shadow, vertical 2, horizontal -1, blur 5. Create a new layer. Paint highlights as shown. Apply the gaussian blur.

23. Make the l shoulder layer active. Load the l shoulder selection. Flood fill with #C3C3C3. Selections - Invert. Apply a drop shadow, vertical and horizontal -2, blur 30. Repeat the drop shadow changing the vertical to 6, horizontal to 8, blur to 20. Crtl+D. Apply a drop shadow, vertical 2, horizontal 1, blur 5. Create a new layer. Paint highlights as shown. Apply the gaussian blur.

24. Make the handle layer active. Load the handle selection. Flood fill with #C3C3C3. Selections - Invert. Apply a drop shadow, vertical 0, horizontal -2, blur 8. Ctrl+D. Load the l gauntlet selection. With the eraser

, erase the handle the overlaps the fingers and taper the edge as shown. Crtl+D.

25. Make the axe layer active. Load the axe selection. Flood fill with #ABABAB. Duplicate the layer, still with the selection. Hold Shft and press the right directional arrow on your keyboard 8 times. Ctrl+Shft+F. Make the axe layer active. Selections - Invert. Selections - Modify - Feather by 4. Colours - Adjust Brightness/Contrast. Bring the brightness up by 70. Ctrl+D. Delete the copy of axe layer.

26. Create a new layer. Load the handle selection. Selections - Modify - Expand by 2. Selections - Invert. Apply a drop shadow, vertical and horizontal 1, opacity 40, blur 10. Ctrl+D. Load the axe selection. Selections - Invert. Delete. Ctrl+D.

27. Create a new layer. With the paint brush tool, change to size 5, hardness 50, dab once at the top of the ridge and again at the bottom. Effects - 3D Effects - Inner Bevel at the settings shown.

28. Make the head layer active. Load the head selection. Flood fill with #C3C3C3. Selections - Invert. Apply and repeat the drop shadow as in step 2. Create a new layer. Paint a highlight as shown and apply a gaussian blur with a radius of 3. Reload the head selection. Selections - Invert. Delete. Ctrl+D.

29. Make the visor layer active. Load the visor selection. Flood fill with #C3C3C3. Apply and repeat the drop shadow as in step 2 but with a horizontal of -2 and 7. Crtl+D. With the freehand selection tool

, point to point, feather 3, antialias checked, select the left hand side of the visor. Colours - Adjust - Brightness/Contrast, set the brightness to -50. Selections - Invert. Colours - Adjust - Brightness/Contrast, set the brightness to 15.

30. Create a new layer. Set the foreground colour to black. With the draw tool

, single line, width 4, #1 solid, antialias checked, draw some lines as shown. Load the visor selection. Selections - Modify - Contract by 4. Selections - Invert. Delete. Ctrl+D.

31. Make the shield layer active. Load the shield selection. Flood fill with #ABABAB. Selections - Invert. Apply a drop shadow, horizontal -7, blur 50. With the freehand selection tool, same settings as in step 29, select the right half of the shield. Colours - Adjust - Brightness/Contrast, set the brightness to -15. Ctrl+D.

32. Create a new layer. With the paint brush, foreground #ABABAB, same settings as in step 27 but changing the size to 7, paint some rivets by dabbing once for each rivet. Apply the same inner bevel as in step 27. You can leave the shield there or you can apply a dingbat to decorate.

Merge visible and save as a tube or in PSP format.

Look what happens to the merged image when you play with the effects in PSP -

Rough Leather Setting
Leather colour White
Angle 84
Luminance 28
Contrast 0
Sharpness 100
Blur 3
Light colour Black

Enamel Setting
Blur 3
Detail 7
Density 2
Angle 45
Colour #FFBF5B

Have a play with the different effects, a hot wax coating transfers him into the Black Knight.

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