GOD BLESS AMERICA

Created March 22, 2002 © Copyright Moon's Designs
Property of Moon's Designs
This is my creation, any similarity to other tutorials on the Internet is unintentional.
Please do not copy or place this tutorial or any graphics to any other place without written permission directly from me. Thank you

 

After the tremendous response to my American Plate and Patriotic Kite tutorials, I decided to do a patriotic tutorial each month. I write these tutorials for my love for America, and to honor those who have lost their lives due to the 911 tragedy.

The idea for this tutorial came from an advertisement from The Danbury Mint. They have a God Bless America Collector Throw available for purchase for $59.00. Instead of making a throw, I chose to make a plaque. I believe this would make a lovely addition to your web site.

Alienskin, the makers of Eye Candy and Xenofex, has a new filter called Splat! Splat! has many features including frames, textures, borders and edges. I thought it would be fun to try out the 30 day demo, we will use the resurface and the frame portion of Splat!. We will have a work out in PSP, utilizing multiple layers, duplicating layers and the mover tool.

This tutorial is written in and for PSP Version 7.04 and Animation Shop 3.04, and assumes you have a working knowledge of PSP at an intermediate-advanced level. I am sure this can easily be done in Version 6 with a few adjustments in paths but I have only used Version 7 so I can't make promises *S*

Screenshots are resized and compressed for faster loading. Yours will be much larger than what is shown in the tutorial. Remember to save your image often.

JASC's PSP (30 day free trial)- You can get it HERE
Splat! ~~ You can get the Demo version HERE

Step 1:
Open a new image 500x300, 16 million colors, transparent background. The size is large so you can see what you are doing. You can resize your flag upon completion of the tutorial.

Step 2:
Add a new layer, name it starbg. This will be the background for your stars. Set your foreground to Null and your background to a dark blue. I used #000080. Click on your preset shapes tool, . Choose the rectangle with Antialias Checked, Retain style and Create as vector UNchecked. Start a coordinates 0,0 and draw your rectangle out to 256,144. If you look to the bottom left of your work area you will see your coordinates.

Step 3:
On your layer palette, activate layer1 and add a new layer, name it red stripe. Change your foreground color to a dark red, I used #C00000, and your background color to null. Click on your draw tool, , set it at single line, width = 25.

Holding down your shift key while drawing your line will make it straight. Draw a line across the top right side of your page, next to your starbg. We have the layer under the starbg so you don't have to be exactly abutted against the blue edge, you can use your mover tool to place it.

Step 4:
Change your foreground color to an off-white, I used #FDF2DB. Add a new layer, name is whitestripe. Draw a white stripe under your red stripe. Again, use your mover tool if you need to move it.

Step 5:
On your layer palette activate your redstripe. Go to Layers-->Duplicate. With your mover tool, move the duplicated red stripe under your white stripe.

Step 6:
On your layer palette activate your whitestripe. Go to Layers-->Duplicate. With your mover tool, move the duplicated white stripe under your duplicated red stripe. Continue to do this until your image looks like this.

Step 7:
Add a new layer, name it long redstripe. Change your foreground color to your red. With your draw tool, draw a long line under your starbg and short stripes.

Step 8:
Add a new layer, name it long whitestripe. Change your foreground color to your off-white. Draw a long white line under your long redstripe.

Step 9:
Do your duplicating and moving in the same manner as the short stripes. Your image should end up looking similar to this.

Step 10:
Activate your layer palette. Hide layer1 and the starbg layer by clicking on the eyeglasses, you will get a Red X on those layers. Make sure you are on one of the stripes layers. Go to Layers-->Merge-->Merge Visible. Rename your layer stripes. You can open your hidden layers by clicking on the Red X's. SAVE.

Step 11:
Change your foreground to Null and your background to your off-white. Activate your starbg layer. Add a new layer, name it star. Pick up your preset shapes and set it to star2. Draw out a star in the upper left corner of your starbg. You will be making 6 across, and a total of 50 stars, so you won't want it too big. Go to Effects-->3D-->Drop Shadow and apply the following settings:

This is how my first star looked.

Because you will want all of your stars the same size, and not have to draw each one out, go to Edit-->Copy. Edit-->Paste-->As a New Layer. With your mover tool, place your pasted star to the right of your first star. Continue to paste as a new layer until you have 6 stars across. When you are happy with your stars, activate your layer palette. Hide all layers that are NOT a star. Make sure you are on an open star layer, merge visible. Rename this layer 6stars. Open all of your layers.

Step 12:
Your next line of stars will have 5 stars. The copy of your star should still be in your clipboard. Continue pasting as a new layer, arranging them under your 6 star layer, until you have 5 stars across. It should look something like this.

Step 13:
On your layer palette, hide all layers EXCEPT your 5 stars. Make sure that you hide the 6stars layer. Merge your 5 stars visible, rename it 5stars. You may open all layers. Activate your 6stars layer and duplicate. Move this layer below your 5star layer. Activate your 5stars layer, duplicate and move. Continue doing this until you have 5 rows of 6stars and 4 rows of 5stars. They are all on separate layers and this makes it much easier for you to move them around until you are satisfied with the placement. When you are happy with your flag, go to Layers-->Merge-->All Visible. Rename this flag. Save. I know I haven't been mentioning to save very often, I hope YOU are doing so. *smiles*

Step 14:
Now it's time to add our text. Of course, you don't have to use God Bless America. A Grand Old Flag, America the Beautiful or the Star Spangled Banner will do just fine. Change your background color to black, keep your foreground set at Null. Add a new layer, name it text1. Activate your text tool, type in the first line of your song. I used the Tahoma font, size 12, centered, floating and antialias checked. Click OK.

Move your text onto your first white line and place it where you want it. Deselect. Go to Effects-->3D-->Drop Shadow and add the following settings.

Continue adding new layers for each line of text. Type in your text for each line, deselect, apply your drop shadow. Don't forget to save after each line. When you have your song typed out, go to Layers-->Merge-->Flatten.

Step 15:
Change your background color to a light gray. I used #C0C0C0. Go to Image-->Borders. Make sure Symmetric is checked and add a border of 4. Pick up your Magic Wand (feather and tolerance=0) to select your border. Go to Effects-->3D-->Buttonize and add the following settings:

Step 16:
Change your background color to your dark blue. Go to Image-->Borders. UNcheck the symmetric. Apply the following setting.

Step 17:
Use your Magic Wand to select the border. Go to Effects-->Plugins-->Alienskin Splat Demo-->Resurface. Click on Settings and choose Leather. Fine Grained is the default. Apply the settings that I have below. Do not click OK yet.

Open the Lighting Tab and apply the following settings. Click OK. Deselect and save.

Step 18:
Add a new layer. Change your background color to White. Pick up your text tool. I changed the font size to 36. Type in the name of your song, mine is God Bless America. Center it above your flag. Deselect. Go to Effects-->3D-->Inner Bevel. Apply the Pillow preset that comes with PSP. Merge your two layers. Save.

Step 19:
Change your background color to red. Go to Image-->Border and check symmetric this time. Add a border of 20. Select your border and add the same Splat! leather as we did for the blue border. Deselect and save.

Step 20:
Change your background color to white. Add a new border of 20. Select your border. Go to Effects-->Alienskin Splat Demo-->Frames. Click on the browse, click on the Wooden folder, select the frame007.

Change the settings to what I have below:

Click OK and Save.

You are basically done, but this is really huge. You are going to resize it for your web site or for sending in to your group, if they are using it for a lesson. I have found that 350 pixels on the longest side is a good size. Go to Images-->Resize and apply the following settings.

Go to Effects-->Sharpen-->Sharpen. You now have a beautiful Patriotic Song.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and learned something about duplicating layers and moving them around. I also hope you enjoy your 30 days of using Splat!

A special thank you to my tutorial testers, Suz, Suecat, Beckie, Elkay, Terri and Randie. Without these wonderful gals I really wouldn't be where I am today.