PATRIOTIC KITE

Created February 27, 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

 

I know it isn't even close to Spring in most parts of the Country, but it sure is here in Sunny Southern California. *smiles* I was compelled to write this tutorial for a kite. I decided to make it a Patriotic Kite as the events of 911 are still so near and dear to our hearts. Of course you don't have to make it Patriotic, you can use any colors that you want.

Remember, my tutorials are only guidelines to help you accomplish a certain creation. Please feel free to be inventive and take whatever liberties you would like. I encourage each of you to do your "own thing" and make your creation yours!

This tutorial is written in and for PSP Version 7.04 and assumes you have a working knowledge of PSP at an beginner-intermediate 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*

JASC's PSP (30 day free trial)- You can get it HERE
My Inner Bevel Preset ~ You can get it HERE

Please SAVE your work often!!

Step 1:
Open a new image, 350x600, transparent background, 16 million colors. This is a large canvas size, but we need room to work and we will resize it later. Add a new layer naming it top.

Step 2:s
Set your foreground to Null and your background to Red. (#C00000) I am giving the instructions for making the kite patriotic. Please feel free to use whatever color you would like for your kite. Pick up your Preset Shapes tool, , set at Triangle, retain style and create as vector UNchecked.

Make a triangle with these coordinates:95,15 to 276,143. If you use other coordinates make sure you make a note of what they are as you will need them for the bottom triangle.

Step 3:
Add a new layer and name it bottom. Change your background color to White. Make this triangle from coordinates 276,326 to 95, 143. Notice that we start this triangle at the first coordinate where the top triangle ended and draw up to the first coordinate where the top triangle started and ended. That is why it's important to note your original coordinates when drawing the top triangle.

Step 4:
Change your foreground color to Blue (#0000C0). Pick up your selection tool, , set at Rectangle, Feather =0, Antialias UNchecked. Make a Rectangular selection surrounding half of your bottom, as shown in the image below:

Click within the selected white area, and only half of the area will be selected. Flood fill the selected area with your foreground blue color. Deselect (Ctrl+D) and Save.

Step 5:
Add a new layer and call it crossbars. Use your Draw Tool, , with these settings: Type=Single Line, Width=4, Line Style = #1 Solid, and Antialias, Create as Vector and Close Path all UNchecked. Change your foreground color to Black and your background to Null.

While holding down the Shift key, draw a horizontal line across the kite, where the colors meet. Make the lines extend slightly past the kite edges. Draw a vertical line down the center. This is how mine looked:

On your Layers Palette, drag the crossbars layer below the top layer, so only the tips are showing. SAVE.

Step 6:
Activate Layer 1, add a new layer and name it tail. Pick up your draw tool, change the style to Freehand, the width to 5 and check Antialias. Starting at the bottom of your kite, draw a long, wavy line. Similar to what I have below:

Step 7:
We need to add some bows to our tail, I will show you how I made mine. I made 3 different colors red, white and blue *grin*. Set your foreground to Null and your background to the color you want to make your bow. Open a new image 150,150, transparent background, 16 million colors. Using the preset shapes, still set to triangle, draw a triangle from these coordinates: 86,64 up to 53, 32.

Go to Effects-->3D-->Inner Bevel and apply the md-bow preset that you downloaded earlier. Go to Layers-->Duplicate. Go to Images-->Flip. With your mover tool line up the flipped triangle with the top triangle, as shown below:

Step 8:
Add a new layer. Change your preset shapes to Ellipse. Holding down the Shift key, draw a small circle in the middle of your bow. Apply your Inner Bevel. Go to Layers-->Merge-->Merge Visible. Now go to Images-->Rotate and rotate your bow to the right by 90 degrees.

I then cropped my bow and exported it as a tube. This is how my cropped bow looks.

Step 9:
Now it's time to place your bows on the tail of your kite. You can do this one of two ways. If you tubed your bows, then add a new layer for each bow and use the tube tool to place them. If you don't want to tube your bows you can copy and paste them as a new layer. On your bow image go to Edit-->Copy (Ctrl+C). Activate your kite image and Edit-->Paste-->As A New Layer (Ctrl+L). Use your deformation tool to move and rotate the bow as desired. Hit Apply (or double click) when you are happy with your placement.

Continue to add your bows until you have filled your tail, using the deformation tool to move and rotate. Here is how mine looked after the bows were put on.

Step 10:
Add any other decorations or text that you would like on your kite, adding a new layer for each item. If you would like to angle your kite, as I did in the picture at the top of this tutorial, then hide all layers except your top, bottom and crossbars layers. Make sure you are on one of the open layers and go to Layers-->Merge-->Merge Visible. You can use the deformation tool to rotate your image, making sure to go to Effects-->Sharpen-->Sharpen if you do, or you can go to Images-->Rotate and rotate the top part of your kite by about 15 degrees to the left. Unhide the remaining layers and with your mover tool, move your kite to blend in with the tail section.

Step 11:
When you are satisfied with your kite, hide layer1. Activate your very top layer and Layers-->Merge-->Merge Visible. Your kite is now on one layer. Activate layer 1 and flood fill with the color or texture of your choice.

Step 12:
Go to Layers-->Merge-->Merge Flatten. If you would like to resize your image go to Images-->Resize and enter the size you would like it to be. You can find out more about resizing your images and retaining clarity by going to my tutorial HERE.

I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial as much as I did creating it for you. A special thank you to my tutorial testers, Suz, Suecat, Beckie, Elkay, Terri and Randie.