Soothe A Broken Heart Tutorial

This tutorial was written by Amber Howard on November 25, 2014. Any resemblances to other tutorials are completely coincidental. Scripting and translating of this tutorial is forbidden. Do not copy and paste this tutorial anywhere else on the internet. Please link back to the main blog instead.

In this tutorial I used the artwork of Rossana Castellino.

You can purchase Rossana’s artwork and a license through CDO.

Please do not use this or any other artwork without purchasing a proper license first.

Supplies needed:
PaintShopPro — I used X7 but any version will work
Animation Shop
Tube of choice
Font of choice — I used Nadine Script Extra
Wordart
Template 116 by Spawn

Plugins needed:
EyeCandy 6 —Perspective Shadow
EyeCandy 5 Impact — Perspective Shadow
EyeCandy 4 — Gradient Glow
Xero — Porcelain, Radiance, Mistifier
Muras Meister — Copies
DSB Flux — Bright Noise
VanDerLee — Snowflakes

This one is for you, Melissa! <3

Ready? Set? Go!

Open Spawn’s Template and hit Shift + D to duplicate it and then close the original.

Delete the credits layer and then hide all layers except for the main background.

Choose a dark color from your tube, I used #2f3c58, and flood fill the main background.

Copy and paste your tube (or close-up) as a new layer and position at the left edge of the template.

Duplicate the tube layer and mirror its position to the right side of the template.

Merge the two tube layers together and then duplicate. 

On the original tube layer change the settings to Luminance or Luminance Legacy, and rename this layer base tube.

On the copy, apply Xero — Porcelain after you change the Blue Channel settings to 0.

Next, apply Xero — Radiance with default settings.

Then, apply Xero — Mistifier with default settings.

Change the settings of this layer to Multiply, and then merge down into your base tube layer.

Add a drop shadow of choice. I used V&H 2/2, Opacity 60 and Blur 11.45.

Make the horizontal lines layer active and visible.

Zoom in just a little bit so that you can properly see the lines, and then take your magic wand

with the settings Mode: Add, Match: Color, and Tolerance 20, select all of the lines.

Choose a complimentary color from your tube, I used #7b6a63, and then flood fill the horizontal lines on the template.

Selections – Select None. 

Next, go to Adjust – Add Noise with the following settings: Gaussian, 50%, Monochrome checked.

Duplicate the horizontal lines layer, and on the original go to Adjust – Brightness and Contrast – Brightness and Contrast.

Move the Brightness slider all the way down to -255 and apply.

Adjust – Blur – Gaussian Blur – with the Radius setting at 11.00.

Right click your horizontal lines layer and merge visible.

Rename this layer background.

Make the rectangles background layer active and visible.

Take your magic wand with the previous settings, and select all of the rectangles in the layer.

Flood fill with a lighter color from your tube, I used #88aede.

Selections – Select None.

Copy and paste your tube as a new layer, and position the part that you want visible in the left side of the rectangles background layer. I used the first three rectangles.

Apply Mura’s Miester – Copies with the Line preset and default settings.

Make the rectangles background layer active again, and go to Selections – Select All – Float – Defloat – Invert.

Make your tube layer active again and press Delete on your keyboard.

Selections – Select None.

Change the settings on your tube layer to Overlay and duplicate.

Apply Xero – Porcelain, Radiance and Mistifier with the same settings as before.

Make sure no other layers save your rectangles background, tube layer one, and tube layer two are active and then merge visible.

Rename this layer merged rectangles background.

Make the rectangles border layer active and visible.

Duplicate this layer and on the original apply a Gaussian Blur with a Radius setting of 5.00

Make the border layer active and visible.

Zoom in on the canvas until you can see the line, and then take your magic wand tool with the same settings.

Select the border line and then flood fill with the same color that you used for the horizontal lines layer.

Selections  – Select None.

Next, go to Adjust – Add Noise with the following settings: Random, 100%, Monochrome checked.

Duplicate the border layer, and on the original go to Adjust – Brightness and Contrast – Brightness and Contrast.

Move the Brightness slider all the way down to -255 and apply.

Adjust – Blur – Gaussian Blur – with the Radius setting at 6.00.

Make your merged rectangles background layer active.

Copy and paste your tube onto the template and position to your liking. I chose the center of the canvas.

Duplicate your tube layer and apply Xero – Porcelain, Radiance and Mistifier with the same settings as before.

Change the settings of the duplicate layer to Soft Light.

Apply a drop shadow of choice to the original tube layer.

I used Eye Candy 5 Impact – Perspective Shadow with the following settings:

Open the word art I made to include with this tutorial.

Resize if needed, I resized mine by about 85%.

Make sure that your top layer is active and then paste the wordart as a new layer.

Arrange on the canvas where you would like to put it, and then add a gradient glow of choice,

using the same color that you used to fill the rectangles background layer. I used a 4.00 thickness for mine.

Add a drop shadow of choice.

Hide your background and merged rectangles layer and merge visible.

Rename this layer toppings.

If you are NOT animating your tag, then choose a pixel font to add your credits and tagger’s mark.

Choose another font and add your name. Convert to raster layer after you’ve got your name where you would like it.

Duplicate your name layer and on the copy apply DSB Flux – Bright Noise with a setting of 100%.

On the copy of your name layer, apply the same gradient glow that you used on the word art, and then apply a drop shadow of choice. 

I used Eye Candy 6 – Perspective Shadow on the Drop Shadow, Height 0 preset with the following additional settings:

Save as .jpg!

If you ARE animating your tag, ignore the steps to add your credits, tagger mark and name. 

Instead, make your merged rectangles background layer active once again.

Layers – View – Current Only.

Duplicate your merged rectangles background layer twice for a total of three of that layer.

Add three raster layers and arrange as follows:

Raster 3
Copy (2) merged rectangles background
Raster 2
Copy merged rectangles background
Raster 1
merged rectangles background

It is very important that you have your layers set up that way so that the animation comes out as it is supposed to.

Make your Raster 1 layer active.

Apply VanDerLee – Snowflakes with the following settings:

Repeat on Raster 2, only change the Random Seed to 1.
Repeat on Raster 3, only change the Random Seed to 2.

Next go to Adjust – Blur – Motion Blur with the following settings: Angle 132, Strength 100%.

Repeat on Raster 2, and Raster 1.

Once you have your rain layers completed, make your merged rectangles background layer active again.

Go to Selections – Select All – Float – Defloat – Invert.

Make your Raster 1 layer active.

Hit delete on your keyboard.

Repeat on Raster 2 and Raster 3.

Next, merge your Raster 3 layer into your Copy (2) merged rectangles background layer.

Merge your Raster 2 layer into your Copy merged rectangles background layer.

Merge your Raster 1 layer into your merged rectangles background layer.

Now, I know everyone does animations differently, but this is how I do mine. Feel free to use the animation style preferences that you have instead of this way. This way is a little faster, I think, but a little more complicated.

Go to Layers – View – None.

Make your background layer active and duplicate twice for a total of three layers.

Make your toppings layer active and duplicate twice for a total of three layers.

Now, make your first background, merged rectangles background, and toppings layers visible. Make sure you have the background selected in your layers palette, and merge visible.

Rename this layer Frame 1 and hide for now.

Make your second background, merged rectangles background and toppings layers visible. Make sure the background layer is selected in your layers palette, and merge visible.

Rename this layer Frame 2 and hide for now.

Make your third background, merged rectangles background and toppings layers visible. Make sure the background layer is selected in your layers palette, and merge visible.

Rename this layer Frame 3 and then go to Layers – View – All.

Choose a pixel font to add your credits and tagger’s mark.

Add an optional gradient glow to your credits and tagger’s mark.

Duplicate twice for a total of three layers.

Merge a copy of your credits and mark into Frame 1, 2, and 3.

Choose another font and add your name. Convert to raster layer after you’ve got your name where you would like it.

Duplicate your name layer twice for a total of three layers.

On each layer apply DSB Flux – Bright Noise with a setting of 100%, hitting Mix once each time.

On the copies of your name layer, apply the same gradient glow that you used on the word art, and then apply a drop shadow of choice. I used Eye Candy 6 – Perspective Shadow on the Drop Shadow, Height 0 preset with the same settings as above.

Next, arrange the layers in your layer palette so that it repeats for each frame: Name, Frame 3, Name, Frame 2, Name, and Frame 1. 

Merge Name and Frame 3 together.

Merge Name and Frame 2 together.

Merge Name and Frame 1 together.

Save as a PSP Animation Shop (.psp) image.

Open up in Animation Shop and check your animation out.

Save as a .gif and you’re done!

Thank you so much for trying out my tutorial, I’d love to see your results!