Monochrome Starlight Tutorial

 

This tutorial was written by Amber Howard on January 1, 2015. 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 Suzanne Woolcott.

Unfortunately, Suzanne’s work is no longer available for purchase.

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

Supplies needed:
PaintShopPro — I used X7 but any version will work
Tube or close up of choice.
Font of choice — I used Font Bitch.
Scrap kit of choice — I used “Blanco y Negro” by Bibi’s Collection, available for purchase at Scraps & Company.

Plugins needed:
Eye Candy 4 — Gradient Glow
Eye Candy 5 Impact— Perspective Shadow
Eye Candy 6 — Perspective Shadow
Xero — Porcelain
Xero — Radiance

Ready? Set? Go!

Open a 600x250 canvas to start. 

Open a paper of choice from your scrap kit. I used BIBIBLANCO Y NEGRO PAPERS (5).

Copy and paste the paper as a new layer onto your canvas.

I did not resize, nor rearrange my paper.

Open up a cloud element of choice. I used BIBI BLANCO Y NEGRO ELEMS (56).

Resize as needed and copy and paste the element into a new layer above the paper layer.

I did not resize the cloud element, and arranged it in the upper left corner of the canvas.

Open up a mask/splatter element of choice. I used BIBI BLANCO Y NEGRO ELEMS (54).

Resize as needed and copy and paste the element into a new layer above the paper layer.

I did not resize the mask element, and arranged it in the upper right corner of the canvas.

Open another cloud element of choice. I used BIBI BLANCO Y NEGRO ELEMS (55).

Resize as needed and copy and paste the element into a new layer above the first cloud layer.

I did not resize the cloud element, and arranged it in the middle right of the canvas.

Open a sparkle element of choice. I used BIBI BLANCO Y NEGRO ELEMS (61).

Resize as needed and copy and paste the element into a new layer above the second cloud layer.

I did not resize the sparkle element, and arranged it in the middle right of the canvas.

Open a tree element of choice. I used BIBI BLANCO Y NEGRO ELEMS (58).

Resize as needed and copy and paste the element into a new layer above the sparkle layer.

I did not resize the tree element, and arranged it in the top left of the canvas.

Add a drop shadow of choice to the tree element. I used V&H: 1, Opacity: 75%, Blur: 10.00.

Open another sparkle element of choice. I used BIBI BLANCO Y NEGRO ELEMS (64).

Resize as needed and copy and paste the element into a new layer at the top of the canvas.

I resized this element to 250 pixels high, and arranged it in the top right of the canvas.

Duplicate the sparkle element.

Image – Mirror – Mirror Horizontal.

Merge the two sparkle elements together.

Open a light element of choice. I used BIBI BLANCO Y NEGRO ELEMS (23).

Resize as needed and copy and paste the element into a new layer above the tree layer.

I resized this element by 20%, and arranged it at the bottom of the tree layer.

Add a drop shadow of choice to the light element. I used V&H: 1, Opacity: 75%, Blur: 10.00.

Open your tube of choice.

Resize as needed, and copy and paste as a new layer at the top of the canvas.

Arrange as preferred. I arranged mine towards the right side of the canvas.

Duplicate the tube layer.

On the original tube layer, change the settings to Luminance or Luminance Legacy.

Apply a drop shadow of choice. I used Eye Candy 5 Impact – Perspective Shadow to add a drop shadow with the following settings:

On the duplicate tube layer, change the settings to Hard Light and lower the opacity to 50%.

Apply Xero – Porcelain with the default settings only changing the blue channel to 0.

Apply Xero – Radiance with the default settings.

Merge the two tube layers together.

Drag the empty layer from the bottom of the layer palette to the top of the palette.

Choose a dark color from your scrap kit. I used #444444.

Flood fill the empty layer with your color of choice.

Selections – Select All.

Selections – Modify – Contract by 5 pixels.

Hit delete on your keyboard once.

Adjust – Add/Remove Noise – Add Noise at 50% with Gaussian and Monochrome checked.

Duplicate the border layer.

On the original layer 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.

On the original border layer, apply an Inner Bevel with the following settings:

Merge the two border layers together and then hide them.

Hide the tube layer as well.

Edit – Copy Special – Copy Merged.

Edit – Paste as New Image.

This will later become part of the avatar that we are making to match the forum tag.

Unhide the border and tube layers.

Merge Visible.

Open a pixel font of choice and add your credits and tagger’s mark.

Apply an optional gradient glow of choice.

Open another font of choice to add your name.

Once you are happy with the placement, convert to raster layer.

Duplicate the name layer.

On the original name layer, apply a thin to medium 3.00 point black gradient glow.

Apply an optional drop shadow of choice. I used Eye Candy 6 – Perspective Shadow with the Height 0 preset and these additional settings:

Save as .jpg!

Open a new 150x150 canvas.

Make the flattened image that we made earlier active again.

Copy and paste as a new layer onto the avatar canvas.

Resize as needed.

I resized by 80%.

Arrange as needed.

Drag the empty layer from the bottom of the layer palette to the top of the palette.

Choose a dark color from your scrap kit. I used #444444.

Flood fill the empty layer with your color of choice.

Selections – Select All.

Selections – Modify – Contract by 5 pixels.

Hit delete on your keyboard once.

Adjust – Add/Remove Noise – Add Noise at 50% with Gaussian and Monochrome checked.

Duplicate the border layer.

On the original layer 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.

On the original border layer, apply an Inner Bevel with the following settings:

Merge visible.

Open a pixel font of choice and add your credits and tagger’s mark.

Apply an optional gradient glow of choice.

Open another font of choice to add your name.

Once you are happy with the placement, convert to raster layer.

Duplicate the name layer.

On the original name layer, apply a thin to medium 3.00 point black gradient glow.

Apply an optional drop shadow of choice. I used Eye Candy 6 – Perspective Shadow with the Height 0 preset and these additional settings:

On the duplicate name layer.

Adjust – Add/Remove Noise – Add Noise at 50% with Gaussian and Monochrome checked.

Apply an Inner Bevel with the following settings:

Save as .jpg and you’re done!

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