Tiny Dancer Tutorial

This tutorial was written by Amber Howard on July 15, 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 Hannah Lynn.

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

The tube used in this tutorial was the March 2015 Bonus, and may no longer be available.

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 of choice.
Becky Mask 019, or a mask of choice.
(Becky’s Mask is no longer available, and un-shareable.)
Fonts of choice — I used Distant Stroke and Wacamóler Caps.

Plugins needed:
Eye Candy 4 — Gradient Glow
Eye Candy 6 — Perspective Shadow
Mura’s Meister — Copies
VM Extravaganza  — Ray Transmission

Ready? Set? Go!

Open a new 400x400 canvas, flood fill white.

Open the tube that you are going to use for this tag,

and use a prominent dark color for the background in your color palette.

Use a prominent light color, or a complimentary color, for the foreground in the color palette.

With your two colors chosen,

create a gradient with the following settings:

Style: Linear, Angle: 140, Repeats: 15.

Add a new raster layer on the 400x400 canvas.

Flood fill with the newly created gradient.

Adjust – Blur – Gaussian Blur at 20.00.

Rename this layer Gradient.

Copy and paste your tube as a new layer above the gradient layer.

Apply Mura’s Meister – Copies with the Wallpaper (shrink) default settings.

Repeat this filter until your canvas is filled.

Adjust – Blur – Motion Blur with the following settings:

Angle: 140, Strength: 100%.

Repeat the motion blur once again.

Change the settings of this layer to Dodge, or a setting of choice.

Merge into the Gradient layer.

Selections – Select All – Clip to Canvas.

Image – Crop to Selection.

Apply Becky Mask 019, or a mask of choice,

to the new background layer with the following settings checked:

Fit to canvas, source luminance, hide all mask.

Right click the new mask layer and Merge Group.

Rename this layer Mask Base.

Duplicate the Mask Base layer.

Rename Ray Mask.

Apply VM Extravaganza – Ray Transmission with the default settings.

Make the Mask Base layer active.

Selections – Select All – Float – Defloat.

Selections – Invert.

Make the Ray Mask layer active again.

Hit the delete key on your keyboard once.

Selections – Select None.

Change the settings of the Ray Mask layer to Soft Light,

or one that suits your tag.

Lower the Opacity of the Ray Mask layer to 50%.

Copy and paste your tube as a new layer.

Resize by 65%, all layers unchecked,

or to a size that suits your tag.

Rename this layer Tube.

Apply a drop shadow of choice,

or the one I used using Eye Candy 5 Impact – Perspective Shadow:

Hide the white background layer and the Ray Mask layer.

Edit – Copy Special – Copy Merged.

Make sure the topmost layer in your palette is active.

Edit – Paste as a New Layer.

Rename this layer Blur.

Make sure that the Blur layer lines up correctly with the layers below it.

Sometimes it can be off by a few pixels in any direction.

Once you’re sure they’re even:

Adjust – Blur – Gaussian Blur at 10.00.

Change the settings of the Blur layer to Hard Light or Overlay.

Lower the Opacity to 80%.

Hide the white background layer.

Make sure all other layers are visible.

Right click a visible layer and Merge visible.

Make the white background visible again.

Choose a pixel font of choice,

add your credits, license, and tagger’s mark.

Choose a block or caps font of choice,

or use Wacamóler Caps.

Foreground null and background the dark color from your gradient.

Add your name.

When happy with the placement and size, convert to raster layer.

Duplicate the name layer,

twice for a total of three name layers.

On the top name layer,

apply a thick 3.00 gradient of choice using the lighter color from your gradient.

Adjust – Blur – Gaussian Blur at 4.00.

Change the settings of this layer to Soft Light.

On the middle name layer,

Adjust – Add/Remove Noise – Add noise at 50%,

With Gaussian and Monochrome checked.

On the bottom name layer,

apply the same gradient glow used on the top name layer.

Apply a drop shadow of choice,

or the one I used using Eye Candy 6 – Perspective Shadow:

Choose a script font of choice,

or use Distant Script.

Foreground and background the light color from your gradient.

Stroke 1.00.

Add your name.

When happy with the placement and size, convert to raster layer.

Apply a thick 3.00 gradient glow using the darker color from your gradient.

Apply a drop shadow of choice,

or the one I used using Eye Candy 6 – Perspective Shadow:

Crop away excess canvas,

delete the white background layer,

save as .png and you’re done!

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