Vetch's Magic Book

To complete this tut, you will need a variety of tubes or you can use mine.
The first package contains the feather, the sword and the roses I used.
Download Sepia.rar here
This package includes the original feather I tubed in case you want to experiment on your own.

I also uploaded a colorized book for those who need or want it.
Download the Book here
Unrar the two downloads and open the files in PSP. If you are using your own book or accessories, open them. Using Shift + D, duplicate the original graphics and close them. Minimize the images when you aren't using them to keep your desktop neater.

My opinion is that this tag looks best in soft, subdued colors, but that's my opinion.

View my settings for colorizing the book and feather here.

The open book will be the backdrop for this tag. The rest of the files are accessories and it's up to you to design your tag the way you think it looks best. Use my layout as a guide but make this magical book your own.

Open both the book and sword pictures.

The most difficult item to place on the book is the sword. Copy the original and paste it as a new layer over your book. The draping around this sword makes it look like it's suspended above the book instead of laying across the pages. It's got to be moved around and positioned so it fits with the rest of the graphic. If you plan to add a message in the book, you need to leave enough blank page space for your text.

Use the deform tool to move and to rotate the sword. When the Deform tool is activated you will see nodes in the corners and in the middle of the dotted lines surrounding your selection.. There is a node in the center of the image and a line connecting it to another node to the right. By hovering your mouse over that node on the right, your cursor will turn into a set of two rounded arrows that sort of look like this. When you see the arrows, click and hold your mouse and drag the node in a clockwise or counter clockwise arc to rotate your image. To just move the sword while the deform tool is active, click and hold anywhere inside the dotted rectangle and drag the box to where you want it.

In my example, the edges of the box do not run along the edges of the sword the way they should. I already rotated my sword a couple of times. The box shows me how much I've altered the size, style and position of the sword. After you've made a few adjustments, that box gets way out of kilter. It will make it even more difficult if you want to resize or skew your object. Correct the angle of the deform tool by clicking on the curved reverse arrow in the left hand corner of your Tool Options Palette.

Done messing around with the deform tool, yet? OK, I'll wait a little while til you're ready...

My sword is too light to show up against the book, so I will give it some depth and sharpen the lines by selecting the sword in the layer palette, right click and choose Duplicate. The added layer increased the opacity but did not make any more details show up. A quick fix for that is to click on the top layer's blend mode and change the blend mode to multiply.

Play with the blend modes of your sword layers and the book layer - if you want. try lowering the opacity on all both layers. When you have the look you want, hide the book layer and merge the visible layers of the sword. Do not merge the sword with the book yet. Unhide the book layer. Click on the sword layer in the layer palette.

Copy the next image you want to add to your tag and paste it as a new layer. Move it around. Place it where you want it and be sure to check the values against the book and sword. The feather is overwhelmingly dark. Lower the opacity to 80% and adjust it from there. Add any other items you want. Take some time and play with the layer properties, until you are satisfied with the look of your tag.

You can resize any of the objects using the deform tool. To lengthen the sword, grab the node in the middle of the end and drag it outward.

I used the roses, the feather and the sword. I moved layers up and down until I liked the look I found. I also changed the layer properties to get the blend that looked best to me. The sword is highlighted in the layer palette. The roses lay above it and the feather is casually laid over the flowers and the edge of the book.

When satisfied with your arrangements, add a drop shadow to each layer individually. I gave it a soft and subtle shadow using a low opacity and large blur. Merge visible.

-Adding Text -

Here's where I used to get nervous until I started working with the pen tool. It's really quite handy!

Select the pen tool draw a line following the bottom edge of the first page of the book. Choose a bright foreground color so you can see your line easily. Hide the background color.

Click once on a spot close to the bottom left edge of the page, then click once at the bottom right edge of the page. Your line will show up as a straight line from point to point, with a tiny square at each end. The squares are called Nodes. Right click on the right hand node. Make sure Edit Mode is selected. Choose Node Type > Curve Before. Somewhere along your line, you will see another Node with a barely visible line connecting it to the right node. Hover your mouse over the new node, click, hold down and drag the new node upward and out so that the guide follows the bottom edge of your page. When you release the mouse button, your line will be curved along the contours of the page. Choose the Object Selection tool and click on the crosshairs in the middle of the rectangular outline and drag your line upward to where you want your text to be positioned. (If you plan to put text on both pages, make sure that you repeat these steps for the second page. I'm yet to find a book picture with the same contours on both sides. )

Phew! I'm glad that's over! The rest is a walk in the park.

Choose a dark color from your picture for the foreground and a mid or light color for your background in the material palette. Click on the Text Tool. I used Salina Font - Size 18 - depending on the size of your book, you may want to change the text sizes.

****** (I ultimately swapped the foreground and background colors to make the text a little darker against the shadowy page.)

Hover your cursor over the line you drew on the left side of the page until your cursor changes to . Left click once and type your words into the text box. Click Apply. If you need to edit your text or move it to a new position on the line, do it now.

If you have only one line of text to do, go to your layer palette and open the Vector layer group by clicking on the box with the plus sign. Hide the line layer and right click on the Vector1 line. Promote to Raster Layer.

If you plan to add more lines of text, open the Vector layer group. Right click on the Text layer. Chose Create Raster Selection. Now you can "select all" and apply an inner bevel. As soon as you make a change to the "invisible" raster, it becomes a visible promoted layer. Apply an inner bevel. Hide the promoted layer.

Hide the Vector text layer. Click on New Path (the line layer) in the Vector Group to select the path.Select the Text Tool again. Add a new line of text the same way (in the same place) that you did the first one.

Repeat the above steps to add as many lines of text as you want.

When you have all the lines completed and in promoted layers, right click on the Vector1 layer and choose Clear. Unhide all of your text layers and use the mover tool to arrange them on your page. Once you can see the text all lined out, you may want to resize it or move it around again. Now is when to add the drop shadow to your text...

When everything is arranged to your liking, merge your visible layers. My job here is done. I hope I didn't fail you all by creating a lot of confusion.

If you want, add a background layer (like the example I used at the beginning of this tut.) with texture or a pattern, or you can merge all and have a white background... or save as a transparent gif tag.. like this one!