Folk Art Plate Tutorial:

Folk Art
Plate
Tutorial

I have been amazed at the skill of many Folk Artists as they display their talents in various forms. One of these is the designs on "Plates and Dinner Ware." I wanted to see if I could reproduce these designs in PSP.
This is a simple tutorial designed with PSP 6.02 but can be easily completed in other versions with slight adjustments and one in which you can use your creativity. Have fun.

Level of difficulty: Intermediate

1. Open new image, width="350" height="350", 16.7 million colors, Transparent. Click on the "Color Options pallet." Change your foreground color to Dark Red ["#800000"] and your background color to pink. ["#EFBAAF"].
2. Click on the "Layers Option Pallet." , add a layer and name it "Color." 3. Click on the "Flood Fill Tool" and in the "Tool Options Pallet," make sure you are on "solid color." Right click on the "color layer" and flood fill with the pink color."
4. Go to "File/save as/" and save your work as "plate1.psp." Save your work often and always in ".psp" extension until the final "save as."

5. Click on the "Layers Option Pallet." , add a new layer and name it "plate rim." 6. Click on your "Preset Shapes Tool," open your "Tool Options Pallet" and select the following settings. "Circle, Filled, line width=N/A, Antialias=checked." 7. Start at co-ordinates W=175 x H=175 and drag the circle until it is W=300 x H=300.
8. Go to "File/save/" and your work will be saved as "plate1.psp." Save your work often and always in ".psp" extension until the final "save as."

9. Click on the "Layers Option Pallet." , add a new layer and name it "plate inner." 10. Click on the "Color Options pallet." Change your foreground color to pink ["#EFBAAF"] and your background color to dark red. ["#800000"].
11. Click on your "Preset Shapes Tool," open your "Tool Options Pallet" and select the following settings. "Circle, Filled, line width=N/A, Antialias=checked." 12. Start at co-ordinates W=175 x H=175 and drag the circle until it is W=200 x H=200.
13. Go to "File/save/" and your work will be saved as "plate1.psp." Save your work often and always in ".psp" extension until the final "save as."

14. Click on the "Layers Option Pallet." , add a new layer and name it "font1." 15. Click on the "Color Options pallet." Change your foreground color to white ["#FFFFFF"].
16. Click on the "Text Tool" and when the "Tool Options pallet" opens choose the following settings. "Font=CAC Norm Heavy; Size=30; Keystroke=? [Question mark]; text color=white." 17. While the "?" is still active, "Marching Ants" surrounding it, go to "Image/rotate" and rotate 20 degrees to the right. Move the "?" to the center of the Dark Red "Rim."
18. Go to "File/save/" and your work will be saved as "plate1.psp." Save your work often and always in ".psp" extension until the final "save as."

19. Click on the "Layers Option Pallet." , you should have 5 layers. "Layer 1 [transparent layer]; color layer; plate rim layer; plate inner layer and font1 layer."
20. The "Font1 layer" should still be active. Right click on the "font1 layer" and in the "Options box" that pops up, click on "Duplicate." You wont see anything happen.

21. Go to "Image/mirror" and a second question mark will appear.

22. Go to "File/save/" and your work will be saved as "plate1.psp." Save your work often and always in ".psp" extension until the final "save as."

23. Click on the "Layers Option Pallet." , you should have 6 layers. "Layer 1 [transparent layer]; color layer; plate rim layer; plate inner layer; font1 layer and copy of font1 layer."
24. Turn off "Layer 1; color layer; plate rim layer and plate inner layer" by clicking on the small "glasses." There will be small red crosses on each of the "glasses."
25. Go to "Layers/merge/merge visible." The "Font1" and "copy of Font1 layers" will now become "merged." Turn the layers back on again by clicking on the small red crosses.

26. Right click on this new merged layer and in the Options box that pops up, click on "properties" and rename this layer "Font1."

27. Go to "File/save/" and your work will be saved as "plate1.psp." Save your work often and always in ".psp" extension until the final "save as."

28. Click on the "Layers Option Pallet." , add a new layer and name it "font2."
29. Click on the "Text Tool" and when the "Tool Options pallet" opens choose the following settings. "Font=CommercialScript MT; Size=30; Keystroke=G [Capital G]; text color=white."

30. While the "G" is still active, "Marching Ants" surrounding it, go to "Image/flip". Move the "G" to the right side of the "Double Question marks."

31. Go to "File/save/" and your work will be saved as "plate1.psp." Save your work often and always in ".psp" extension until the final "save as."

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