Download The KROW's 'Ready, Set, PAINT' Lessons 1-4 in PDF format here (470k)

PSP with The KROW - Where To Start?

There are thousands of web sites with really fantastic graphics. But take a closer look at web sites for businesses, and many are as dry and boring as a desert during a drought. Why? Is there some "rule" that a company's web site has to be as stiff as "corporate rules"? Of course not....not on the web anyway! The web is all about the "visual", so why not enhance that logo or other graphic!

We've all seen the web site where, once you leave the home page, you have no idea who's site you're on (no consistency in the look or nav). Or the web site created by the straight programmer-type where the most eye catching thing on the page is the little gray button that says, "query" (does the average, non-proggie type person really know what a "query" does?!)

Ok, we understand every web site could use some kind of graphical enhancement. This doesn't mean you should sit down and create a page full of FBT's (flashy, blinky things). Remember! YOU are the design professional! Companies will look to YOU for guidance on how to best represent their business on the web. What their web site has to say is as important as how it looks. Use graphics to.....ENHANCE RATHER THAN INHIBIT.

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Ready, Set, PAINT!

Open Paint Shop Pro. If you're already familiar with graphics programs, you will probably see familiar tools. But, let's look up close at what goodies PSP has in store for us! The TOOLBARS and PALETTES – The Tricks of the Trade!

Paint Shop Pro's TOOLBARS and PALETTES
The Tricks of the Trade!

Click to view the Paint Shop Pro Toolbars, Tool Window and Layer Palette

Paint Shop Pro is a vector and raster image creating program. Better yet, PSP lets you work with separate vector and raster pieces all in the same image! Then, when complete, save the entire piece in JPEG or GIF format and you've got a web-ready image!

Lucky for us, PSP now comes with an excellent image compression tool, so worrying about creating files which aren't slow to load, is no longer a problem! (One less thing to worry about is always a cool thing!)

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A BUSINESS LOGO THAT JUMPS!

We'll start with a business logo. When creating a professional business website, it often helps to work with the company's logo first, and then build the rest of the graphics around it. This ensures the site has that sharp, consistent, "corporate image" throughout.

About now, you should have PSP open. Create a new file by clicking the "New" button. In the pop-up, enter:

• 300 and 300 in pixels
• Resolution at 72 pixels/inch
• Background on White
• 16.7 Million Color (24 Bit)

You should see something like this

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