JUST FIX IT!

So, now you've played around with your very important logo (which Mr. Bigexec is waiting on), and now your stuck with something on it you didn't really want. Lucky for you PSP comes with that good ol' "UNDO" option!

In PSP, simply click 'Edit" and then "UNDO" until you've reached BACK to the point where you want to be. You should end up with your "Backgound" layer and "Layer 1".

So, let's get down to business and dress the text up. Click the "Magic Wand" tool.  Make sure you have Layer 1 highlighted in the Layer Palette (just click on it). Now, take the Wand, and just click on any white part of the image. Presto! Everything is selected, including your text! In the menu, click "Selections", then "Invert". Double-presto! Now, just the text is selected! (This just keeps getting better!)

No Jaggies Allowed!

Jaggies won't do our graphic a bit of justice, unless of course we were creating a picture of mountains or something. But, since Mr. Bigexec specifically said he wanted something sharp and clean, we can't have a logo with jaggies.

With text selected, go to the menu and click "Selections", then "Float". Now, back to "Selections" , then click "Matting" , then "Defringe" (ahhhh! jaggies!). In the pop up, enter the number 2 in the "Width" and click ok. Did you see anything happen? Probably not.....but it did! Anything you want to do now, will have NO jaggies! WHEW! (Far cry from the old days when every jaggy had to be smoothed out by hand!)

Let's Get Our Fill!

Now, let's add some pizzazz and all that jazz! With the text selected, get your Flood Fill tool.  Go ahead now, and choose two colors from the Color Chart (click on the top and the bottom box to change them). The KROW chose a dark and light blue (in honor of the dog's bandana). Now, in your Tool Options Palette, choose "Linear Gradient" from the drop down list of "Fill Style". Play around with Options for Flood Fill until you get a fill you like. The KROW went with 0 degree angle for Foreground/Background. Now, Fill (click) inside each letter of your selected text.....and don't forget to dot the "i"! Here's what The KROW's looks like:

Text without "Defringe" (jaggies!)

Text using "Defringe" (Look Ma!, No jaggies!)

SOS - Save Our Style!

We've learned a lot so far, and have done a lot of work. It would be a shame to lose our image. After all, it is a representation of our professional style and abilities! So, before we go any further, let's save our image! We know it's not quite ready for the web yet (although we could use it just like it is!). But we have more features we want to add to it later. So, let's save it in a format that will hold our work, layers and all!

In the menu, click "File", than "Save As" (yes, you know this routine). In the pop up window, browse to a folder you will remember later. (Now is a good time to make a folder just for our Workshop!). Give your image a name like "Big Logo" or whatever you want. In the drop down "Save as Type", choose "Paint Shop Pro Image (*.psp)". Then click "Save". There! Now, at any given time, you can go back and open the file just like it is, and continue working on it again!

[ previous step ][ next step ]

[ to top of page ]