'have yourself a Scary Little Christmas'

Created by rae ..  December 20, 2006

Tutorial is ©rae 

hand-drawn 'goth figure, skulls and tree' ©rae

Backgrounds created by rae

This tutorial and its' supplies are not to be shared 
at other Groups, Messageboards or through Email;
translated and shared at other Groups,
Messageboards or through Email etc.  .. 
without Permission. 
Nor may you copy this tutorial and claim it nor the graphics
as your own.

**Supply Folder here**

• 'raeHolidayGothic.psp' ~ Open at PSP
• 'raeSkullLanterns.mng' ~ Open at AnimationShop
• 'ChappelText-Regular.ttf' ~ Open and minimize

You are free to design your tag as you like

I have included (at the .psp file) layers with several background choices ~ scalloped edge or not and with gothic building or not  .. and a starred border. Turn them On and Off to find one you prefer or create your own.

................................

Have only ONE 'raeGoth' figure turned On at a time

................................

This is how I created my text :

settings ~

Once your text is applied an is an Active Selection = you can right click it > Hold the click > Move it around

• Duplicate *keep Active
• Apply Drop Shadow to the initial layer :

 ..Black

• Move to the duplicate layer
• Apply Cutout

Here's how I made the text look frosty :

• Duplicate the Cutout layer
• Change to these Blend Modes (green box) and drop the transparencies :

Turn ON 'raeGoth1'   ..  the other two turned OFF

• Merge Visible
• Copy
• Paste as a New Image

Undo Merge

• Turn OFF 'raeGoth1'
• Turn ON 'raeGoth2'
• Merge Visible
• Copy
• Paste to the new canvas as A New Layer

Undo merge

• Turn OFF 'raeGoth2'
• Turn ON 'raeGoth3'
• Merge Visible
• Copy
• Paste to the new canvas as A New Layer

Save As the three layers as a PSP Image

AnimationShop ~

• Browse to Open your newly created PSP Image
• Open the Skull Lanterns from Supply Folder

At your 3 Goth frames ~

• Select Frame #1
• Duplicate until Frame Count reaches 21 

............................................................

• Select Frame #20
• Copy
• Paste After Frame #21

............................................................

• Select Frame #21
• Duplicate to a Total frame count of 40

Edit > Select All frames

Edit > Propagate Paste

'raeSkull lanterns' ~

• Select the first frame of a color
• Hold Shift
• Select the last frame of that color
• Copy

Move to your 40 frames :

• Right click > Paste Into Selected Frame - position somewhere at the tree
• repeat

So that the skulls dont blink at the same time :

• after pasting a time or two ..  return to the selected skulls frames
• Animation > Reverse Frames
• Copy again
• Paste into your 40 frames

Do the same steps with the other skull colors .. until you've got as many as you want at the tree

To hang a lantern from the Gothic figures' hand ~

• Decide which colored skull you want to use
• Copy one frame *I used a frame without the glow
•  

  ---

• Select Frame #1 > Hold Shift > Scroll to Frame #19 and Select
• Paste the skull to dangle from the fingertips

• ---

• Select Frame #20
• Paste the skull to dangle from the fingertips
• Move to Frame #40
• repeat the Paste from the fingertips

• ---

Back to the skulls frames ~

• Select the first frame of your chosen color > Hold Shift > Select the fifth frame of the same color
• Copy

Return to your 40 frames ~

• Select Frame #21 > Hold Shift > Scroll to Frame #39 and Select
• Paste into the frames, again from the fingertips

Adding the skulls together - to your name ~

• Edit > Select All skull frames
• Copy

• ---

• Edit > Select All .. at your 40 frames
• Right click > Paste Into Selected Frame  ..  from a hook at your name

You're finished!

Please stay with me for the final steps

Right Click > Animation Properties = Opaque ..  White

I Resized mine 90% Bicubic

...............................................

Here is my Optimization :

File > Optimization Wizard =                  

Thanks for playing!! 

Ü ~ rae