Pracken's Paint Shop Pro Tutorials: Hatbox

Pracken's Paint Shop Pro Tutorials

Hat Box

I've always loved hatboxes and hats. I'm one of those people who can't pass by a hat section in a store without trying them all on. I came across the hat in this graphic and thought I absolutely had to make a hatbox for it, so here 'tis ;o)

For this tutorial, you will need the following:

Paint Shop Pro. I used version 7.04 but if you are familiar with PSP, you should be able to convert the tutorial without problems. You can download the latest PSP version demo here.

My selection. Place it in your PSP selections folder or any location of your choice. You may download my selection here.

Patterns to use for your fill. IF you wish to use mine, you may download them here.

A hat. You may download my psp file here.

Step 1. Open a new image 500 x 500, background color of your choice.

Step 2. Add a new layer (name it "outline"). Load the hatbox selection (go to selections>load from disk - then navigate to the location where you placed the selection file.

Step 3. This is the outline of your box so you can fill it with any color you like. I chose a neutral gray color #C1C1BF.

Step 4. Now to apply the fabric to the box. You can choose whatever fabric you wish, but you probably don't want it too complicated; otherwise, you'll end up doing a lot of shaping to make things fit and look in perspective.

Step 5. With the magic wand, select the front panel of the box. You'll see marching ants. Expand this selection by 2 (go to selections>expand). Add a new layer (name it "front1"). Move this layer underneath the outline layer. Open up the frontfill fabric, and flood fill the front of the box.

Step 6. Make your outline layer active. With your magic wand, select side panel. Expand by 2 and add a new layer (name it "side2"). Flood fill with your fabric.

I decided to elongate the fabric a bit, to give it perspective. Just click on the deformation tool and hold down the shift key while pulling the outside edge up to get some perspective. You'll notice that it goes outside the lines of your graphic.

Step 7. Make the outline layer active. With the magic wand, click inside the left panel to select it. Expand by 2. Go to selections/invert. Now make the side1 layer active and hit the delete key on your keyboard. This will take away any overlapping done by the distortion tool.

Step 8. Make the outline layer active. With your magic wand, select the other side panel. Repeat steps 5 and 6 above (name the layer you add "side2").

Step 9. Make the outline layer active. Click on the top of the box with your magic wand. Expand this selection by 2. Add a new layer. Floodfill with the "topfabric" material you downloaded.

Repeat this step for the other pieces of the top of the box. You don't need to do deformation on the top parts since the fabric is a more solid color.

Step 10. Add a new layer (name it string). Set your foreground color to #323955 and your background color to null. Choose your draw tool, freehand line (size 2-3), draw a string from one side of the box to the other.

Step 11. Add a new layer and draw the bows on each side of the string.

Step 12. This step is optional. I added a design on top of the box. You can use a preset shape or a font, or any other design of your choice. Just add a new layer. Set your foreground color to white and your background color to null. Add the shape.

Using your selection tool, draw around the shape you just drew and click anywhere inside it to select (you'll see marching ants). Add a new layer and add a drop shadow with these settings: horizontal 1, vertical 1, opacity 100, blur 1, color black.

Now delete the layer you added the shape on (and leave the drop shadow).

Step 13. This next step is also optional, but I added a drop shadow to the string. First, hide all the layers except the two string layers. Merge them. Then add a drop shadow, with these settings: horizontal 3, vertical 3, opacity 100, blur 3, color black.

Step 14. Add a new layer. Open up the hat psp file you downloaded (or choose another one if you wish), and copy it. Paste it as a new layer onto your graphic, and arrange as it pleases you.

And that's it, all done! Hope you enjoyed the tut!

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This tutorial was posted on November 18, 2003.
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ŠPracken, 2003-2005.