This is my old western town series of tutorials. This tutorial will show you how to make the newspaper office (it's the second building on the right). If you would like to make the other items in this series, you will find them here.

My seamless fill tile.

My selection files. Place these in your PSP selections folder, or a location of your choice. (Note: If you are having trouble getting the selections to work, then place them in PSP's selection folder - for some reason PSP sometimes won't recognize them in other locations).

You may download my materials here.

My color chart. Right click on this and save it to your computer.

Step 1. Open a new image 350 x 350, white background. Open up your color chart and paste it as a new layer. Move it to the top of your canvas out of the way. When you need a color, just click on it with the eye dropper tool.

Step 2. Add a new layer. Load selection 1 (go to selections>load from disk - then navigate to the location where you placed the selection files). Flood fill with the seamless tile you downloaded ("newspaperfill"). Set the angle to 90 and scale to 100%.

Float the selection (selections>float; OR, click "Ctrl+F" on your keyboard). Set your background color to color #1 (Note: you're doing this so the color will show up in your recent colors list). Apply a cutout (effects>3d effects>cutout), using the settings in the screenshot (the shadow color is color #1. Right click on the shadow color box and choose it from the colors there.

Repeat the cutout, but change the vertical and horizontal to -2.

 

Step 3. Repeat Step 2 for selection 2.

Step 4. Add a new layer. Load selection 3. Flood fill with color #2. Apply cutout using same settings as before.p>

Step 5. Add a new layer. Load selection 4. Flood fill with color #1. Float. Apply cutout same as before except use black as the shadow color and change the horizontal and vertical to 1.

Step 6. Add a new layer. Place it underneath the layer you just did in Step 5. Set your foreground color to color #1 and your background to null. Choose your draw tool, single line, size 5 (antialias checked, create as vector unchecked, close path unchecked).

Draw some lines similar to mine. Apply an inner bevel using the settings in the screenshot.

 

Step 7. Add a new layer. Load selection 5. Flood fill with color #1. Float. Apply cutout (horizontal, vertical 1, shadow color black).

Add a new layer. Set your foreground color to #1 and background to null. Choose your draw tool, single line, size 3. Draw some lines for your window panes. Apply inner bevel, same settings as before.

Add a new layer. Choose your draw tool, but change the size to 4. Draw a vertical line down the center of your door. Apply an inner bevel.

Add a new layer. Change your draw tool line size to 2 and draw a couple of lines for your doorknobs. Apply inner bevel.

Step 11. Add a new layer. Load selection 9. Flood fill with color #1. Contract by 3. Flood fill with color #4. Float. Apply cutout using color #5 as shadow (horizontal and vertical are 2).

Add a new layer. Set your foreground color to color #1 and background to null. Choose your draw tool, single line, size 7. Draw a line down the center of your window. Apply inner bevel.

Add a new layer. Load selection 10. Flood fill with color #1. Contract by 3. Flood fill with color #3. Float. Set your background color to color #5. Apply cutout, using 1 for vertical, horizontal, and color #5 for shadow.

It'll need to be rotated into place to line up with your sign back. To do this, choose your deformation tool and hover your cursor over the box to the right of center - you'll see two arrows in a circle (they look like they're chasing each other). Then just turn your text until it's in a position you like.

Step 13. Now to add some text to the window. Choose your preset shapes tool with the settings in the screenshot. You're going to do just a tad of vectors, but not much. Don't panic!

Set your foreground color to color #1 (really, you can use any color because we're going to delete this later), and your background color to null. Draw a circular shape in the center of your building, approximately 95 x 60 (watch the numbers in the lower left of your screen).

 

Choose your text tool and place it on the circle. When you see an "A" with a semi-circle appear (the A will look like a little rocking horse), cllick. Use the settings in the screenshot for your text (the color is color #1). Of course, you can use any font, color, and text that you choose.

Add a new layer and place it underneath the text selection (on your layers palette, the text willbe called "Floating Selection"). Then deselect. Now you can delete the circle you drew. Apply an inner bevel to your text. Move your text into place. You should now have something similar to this.

Step 14. You can add any additional text you want - just add it on a new layer, the normal way you would add text.

Step 15. And that's it. When you're satisfied with your newspaper office, delete the color chart and background layers. Then merge visible layers and save as a psp file. It's now ready to add to your western town.

I hope you enjoyed the tut, and please let me know if you experience any problems.