All Things Anne

For this tutorial I used Paint Shop Pro 9, but it can be easily adapted if you know your program. Save often.

1. Create a new, medium-sized image, I used a 500×500 size. I wanted to make a brush out of it, and bigger is better when it comes to starting with brush sizes. Check to see how big your program allows your brushes to be; PSP7 allows 250×250 brushes, PSP9 allows 500×500 brushes; and the GIMP allows any size, as far as I know. Fill with white (makes it easier to see your black bubble. I’m making this black because for most programs I think, to make a brush out of it, it must be black to begin with).

2. Create a new layer. Get your circle selection tool, no feather, antialias checked. Starting roughly (or exactly) in the middle of the image, draw a large circle, but don’t let it extend over the edges of the image (mine was about 390px by 390px). Fill selection with black and deselect.

3. Grab your Magic Wand tool, feather to about 100, and click in the black circle. Hit Delete (or the equivalent) once or twice. For my 390×390px circle, I hit delete twice. You just want a soft edge. Deselect.

4. Create a new layer. Using your selection tool set to Ellipse, no feather, antialias checked, create a small oval selection near the top of the bubble. If it isn’t exactly where you want it, that’s alright, you can move it afterwards. Fill with a vertical black-to-transparent gradient. Move it to where you want it if it isn’t positioned correctly. Lower the opacity on this layer to about 44.

5. Create a new layer. Get a very large, very soft brush (for PSP, do Hardness: 0; for my size of image, my brush was 275px), and set your Foreground to black. Position your cursor in the center bottom of the bubble, not quite to the bottom edge, but close, and click twice to make just a very soft spot.

6. Go back to your second layer, the one with the bubble, and using your Magic Wand tool set to no feather, click OUTSIDE the bubble. Go back to your newest layer and hit delete, to get rid of the extra smudge.

And, you’re done! To make a brush, hide (or delete) the white background layer, merge the layers, and do a Google search on how to create brushes for your particular program. Go have some fun!