when photoshop first opens up, select "EDIT" from the menu.  this is the screen you should see:



now some of the settings there are simply ones that I used last.  To your right you have the gismos that can tweek your drawing to hearts delight.  To the left, you have a selection of tools.  

You're going to want to start by clicking on "File" and selecting "New" and then "blank file."  A window will pop up, and at this point you decide what size you want your picture to be.  For this lesson we will do 800 x 600.  don't worry about naming it (you'll do that when you go to save).  Set the bottom box thing (background contents) to "transparent."




click "OK" and you'll have a blank pic that is clear.  When it's clear, it shows a light checker-board background.  We want to maximize your viewing screen, so look at the tools on the left.  On the upper right is a magnifying glass thing.  Click on that, then put your mouse over your picture and right click.  You will see a selection and for this we will pick "fit on screen."  You can also do "actual pixels" if you wish to have a better realization.  If you do that, just remember that part of your picture may be off the screen and you'll need to scroll to see it.




Ok....at the bottom of the tool list, you see two squares of color.  If you click on the top one, your color window will come up for that square.  Now this is a very useful tool.  Note that at the bottom of the window, the number designation for your color shows.  You can use that number in html and web design, getting exactly the shade of color you want for various projects.  But I digress....

We are going to pick a color to use for the background.  Play with this window for a bit to see what it all does.  H is for hue, S is for saturation, etc.  I usually click on S to see the larger spectrum show in the window.  Then you can just click wherever you want to select the color.



See how the color on this pic is all choppy?  That's because I am saving these as GIF's simply for the sake that they will load more quickly on this page.  If I had saved it as a JPG, the colors would be smoother more like the way it is.  

Now look at the box at the top right there....it will show you the color you started out with on the bottom part, and the new color you have selected at the top. I picked a lavandar shade but choose whatever you like and then hit the "OK" button.  

You will notice that if you ever try to do something when photoshop is waiting for a response, it will ding at you and not allow the action.  So if you're ever trying to click on a tool or something, and it just gives you the dummy ding.....look around for an action that needs to be completed.  While the color window is up, it won't let you do anything else.  Same with croppings and moves that need to be completed and other crap like that.


*Sigh*....hopefully we'll move more quickly from here on out.  Third up from the bottom on the right of your tools, you'll see what looks like a paint bucket.  Click on that and then position your mouse over the page and click.  You will see the checker-board replaced by a solid page of the color you chose.



now at this point I want to go over the layer business, because working with the layers on your picture can be fun.  It can also be a little confusing, so don't get discouraged.  Look to the bottom right there, and you will see that you have one layer.  We are going to make three, so right click on the layer and you'll see a menu.  Select "duplicate layer" (a window will pop up and just hit OK).  Do it one more time so you have three layers.



now, a few things to note here.  You can drag and drop the layers into whatever order you want.  You can click the little eye symbol to make the layer show or not show.  And at any point if you want to get rid of a layer, just right click on it and select "delete layer."

See how the top layer there is highlighted?  That means that is the layer we are working on.  So now we are going to play a bit with our tools and make a few lines and shapes on it.  

You have the pencil tool to draw directly with your mouse.

You have the shape tool that is directly under the paint bucket.


First off, we'll need a different color for our pencil.  so change the color, or simply switch it with the back one by hitting the double arrows.



note that at the top of your screen you'll see the point size and type of pencil you are using.  This is when it's time to explore your options.  Just start clicking!  On the part where it shows you an actual picture of the line, click to the right of it and you'll see a drop down box.  But those are just the default choices.  There is a drop down menu under brushes, and you'll see an entire selection of various line types, from spray painting to caligraphy.  



For the fun of it, I'm going to pick a triangle shaped pencil.  Or maybe the one with the three dots.....




Did I ever mention that I suck at drawing?  Well, I suck at drawing.....lol.   But you get the idea, and might be more adventurous when it comes to that than I am.  Now we're going to go into the best option for the drawing impaired.....which is the shape tool.  It's right under the paint bucket.  

If you right click on it, you'll see a selection of various shapes....the line tool is handy when you want things looking a little neater.  My favorite though is the custom shape tool.  So click on that and you'll see another little menu thing appear at the top.  



you can choose the shape, the color is that white box that gives you a drop down selection, and the style which right now is set to "none."  Again, this is when you just start clicking!  Under shape, there will be a selection.  But once again what you are seeing are just the default choices.  click the little arrow to the side and you will see an entire range of shapes to use.  



I'm going to pick a paw print.....and for fun change the style.  The style selection is pretty vast (don't forget to click the arrow on the side to see the second drop down menu).  You learn them eventually so can have an idea of what you want.  One of my favorites is the sunset style.  



now a couple things to note......look to the right, and you will see that for each shape, you have a new layer.  see the "fx" thingy on them?  well, i don't know what the heck it stands for, but what it means is that the layer isn't simplified.  And what THAT means is that you can't change it's colors, light/dark or anything else.  So what we're gonna do is simpify the layers by right clicking on them and selecting "simplify layer."  Then we're going to change the color.

See the menu at the top, there is one that says "Enhance."  You'll be using this button a lot.  It will only work on the layer you have selected.  remember that.  So I will be changing one paw print at a time.  (Now if I wanted to make it a little easier, it would make sense to combine those three paw print layers into one layer.  To do that, you right click on the layer and select "merge down" until they are all together.)

Under enhance you'll see a selection for color.  Choose that and you have another selection....i'll be going for the hue/saturation one.  This is the most used for me, but there are many other selections there.  Will go over those in another lesson.




Now i'm really hating what i did with that line business, so i'm going to click on the eye thing and make it disappear.




What i want to work on now is "Layer 1 copy."  So I have to click on that so photoshop knows that is the layer i'm working on.  I'm going to do a few things with shapes and gradients.



very easily done....on your tool bar, left side under the white glove thing, there is a selection tool.  by right clicking on it you can choose a circle or a square.  you just drag your mouse on the canvas to create the selection area.  Then click on the gadient tool, which is the one right under the pencil.  At the top again you will see a way to choose what gradient you want.  They have some nice pre-made ones.  



click and drag the mouse and you will see a line that shows you the direction of your gradient.  Next we are going to make that background into a rough pastel painting appearance.  We can do that by using the effects in the upper right of the screen.

Make sure the setting is on "Full" rather than "Quick" or "Guided."  Right below effects, you will see four symbols.  The first one is filter effects.

There is a drop down menu, and we are going to select "Artistic"




note all the other selections you have there.  Really the only way you are going to get a good feel of this is to take an afternoon and play with all the different effects.  

Notice I have the layer I want selected, and to apply the filter effect, all you do is click on the green apple, and then click "apply."  So it comes out like this:



Another handy filter effect is the "distort".....under that i am going to select liquify.  Now this is important!  With "liquify" you can do just about the same as pushing paint around a canvas.  You can make anything any shape you want.  

So I'm going to play with that a bit.....and you'll see what i mean.



Now i've decided to bring back my squiggly lines....and this is where having the layers gives you a lot of options.  you can make the layer transparent, there is a button for opacity and then a drop down menu for types of over-lay effects.  





i'm going to choose luminosity, and this is the result.....



now remember you have to have the right layer selected.....notice how the squiggly lines one is the one i have highlighted.  The white seems a little bright to me, so I'm going to adjust the opacity percentage down a few notches....

 

OK, now i'm not too happy with how those paw prints turned out and how they are.....so i'm going to highlight that layer, and go back to effects.  This time i'm going to pick the secound button, when you hover your mouse over it you'll see it say "layer styles."  then you have another drop down menu to select a category.  I'm going to pick "show all" to give me the largest selection.



I tried "chrome-fat" but am not so sure i like that effect.....



so i go to edit in the menu at the top of the page, and select "undo."  One of the great things about photobucket is that it saves every step, so you can undo something completely back to where you started.  

I decided to go with the blue-glass effect on the paws.



They aren't looking defined enough to me, so think i'm going to add a drop-shadow.  



now in case i've lost you at this point...i got this last effect by having my selection to "layer styles", the second button....and then on the drop down menu i selected "drop shadows."  From this i selected the largest one i could find, which was the second from the right on the bottom.  And then i hit apply, making sure that my paw print layer was selected.  It is the one you see highlighted there.



We still have one layer we haven't done anything with, and i think i'm going to give it a gradient.  In order to see what i'm doing, i will click the little eye symbol on the top three layers.  



From my tool list on the left, i will select the gradient tool which is right under the pencil.  drag and drop my cursor until i have a gradient pattern that makes me happy....



i'm going to mix it up by using the filter effect under distort, called "wave."



and now i'm going to bring back my other layers and merge those top three layers.....



notice the change in our paw prints....they are no longer blue.  this is something that happened when i merged the layers.  If i wished to keep the paw prints blue like they were, i would simply have needed to right click on the layer and select "simplify layer."  then go ahead and merge them.  honestly i'm not sure if the glass effect somehow combined with the luminosity trait of our squiggly line layer.  But i like how it turned out, so I'm going to leave it.

So we have the two layers, and what i'm going to do next is CUT OUT a piece of my top layer.  To do this, i use the cookie cutter tool.  It's on the left, under the giant T.  Click on that and then look at your menu up at the top.  There is a large selection of shapes.  




i'm going to pick one that makes sort of a ragged edge frame.  



notice i have the "eye" unchecked on my second layer.  and see the button i have selected on the tools menu?  that lets you move your layer piece.  you can position it up, down, stretch it sideways.  you can even turn it, spin it around however you want.  the reason i was using that was to stretch it out just a little bit.  

and now i add the bottom layer back....




and we are finished.  But i'm not liking that second layer, so i'm just going to delete it.


Now we are ready to save our picture.


click on file and select "save as" from the drop down menu.  A window will appear asking for a file name.....i'm going to call this Pause.  Under format there is a drop down menu....in order for the background to remain clear on this, it canNOT be a JPG file.  So I am going to select PNG for my file type.  


just leave all the other settings at default and click on the OKs when they come up.

And here is the finished graphic:








In the next lesson i will show you how to animate this picture and make it flash different colors.  





  

  
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