This tutorial was written on December 20th 2002 and © by Lady Oz.  You may make a copy of this tutorial or print it out for your own personal use ONLY.  Do not send through emails nor put on your own site, but if you would like to LINK to my tutorials please do so.  Also what you create belongs to you, I only own this tutorial and wish it to stay on this page. *s*.

*Disclaimer*  I got this cute idea from an Australian Muffin recipe book called 'Muffin Magic' by Diana Linfoot... not only does it have the most delicious recipes but also the cutest illustrations. I thought that it would be a good idea to do a series of these fun tutes for the Cafe menu in 2003.  My muffins aren't exactly like the ones in this book as I try to give them a personal touch, but they are similar.

 

 

This tutorial uses vector shapes and some shading, though it is not really hard....you can save the Muffin as a preset shape as well as a tube. *s*  It is assumed that you have a good working knowledge of PSP. 

Please email me if you encounter any problems due to my instructions or mistakes, so that I in turn can correct them.   I'd love to see your results and don't forget to share any good ideas or additions you may have!    *s* 
 

What I used for my muffins.

• PSP 7      download a free trial version.....you won't be sorry...but you will be hooked. *s*

• Eye Candy 3

• Muffin Body preset  download and extract to your preset folder in PSP.

 

Tools you will be needing to do this tutorial are as follows:  

Preset Shapes   Object Selector   Draw Tool  Retouch tool  Layer Visibility Toggle

 

Now to make the Apple & Bran Muffin Lady! *s*

Step 1*  Open up a transparent image size around 500 x 500  16 million colours (24 bit).    Don't forget to save as you go along....name your layers as we finish each one, unless you choose to do otherwise. *s*

Save as a PSP file!

Step 2*   Foreground  #382B22                Background  #FFE69F    Preset Shapes, Ellipse       Antialias...checked       Create as Vector checked       Line width 1 Draw an oval shape in the center of your canvas. This is for what I will refer to as the 'muffin'. Object selector....node edit....select all and change to 'Cusp'...move nodes until you get a shape like this one.

Save!

Step 3* Add a new Vector layer...   Preset Shapes, Ellipse Keeping the same colour and settings.....draw another shape for the muffin top.    Object selector....node edit...add a few more nodes and shape that top. The top can also be done by using the Draw tool settings as on the right......the choice is yours.

Save!

Step 4*  With the 'muffin' layer highlighted, add a new Vector layer.     Foreground : #382B22 Background: #FFFFFF Draw an eye shape...Duplicate this layer and move to other side of face.  Add a new Vector layer.   Draw the pupil using   Preset Shapes, Ellipse...foreground null...background colour of your choice....Duplicate this layer and move to other side of face too.  Add a new Vector and draw an eyebrow. Duplicate this layer and move to other side of face.

 

Save!

Step 6* Add a new Vector layer.    Preset Shapes, Heart1       Antialias...checked       Create as Vector checked       Line width 1       Foreground: null       Background: shade of your choice Make a heart shape for the mouth and move the nodes around for the shape you want. Step 7* Add a new Vector layer.  Change the background colour to #C09880 and with the preset shapes set on ellipse, draw a circle for the cheek....copy/paste to the other side.

 

Save!

Step 8* Add a new Vector layer.    Preset Shapes, keeping same colours and settings as before. Draw a long narrow ellipse for one of the legs.   Object selector....node edit...Move the nodes around until you get the shape you want....my nodes were all Cusp.  Don't worry too much about sizes and positions at this stage as we will get to adjust them later on in the tutorial.

Save!

Step 9*   Add a new Vector layer.  Preset Shape with same settings... Draw a small oval shape for the knee of the other leg...shape it if you like. Move it into position on the other side. (see pic in Step 11) Step 10* Preset Shape....With same settings as before, draw a long  narrow oval for the arm. Object selector....node edit...Move the nodes around until you get the shape you want.  I zoomed in whilst I did the hand part...makes it easier to get the finger shapes and so on.  Again my nodes were Cusp mainly.  If you have a problem doing hands, then you can always give her mitts instead *s*.

Save!              

Step 11* Highlight the arm layer...right click and choose 'Duplicate' then go to...'image'....'mirror'....then again with the Object selector....node edit...Move the nodes around until you get the shape you want.   You can of course do a new ellipse shape for this arm but I chose to do it this way...you do it whichever way you find easier. This is what we should have so far.

Save!

Step 12*   With layer1 highlighted, add a new Vector layer.   Draw Tool...settings as on the right... Foreground : #382B22 Background: #E7E2DD Draw a shape for the sack.

Save!

Step 13*   With 'leg 2' layer highlighted, add a new Vector layer.   Draw Tool...settings same as for sack. Draw a shape for the top of the sack...the part that folds over.  After I did my screen capture...I played around with the nodes until I got it the way I wanted it. *s*

Save!

    

Step 14*   Grab the Object selector and draw around the complete image...right click and choose 'Group'.  Do not deselect.  Now make your Layer Palette active and look for this new group...which will be at the bottom of all the layers.   Change the name to whatever you wish to call it for your shapes library....in my case it was loz_muffin_01.  Also, more importantly, give this new name to the  Group 1 layer, which is just below the one you've just renamed....otherwise when you save the preset shape, it will save as Group 1 no matter what you may choose to call it.   *I have only just found this out after pulling my hair our so many times, wondering why my new shape could never be found under the name I gave it and that every one was saved as 'Group 1'......aaaargggggh!  LOL  See my screen capture below to see what I mean....they have since been changed to the correct names. *s* Please note that all the layers above this layer are now empty as they have been transferred to your new group....but don't delete them as when we are finished, we will undo the grouping and revert back to the way they were. Do not deselect. Right click on image again and choose 'export shape'.  Give your shape a name and OK it. You will get a warning message...that's okay just click OK.

Step 15*  **Open up a new image and test out this shape before going on to convert the layers to raster...better safe than sorry. *s*   To do this you need to look through your preset shapes until you find it.  Make sure that 'Retain Style' and 'Create Vector' are selected...then test it out on the new image.   Your new vector shape will show up in your Layer Palette as 'Layer 2' and will have a little plus '+'sign at the side of it.   Click on it and you will see all the vector layers that you saved in your group...sometimes we miss one or two....that's okay, just drag them into the group. *Note that even though it has saved in the name that I gave it...all the layers below reverted back to the name of the shapes that they were made with....i.e.:  Ellipse....Drawing etc.....now this bugs me, so if anyone knows a way of keeping the name that we give each of the layers...please, please let me know as it will save me a whole heap of time searching for the answer.  LOL Once you know that it is safely there and is correct...close it up and go back to your original image that you were working on. I find that if I right click my image and choose 'ungroup'...it stays grouped...so I just use the undo button on my taskbar...... you can do the same thing by going to Edit...Command History....highlight 'group'....hit the 'undo' command.... I don't usually use this unless there are lots of moves to undo.

Now onto converting to raster layers and dressing this lady up a wee bit. *s*

Part 2