SandDancr Studios - Tutorial - Creating a Collage

I have been asked to explain how to do a collage like the one I used for my splash (entry) page.

The technique is really quite simple...although involved. This is not necessarily for the beginner, as you must have a basic understanding of Paint Shop Pro and be able to do the prep work.

First you need to decide what you want the piece to look like and then gather your materials. In this instance, I first scanned some real magazine covers, then found a soup bowl, a small dessert plate, a cell phone, and found some clip art of paint brushes that would be suitable. You, of course, may use any items you wish for your own collage. The following are provided for you to practice with ONLY, if you so desire. Please note that this particular design is copyrighted and may not be used on any other site. I only used it to demonstrate the technique.

The Materials:

Preparation:

Copy your plate...in one..paint soup or food or whatever you wish. In the other, copy and transparantly paste your paintbrush...add some paint in colors of your choice. Instead of having a large magazine in the center, we are going to pretend that we are re-finishing a picture frame...so splash a little paint on the picture frame....or lighten an area to make it look like it hasn't been done yet.

To assemble the graphic, we'll use Paint Shop Pro, although you may use Photoshop or any other graphic software that supports layers. Open a new image...I made this one 300 x 200 to start with. Fill the bottom layer with any color of your choice...at this point it doesn't matter, as we will change this layer later. Add a new layer, name it Table Top. On this layer we will create the table top. Decide on the shape you want, I chose an oval. Make sure anti-alias is on!!! Do not de-select.

Fill with the color or material of your choice. Now you may apply a soft bevel preset with Blade Pro, playing with the height slider until you get a look you like. Once you are satisfied with the look, go to Selections...and choose Select None.

Add a new layer. On this layer, you want to add the items to the table top that will be on the bottom of the stack. In this case, the magazines. I started out with the full color magazines..selecting one...placing it where I thought it would go..and then rotating it 23 degrees to the left, and adding a small drop shadow. Because this is just a general placement, and I won't really know till I have all the items placed, whether they are in the right spot or not, I now create another new layer. Place your second magazine on this layer. Add a another layer and place the 3rd magazine on this one.

Add another layer...hey! we're building a "dagwood" graphic here :) and add your central graphic to this layer. With the placement of your central graphic, it will be easy to see if your magazines are in the right place. If not...chose each layer...and adjust the placement of the graphic on that layer. Once you are satisfied, choose your top layer....and add a new layer.

Note: It was at this point that I decided the full color magazines were just too much! They competed for attention! So I went back to the original scans...made a copy, resized them, converted them to grayscale and turned the transparency down and copied them. Then I went to each layer and pasted the new magazine on top of the old one...rotating as necessary.

Choose your top layer. It should be a blank layer...if not...add a new layer. Now you can place the remaining items on the table top. Since these items are placed wherever you want them....as long as they don't overlap each other, you may place them all on this layer. Adjustment will be easy, as you can select each item individually and move it, cut it or replace it.

Once you are satisfied with the placement of all the items on the table top, it is time to decide what to do for a rug. There are a variety of options. You can fill with your favorite background, texture, create your own design....or like me, for a dramatic effect, choose a real carpet.

Once your rug is completed..add a horizontal shadow of 2 to the right side...and a -2 to the left side. Make sure the vertical option is set to 0. Save as a psp file so that you have the option of coming back later and changing your layers, adding or deleting as you need. Then copy merged, and save as a jpg or gif.