Okay, I am going to use the following picture (it is 547 x 363), is is by one of my favorite artists, Kayomi, and the title of the painting is "Siberian Kingdom":

© Copyright 1995 - 2003 Kayomi. All rights reserved worldwide.

1.  Open a new transparent image in PSP (make it big enough for your name, we will resize later).  For this tut, I am using 600 x 300 (but if your name is long, use 800 x 400 at least!).  You need to allow enough room to use your fat fonts and then to decorate after.

2.  Open the tube you want to use.  This tube will be used to flood fill your text and to decorate it.  This picture was tubed by a good friend, JJWa1,  of mine who has given me permission to use his work in my tutorial, along with the amazing artist who inspires so many of us, Kayomi!  Jimmy just authorized me to add this awesome tube to my site, he has already received a few requests for this tube!  Thanks Jimmy <kisses>  If you would like this tube, simply click on the screen shot below to download it!  Here is the screenshot of the tube I am using:

3.  Click on the title bar of the tube (the top portion) to select it.  Press SHIFT and D to duplicate the image.  Do this twice.  You will have 2 copies now.  Close out your original.  (Always work from copies, so as not to mess up your originals)

4.  Select one of your duplicate tubes.  Click on EFFECTS > TEXTURE EFFECTS > MOSAIC - ANTIQUE.  A box will appear that allows you to select your settings.  These are the settings that I am using:

5.  Click OK.  This is how my tube looks now:

6.  Crop the section of your tube you want to use.  We will be resizing it, but make sure it is at least 100 x 100 pixels.  Use your cropping tool and just click and drag the crop area rectangle over the image.  If you look (very) closely, you can see where my crop marks are on this image: (return to step 43)

7.  Just double click in the center of your crop marks in order to complete the crop process.  My cropped image now looks like this:

8.  My image is 135 x 136 right now.  If you are not sure how to verify the size of your image, there are 2 ways:

• Look at the "Overview" palette, which shows this.

• Check the image information

The overview palette looks like this:

And to check the Image Information dialog box, click on IMAGE > IMAGE INFORMATION.  The screen will look like this:

9.  Resize your cropped tube so that it is a perfect square.  This seems to give you a better look.  Select IMAGE > CANVAS SIZE.  The Change Canvas Size dialog box will appear.  I like my backgrounds consistently as 100 x 100, because I often save them.  You may adjust the canvas size as you like, just make sure the width and height are the same size.

My cropped image now looks like this:

10.  Click on LAYERS > MERGE > MERGE ALL (FLATTEN).  It really doesn't look any different, but it is a necessary step for the background.

11.  Now go to EFFECTS >PLUG-IN FILTERS and locate SIMPLE.  Select QUICK TILE.  There are no settings to adjust, which makes this "simple".  When you selected Quick Tile, this dialog should come up with a preview of your results.

12.    Click on APPLY.

13.    And you should have an awesome result like mine, that will not have any seams when you use it.  This is my result.

Can you see the difference between the 2?  Maybe, but not completely.  Take a look at these 2 examples.  The one on the left was made from our "raw" cropped image.  The one on the right was made from the image we resized the canvas to make it a perfect square and then applied the Quick Tile filter.  Big difference eh?  Those seams make a great tag look lousy.  Quick tile is the way to fix this problem!  Now if ya like the way your background turned out, you may want to consider saving it for use again (I save a lot of mine!).

16.    The pattern dialog box will show all patterns in your "pattern" folder, as well as any images that you have open.  So you do not have to add a pattern to your pattern folder to use it.  But if it is something you use often, you may want to consider it.

 

17.    Click on the small black (down) arrow to the right of the current pattern shown.  You will see something similar to this (I removed many of the "default" patterns that I didn't use, so this wasn't cluttered since I use it so often):

 

 

18.  Using the scrollbar on the right of this dialog box, move it all the way to the top.  (NOTE:  Any images you have open always appear at the VERY top, this is helpful to know if you use this feature alot.)  Select your newly created background you just made.  It will look like this:

 

 

19.    If you like, you can change the Scale % or the angle.  I am not going to make any adjustments on this one, but I often do.  Play with these options to see what gives you the best look.  Once you are happy with your pattern setup, then click on OK.

 

20.    Okay, now your styles should look something like this:

 

 

Your foreground color can be whatever you want.  But be careful on your selection.  Remember you are using a pattern rather than just a solid color.  I prefer name tags with a white background, so I use Black here most often.  Other colors are fine,  but in general this color should be a substantially contrasting color from your pattern to ensure that it brings out the colors.

 

21.  Select your text tool, which of course looks like this:

 

 

 

22.  In PSP 8, the text toolbar, looks very different, it looks like this:

 

 

As I am sure you can tell, I have resized that toolbar so it can actually display easily in this tutorial.  To give you a better look at it, I "cut" it in half and then stacked it as 2 rows.  This is full size so you can see what this toolbar contains.

 

 

23.    Click on your blank image and you will see a text box appear.  This is where you will type the text as you would like it to appear.

 

 

24.  Type your text now as you would like it to appear.  Whatever text you used previously will appear (we can change it later).  Your box should look something like this:

 

 

25.  If you would like to change the font for this tag, make sure the text you will be adding is highlighted as shown above.  Then click on the "drop down arrow" to the right of the FONT box,  This will drop down a list which shows the installed fonts and a sample of them (I love this!).  This is what it looks like:

 

 

I am going to use "Big Apple".  It is a great "fat" font, and I love that "thick and thin" style.

 

26.  If necessary, adjust your font size in the SIZE box to the right.  I am using 100 (as you can tell from the last screen shot).  And if you choose to use a stroke color (which would be the color in your foreground), the "stroke width" indicates this size, I like 2 here best, but play with it and find your favorite!  When your settings are as you like them, click on APPLY in the text box.  Your text will now appear on your image.  Here is how mine looks:

 

 

As you can see, I have "dancing ants".  If you wish to bevel or add a filter to your name, leave these selected.  I like a beveled look on my name, so I will continue so you know my settings.

 

27.    Click on EFFECTS > 3D EFFECTS > INNER BEVEL.  The Inner Bevel dialog box will appear.  These are the settings that I am using.  If you like the look, be sure to save the settings (Click on SAVE AS and then select a name for your settings).

 

 

28.    Click on OK

 

29.    Click on SELECTIONS > SELECT NONE

 

30.    Use your MOVER tool to move your tube where you want it.  This would greatly depend on what you want for your final result.  Will the tube be on top of next to, or what of the name?  I moved mine down a bit and into the center.  I will be putting my tube next to the text.  Here is what mine looks like:

 

 

31.    Select your tube by clicking on it.  Click on EDIT > COPY

 

32.    Select your name tag and click on EDIT > PASTE > AS NEW LAYER (pasting as a new layer allows you to move, resize, etc. an image independently of everything else in your creation.  This is the ONLY way to create as far as I am concerned!)  Here is my result so far:

 

 

33.    As you can obviously tell, my tube needs to be resized.  Resize by clicking on IMAGE > RESIZE, then the Resize dialog box will appear.  It will look like this.

 

34.    I prefer to resize based on percentages, it is just a personal preference.  You can use either.  I am resizing my tube by 50%.  I find that the "RESIZE TYPE" of "SMART SIZE" gives you the best image.  Here is what the dialog box looks like with my settings:

 

 

35.    Once you are satisfied with your settings, click OK.

 

36.    Click on ADJUST > SHARPNESS > SHARPEN.  This step should be done every time you resize your image to keep it looking it's best.

 

37.    Now use your MOVER tool to position your tube (and your name if needed).  My tag now looks like this:

 

 

38.    Mine is now in position where I want it.  Now I am almost ready to add some drop shadow.  But first I am going to adjust the layers.  Click in LAYERS > ARRANGE MOVE DOWN.  My tiger tube is now below the text tube layer.

 

 

 

39.  Fine tune your tube and text location to get the right look.  Depending on where your tube is, you may want to add drop shadow (if any) to both layers together, if so, Click on LAYERS > MERGE > MERGE VISIBLE.  I am going to add the drop shadow to each layer and then merge them.  The choice is yours, and the arrangement will make a difference in your result.  (Heck, just make a duplicate of your current image and try it both ways so you can see the results side by side!).  For the drop shadow, click on EFFECTS > 3-D EFFECTS > DROP SHADOW.  The Drop Shadow dialog box will appear.  Below is the dialog box with the settings I am using.

 

 

40.    Click OK.

 

41.    Repeat for your other layer.  My tag looks like this with the shadow on both layers:

 

 

42.    Click on LAYERS > MERGE > MERGE ALL (FLATTEN).  You should now have something like this:

 

 

43.    Okay, now we need to get rid of some of this "extra white".  This is often an overlooked step.  This is important for a few reasons:

 

• Do you realize how big this image is currently?  43.2KB

 

• I don't know about you, but I have a cable modem, but many others don't.  Keep your image sizes at a "reasonable level".

 

• How about the fact that "white space" is well, UGLY!!!

 

• Also remember since you are probably sending this "signature" in an e-mail on a graphics list, there is probably at least 1 more graphic in that mail.  Not to mention all those members from that list get a lot of mail.  I know that when people are constantly sending super large sized tags, I delete their mail without reading them, and I am not the only one.  Just think about it.

 

Ready to get rid of that UGLY "white space?  It is time to crop your image.  Select the crop tool and proceed to crop your image in the same manner as we cropped the background we made (review step 6)  Here is how my tag looks without the "ugly white space":

 

 

 

44.    Okay, now this tag looks great, but it is still kind of big.  Let's resize it to a reasonable size.  Resize by clicking on IMAGE > RESIZE.  Since I started with an image of 600 x 300, I am going to resize by 76% which will be 400 x 161.  This is what you should have now:

 

 

45.    Click on ADJUST > SHARPNESS > SHARPEN.  Remember, do this every time you resize an image.  The sharpened looks like this:

 

 

 

Can you see the difference in the "before" and "after" the sharpen was applied?  I can, it really does make a difference.  So if you haven't been doing it, you should really start!  Oh, and just another note, the file size of my tag is now 28.4KB (BIG difference from what we started with!) 

 

 

Here are a few other results by me using this technique:

 

 

 

You are done!  I would love to see your results too!  Send them to me at:  Yourwebness.  Also, If ya need any help, e-mail me at that same link!  :)