Dingbat Magic
by Maureen Williams

This tutorial is a combined effort after Linda Buckmaster from PSP Buddies, who had sent in a beautiful stained glass image to the group,  received many requests for instructions but wasn't sure how to go about writing a tutorial. This was where I stepped in as I had promised my group I would write up instructions for colouring dingbat fonts.

These basic instructions can be used on any dingbat font, with minimal changes.
Experiment and have fun!

Optional:     Super Blade Pro, Ulead Art Texture or your favourite special effect.

Remember to Save Frequently.

Step One

Open a new transparent image 300 x 400. 
This will allow you to select the various areas easily 
and the image will be resized when we are finished.
 

Step Two

Click on the Text icon in the tool bar and select the
 AngelsFairies font with the following settings:
Size = 350
Stroke = null
Fill = white
Floating and antialias checked

Select the desired character - I have used the letter m.
Click OK.

Step Three

Use the Mover Tool to centralise the picture in the centre.
 You will notice the "marching ants" around the edges of the image.

Go to Effects and apply your favourite special effect.
 I have used the Super Blade Pro - Gold Shiny preset.

This will highlight all the "lead-light" lines in the image.
Deselect. Save your file.

Note:

If you feel the lines are too thick for the image you have chosen,
undo the special effect and with the marching ants visible,
 go to Selections, Modify, Contract and enter 1 pixel.

Step Four

Use the Zoom Tool to zoom into 2:1 on the image.
This will make it easier to select the small areas.
Use the Magic Wand with the tolerance set to 4 and select the desired areas.
To select multiple areas, hold down the Shift key and click in the next area.
To avoid a gap showing around the edges of the area to be filled,
go to Selections, Modify, Expand by 1 pixel.

Step Five

Open the stained glass images and minimise.
 This will allow you to select them from the Styles Palette.
Click on the Styles Palette and change to Pattern.
Locate your stained glass colour - it will be at the top of the Pattern window.
You may need to change the size or angle of the pattern depending on the areas being filled.
For example, if you are filling in leaves or blades of grass ensure the
 pattern goes from top to bottom not across the leaf.

Click on the Flood Fill tool and then click in one of the
 selected areas to fill all of the selections.
Continue filling all of the image with your selected colours.

Save your image.

Step Six

In the Layer Palette left click on the image layer.
 Hold the mouse button down and drag the layer onto a blank area on your workspace.
This will automatically crop away the excess area around the image.

Alternatively, use the Magic Wand to select outside the image, go to Selections Invert.
Now go to Image, Crop to Selection to remove the excess area.

Step Seven

In the Layer Palette create a new layer and drag below the image layer.
Flood fill the new layer with white to brighten the transparent areas of the image.

Resize the image as required and the save.

Linda's stained glass fairy.

Hints & Tips

If there are areas in the image which you don't want (for example, the dots on the  flowers above) use the Eraser tool set to a low setting to erase them.

If there are gaps in the outline which allows the colour to spread further than required, set the Foreground colour to the line colour and use the Paint brush to fill in the gaps, thus enclosing the section.

Sometimes it may be necessary to increase the magnification to be able to select tiny areas. Alternatively, use the Clone tool to colour these small area.

I hope you have fun with this tutorial. If you have any questions contact either Linda or myself and we will endeavour to help you.