In this tutorial we will take a mega, (that you are already familiar with) and by using the built in filters in psp, we will make her "prettier" and her colors softer. Add some make up and then we will change the background and add fonts to make a simple mega-head avtar.

I used the font: Suede but any font will work. And the extra font is: Xenotron.

Let’s start off by saving the mega-head avtar below us into our files.

Now save the background

Let’s open up the girl in PSP, and increase the color depth.

(Up to COLORS > INCREASE COLOR DEPTH > 16 Million colors)

Firstly, under effects we will smooth her over a tad. So go to:

EFFECTS>>>Under NOISE >>texture preserving smooth

Amount of correction: 40

Secondly, she is very orange, so we will adjust this using the filters available to us in psp.

So go to:

EFFECTS>>>ENHANCE PHOTO>>>Automatic Saturation Effect

Bias: less colorful and Strength weak should be checked. And skin tone present should be checked. She should be looking something like this:

Now we will touch up her makeup slightly, so firstly we need to make her "big" by clicking on the zoom tool. (It looks like a magnifying glass near the top left hand corner).

Next we shall click on the "dropper" then on the girl’s lips. The colour you should get is:

R: 159, G: 92 B: 69

Now we will click on our RETOUCH tool (it’s the hand with a finger drawing), then

Click on TOGGLE TOOL options window.

Using the drop down menu, make sure "COLOUR TO TARGET" is selected then,

Shape: Round, size: 2, Hardness: 0, Opacity: 30, Step: 25, Density: 100.

Carefully, apply a little more "lipstick" – if you prefer another colour, simply pick one!

Now, reducing Opacity to 10 and increasing Size to 10, carefully tap some blusher on her cheeks. She’s nearly done!

(If you want you can give her some eye shadow too…but just a little.)

We will now give her a little more contrast. Under EFFECTS once again go to:

EFFECTS>>ENHANCE PHOTO>>>AUTOMATIC CONTRAST ENHANCEMENT.

Bias: lighter, Strength: Mild, Appearance: Natural.

She now should be looking something like this:

Now leaving the girl for a sec, we shall open up our saved background,

And paste it as a new layer on the girl. To do this:

Increase the color depth (up to COLORS > INCREASE COLOR DEPTH > 16 Million)

Right click on the Background and choose COPY, minimize the Background and bring

The Girl’s av back up. Now Go up to EDIT>>PASTE AS A NEW LAYER.

Now the Background will be ON TOP of the Girl. We are going to erase the background off

just her, but to be able to do this, we need to be able to see her properly. So firstly we shall click on TOGGLE LAYER PALETTE. Bring the layer opacity for the FIRST layer (the background) down to about 55.

Using ZOOM increase her size until you feel you can erase easily. Now click on the ERASE TOOL, then once again on the TOGGLE TOOL OPTION WINDOW. We will use the following; shape: round Size: 20, Hardness: 0, Opacity: 50 Step: 25, Density: 100.

Now we shall carefully erase on her body and face until we can see her. You can reduce OPACITY to about 35 when you go around the areas with decorations. Then you can increase OPACITY again to 60 and decrease SIZE to 10 to go over her body to make her clearer. When you are satisfied, increase the opacity in your FIRST LAYER in TOGGLE LAYER PALETTE up to about 90, then RIGHT CLICK on the first layer, and MERGE ALL.

TOGGLE LAYER PALETTE>>>RIGHT CLICK ON LAYER ONE>>MERGE ALL.

She should now be looking something like this:

Now we shall just soften her slightly, so go to:

EFFECTS>>BLUR>>GAUSSIAN BLUR

Radius: 0,40

We will choose a front, Click on the TEXT TOOL (it’s the large A), I will be using Suede at size: 22. Then type in your nic and the following settings:

Fill: white, standard text, floating and antialias must be checked.

Click ok, and while the text is still floating "looks like 100’s of ants!!" we will go into:

EFFECTS>>3D EFFECTS>>>DROP SHADOW

Opacity: 50, Blur: 1,5, Vertical: 1 Horizontal : 1. Click ok. Repeat this drop shadow again.

After you have dropped shadow twice, we are now nearly finished, go into the TOGGLE LAYER PALETTE, to the PROMOTED LAYER, reduce the opacity of your front so it "melts in" better with the rest of the background. I have it on 60.

Now you can add your own special touches, using extra fonts, or brushes. I have used small square brushes and some stars in my final av and an extra font, but let your fantasy go…

When you are happy with the result, right click on your PROMOTED LAYER and merge all. Save you av and VOILE!!!

Now you’re done.

Hope you had fun and learned something new J

Vana.