female cardinal sitting on tree branch

Female Northern Cardinal PSP7-8

This is the mate to my Male cardinal. You will be using my canvas file and the lighten darken tools to create the image. This tutorial was written for version 8, but all supplies are compatible with PSP7.

PSP7 users please note that the lighten/Darken settings are found in the Retouch tool options. You may wish to use the soften setting to give your finished image a look more like the PSP8 finished image.

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Sources

You will need my canvas and colors files available here.

Remember to save often!

Why you won't see any specific Lighten/darken settings.

The more you repeatedly go over an area with either brush, the darker it gets with darkening and lighter it gets with lightening. If we pretend I give you the exact settings I used, you still won't get the exact same results I got *that* particular time. I get very different results with the same settings on the same day. I suspect those of you uncomfortable with this tool and other similar tools do not trust your own eyes. You will need to trust your own artistic judgement. Once I learned to do that myself, my own retouch tool group work improved to my own eyes. I will give you rough settings: hardness and density less than 50.

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Open the MWfcardcanvas.psp file. File->SaveAs and use a new name. Open my MWfcardcolors.psp file.

  1. Click on the 01 legs red2 layer. Selections->Load->from alpha channel. Flood with red2 (row 2, column2). Use the darken tool around the edge and lighten in middle. Selections->select none.

    you are not seeing the bird legs

  2. Click on the 02 body pink1 layer. Selections->Load->from alpha channel. Flood with pink1 (row 1, column1). Use the darken tool around the edge and lighten in middle. Selections->select none.
  3. Click on the 03 tail red2 layer. Selections->Load->from alpha channel. Flood with red2. Use the darken tool around the edge and lighten in middle. Selections->select none.

    you are not seeing the tail

  4. Click on the 04 uptail pink1 layer. Selections->Load->from alpha channel. Flood with pink1 (row 1, column1). Use the darken tool around the edge and lighten in middle. Selections->select none.
  5. Click on the 05 back pink2 layer. Selections->Load->from alpha channel. Flood with dark pink, row 1, column 2(pink2). Use the darken tool around the edge and lighten in middle. Selections->select none.

    you are not seeing the back and wings

  6. Click on the 06 wing1 pink2 layer. Selections->Load->from alpha channel. Flood with pink2. Use the darken tool around the edge and lighten in middle. Selections->select none.
  7. Click on the 07 wing2 red1 layer. Selections->Load->from alpha channel. Flood with red1. Use the darken tool around the edge and lighten in middle. Selections->select none.
  8. Click on the 08 crest red1 layer. Selections->Load->from alpha channel. Flood with red1. Use the darken tool around the edge and lighten in middle. Selections->select none.

    you are not seeing the bird head

  9. Click on the 09 beak orange layer. Selections->Load->from alpha channel. Flood with orange (row 3, column1). Use the darken tool around the edge and lighten in middle. Selections->select none.
  10. Click on the 10 mask gray layer. Selections->Load->from alpha channel. Flood with gray (row 3, column2). Use the darken tool around the edge and lighten in middle. Selections->select none.
  11. Click on the 11 thigh pink1 layer. Selections->Load->from alpha channel. Flood with pink1. Use the darken tool around the edge and lighten in middle. Selections->select none.

    you are not seeing the completed bird

  12. You may wish to soften or smudge the various layers to smooth the colors a bit. Depends on your own lighten/darken settings and your eyes.
  13. Don't forget to reveal the eye layer!
  14. Please resize your image before showing it off to groups.
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