Lesson #2 - Text Tool

to your images. Lesson one we discovered what some of our menu options were, how to choose a color, flood fill tool and picture tube tool.

The photo above will be used in this lesson, this is a image that we will add text to in order to make a tag. Tags are signature graphics, they are usually a small graphic with your name attached. Right click on the above photo and save to a folder where you will be able to find it.

I suggest you put a folder on your desktop or in My Documents named "PSP Lessons" and save it there. I would also suggest that you save all your creations from this time forward in that folder so you can find them easily.

Open your PSP Program, then go to FILE \ OPEN and browse until you find the file named "blankfourfriends_pattysdesign.jpg" that you saved from this attachment. Make a duplicate by clicking on Shift and D at the same time. Then close the original image. This is a good habit to get into, because now you are free to add or change things in the duplicate that won't effect the original. If you make a mistake, or don't like the outcome you don't have to worry that the original has not been compromised. Your image will look like this.

Now go to your Tool Bar (on the left side) and choose the Text Tool

. At the top under the Main Menu you will now see the Tool Menu. This gives us our options and settings for our individual tools. Each tool has different options that you can use. Below is the settings we will use in the lesson.

Don't be confused if your tool menu looks different, they do change according to the version you use. Make sure that you have your text set as Floating, the font we will use is Arial and the size 36, also make sure that you have the Bold Button clicked (The Capital B) as in the example above.

Now we need to choose the color that matches our image. Go to your Materials Palette and click on the upper box or foreground color. This will bring up your color wheel. You will notice that your cursor has changed to a dropper going over to our image choose a dark color, I chose a dark purple. Then click OK. Now click in the lower box or background color and choose a light color, I chose a matching light purple. Then click OK. These are the colors we will use for our Text. The Foreground Color will be the outline and the Background Color will be the fill color. Here is my choices.

Now going to our image we want to click inside with our text tool. This brings up another window where we can type our text. Type your name here and then click ok. Your Name will now be in the image surrounded by "marching ants" at this point you can move the text around, so lets get it centered into the image. At this point our text should still be selected go to

*** TIP*** If you make a mistake or don't like your color choices you can always redo it. Go to FILE \ EDIT at the top you have a choice to undo your last option. You can undo as much as you want until you get to the point where you made the mistake.

Once you are satisfied with your image and the placement of the text right click in the image and click on "Select None" this will defloat the text and remove the "marching ants" from around it. Or you can Hit Ctrl + D

Continue adding text to the blanks that were shared previously. Our next lesson you will learn how to make your own tag.

You should continue to "play" with adding text to your blanks. Remember our last Lesson where we made a background and put a tube on it? You can now add Text to that and have a tag of your own. Next Lesson making a tag with patterned and gradient backgrounds, adding a tube and text, framing the tag.