Poinsettia

In this tutorial I will show you how to make a poinsettia using vectors.  You will need the following. 

You will need JASC's Paint Shop Pro.  Get a trial copy here.

My poinsettia gradient.  Download a zip file here, and unzip it into your PSP gradients file.

Open a new image 500X500 transparent.  I like to have plenty of room to work.

Foreground color is null, background is the poinsettia gradient.  Style linear gradient, angle 90, invert gradient checked.   Select the ellipse preset, antialias and vector checked.  Draw an oval shape.

 Click on the object selector then node edit.  Left click on the top node, pull it up slightly and push the ends of the arrow in to make the top of the petal slightly pointed.  Click on the bottom node, pull it down slightly and push the ends of the arrow in to make it slightly pointed also.  Then click on the side nodes and pull them slightly out to form your petal. 

Right click on your vector layer, then convert to raster layer.  Change the foreground color to #E1CD7D and the background to #FCF9F8.  Using your selection tool draw a rectangle around your petal and then click on it to select.  Go to selections, and save to alpha channel, you will need this later.  Select your airbrush tool with the following settings,

Paint around the edge of the petal using just the edge of your brush until it is as dark as you want.  If you make a mistake don't worry, just undo :-)  Here's a little tip.  It's easier to see what you're doing if you set your brush to use precise cursors and show the brush outline.   If you want to try this setting out for yourself click on the tab that's right by your airbrush tab and mark the boxes by precise cursors and brush outline.

Choose your selection tool with the selection type rectangle and feather 0.  Draw a rectangle so it runs down the middle of your petal like this. 

Choose the airbrush tool with the same settings only change the brush to square and paint a line up the center of your petal.  It should be darker and thicker at the bottom of the petal than at the top.  Don't worry about going out of the lines, we will take care of that in a minute.  Then load your alpha channel selection, invert it and hit delete to erase the paint that went outside the lines.  You should how have something similar to this.  Select your draw tool with single line, line width 1 and antialias checked.  Draw some veins on your petal using the dark gold color.

  Add a new raster layer under the petal layer.  Change your foreground color to the poinsettia gradient,  the background is null.  With your draw tool set to freehand and line width 7 (you may have to change the line width depending on weather your petal is larger or smaller than the one I'm working with) draw a curved line at the bottom of your petal.  Hide your bottom layer and merge visible your 2 petal layers.  

 On the layers palette right click on the petal layer and duplicate the layer 5 times.  Click on the first duplicate petal layer and flip it.  Use the move tool to move it into position opposite the first petal. 

Click on the next duplicate petal layer and rotate it right 60 degrees.  The next duplicate petal layer you will rotate left 60 degrees.  The next layer rotate right 120 degrees, and the last petal layer you will rotate left 120 degrees.  Again using the mover tool to move them into place.    You should now have something similar to this.

Hide the first layer and merge visible the petals layers.  Duplicate the petal layer and rotate it right 30 degrees.  This is what you have now. 

Add a new raster layer above the petals layer for the center of the flower.  Change your foreground color to black  #000000 and using your paintbrush with the settings round, size 12, hardness, opacity and density all 100 and step 25 draw some circles in the center of the flower.  Add a new raster layer and change the foreground color to gold #E1CD7D using your paintbrush with the same settings only the size changes to 6, draw green circles in the center of your black circle.  You should now have something similar to this.   Hide the first layer and merge visible.  Your flower is now finished.

Click on your first layer and add a new vector layer under the flower layer for the leaves.  The foreground color is #879C82 the background is #066E06.  The foreground is set to null and the background is foreground background gradient set to linear angle 90, repeats 0.  Rather that repeating everything once again I'll just say that I made the leaves exactly the way the petals were made only they were made a little wider, just play around with the nodes until they look like you want.  Then shade the leaf in the same manner you shaded the petals using the dark green.  Duplicate the leaf 3 or 4 times and use the deform tool to move them into the position you want them.    Then I applied a slight drop shadow on the flower layer and if you want to decorate it like the one I did at the top of the page just draw small lines between the flower and leaves layer and apply a Super Blade pro preset or PSP Sculpture preset.      You can also change the colors to make a red poinsettia.  For the one below I used a foreground color of #CC2626 and background color of #FFC0C0.  When I drew the petals I used the foreground background gradient, linear angle 90.  Everything else is done the same as the cream poinsettia.  I hope you can follow my directions and enjoy your poinsettia!

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