The Perfect Avatar
Making the Perfect Avatar with Paint Shop Pro
Written By: Tessa
Importance Rating: 9 / 10
Difficulty Rating: Difficult

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In this tutorial, you will learn how to make the perfect avatar using Paint Shop Pro, written by the one and only Tessa! :D

You will need:
  • Paint Shop Pro (I use PSPX)
  • some experience with the program
  • an imagination ;)

    You're greatest new love is graphics, and that spiffy program that you've been wanting FOREVER is starting to get a little... old. And there are no good images out there to use anyways! This guide will help you create the perfect (celebrity) avatar, and also give you some ideas on how to influense your other graphics with a couple easy tips. Let's begin!

    The "Look"
    First thing's first: you need to decide on what you want your avatar to be about. A song? A view on the person you're featuring? An easy way to be inspired is to look for a good image and start from there. I get my images from Sweet and Talented, they have great photo shoots of most actors and actresses, musicians and bands, as well as TV shows and movies. Try to find an image without a busy background; plain colors or gradients look best, and brushes can be used nicely against them. As to not make your image blurry, try to capture only the head or upper body of your subject, it will look a lot nicer.

    Preparing the Image
    Your new image by itself = BORING. Lighten it up or give it a new color scheme using a script (I won't go into any detail here, try looking for a guide on using them), which can be found at most large graphics websites. I personally like to use Swimchick's scripts, and there are a lot to choose from. Make extra copies of your avatar and do some experimenting; there's probably one of your scripts that will look hands-down the best with your image. :)

    Font Antics
    Choosing the perfect font will also help your avatar look more professional. Pixel fonts are often the avatar maker's biggest mistake; they take away from the professionalism of the avatar and make it look edgy and unnatural. Try a font like Georgia in 8 pixels (3 points), set as bold with kerning 40 or higher. Use a distinct color like black or white, whatever contrasts more. This will have a big part to do with your background; if it is too busy the font will be really hard to read, so remember to choose carefully. ;) Straight fonts? PUH-LEASE! Using slanted or angled fonts is more interesting and you can also fit in bigger words. *winks* Try using a vector for a guideline: make a rectangle shaped vector and rotate it to whatever angle you want, then type the text alongside it. Or, you could do the same, instead by drawing a line with the pen. Just be careful it doesn't go to wavy or your text will be ruined. *nods*

    Finish It Up
    To make your avatar more interesting, a large brush will add some texture and color. Make sure it only a few shades darker or lighter than the background or it will look tacky. Try cutting out the "main feature" of your avatar (maybe the person or object featured in it) with the freehand selection tool and pasting it as a new layer, above what's left of the background of the image. Make a new raster layer between these and then paste on the brush, this way you can also you Soft Light or Overlay to get your desiered effect. When you are happy, merge all of the layers. Now all you need to add is the credit, I find that a "hidden" credit works best. Type your sites (or your own) initals in the same font as before. Set them in white or light grey. Then just paste them as a new layer, move them into desired position, and set the effect to Soft Light or Overlay. The text should be visible but won't take over your image.

    Is your avatar spiffier than you could have imagined? See, it's easy to make good graphics with the right technique. These will also work for other things, but obviously on a larger scale. I hope this guide helped you make the perfect avatar! If you have any questions, comments, corrections, or concerns, just e-mail me: albinorhino@live.ca.

    -Tessa