Custom Button 01

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Custom Button 01

Making odd shapes in PSP isn't as difficult as it seems, it's just a matter of knowing how to do it. For our example, we're going to make a "C" shaped button.

Start with the Rectangular selection tool.

Settings:

Selection Type: ellipse
Feather: 0
Antialias: checked

Now, press and hold the CTRL key on your keyboard.: Make a second selection, overlapping the first.

Holding in the SHIFT key allows you to make multiple selections, while holding in the CTRL key allows you to remove the area currently inside of the marquee.

While the mouse button is held in you will see both of the selected areas, but as soon as the button is released, the removed part will disappear, leaving only the remaining portion of the original selection.

Select the color you would like your button in and make it the foreground color on the Color Palette.

I used: 244 164 243

Make the background color white.

Select the Airbrush Tool.

Settings:

Paper Texture: mist
Opacity: 85
Brush Size: 31
Remainder of the settings leave at default.

Paint over the selected area once.

Expand the selection.

Selection | Modify | Expand

Number 0f Pixels : 6

Switch your Color Palette background and foreground color so that white is now the foreground color.

Hot Wax your selection.: Image | Other | Hot Wax Coating

Deselect the selection by pressing CTRL + D on your keyboard.

Select white area with the magic wand .

Settings:

Match Mode: Hue
Tolerance: 5
Feather: 0
Sample Merged: Unchecked

Invert the selection by pressing CTRL + SHIFT + I.

Add a drop shadow.

Image | Effects | Drop Shadow

Settings:

Color: black
Opacity: 49
Blur: 12
V/H : 3

Note: This tutorial is not done with a transparent background. If you want to make a transparency, be sure to use a starting background color that closely matches the background of your webpage. Choosing a color that doesn't match your web page will result in an outline around your drop shadow.