Still Smiling! Tag Tutorial

By LismibaebisCreations
12 February 2026

I used an image from daily.arts.
I bought it from Creative Fabrica.
I have a subscription, pay annually and can download what and as much as I want.
The image is from the album "Whimsical Summer Bear Clipart".

Skill Level: Advanced Beginners
No outside Filters/Plugins used

This tutorial is my own creation; any resemblance to another tutorial is purely coincidental

Program shortcuts will be given in parentheses

Needed

Paint Shop Pro - I used X2
(Tutorial will work with other versions)
Free 30 day trial from Corel, available here

Image

Tube of choice

Font

Font of Choice – I used Simple Free,
available here (Free to Use from Creative Fabrica)

Performance Notes

This tutorial is in 2 parts:
- Preparation
- Tag

The settings for different Tools and Effects will stay the same throughout the tutorial, unless new setting instructions are given

Don't forget to save your work often

Click on the arrow and drag it to mark the progress on this page.

Preparation

1) File > Open
Open image of choice

2) Window > Duplicate
Close original

3) Dropper Tool (E)
Left click to choose a light Foreground color
(I chose #fff7d9)
Right click to choose a dark Background color
(I chose #604831)

4) Edit > Copy
Minimize

6) Flood Fill Tool (F)
Settings:
Match mode = None
Use all layers = Not checked
Blend mode = Normal
Opacity = 100

7) Left click to flood fill with (light) Foreground Color

8) Edit > Paste As New Layer

9) Image > Resize (Shift + S)
Settings:
Width = 80 %
Height = 80
Resolution = 72.000 Pixels / Inch
Resample using = Bicubic
Lock aspect ratio = Checked
Resize all layers = Not checked
ok

10) Edit > Repeat Resize
Repeat until you have the tube showing to your liking.
Depending on the tube you work with, you might choose to resize in 50% steps to start with

11) Layers > Duplicate
Turn off visibility of duplicated tube

12) Activate original tube layer
Layers > Duplicate

13) Move Tool (M)
Move to left of tube

14) Layers > Duplicate

15) Move Tool
Move to right of the canvas

16) If necessary continue to duplicate and move the tube around until much of the background is covered

17) Layers > Merge > Merge Visible

18) Effects > Image Effects > Seamless Tiling
Settings:
Default

If you click on the arrow indicated by the hand, PSP will set it to default

19) Effects > Distortion Effects > Warp
Settings:
Horizontal (%) = 0
Vertical (%) = 94
Size = 100
Strength = -67 (minus)

20) Effects > Edge Effects > Enhance

21) Layers > New Raster Layer

22) Right click to flood fill with (dark) Background Color

23) Layers > New Raster Layer

24) Left click to flood fill with (light) Foreground Color

25) Time to play:
Turn off visibility of one of the new Layers.
Try out different blend modes to see what you like best.
Now turn visibility off this layer and visibility on with the other layer and go through blend modes again.
My choice for my image and background for this tutorial was the dark color and blend mode "Multiply"

For another image I used the light color with blend mode Dodge and another light color layer with opacity 20

26) Optional:
Image > Mirror
(Background layer)

27) Activate Tube layer
Turn on opacity
Move Tool
Move Tube into preferred position
Resize to your liking if necessary

28) Adjust > Sharpness > Unsharp Mask
Settings:
Radius = 5.00, Strength = 30
Clipping = 30
Luminance only = Not checked
(Or a setting of your liking)

29) Effects > 3D Effects > Drop Shadow
Settings:
Vertical = 2, Horizontal = 5
Opacity = 100, Blur = 25.00
Color = Black
Shadow on new layer = Not checked
(Or a setting of your liking)
If you have a light background this dark Drop Shadow will probably not work

30) For the Frame:
Materials Palette
Change Background color to Black
(Or a Color of your liking)

31) Layers > New Raster Layer

32) Selections > Select All
Or:
Selection > Custom selection
Settings:
Top = 0
Left = 0, Right = 600
Bottom = 250

33) Flood Fill Tool
Right click to flood fill new Layer with Background color

34) Selections > Modify > Contract
Settings:
Number of Pixels = 5

35) Edit > Clear

36) Selections > Select None

37) Effects > 3D Effects > Drop Shadow
Settings:
Vertical & Horizontal = 0
Opacity = 100, Blur = 7.00
Color = Black
(Or a setting of your liking)

38) Layers > New Raster Layer

39) Add your artists copyrights/information
AI images can not be copyrighted

40) For the Text:
Materials Palette
Change Background to Background color or color of choice

41) Text Tool (T)
Settings:
Font = Simple Free
Size = 48 Points (or what suits your Font and Text)
Alignment = Center
Direction = Horizontal and Down
Anti-alias = Sharp
Stroke width = 1.0 (or what suits your Font and Text)
Create as Vector
Auto kern = Checked
Kerning = 0 (or what suits your Font and Text)

42) Type Text of choice and click on Apply

43) Layers > Convert to Raster Layer

44) Move Tool
Move text to place of choice

45) Adjust > Brightness and Contrast > Brightness/Contrast (Shift & B)
Settings:
Brightness = -10 (Minus)
Contrast = 20
(Or a setting of your liking)

46) Effects > 3D Effects > Drop Shadow
Settings:
Vertical = 2
Horizontal = 5
Opacity = 100, Blur = 25.00
Color = Black
(Or a setting of your liking)

47) Adjust > Brightness and Contrast > Brightness/Contrast

48) File > Export > JPEG Optimizer
Settings:
Set Compression value to = 10
Chroma subsampling = YCbCr 2x2 1x1 1x1
Save Exif data = Not checked

You are done!

I hope that you enjoyed doing this tutorial. If you have any questions, please email me:
Lismibaebi at gmail.com
I would love to see what you create with my tutorial.

A special "Thank you" goes to my Tester Group.
Your help, support and patience has made all the difference.