Digital Painting of a Raindrop - PSP 9 Tutorial
 

                                                               
This tutorial was done using PSP 9 but can be done in all versions of PSP. It is intended to serve as a learning tool. I encourage you to make it uniquely your own creation. The images on this page are reduced for space. You will need:          
** Paint Shop Pro - download a trial version here   
** My tomato image you can get here
** A basic working knowledge of psp tools and layers.

Getting started
** Unzip the tomato image you downloaded from above and open it in PSP.

 

**  On your Materials Color palette, make you background color "null". Click on your foreground color and using your Dropper Tool, select the darkest part of the tomato and then move the color picker up to a darker shade of the darkest part of the tomato.



** Select your Ellipse Preset tool ("Create as Vector" checked and "Retain Style" unchecked) and draw a small circle or oval on the tomato where you want your raindrop. NOTE: The line width will depend on the size of your raindrop. I use 1 to 1.50 on small drops and 2 on larger drops.



 ** Convert the vector layer to a raster layer after you decide you like the line width. NOTE: The reason I had you draw it as a vector layer is so you can select your Pen Tool and change the line width if you need to without re-drawing the ellipse.

** Select your Soften Tool and set it between 10 to 30 opacity and run it around the circle to soften the edges. The opacity on the soften tool  you will need depends on the size of your ellipse. You will need less opacity on smaller circles and more on larger ones. The basic idea is to soften it but not to a point where it is blurry.

** Create a new raster layer below the Ellipse layer. NOTE: We will be smudging this layer soon, so by having the painted area on a separate layer we won't disturb the appearance of the circle.

** Now select your Round paintbrush and select a much lighter shade of the tomato ( I prefer to always use white) and paint a small line at the bottom right side. NOTE: The size of your brush will depend on the size of your raindrop. I usually set the brush between size 1 to size 5 depending on the size of the drop.

** Now paint a small dab at the top left side. See example below.



** Now with your Smudge tool, gently blend the colors but not outside of the dark circle.


** At this point, take your "Sharpen Brush" and run it slightly over the area you painted until you get the crisp look you want. Note: When you smudge any painted area, it tends to make it appear dull so by sharpening it back up, you will get a more crisp reflection appearance.

** Now merge the 2 raindrop layers.

You are now ready to have fun and duplicate your raindrop layer and place them where you want. Also, you can tube your raindrop to change the size or use your Deform Raster tool to change the size and shape of the raindrop.


                
This is only one simple way to paint rain/water drops. You can do more complicated shapes and use many highlight colors. Try experimenting. To give you and idea of what you can do, please view one of my paintings here http://www.barbkermisdesigns.com/ABAflonat18a.htm Note: All raindrops painted in this are transparent. Only the highlights of many colors were added and blended to give the drops depth.

That is all there is to it. Just remember to always use a darker shade of the same color of your image to draw the circle. Below are some other examples to get your creative juices flowing. Have fun painting! 
                                                                   
       
I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and that it stimulated your creative juices. If you have any questions or problems, don't hesitate to email me.