PI6 Halloween Spider

 

Time to make something creepy and crawly for Halloween -- but this little guy is almost too cute to scare anyone! It is adapted, with her kind permission, from LadyTX's fabulous PSP Tutorial.

This spider is easy to make with 2D path objects. Add some surface detail and shine with Paint as Object mode and you're done.

Make a new file 400 X 400 pixels, so you have plenty of room to work. Select the Path Drawing tool. In the Attributes toolbar click Shape and select Ellipse, Mode=2D, color=black. Draw a flattened ellipse for the spider's head.

In the Attributes toolbar, click the Color box and select Gradient Fill. When the dialog box opens, make a Two Color Gradient fill from a very dark gray (RGB=48, 48, 48) to light gray (RGB=92, 92, 92). Make sure you select the Radial gradient Fill type.

Make a bigger flattened ellipse for the spider's body. While the body is active, right click and choose Arrange, Send to Back.

Now let's make his eyes. In the Attributes toolbar click the Color box and select solid black. Click Shape, Custom Shape, and select Raindrop. Draw a shape like this one.

Right click and Duplicate. While the duplicate is active, click Color in the Attributes toolbar and change the duplicate's color to white.

Right click on the duplicate and select Properties. When the Properties dialog box opens, from the Position & Size tab, edit the size to 85%.

Position the white object on top of the black one, so there is a little black outline around it to define the white eye. While the white object is selected, Shift+Click the black object, so both are selected at the same time. Then right click, Merge as Single Object. Choose Edit, Rotate & Flip, Flip Vertically. You can resize wider or taller with the Transform tool, if you need to.

Duplicate the eye. Use the Transform tool to rotate the left eye 15 degrees counterclockwise, and the right eye 20 degrees clockwise. Or make up your own values, the point is to have a googly-eyed spider. Position them on top of the spider's head. Add two small black 2D circle objects.

Don't be concerned if your spider's eyes don't look just right -- since you're working with objects, you'll be able to move all the pieces around later to get the best effect.

With the Path Selection tool, click Shape in the Attributes toolbar and select Ellipse, color=black. Draw a flattened ellipse for the nose. Just as you did for the eyes, right click and Duplicate the nose. While the duplicate is active, click in the Color box and select orange (RGB=219, 111, 15). Right click and choose Properties. From the Position & Size tab, resize to 90%. Position in the center of the black nose object. Shift+Click the black nose object, so that both are selected. Right click, Merge as Single Object.

Position the nose on the head. You may have to move the eyes around a bit.

Tap on the spider's head to select and make it active. To add some cheek color, select the Airbrush Paint tool. In the Attributes toolbar, edit the Size to 50, Transparency=0, and Soft edge=50. Click in the Color box and mix a pastel pink color, RGB=195, 165, 167. Lightly airbrush in small circles two "cheeks" on the spider. Don't worry, it will only get on the spider's head, it won't show on the nose. Hit the space bar to deactivate all objects.

To add some sparkle and shine to the nose and cheeks, select the Paintbrush tool. In the Attributes toolbar, select the Round Stroke 1 Preset. Click in the Color box and select white. Edit the Transparency to 75%. Click Mode to enter Paint as Object mode. Paint a curved shine on the spider's nose, then just click on each cheek to make a small white circle. Click Color and switch to black paint, Transparency=0, then paint an off-center smile.

Remember that you're still in Paint as Object mode! Next, let's make some bristly hair to stick out. Select the Paintbrush, Round Stroke 1 Preset. Edit the Size to 2 and Soft edge=4. Click Lines and select Straight Lines. Make a series of short, irregularly spaced hairs around the edges of the head and body. Then edit the Size of the brush to 1, Soft edge=2 and make a series of irregularly spaced hairs in between the wider hairs. Click Mode to exit Paint as object mode.

Finally, add some legs. With the Paintbrush still selected, choose Round Stroke 1 Preset again. Click Mode to enter Paint as Object Mode, Lines=Straight. Paint a series of four legs, getting smaller at the bottom. You'll need to click and drag for the top of the leg, stay in that spot, click and drag again, for the bottom of the leg, then click and drag again for the foot. When you've make four legs, click Mode to exit Paint as Object mode.

You'll notice that the legs are the active object after you leave Paint as Object mode. Right click and choose Arrange, Send to Back. Hit Ctrl+C to copy the legs into the Clipboard, then hit Ctrl+V to paste them back into the image. Choose Edit, Rotate & Flip, Flip Horizontally. Use the Pick tool to drag the duplicate legs over to the other side of the spider. Right click, Arrange, Send to Back.

Use the Pick tool to rearrange the objects until the spider looks just right to you. Then right click, Select All Objects, and right click, Merge as Single Object.  If you have trouble making the spider, you can download the object here.

And if you want to make a cool spider web for your spider, check out Pat Hinds' easy spider web tutorial.

This tutorial uploaded 10/05/01

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