How To Make Cut-Outs or How To Paint Under The Photo
Back in this post, 
soulrefrain asked how to make cut-outs in PSP7 or 8. I don't use PSP, but I use Photoshop and thought this might be useful to someone out there.
1) Create your 100x100 icon base. For this icon, I chose Satine. She will be my top layer and I will be painting around her.
2) Drag the photo layer down to the "Create New Layer" button to duplicate the layer. This will be where you cut out Satine.
3) Select your Polygonal Lasso Tool in the toolbar. You may need to click the little arrow on the lower right corner of the Lasso Tool to choose this tool.
4) Roughly trace the area you want to cut out. If you make any mistakes, just hit ESC. (I've found zooming in helps this process.) To finish off an area, click on your starting selection position. (A little circle should appear next to the tool to indicate you can close the selection.)
5) Repeat step 4 as often as necessary, making certain your "add to selection" box is checked as shown below.
6) My finished selection looks like this:
(ADVANCED NOTE: If you'd like some fading around the edges, go to Select>Feather and type in a range. 5 usually works best for me in this type of icon.)
7) Highlight the top of the two layers and hit "delete" or "clear." I've made the lower layer invisible to illustrate the result.
8) Create a new layer between the photo layer and the background layer. This is where you will be painting behind Satine. (Layer 2 is if you want to add anything on top of both layers, such as a final border.)
9) Go crazy! Add brushes, text, whatever makes you happy.
10) The finished product:
I'd be happy to answer any questions or comments that I can. I hope this helps someone!
soulrefrain asked how to make cut-outs in PSP7 or 8. I don't use PSP, but I use Photoshop and thought this might be useful to someone out there.1) Create your 100x100 icon base. For this icon, I chose Satine. She will be my top layer and I will be painting around her.
2) Drag the photo layer down to the "Create New Layer" button to duplicate the layer. This will be where you cut out Satine.
3) Select your Polygonal Lasso Tool in the toolbar. You may need to click the little arrow on the lower right corner of the Lasso Tool to choose this tool.
4) Roughly trace the area you want to cut out. If you make any mistakes, just hit ESC. (I've found zooming in helps this process.) To finish off an area, click on your starting selection position. (A little circle should appear next to the tool to indicate you can close the selection.)
5) Repeat step 4 as often as necessary, making certain your "add to selection" box is checked as shown below.
6) My finished selection looks like this:
(ADVANCED NOTE: If you'd like some fading around the edges, go to Select>Feather and type in a range. 5 usually works best for me in this type of icon.)
7) Highlight the top of the two layers and hit "delete" or "clear." I've made the lower layer invisible to illustrate the result.
8) Create a new layer between the photo layer and the background layer. This is where you will be painting behind Satine. (Layer 2 is if you want to add anything on top of both layers, such as a final border.)
9) Go crazy! Add brushes, text, whatever makes you happy.
10) The finished product:
I'd be happy to answer any questions or comments that I can. I hope this helps someone!