Advanced techniques with text - PSP7
Greetings to everyone. I'm a long time reader and actually have received almost all of my helpful icon-making tips just by watching this community.
As an icon-maker, though, I feel like I've hit a wall when it comes to arranging and using text. I'm very well read on what's possible in Paint Shop Pro, which I prefer to Photoshop simply because I've been using it for so long. I feel that I can manipulate color and brushes fairly nicely in an icon. The problem comes with text. It's absolutely horrible; I feel like I ruin my icons because I can't place it in a beautiful way or blend it nicely.
I'm familiar with how to, of course, add borders to text, how to put text on curves, how to kern text smaller or larger depending on spacing... but I'm still not satisfied at all with my text!
In what I've seen available in tutorials, there really isn't one comprehensive guide to how to do advanced things with text, specifically in PSP. I have been able to mimic some techniques in PSP8 tutorials with some success as well as ones from Photoshop... but I'm still not happy. I guess I'm a terrible perfectionist.
Behind the cut are a few of my icons so you can get an idea of why I'm unhappy. I'm really sorry to post so many examples, but it's the only way I feel that I can accurately show my problem. Hopefully mercy will be granted because they're all behind a cut. (Please? *blush*)
I'd like to know some of the ways you icon gods and goddesses spruce up your text and some of your favorite techniques. Do you simply blend layers multiple times at different opacities to achieve a look, or is there more involved?
Any responses would be *really* appreciated! Thank you!
See what I mean? Mainly block quotations and even when I do curve text... it's not exactly eye-popping.
Suggestions are welcome! Most of these are recent and better than some of my first icons, but.... meh.:(
As an icon-maker, though, I feel like I've hit a wall when it comes to arranging and using text. I'm very well read on what's possible in Paint Shop Pro, which I prefer to Photoshop simply because I've been using it for so long. I feel that I can manipulate color and brushes fairly nicely in an icon. The problem comes with text. It's absolutely horrible; I feel like I ruin my icons because I can't place it in a beautiful way or blend it nicely.
I'm familiar with how to, of course, add borders to text, how to put text on curves, how to kern text smaller or larger depending on spacing... but I'm still not satisfied at all with my text!
In what I've seen available in tutorials, there really isn't one comprehensive guide to how to do advanced things with text, specifically in PSP. I have been able to mimic some techniques in PSP8 tutorials with some success as well as ones from Photoshop... but I'm still not happy. I guess I'm a terrible perfectionist.
Behind the cut are a few of my icons so you can get an idea of why I'm unhappy. I'm really sorry to post so many examples, but it's the only way I feel that I can accurately show my problem. Hopefully mercy will be granted because they're all behind a cut. (Please? *blush*)
I'd like to know some of the ways you icon gods and goddesses spruce up your text and some of your favorite techniques. Do you simply blend layers multiple times at different opacities to achieve a look, or is there more involved?
Any responses would be *really* appreciated! Thank you!
See what I mean? Mainly block quotations and even when I do curve text... it's not exactly eye-popping.
Suggestions are welcome! Most of these are recent and better than some of my first icons, but.... meh.:(