Paint Shop Pattern Tutorial
Created by Andy Deane

This effort is my first attempt at putting the creative elements of pattern design into written format. Paint Shop Pro is the software I am using for this guide although much of the process will transfer directly between other software manufacturers. There is no affiliation between myself and Jasc, Paint Shop Pro software, or any of there sponsors. It is just an attempt to assist you in creating your own patterns from pictures or artwork in your possession.

This article cannot be put in the public sector without words of caution regarding copyright laws. You can do the research into copyright laws yourself and it can only assume that your good integrity will keep you from abusing the processes available in pattern making. Every artist or craftsman/woman know the amount of time and effort that goes into their trade. Please, be respectful of the artists that have gone before us, do not steal, plagiarize, or abuse their work.

Since this site has been established, the response has been nothing less than unbelievable!!  I would personally like to thank each of you for the time you take to browse this information.  I hope you get as much out of it as I have gotten from writing it and from the comments that have been made.

As a note before you proceed.  MUCH of the content in the following pages is very graphics intensive.  By this I mean the pages may take a LONG time to load if you are not a high speed internet subscriber.  I will apologize for this now and I assure you I am working on some of the graphics to reduce their size and enable you to enjoy the visit more.

It is not only a burden on you, it is using a good deal more bandwidth than I had expected due to the size of the files for the images.  There is a link on the homepage to donate extra bandwidth to my site.  The price is very reasonable at $2 for 1Gb of bandwidth.  If you are interested and can, feel free to click on the on the link.  Should you do so, please take the time to send me an email to let me know.  I would very much like the opportunity to thank you personally!  Perhaps I see a free pattern in the making?  I will keep this site up as long as possible and hope that I may even find a place to host it that does not have the bandwidth limitations.

With that said, let us begin our endeavor into pattern making. The essentials are as follows;

1. A computer, monitor, keyboard and mouse. A graphics tablet is a bonus but not essential. My first patterns were done with a mouse and it is more than sufficient, it just takes a bit longer and a bit more of item number 4 listed below..
2. Computer software that will allow you to edit digital images. The image would preferable be in a .jpeg or .gif format. For the case of these instructions, Paint Shop Pro 9 is used as the example. Most, if not all, of the process will directly transfer to other versions as well as other software applications such as Adobe Photoshop. If you do not have PSP9 it is available as a free download from http://www.jasc.com and is a free, full featured trial version. It is well worth the time to download.
3. Time - There is no rhyme or reason to the amount of time it will take to pattern a portrait. An hour for a basic pattern is a good guide but there are works in progress that are well above that. Some have cluttered my hard drive for months and are still not finished.
4. Patience - Enough can not be said about this. If you feel you are lacking in patience, this may not be the venue for you to exhibit your talent and ability in. Always try to remember, the best is yet to come. With a bit of diligence mixed with patience you will find the task very rewarding.

With the essential elements in place, a brief explanation of terminology is necessary. Manually entered commands will be encapsulated in < > brackets. Most of these commands are listed across the top of your PSP screen as , , , , , , ... so on and so forth. There is no need to memorize them but there are many interesting submenus that you should familiarize yourself with. We will become familiar with a few of the essentials as we progress through this process. You will find some text in italics. Generally, this indicates it is a hint, suggestion, or an item of general interest not necessarily pertaining to the tutorial. This process should be fun, therefore, some of the content in this tutorial is merely for entertainment purposes.

Continue to Page 2 - Workspace Layout

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