I have found it is easy to make your own gradients, but metallic gradients are another thing. You can fing tons of Gold or Silver Gradients on the web, but not many colored metallic ones, especially if you want a special color. I thought I would write up a simple way to make your own colored metallic gradients. The only difference is, with this method, you will need to save in you Patterns folder...As I, myself, have not figured out how to save metallic gradients as a .jdg or .PSPGradient file.(That will be another tutorial coming soon.) But I will show you how you can take one of your gold or silver graidents and make them into your own special colors. #1 You will need a gold, or silver metallic gradient for this tutorial.
#2 Open a NEW image 100X100. Find your gold metallic gradient and make it your foreground. Do not worry about the background color as we will not be using it at this time. #3 Use Shift D to make a copy of your gradient. Close out your original image. I do this for ALL images I work with, so that I do not mess up and lose my original in error. #4 Go to Image/Greyscale, then Image/Increase Color Depth/16 Million Colors (24 bits). Your lovely gold gradient will now be a dull looking grey, but no worries.
(The silver hardly looks changed at all, but it really is changed.) #5 Now go to Adjust/Hue and Saturation/Colorize. Here you can change the Hue & Saturation numbers to what ever you like to get the colors that you prefer. Or, you can click on the arrow and use the slider bar option. I wanted a nice lavendar color, so I use Hue 215 and Saturation 81.
(The silver (the right one) does look shinier than the gold (left one).) #6 That is all there is to it. Now you can save it as a .bmp file and save it into your Patterns folder. I make new folders and keep my Patterns/Gradients organized. And so that I do not bog down my PSP, I save my new folders in C:Kami/My Documents/My PSP Files/Patterns/PJs Metallics Here are some colors that I have made. Your color choices are endless. Now you can match metallic Gradients to your images and web pages.
Back to TutorialsI hope you enjoyed this tutorial. 2006 All Rights Reserved PJ Keplinger |