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Paint Shop Pro X
Adding a tattoo
I’ve always wanted to get a tattoo but, to be quite honest, I doubt that I’ll ever do it. First, I constantly change my mind about what I want; second, I fear the pain (probably not as bad as waxing, but it might take longer to finish). Better make tattoos on photos for now…
For applying a B&W tattoo, first follow the steps for adding a colored one since they are the same, and then follow the extra steps after the colored result. You might as well convert a colored tattoo into B&W, which is what I’m going to do.
The victim (no, that’s not me):
IMAGE CREDITS » stock.xchng
The tattoo:
This is just a simple illustration I made.
Open the photo, hit Shift + D to duplicate it and close the original.
Open the tattoo image, hit Ctrl + A to select the entire canvas, then hit Ctrl + C to copy. You can close this image.
With the photo active, hit Ctrl + L to paste the tattoo as a new layer. Either resize the tattoo using Image » Resize (uncheck the option All layers) or by using the Pick Tool. Personally I don’t like the results from the Pick Tool.
Move the tattoo to the desired spot either with the Pick Tool or with the Move Tool.
An extra step that you can take either now or at the end of the process of blending the tattoo with the skin is to use the Mesh Warp Tool so that the art follows the body’s curves.
Make the layer with the tattoo active and duplicate it.
Apply a Gaussian Blur effect.
Settings » radius = 1.
Change this layer’s blend mode to Soft Light. Duplicate the layer and make the copy active.
Go to Adjust » Add/Remove Noise » Add Noise.
Settings » noise = 100%, monochrome = checked.
Change this layer’s blend mode to Soft Light and decrease the opacity to about 25.
Hide the layer with the photo by clicking on the Visibility Toggle button.
Go to Layers » Merge » Merge Visible.
Make the photo layer visible again.
(Ignore this step if you are dealing with a B&W tattoo.) Change the tattoo layer’s blend mode to Soft Light.
If you want to make the tattoo look older, decrease the layer’s opacity a bit.
The B&W tattoo
Change the tattoo layer’s blend mode to Hard Light.
For converting a colored tattoo into B&W:
Hit Shift + L to open the Colorize options box.
Settings » saturation = 0.
Hit Shift + B to open the Brightness/Contrast options box.
Settings » brightness = -30, contrast = -25.
White ink in real tattoos usually fade a bit, so you need to decrease the brightness in your digital tattoo so that it doesn’t look fake.
Decrease the layer’s opacity to about 75.
For “pure black” tattoos the opacity might be a little higher.
Photo Manipulation · Jun 22, 2007 ·