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One of the first things everybody learns to make when they're starting out in graphic design are web buttons. Why? Because they're simple, small and let's face it, very practical. Where would the web be without all those pretty buttons? Imagine a vast cyber forest of nothing but hotlinks taking us everywhere.....yeuch! How incredibly boring.
So here we go......
Note: This tutorial may be downloaded or printed out for personal use only. It must not, under any circumstances, be taken from this site in its entirety or in parts and passed around Yahoo or MSN Groups, re-posted on other websites or passed on to other individuals. Placing a link on your Group's site or your own site is fine, and passing links around is also fine. But links ONLY please. There are logos available on my resources page if you wish to use one. Thank you for your co-operation.
As always, if you have any questions about this tut, or any comments or suggestions in general your feedback is always welcome. Just click on the link above to contact me.
1. Open a new image. Go to File>New, or alternatively click on the open new image icon in the top left-hand corner of the toolbar, which should look something like this: 
2. Now, one of the great new features of the latest version of PSP is that it comes with heaps of presets, and the open new image dialogue box is no exception. With the dialogue box still open, click on the arrow on the edge of the preset list and choose '88 x 31 Micro Button' (as shown, below left). Click 'OK'.
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3. This will give us an image which is 88 pixels wide, by 31 pixels long. (Of course, you can always make a button any size you wish simply by keying in different pixel sizes manually). Now we're going to fill it with a red gradient. If it's not already open, open up the materials palette: View>Palettes>Material (or just press F6 which is the keyboard shortcut).
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4. Click on the color changer (see 1, at left). Now you should see a small drop-down menu, click on the second circle (2, at left) which is the gradient tool. Make sure your gradient scale is set to '100' and the angle is '0'. Now select the 'Duotone Red' gradient from the list (as shown below). Hit 'OK'.
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 5. Click on the fill tool,  and mouse over your image until you see the arrow turn into the paintbucket. Left-click to fill your image with the gradient (see right). Before we go any further, go back to the materials palette and make sure the background fill colour is set to white (like mine is, above. If it's not, just right-click over the old colour to bring up the Recent Colour box, and choose white from in there).
6. Now comes the fun part! Let's put a word on that sucker. We'll start off with a button that says 'Home'. Now, when you get more used to working with Paint Shop Pro, you'll probably want to do this next step on a new layer, but for now we'll say 'hasta la vista' to layers and just focus on creating our label instead. |
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