Blue Poppy, Mechonopsis.

Flower A.

This is one of the most beautiful flowers I know. The color is so intensed blue.
I will try to explain how to do it.

Make a new folder under Selections in your PSP-selections folder.
Call it Mechonopsis and zip the selections up there.

Get my Selections here. Save often!
Save in psp-format to make the Background transparent.

New Image 420 x 420, transp, 16 mill. Flood Fill the layer with black color
to make you see better what you are doing. Call the layer Background.

New Layer. Selections, Load from disk, Mechonopsis.
Now you have to get a1.sel. and Flood Fill with the color shown below.
You have to get all selections on separate layers,
and give the layers the same names as the selections.

When filling the edges arim1 + 2 + 3, use Airbrush7.

This is your picture now.

This is your Layer Palette now.

Let's start shading the petals.

Stand on Layer a1. Layers, View, Current only. Selections, Select all. Selections, Float.
New Layer. Airbrush 3. Put some color on the petals with color #145D90.

Effects, Blur, Gaussian Blur 3.
New Layer. Make also some lines with Paint Brush 1, color #3087CA.
Layers, Merge, Merge Visible. Call the layer a1. Retouch Tool, Smudge as below.

Smudge at first the dark color against the lighter color and then the lighter against the darker.
Make always the smudging go towards the centre.

Deselect. Close the layer.

Stand on Layer a2. Layers, View, Current only. Selections, Select all. Selections, Float.
New Layer. Airbrush 3. Put some color here and there on the petals with color #2483CC.
Effects, Blur, Gaussian Blur3. New Layer. Color #2B99EE. Make lines as
the picture shows. Layers, Merge, Merge Visible. Call the layer a2.

Retouch Tool, Smudge as before.

The petals will look slightly striped when you are done. If you want some more stripes,
take some extra color and Smudge again.  Deselect. Close the layer.

Stand on Layer a3. Layers, View, Current only. Selections, Select all. Selections, Float.
New Layer. Airbrush 3. Put some color on the petal with color #0A7FD8. Gaussian Blur 3.
New Layer. Make some lines with color #53ABEF. Layers, Merge, Merge Visible.
Call the layer a3. Retouch Tool, Smudge as before. Deselect.

Stand on Layer a4. Layers, View, Current only. Selections, Select all. Selections, Float.
New Layer. Airbrush 3. Put some color on the petal with color #3087CA. Gaussian Blur 3.
New Layer. Make some lines with color #5FAAE3. Layers, Merge, Merge Visible.
Call the layer a4. Retouch Tool, Smudge as before. Deselect.

Stand on Layer a5. Layers, View, Current only. Selections, Select all. Selections, Float.
New Layer. Airbrush 3. Put some color on the petal with color #235D99. Gaussian Blur 3.
New Layer. Make some lines with color #3C82C4. Layers, Merge, Merge Visible.
Call the layer a5. Retouch Tool, Smudge as before. Deselect.

Stand on Layer a6. Layers, View, Current only. Selections, Select all. Selections, Float.
New Layer. Airbrush 3. Put some color on the petal with color #266096. Gaussian Blur 3.
New Layer. Make some lines with color #4789C7. Layers, Merge, Merge Visible.
Call the layer a6. Retouch Tool, Smudge as before. Deselect.

Stand on Layer a7. Layers, View, Current only. Selections, Select all. Selections, Float.
New Layer. Airbrush 3. Put some color on the petal with color #1E78AC. Gaussian Blur 3.
New Layer. Make some lines with color #4FB1E9. Layers, Merge, Merge Visible.
Call the layer a7. Retouch Tool, Smudge as before. Deselect.

Layers, View all. Make sure, that all lines on the petals go towards the centre of the flower.
If you have to change anything do so now.

This is the flower how it looks now.

Let's do the edges.

Stand on Layer arim1. Retouch tool, Smudge as below.

Zoom the picture to see better. Make tiny strokes against the centre of the flower.

Do the same with Layers arim2 and arim3. Make all layers visible. Close Layer Background.
Layers, Merge, Merge Visible. Call the layer A.

Let's do the centre of the flower.

New Layer. Color #A7A505. Make some lines at the centre. Effects, Blur, Gaussian Blur 6.

New Layer. Draw1. Color #758378. Antialias checked.
Make tiny strokes from the centre and outwards. Use Airbrush 3, Opacity 55, color E5BD01
and make some small dots here and there. Use color #D2C483 and make a few more dots.
If you like you can use different yellow colors on the dots, even different sizes.

New Layer. Preset Shapes, Ellipse. Foreground, Color #2B8376, Background, color #518E7F.

Make an oval 12 x 34 with the green colors. Paint Brush 1, white color.
Make white lines, like the picture below. I have put black color on the background
so you can have a better look.

Eraser. Erase some white color here and there. Use Retouch Tool, Soften on the white part.
Close Layer A and Background. Layers, Merge, Merge Visible. Call it Centre.
Copy and save it as a New Image. You can use it on flower B later.
Deformation Tool. Turn the pistil to your left and put it in place at the centre of the flower.

Make sure the black Background layer is closed.
Layers. Merge, Merge Visible. Call the layer A.

I hope flower A looks nice now.

Flower B.      Stalks and leaves.

Tutorials