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Around mid January the day is getting near, and I can see that in the various newsgroups and forums: Valentine Day, the day of hearts and roses is approaching.

As an answer to various requests, I here show you a very simple way to make your heart. Mind you, in other tutorials you'll find numerous other and better ways! But this one is simple, and it's mine...

This tutorial is done in PSP6, but the same can be done in PSP4 or 5: the name and appearance of tools may differ, but they're all there!

First open a new image, some 300 x 300 picels, background white or transparant.
Then click the preset shapes button.

In the tool options palette choose circle, filled.

I had already set the foreground color to be red (hey, it's going to be a heart, isn't it?).

Draw your red circle somewhere near the top left of your image.

Click the button for the magic wand. In the tool options keep the tolerance very low.

Click in your circle. It'l now be selected (the marching ants walk around it, you see?)

Do menu > edit > copy.

Do menu > edit > paste as new selection.

The red circle will appear: shove it around till it is exactly where you want it, like this.

Click the shapes button button again, in the tool options menu select single line, filled, width the same as the circle was, Antialias is checked.
You do know, I hope, that when drawing a line pressing the Shift button while you draw restricts the line to magnitudes of 45 degrees, don't you?
Try it out: draw lines like these here, till the meet (or cross, like here) exactly under the center of the two circles.
It does not matter if your lines were to long, and cross. Choose the Retouch button:
In the tool options choose Retouch mode Push, no paper texture
Now you can easily push away the superfluous parts of the lines.
When that's done push the Flood Fill button.
In the tool options do like I did here

And fill the rest of the hart shape with the foreground color.

Here's your heart shape! As simple as goes.

Below is an example of how you can change the dull heart shape by using Image, Effects, Outer Border and by using Tubes...

I'm sure you can think of many more possibilities, once you have the general Heart shape.

Now you just print that heart, or stick it into a mail message for your beloved one(s): I'm sure they'll appreciate it much more than any pre-made heart you found somewhere on the Web!

That's all, folks!

 

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© Fried Kampes - Randwijk, the Netherlands, January 2000

 

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