Step 19. With all the snow layers switched off, and the grid switched off, your elf image will look as it did when we began. Make sure that Layer 12 is the selected layer. If it is not, click on it to select it, and if this makes it visible again, switch it off. Add a new layer, Layer 13, which will be above Layer 12. (To add a layer either click the button at the top left corner of the layer palette, or use Layers>New Raster Layer.) Make sure that Layer 13 is the selected layer, and is switched on.
Step 20. Use the selection tool, and make sure in the tool options that it is set to circle and anti-alias checked. In the elf image place the cursor at 150,150 and drag till the selection size is 254,254. The reason for making this a little bigger than the picture and snowflake circles is that it will contain any flakes that are right at the edge of the globe and might just protrude outside it.
Step 21. Change the foreground colour to black. Use the fill can tool, and with the fill type in the tool options box set to solid colour, click inside the selection so that the circle is filled with black.
Step 22. Use Selections>Modify>Contract> and set the setting to 20.
Use Selections>Modify>Feather and set the setting to 40.
Hit the Delete key.
Use Selections>Select None.
Your elf will be visible again, and there will be a black shadow all around the edge of the circle, which makes it look domed. It is probably too strong, so go to the layer palette and draw the Layer 13 slider - two little points at the right of the box with 100 in it, to the left until the shadow is lighter. The figure in the slider box will change as the opacity of the layer decreases. I took the slider back to 60, but it is a matter of taste how dark you like the 'glass' shadow. Save the elf.psp image again.
Step 23. Add another layer, Layer 14, at the top. Keep Layers13 and 14 switched on and make sure that Layer 14 is the selected one. Set the foreground colour to white, and select the shapes tool. (Look back to the instructions for adding the green circle if you have forgotten how to use it). The shape selected in the tools options should be set to ellipse, style filled, anti-alias checked and Create as Vector unchecked. The stroke width does not matter.
Put your cursor at 85,85 and drag till the size co-ordinates show 56 x 10 as in the illustration.
Step 25. Use Image>Blur>Gaussian Blur and set the Radius at 2.5
Step 26. Copy/Paste this layer as a new layer so that you now have 2 white ellipses. The second one, Layer 15, will be across the center of the image. Use the mover tool to take it over to the right edge, more or less diagonally opposite the original one. These white highlights are what give the globe its glassy look, and your globe should now look like the one on the right. Save it again.
I will leave you to choose your own base design. You may wish to use a florid dingbat as a stand, and use one of the sculpture effects, or you may wish to draw a base. Mine is made with the Vector Shapes in PSP6, which I converted to a Raster layer and modified with a sculpture effect, added a gradient fill on another layer, and decorated with tubes.
When your base is finished, you may find that there is space below it which can be cropped away. If so, use the selection tool, set at rectangle, and very important, with antialias UNCHECKED. I also cropped a little away at the top and sides. I placed my cursor at 15,15 and dragged till the width was 270 and the height 352, which took it just below my base. You should be able to use the same width figure, but the height will depend on the size of your base.
Use Image>Crop to Selection. Save your picture again. Below is my finished globe.
The image file is now complete, and on the next page we shall make the animation frames.
