Fw How to Create PSP Wallpapers

How to Create PSP Wallpapers

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I’ve spent quite alot of time over the last 12 months replying to people who have asked how I go about creating wallpapers for the PSP, so I thought I would put together a quick tutorial on my methods of generating a new PSP background.

My way of working is not neccessarily the best way, or the right way, but I’ve found it gives me results I’m happy to publish. This tutorial assumes you have a basic knowledge of Photoshop, but I guess any photo editing software suite would be capable of the same functions that I use in PS.

This tutorial will talk you through creating this Jack Daniels wallpaper :

While its not always neccessary to know what you want the final result to look like, I’d suggest a little planning before hand to make sure you’ve got all the images you need to make up the complete background. This saves time later when you are in the flow of creativity and you don’t have to stop to search for images.

Also bear in mind that a good PSP wallpaper doesn’t have to be complex and overly colourful - the best ones tend to allow you to see the PSP menu easily whilst still being pleasing to the eye.

The canvas size

The first thing to do is create a new blank canvas to work on. This should measure 480 pixels wide by 272 pixels tall. This is the size of the PSP screen, and the size the wallpaper needs to be to fit perfectly (at least on PSP’s running firmware 2.01+).

The canvas should be created with a transparent background. If you want your background to have the small information box such as the one below, you can download the attached photoshop psd file, which has the box in the correct location.

Wallpaper Template 1 - Blank with Info Box

Whenever you add to your canvas, you should add it to a new layer, which allows you to add or remove elements without affecting other areas of the canvas. In photoshop, simply click Shift-Ctrl-N or go to the layers menu option.

As you can see below, this canvas now has two layers, the basic transparent bottom layer, and a new InfoBox layer. Always try and label each layer as you go, this makes it easier to edit later on when you’ve many layers added to the canvas.

45 Degree Lines

Next we add everyones favourite element, the 45degree lines. In this instance, the colour isn’t correct, but wee can fix that afterwards. Many elements I add to a wallpaper I already have sitting as a template, so the 45 degree lines layer is a simple copy and paste from a library of wallpaper elements. Everytime you create a new layer element such as this, its a good idea to store it away for use on other backgrounds.

So we now have the correct layer structure - note how the 45 degree layer has been added under the info box layer. Next we add the Jack Daniels label that has a nice hint of depth to it. This image was found on DeviantArt, which is a fantastic resource to get images such as this from.

Adding Jack Daniels text

Again, this new layer is placed under the info box layer, but now has hidden the 45 degree line layer.

We can correct this now by simply reducing the opacity of the Jack Daniels layer so the layer below can be seen. In this instance, the opacity is reduced to 35%, which still allows the Jack Daniels layer to be seen without it losing its detail.

Sorting out the colour

Ok, so we can now see the elements correctly, but that green colour has got to go. For this wallpaper, I knew the final result was going to be orange/brown in colour, so we add a layer above the 45 degree green layer and fill it with a solid orange colour.

Changing the layer style from normal to colour now magically converts the green tint to a more pleasing orange tint. The problem now is that the info box stands out more than we want. To solve this, we need to cut out the center section, add a new layer, refill the center section and apply an opacity to it.

Sorting the infobox

Here we highlight the correct layer, and using the Marquee tool, select the center section of the info box to delete the contents.

Next we add a new layer (without de-selecting the marquee tool) and apply a gradient fill to the selection. There are various ways to do this, from linear fills to radial ones, its worth playing around to see what fits best for your background. Choose colours for this that complement that final background colour.

Next we need to reduce the opacity of the newley added layer, so that the image behind it can be seen. In this instance the image layer is reduced to 55%.

Next we merge the two info box layers together to give us a single layer. Prior to merging I reduced the original layer opacity down slightly, so the edges didn’t stand out so much.

Adding the JD bottle

Then we need to add the Jack Daniels bottle. This element of the background is what determined the overall colour scheme for this PSP wallpaper. In thisinstance, the bottle is cropped from a full picture. Cropping elements is fairly straight forward, you just need to use the marquee tool and have some patience.

I then added a stroke and drop shadow to make the bottle sit forward slightly off the background.

Final result

And there you have the final result, a fairly simple blend of 7 layers, all containing specific parts of the final background.

You can download the final Photoshop PSD file and take a look at all the layers, play around with it, and create you own wallpapers.

If you do take the time to create some of your own wallpapers, email them to me - the best ones will be added to the site.