Creating an Iris

Creating an Iris for an eye is really simple in Paint Shop Pro 9. As a matter of fact, much easier that it has been in the past with earlier versions of Paint Shop Pro.

Create an image 300x300 with a white background. Go to the Adjust Menu. Adjust>Add/Remove Noise>Add Noise. In the Add Noise dialog apply Random, 50% Noise and check Monochrome. You should end up with something similar to below.

Choose the Selection tool with 0 feather and Replace mode. Make a large selection on the canvas as shown below.

Go the the Adjust Menu. Adjust>Sharpness>Sharpen More three times until you have something similar to below.

Go to the Adjust Menu. Adjust>Blur>Radial Blur and apply the settings shown below.

You should now have an image that looks similar to below.

Our Iris is a little light in color so we need to darken it up a bit before coloring it. Go to Adjust>Brightness Contrast>Brightness Contrast and apply the settings shown below.

You should now have an image similar to below.

Now we need to colorize it. Go to Adjust>Hue and Saturation>Colorize. Adjust the Hue and Saturation until you have a color you like for the Iris.

Choose the color picker tool and pick one of the darkest colors you can find in the newly created Iris. Go to Selections>Contract and contract the selection 2. Go to Selections>Invert and invert the selection. Use a large paint brush to fill the inverted selection with the color you chose in the color selector.

Go to Selection>Invert and invert the selection again. Go to Selection>Expand and expand the selection by 5.

Go to Selection>Invert and invert the selection again. Hit the delete key on your keyboard to delete the background color.

Go to Selection>Invert and invert the selection again. Go to Selection>Contact and contract the selection by 2. Go to Selection>Invert. Go to Adjust>Blur>Gaussion Blur and apply the settings shown below.

You should now have something that looks similar to below.

Create a new layer and set black as the foreground and background color. Using the circular shape tool draw a black circle in the center of the iris.

Choose the magic wand tool and click inside the black circle. Go to Effects>3D Effects>Drop Shadow and apply the following settings:

Opacity 75, Blur 25.75 and 0 offset.

Use the paint brush set to a small size, around 9 and click in the black circle as shown below to make a highlight.

Use the Dodge brush to darken the edges of the iris and the center next to the pupil. Use the lighten/darken brush to lighten between the edges you just darkened with the dodge brush.

There you have it. An easy way to create an iris. You could change the center to create cool clothe buttons and more. Try some different things and have fun!

Copyright Vikki Olds, All Rights Reserved