Supplies Needed:

*Paint Shop Pro

*Animation Shop

*Alien Skin Xenofex 2-Lightning

*Eye Candy 4000 Gradient Glow

*Font of Choice

*Frame from "Goth" PTU scrap kit by JRM Scraps which can be purchased at MPT or frame of choice

*Tube and matching image by Dark Yarrow which can be purchased at MPT, or tube and matching image of choice. Please do not use the same tube and image unless you have the proper license to do so. Visit Dark Yarrow's website HERE.

Let's Begin--

Open a 600 X 550 white canvas.

Open the Goth scrap kit in PSP. Copy and paste the frame onto your canvas. Using your Change to Target tool, colorize the frame to black.

Select inside the frame with your magic wand, Selections-Modify-Expand by 3, copy and paste your image onto your canvas and resize as needed then go to Selections-Invert, hit delete key.

Add a drop shadow of 0,0,88,8 to the frame.

Copy and paste the tube onto your canvas. Resize if needed. I positioned my tube to where it looks like it's part of the picture, covering up the tube part of the image. Add the same drop shadow to your tube.

Add the text and your name. I added a gradient glow to my text and the same drop shadow.

Add a mask of your choice in black on top of your background layer.

Add your artist copyright and taggers mark.

Now for the animation. It's kind of complicated to explain so I am going to do my absolute best, lol!

First of all, go to the image layer and duplicate it twice, giving you 3 of the image layers. Close off the top 2 copies of the layers.

Make the bottom image layer active. Grab your Lighten/Darken tool, size 264, and left-click about 2 times to lighten the picture. Now on the same layer go to Xenofex 2-Lightning. Play around with the settings to get the lightning the way you want it to look and then apply. Close this layer.

Open the second copy of the image layer and make it active. Grab your Lighten/Darken took again but this time right-click a couple of times to darken the image. Go to Xenofex 2-Lightning and this time move the lightning to a different spot, play with the settings until it looks the way you want it to and apply. Close off this layer.

Open the last copy of the image layer. Again lighten the image a little and add some lightning with the filter in a different spot and play with the settings to get a different lightning effect. Close this layer, open your first copy of the layer.

Check all of the layers to make sure the lightning effect didn't put any lightning or glow outside of the image, if it did, use your eraser tool to erase it.

Now open Animation Shop.

Back to PSP, Copy merged your tag, making sure the top 2 layers of your image where we added the effects are closed, copy and paste as new animation into AS.

Back to PSP, close off the first layer and open the second layer. Copy Merged, paste after current frame in AS.

Back to PSP, close off the second layer and open up the third layer. Copy merged, paste after current frame in AS.

In AS, change the animation properties how you would like it, to make the effects look like a lightning storm behind your tube! It will look best with the animation slowed down.

Save as GIF and you are done :)