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Step 1

Start by creating a new image 300 X 300 with a black background.

Make sure that Rulers and Guides are already turned on:

Place a horizontal guide at 150 by clicking the top ruler and dragging the guide to the desired position:

If you want precision, double-click a guide handle. When the Guide Properties dialog box appears, type 150 in the Guide position control:

and click OK.

To place a vertical guide, click the left ruler, and drag the guide to the 150 mark position:

Double-click the guide handle and verify the position for precision.

Step 2

Layers > New Raster Layer... > Ok

On the Tools toolbar, select the Selection (S) and on the Tool Options palette, Selection type: Circle

Draw a large circular selection in the center of the canvas:

Now a little tricky spot here. While holding down the Ctrl key on your keyboard, place your mouse cursor in the center of the selection where the guides meet in the center. You'll notice that your mouse cursor changes from this:

to this:

Pull your mouse downwards until you have a ring style selection similar to this:

Selections > Load/Save Selection > Save Selection To Alpha Channel... > Save.

On the Materials palette, click on the Foreground color and select the Color tab. Set the color to #fd4e01.

On the Tools toolbar, select the Flood Fill Tool (F) and fill the selection:

Step 3

Now we'll add some highlights to our ring.

Layers > New Raster Layer... > Ok

Selections > Load/Save Selection > Load Selection From Alpha Channel... > Load

Selections > Modify > Contract... > Number of pixels: 6 > Ok.

On the Materials palette, click on the Foreground color and select the Color tab. Set the color to #f9a235.

On the Tools toolbar, select the Flood Fill Tool (F) and fill the selection:

Selections > Load/Save Selection > Load Selection From Alpha Channel... > Load

Adjust > Blur > Gaussian> Radius: 4 > Ok

Selections > Select None

Layers > Merge > Merge Down

Your image should now look similar to this:

Step 4

Now we'll add the skin.

Layers > New Raster Layer... > Ok

Selections > Load/Save Selection > Load Selection From Alpha Channel... > Load

Selections > Modify > Expand... > Number of pixels: 2 > Ok.

On the Materials palette, click on the Foreground color and select the Color tab. Set the color to #404040.

On the Tools toolbar, select the Flood Fill Tool (F) and fill the selection:

Okay, lets add a different style to this ring. Something I don't think I've shown you how to do on the other tutorials, but is way cool if done correctly.

Layers > New Raster Layer... > Ok

Selections > Load/Save Selection > Load Selection From Alpha Channel... > Load

Selections > Modify > Contract > Number of pixels: 2 > Okay.

Now what we want to do here is create a smaller ring, but we want to keep it on towards the outer edge.

While holding down the Ctrl key on your keyboard, place your mouse cursor in the center of the selection where the guides meet in the center, and pull it downwards until you have a small circle selection like this:

On the Materials palette, click on the Foreground color and select the Color tab. Set the color to #979797.

On the Tools toolbar, select the Flood Fill Tool (F) and fill the selection:

Now we'll blur it slightly to give it the appearance that our ring is sloping inwards.

Selections > Load/Save Selection > Load Selection From Alpha Channel... > Load

Selections > Modify > Expand... > Number of pixels: 2 > Ok.

Adjust > Blur > Gaussian> Radius: 2 > Ok

Selections > Select None

Layers > Merge > Merge Down

If all went well, you should have an image similar to this:

Step 5

And now the fun part! Cutting pieces of our skin out to shape whatever desired effect we want to achieve. You can choose which ever selection type you want to finish creating your new skinned image. I'll show you through a couple of neat ideas.

On the Tools toolbar, select the Selection (S)

On the Tool Options palette, Selection type: Rectangle

I've chosen to remove a small portion of the skin from the right side of my image. I create a small selection:

and hit Delete on my keyboard:

We're not done yet!

Selections > Modify > Expand... > Number of pixels: 2 > Ok.

Selections > Modify > Feather... > Numbers of pixels: 5 > Ok.

Adjust > Brightness and Contrast > Brightness/Contrast... > Brightness: 119 Contrast: 15 > Ok.

I'm going to repeat this step with a new selection:

I'm sure you get the idea now! Try it with the Selection type: Circle

Skinning like this works with any shape and color. Experiment with it. Enjoy!