Step Six: Adding a background

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I'm not sure what kind of background I want at this point, so I rabbit

decide to see how the rabbit will look with a shadow.

To make a shadow I first duplicate the layer that contains the rabbit's shape, then I flip it upside down. Then I adjust the brightness of that layer until it is black and I adjust the opacity of the layer to about 50%. Finally, I use the Free Transform command to flatten it slightly.

Now I decide that I want to use a realistic-style background rather than an abstract pattern, so I add clouds and grass.

To make the clouds, I create a new, transparent layer just above the background layer. Then, over on the toolbar, I set the foreground color to white and the background color to light blue. Then I apply Clouds filter (Filter | Render | Clouds).

To create the grass, I make a new layer just above the cloud layer and paint on it a large green rectangle. Then I apply the Fur filter from the Eye Candy filter collection by Alien Skin. Finally, I use a large, soft Eraser to soften the top edge of the grass.

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