Neverside

I guess there would be several ways to do this. Me personally, I would start with making the different shapes with the shape tool in vecter mode and save them to layers, that way you can edit them without messing up your other shapes. Once I had the shapes the way I wanted them, I would do the background. The best way to achieve awesome effects for backgrounds if you are new is to practice a few. Nobody brand new to digital art is going to crank out million dollar graphics their first week. The program does alot of work for you, but you have to supply your own imagination and technique.

Anyway, once you are satisfied with the different elements of your work, you can arrange them in their respective layers to position them where you desire them to be. once you have the "puzzle" put together, you can combine the layers and have one single graphic, the end result of all your hard work. Just practice is what it all comes down to. I am sure with a little experimentation and some practice, you will be doing some awesome work before long. There is no "single click" solution to doing awesome graphics. I look forward to seeing some of your work in the future.

I do not have PSP8, so I am no help there, but all programs are basically the same, once you get familiar with the program, you can let your imagination run free.