This tutorial was written by Monti on October 1st 2009. It's concept is copyrighted to Monti. Any creation you make from my ideas are yours. You may print out this tutorial for your own personal use, but please do not copy it in any way to put online, pass out or rewrite without my permission or worse yet attempt to claim as your own.

This tutorial is going to be quite long but I have broken it into parts and will provide pixel counts and colour charts for each part as we get to it.

For this tutorial you will need

Paint Shop Pro

The Following Outline Colour Chart.
Left click and when it opens right click then save as, then open in PSP.
Of course you are free to use any colours you want.

Ok we are ready to start.

REMEMBER TO SAVE OFTEN

You can drag this arrow down the page with you to keep your place in the tut.
Script provided by Dynamic Drive.

Step 1: - Outline

We will be be making the Rock Guitarist shown above and will be starting with the main outline. The outlines below have been resized a lot so you can see them clearly.
I have done the outline in 2 parts, we will be starting with the top half of the girl.
To make this easier I have numbered all pixels over 1.

Open a new image 200 x 200 transparent.
Flood fill with white so you can see what you are working on. Delete this layer at the end.
Turn the grid on so you can see the single pixels by going to View - Grid - then View - Change Grid, Guide and Snap Properties. Under Current Image Settings change the Horizontal and Vertical grids to 1.
Add a new Raster Layer and name Outline.
Select the brush tool with the following settings.
Size = 1
Hardness, Opacity and Density = 100
Zoom in to about 800% - 1000%
Change colours as you go as indicated on the outline chart.
The skin outline is colour 1 (#CA8368), the t-shirt outline, guitar body and guitar head are colour 2 (#A21A3D), the neck of the guitar is colour 3 (#565050), the guitar bridge, leggings and shoe outline are colour 4 (#000000) and the shoe decorations are colour 5 (#EB3564) on your colour chart.
I find it easier to start at the highest point, in this case with her head. (You can move the image later using your move tool if you need to).

Set your foreground to colour 1 (#CA8368) on the colour chart and start drawing the girl outline.

When you have completed that outline we will carry on with the outline below.
NOTE:
The parts shown in blue are the parts you have already drawn from the first outline.

Step 2 - Fills

When all of your outline is complete, select your magic wand with the following settings and click inside her head.

Add a new raster layer called Fill and move this beneath your outline layer in the layer palette.
Select colour 2 (#FAD3C5) on your colour chart, click on the Fill layer to activate it and flood fill that selection.
Keep selected.
Selections float, Effects 3D effects, Cutout with the following settings
V + H = 0
Opacity = 85
Blur = 7
Shadow colour = Use your skin outline. Colour 1 (#CA8368).
Make sure fill interior with colour is UNchecked.
Deselect.

Step 3

Select your magic wand and making sure you are on the outline layer click inside the neck area.
Select colour 2 (#FAD3C5) on your colour chart, click on the Fill layer to activate it and flood fill that selection.
Keep selected.
Selections float, Effects 3D effects, Cutout with the following settings
V + H = 0
Opacity = 85
Blur = 2
Shadow colour = Use your skin outline. Colour 1 (#CA8368).
Make sure fill interior with colour is UNchecked.
Deselect.

Step 4

Select your magic wand and making sure you are on the outline layer click inside the left arm.
Select colour 2 (#FAD3C5) on your colour chart, click on the Fill layer to activate it and flood fill that selection.
Keep selected.
Selections float, Effects 3D effects, Cutout with the following settings
V + H = 0
Opacity = 85
Blur = 2
Shadow colour = Use your skin outline. Colour 1 (#CA8368).
Make sure fill interior with colour is UNchecked.
Deselect.

Step 5

Select your magic wand and making sure you are on the outline layer click inside the right arm making sure you select all the stray pixels shown below.

Step 6

Select your magic wand and making sure you are on the outline layer click inside the left lower leg area as shown below.

Step 7 - T-Shirt Fills

Select your magic wand and making sure you are on the outline layer click inside both parts of the T-shirt as shown below.

Step 8 - Guitar Fills

Select your magic wand and making sure you are on the outline layer click inside both parts of the guitar body as shown below.

Step 9

Select your magic wand and making sure you are on the outline layer click inside the head of the guitar.
Select colour 4 (#EB3564) on your colour chart, click on the Fill layer to activate it and flood fill that selection.
Keep selected.
Selections float, Effects 3D effects, Cutout with the following settings
V + H = 0
Opacity = 100
Blur = 3
Shadow colour = Use your guitar outline. Colour 3 (#A21A3D).
Make sure fill interior with colour is UNchecked.
Deselect.

Step 10

Select your magic wand and making sure you are on the outline layer click inside the neck of the guitar.
Select colour 6 (#7F7676) on your colour chart, click on the Fill layer to activate it and flood fill that selection.
Keep selected.
Selections float, Effects 3D effects, Cutout with the following settings
V + H = 0
Opacity = 100
Blur = 3
Shadow colour = Use your guitar neck outline. Colour 5 (#565050).
Make sure fill interior with colour is UNchecked.
Deselect.

Step 11

Select your magic wand and making sure you are on the outline layer click inside the bridge of the guitar.
Select colour 6 (#7F7676) on your colour chart, click on the Fill layer to activate it and flood fill that selection.
Keep selected.
Selections float, Effects 3D effects, Cutout with the following settings
V + H = 0
Opacity = 100
Blur = 2
Shadow colour = Use your bridge outline. Colour 5 (#000000).
Make sure fill interior with colour is UNchecked.
Deselect.

Step 12 - Trousers Fills

Select your magic wand and making sure you are on the outline layer click inside the left trouser leg.
Select colour 8 (#313030) on your colour chart, click on the Fill layer to activate it and flood fill that selection.
Keep selected.
Selections float, Effects 3D effects, Cutout with the following settings
V + H = 0
Opacity = 100
Blur = 4
Shadow colour = Use your trouser outline. Colour 7 (#000000).
Make sure fill interior with colour is UNchecked.
Deselect.
Repeat for the right trouser leg.

Step 13 - Shoe Fills

Select your magic wand and making sure you are on the outline layer click inside the left shoe making sure you select the stray pixel shown below.

Step 14 - Face

Activate the Outline layer.
Select your magic wand and click inside the head.
Add a new raster layer.
Set your foreground to #E4909E and select your Paint Brush - Shape: Round - Size: 4.
Click once on each side of the face, using my guide below for positioning.

Go to Adjust - Blur - Gaussian Blur - 2.
Deselect.
Save your pixel and go and get a drink before we work on the hair.

Step 15 - Hair

This part is probably the most complicated part of the tutorial but if you take it slowly you will be ok.
In fact because I know some of you may have problems keeping the count on this section I am going to make the count images so you can click on them, then right click and save just as you do with the colour charts. That way you can zoom in on them and even open them in psp and use your paint brush to mark the ones you have drawn.
You will need the following colour chart. Left click and when it opens right click then save as, then open in PSP.

We will be doing the hair in 3 parts starting with the count shown below.
Open a new 150 x 150 transparent image.
Add a new raster layer and select colour 1 (#000000) on the colour chart and start to draw the outline shown below.

When you have completed that outline we will carry on with the outline below.
NOTE:
The faded areas are the parts you have already drawn from the first outline.
Add a new raster layer and select colour 2 (#252323) on the colour chart and start to draw the outline shown below.
This is the part where it might be easier to open it in PSP.

When you have completed that outline we will carry on with the outline below.
NOTE:
The faded areas are the parts you have already drawn from the first 2 outlines.
Add a new raster layer and select colour 3 (#464646) on the colour chart and start to draw the outline shown below.

That's the hard part finished.
Go to Edit - Copy Merged - and then on your pixel girl canvas, paste the hair as a new layer and move into position using the image below to make sure it is in the right place.

Step 16 - Hair Ribbons

Add a new raster layer and name it Ribbons.
Set your foreground to colour 5 (#A21A3D) on the main colour chart and draw out the areas shown in the darker pink below.

When you have done that change your foreground to colour 6 (#EB3564) on the main colour chart and draw in the areas inside the ribbon outline.
Move into position.

Step 17 - T-Shirt Detail

Add a new raster layer and name it Skull.
Set your foreground to colour 7 (#000000) on the main colour chart and draw out the areas shown below.

Step 18 - Guitar details

You will need the following Colour Chart.
Left click and when it opens right click then save as, then open in PSP.
Of course you are free to use any colours you want.

Add a new raster layer above your skull layer and name it Strings.
Select your paint brush with the same settings we used earlier.
Set your foreground to colour 1 (#D1CFCF) on your details colour chart and draw in the guitar strings using the guide below.
When you have done the strings change your foreground to colour 5 (#565050) on your colour chart and draw in the 3 single pixels for the tuner keys at the head of the guitar as shown below.

Add a new raster layer above your strings layer and name it Pick Guard.

Change your foreground to colour 2 (#F28AA5) on your details colour chart and start to draw in the pick guard using the guide below.
The pick guard area is colour 2 (#F28AA5) and the lighter details on it are colour 3 (#F8B8C9) on your colour chart.
The 3 control knobs on the pick guard are colour 4 (#808080) on the colour chart.

Move it into position so that it sits just under the guitar bridge. See my tag as a guide.

Delete the White layer.
Feel free to add a head microphone or the standing microphone to your image.

Save as a psp file in case you want to modify it later, then merge visible and save as a png.

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