Di's Delights Prestigious Members Pixel Male Mouse Tutorial

PSP8 Mr Mouse Pixel Tut

This tutorial has been written using PSP8 but should work in PSP7. Please take the time to read my terms.

Rather than me giving screen shots showing how many pixels please drag this image to your work area to use as a template.

I am no means an expert when it comes to pixels, but I wanted to give them a go and have a play.
I will try to explain exactly how I shaded the image but we all have our own method
so my instructions are only a guidance. You may prefer to stay on the one layer, I prefer layers.
I magnify the image to about 500%, put in some detail, zoom back to normal size to see how it looks,
maybe undo and try again and carry on like that.

Dodge Tool Settings

Shape - round
Hardness - 0
Step - 25
Density - 100
Thickness - 100
Rotation - 0
Opacity - 40

Burn Tool Settings

Shape - round
Hardness - 0
Step - 25
Density - 100
Thickness - 100
Rotation - 0
Opacity - 35

1. Image, increase colour depth to 16 million colours. Layers - Promote background to layer and rename base. With the magic wand , tolerance 0, feather 0, add, select the white areas of the image and delete so you only have the outlines. Ctrl+D. At this point you can carry on with the tut or you can go round the image with the paint brush, size 1, to give the character your own colours. For the tutorial I will give the colours I used, if you have changed yours you will need to use a lighter shade of those you have chosen.
2. With the magic wand, replace, click the face. Create a new layer and flood fill with #A9978D. Ctrl+D. Magnify the image, with the dodge tool, size 9. Lighten the nose. I started at the top left side of the face, came down to the nose and back up to the right side. Then once more from the nose to the top of the head. With the burn tool, size size 4, I then shaded the area around the eyes.
I changed the size of the burn tool to 10 and shaded the jaw line. Changed to size 6 and shaded the eyes once more going right to the edge of the face. Changed to size 10, and shaded the mouth and chin area. Then with the center of the brush over the nose I clicked 4 or 5 times to shade the nose. Don't worry if you don't get it right first time, you should have seen how many times I had to do it, thank goodness for the undo tool :o)
3. Go back to the base layer. With the magic wand, click inside one of the ears. Create a new layer and flood fill with the same colour. Ctrl+D. With the dodge tool, size 5, highlight the top of the ear. With the burn tool, size 6, darken the inside of the ear. Change to size 2 and darken the top of the shaded part of the ear. I had to go over this a couple of time to get it dark enough. Repeat these steps for the other ear.
4. Go back to the base layer. With the magic wand click inside one of the hands. Create a new layer. Flood fill with the same colour. Crtl+D. With the burn tool, size 2, shade the part of the hand that meets the sleeve. With the dodge tool, size 1, highlight the top of the fingers. Repeat for the other hand.
5. Go back to the base layer. With the magic wand click inside one of the arms. Flood fill with #9B521D. Ctrl+D. With the burn tool, size 5, shade the edges of the slleve, maing the edge of the shirt and the dungarees darker. Change to size 1 and put in the detail of the cuff and the creases to the cook of the elbow. Use the dodge tool at size 1 and highlight the detail. Repeat for the other arm.
6. Go back to the base layer. With the magic wand click inside the top part of the shirt. Create a new layer. Crtl+D. With the burn tool, size 4, shade the edges.
7. Go back to the base layer. With the magic wand click inside the bib of the dungarees. Create a new layer and flood fill with #516397. Ctrl+D. With the burn tool at size 5 darken the edges, more in the crotch area. With the dodge tool at about size 3, highlight the straps. I then dabbed with the dodge tool at the center of the bib to make a highlight for a pocket. With the burn tool, size 1, I went around the pocket area. Darkened the top of the bib and made a couple of buttons by darkening a 2 pixel square making it so that they weren't all the same shade. Zoom in and out to see how it looks adding more light and shade of needs be.
8. Go back to the base layer. With the magic wand click inside one of the legs. Create a new layer and flood fill with the same colour. Ctrl+D. With the dodge tool at about size 6. Highlight the knee and leg. With the burn tool at size 6 darken the edge of the leg. Bring the size of the dodge and burn tool down to size 1 and put the detail of the creases as we did for the sleeves. Repeat for the other leg.
9. Go back to the base layer. With the magic wand click inside one of the thigh areas. Create a new layer. Flood fill with the same colour. Ctrl+D. With the burn tool, size 5, darken the area. Repeat for the other thigh.
10. Go back to the base layer. With the magic wand click inside the cup. Create a new layer. Flood fill with white. Ctrl+D. With the burn brush darken the sides.
11. Go back to the base layer. With the magic wand click inside one of the shoes. Create a new layer. Flood fill with #3B3B3B. Ctrl+D. With the dodge tool, size 5, make some highlights to the shoe. Repeat for the other shoe.
12. Go back to the base layer. With the magic wand click inside one of the brown (chair) areas. Create a new layer. Flood fill with #76510A. Crtl+D. With the dodge tool size one, highlight part of the chair. Repeat for all chair areas. There you have your country mouse, merge all layers visible and save as a tube or in psp format.

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