PIXEL PONY
I was looking around for something to do, so I looked at the collection of stuffed animals that I have, even to the Beanie Babies on my van dashboard. Then, coining Wian's well-known phrase "I can do that!" I started seeing vectors, shapes and pixel ideas forming in my mind's eye. So, with Beanine Babies in mind, let's get started.... :) First, you will need to right click on my pony outline and save to your folder. 
#1 Let's first get the lil guy ready for coloring. Right click on the Raster layer and Promote Background Layer and name this OUTLINE. #2 Click the Magic Wand and use these setting.... 
Holding down the SHIFT key, click all the white sections. You might want to zoom in so that you can see the areas better. When you have the white sections selected, then hit your DELETE key once. Select None. #3 I noticed that there are some small, tiny areas where the white did not get selected. What I did was ADD a NEW raster layer, flood fill it with a darker color, Arrange/Send to Bottom. This shows the missed white areas more easily. Now you can zoom in and still holding down the SHIFT key, you can click on all the white areas. 
#4 Selections/Select None. Be sure to SAVE often. Now you can delete the background layer (this should be the bottom layer), since we won't be needing it anymore. NOTE:SAVE AS a .pspimage so that you can preserve the layers if you stop in mid work. If you SAVE after each step, if your PSP should freeze, then you will not have lost everything. It will reopen at your last SAVE. #5 Now we can start to color in our pony. I want a light brown pony, so I will be using #f7ae82. Click on the OUTLINE layer and with the Magic Wand (I will be using same settings as above throughout this tutorial), click inside the LEFT front leg. Add a NEW Raster Layer, name it LEFT LEG, Flood Fill with the brown. #6 Selections/Float and apply the CUTOUT effect with these setting. If your pony is a different color, then change the Shadow Color to a darker shade of what you are using. Or just use BLACK. 
Selections/Select None #7 Click on the OUTLINE layer and with the Magic Wand, click inside the RIGHT front leg. Add a NEW Raster Layer, name it RIGHT LEG, Flood Fill with the brown. Selections/Float and apply the same cutout as above. Select None. #8 Click on the OUTLINE layer and with the Magic Wand, click inside the RIGHT BACK leg. Add a NEW Raster Layer, name it BACK LEG, Flood Fill with the brown. Selections/Float and apply the same cutout as above. Select None. #9 Click on the OUTLINE layer and with the Magic Wand, click inside the BODY section. Add a NEW Raster Layer, name it BODY, Flood Fill with the brown. Selections/Float and apply the same cutout as above. Select None. #10 Click on the OUTLINE layer and with the Magic Wand, click inside the HEAD section. Add a NEW Raster Layer, name this HEAD, Flood Fill with the brown. Selections/Float and apply the same cutout as above. Select None. #11 Now, there are two small areas that we must color; a small section of belly and the right ear. 
#12 Click on the OUTLINE layer and with the Magic Wand, click inside the belly section. Add a NEW Raster Layer, name this BELLY, Flood Fill with the brown. Selections/Float and apply the same cutout as above. Select None. #13 Click on the OUTLINE layer and with the Magic Wand, click inside the RIGHT EAR. Add a NEW Raster Layer, name this RIGHT EAR, Flood Fill with the brown. Selections/Float and apply the cutout, CHANGE the Opacity to 50 and the Blur to 5. Select None. SAVE #14 This is how your pony should look at this point. And your Layers Palette should look like this. 
#15 Now let's color the eyes. Click on the OUTLINE layer and with the Magic Wand, click inside the pupil part of the eyes. Add a NEW Raster Layer, name this EYES, Flood Fill with the color of your choice (I am using a medium blue #569dec). Selections/Float and apply the cutout,use the settings below. Select None. SAVE 
#16 Click on the OUTLINE layer and with the Magic Wand, click the white part of the eye. Click on the EYES layer, Flood Fill with white. Select None. SAVE #17 Click on the OUTLINE layer and with the Magic Wand, click the white part of the eye. Click on the EYES layer, Flood Fill with white. Select None. SAVE #18 Now let's color the Hooves. Click on the OUTLINE layer and with the Magic Wand, click the horseshoe area on each hoof. Add a NEW Raster Layer, name this SHOES, Flood Fill with the color of your choice (I am using a light grey #e0e0e0). Selections/Float and apply the cutout, use settings from Step #16. Select None. SAVE #19 Click on the OUTLINE layer and with the Magic Wand, click INSIDE of each hoof. Click on the SHOES layer, Flood Fill with BLACK. Select None. SAVE #19 Click on the OUTLINE layer and with the Magic Wand, click INSIDE of the right EAR. Add a NEW Raster Layer, name this EARS, Flood Fill with a soft pink, I used #ffc0ff. Go to Adjust, Blur, Gaussian Blur and use the Radius of 1. Select None. SAVE #20 Now, since the left ear is not seprated, we are going to do a slight trick so that we can color it also. Click on the OUTLINE layer and with the Paintbrush, size 1, draw a tiny line connecting the left inner ear line across to the right inner ear line. Now you will not be able to actually see this line, as it is UNDER the HEAD layer, but it is there, believe me. Click on the OUTLINE layer and with the Magic Wand, click INSIDE of the LEFT EAR. If you connected the lines correctly, you should get Marching Ants on the INSIDE of the left ear. 
Click on your EARS layer, Flood Fill with the soft pink. Go to Adjust, Blur, Gaussian Blur and use the Radius of 1. Select None. SAVE #21 You are doing great. At this point, I hide the OUTLINE layer (RED X), making sure one of the other layers is highlighted, then I Merge/Merge Visible. Then I named this layer BODY. SAVE. You now have TWO layers; OUTLINE and BODY. Here is where you are now....... 
All that is left to do are the MANE and TAIL. Save this now so that you do not loose all your hard work. Sit back, relax, have a cup pf coffee and take a well deserved break. We will finish the pony in part 2. PART 22006 All Rights Reserved PJ Keplinger |