Beanie Raindeer

Before Beanie Babies were ever popular, I use to make my kids beanie toys when they were
little. I would use what ever scrap material I had, make odd animal shapes and fill them
with small beans, rice, or sand.

When I wrote my Pixel Pony tutorial, and it looks somewhat like a Beanie pony, and that
made me thing of the beanie toys. So I figured I would try to make a Beanie Turorial.

You can use a solid color if you prefer, just remember to change color when appropriate.
Or you can use a Pattern from what you already have. I will be using the snowflake pattern
below. You can right click on it and save to your Patterns folder if you wish.

NOTE:I am using a LOT of screen shots so that you will be able to see most steps.

#1 Open a new image 300 by 300 transparent (we will resize later). Name this layer HEAD.
Make your foreground color NULL and your background color the pattern, Angle 0 Scale 25.
Go to the Preset Shape tool and choose "rounded rectangle", line width 1. Make a rectangle
in the upper centerpart of your canvas (we can move it as we need to later on).

#2 Click on the Deform Tool, holding down the control key, move the upper corners in
towards the center a little. See the img1 below. Move the lower corners out ever so
slightly. Click on the Mover Tool, then go to Adjust/sharpness/sharpen.
(I will use a WHITE background so that you can see the images better).

#3 Selections/Select all. Selections/Float. Go to Effects/3D/Cutout and apply the
following settings. If you used a different color or pattern, you need to change the
Shadow Color to a darker shade of what you used. I am using #74a4d2. Select NONE.

#4 Add a NEW Raster layer. Preset Shapes tool and locate the Ellipse. Start at the top
center of the head and drag the shape towards the bottom of the head, SEE image below.
Selections/Select All. Selections/Float. Apply the Cutout, changing the Opacity
to 75 and the Blue to 25. Select NONE.

#5 Click on the Deform tool and move the ear to the upper LEFT of the head. Then swivel
so it will be pointing outwards. Click on the Mover Tool to remove the Deform lines.

#6 DUPLICATE. Image/Mirror. You should have THREE layers; HEAD, EAR and Copy of EAR.
HIDE the HEAD layer (RED X). Make sure one of the EAR layers is highlighted,
Merge/Merge Visible. Name this layer EARS. Layers/Arrange/Send to Bottom. Or you can
just click on the EAR layer and DRAG it below the HEAD layer. UNhide the HEAD layer now.

#7 Click on your HEAD layer, this should be the TOP layer, add a NEW Raster layer, name this EYE.
Choose your Ellipse shape again, change your background to WHITE, foreground NULL. Make a small
Ellipse for an eye. Change the background color to BLACK. Add a NEW Raster layer and make another
smaller ellipse for the black part of the eye. Use the Mover Tool to position the blackover the lower part of the
white eye if needed. Click on this raster layer, Merge/Merge Down. Now you can move the EYE to the left side
of the HEAD. DUPLICATE. Image/Mirror. Position the EYE if needed. "Layers - duplicate", then "Image- mirror".
Click on the Copy of the EYE, Merge/Merge Down.

#8 Add a NEW Raster layer and name this NOSE. Locate the ROPE tube, using size 40,
Placement Mode: Continuous. draw a round circle the size nose you want. Continue in a
circular motion filling in the NOSE with the ROPE tube, making sure all the area is filled
in. Go to Effects/Hue & Saturation/Hue, Saturation, Lightness and use the settings below.

#9 You should now have FOUR layers; EARS, HEAD, EYES & NOSE.
And This is what your image should look like so far.

#10 Merge/Merge Visible (now you have one layer, name this HEAD). SAVE.

#11 Add a NEW Raster layer, name this layer BODY. Make your foreground color NULL and your
background color the pattern, keeping the same settings. Go to the Preset Shape tool and choose
"rounded rectangle", line width 1. Make a rectangle in the MIDDLE of your canvas. Select NONE.

#12 Click on the Deform Tool, holding down the SHIFT key, click on the CENTER LEFT Node,
move this up upwards. Click on the Mover Tool, then go to Adjust/sharpness/sharpen.

#13 Selections/Select all. Selections/Float. Go to Effects/3D/Cutout and apply the
SAME settings as in STEP 3 above.. Select NONE.

#14 DUPLICATE the BODY. Using the Mover tool, move this layer to the LEFT SLIGHTLY.
Duplicate and move this layer to the LEFT also.
Now you have THREE BODY layers, making the BODY look wider.

#15 HIDE the HEAD layer. Making sure that one of the BODY layers is highlighted...
Merge/Merge Visible. Name this layer BODY and UNhide the HEAD layer.

Now, onto the rest of the Raindeer, click here...
PART 2

I hope you are enjoying this tutorial.