Di's Delights PSP7 Knitted Hedgehog Tutorial

PSP7 Knitted Hedgehog

By doing this tutorial you agree to my terms of use.

For this tutorial you will need - PSP 7 and a good general knowledge of PSP and vectors, this is not for a novice, and this fill, right click and save as.

Yours will have your own individual look as you will be doing all the drawing. Do not expect to get an exact copy as we all have our own style of drawing.

Here is a key to the short cuts used

Ctrl+1 = Curve before
Ctrl+2 = Curve after
Ctrl+S = Makes the nodes symmetrical
Ctrl+A = Select all
Ctrl+F = Floats selection
Ctrl+Shft+F = Defloats selection
Ctrl+D = Select none

Remember to save often as I am not in the habit of making this reminder.

1. Open the knit fill. Null the foreground and select the knit fill pattern as the background at 100%. Minimize the knit fill. Create a new image 450x550, I like a lot of elbow room while I'm working :o) Create a new vector layer named face. With the preset shapes tool

ellipse, antialias and vector checked, draw a wide oval. Using the object selector

edit the nodes. Add 4 nodes as shown.

Move the added nodes as shown to give the face some shape. I have given you a screen shot of all the nodes and their control arms.

I did not change the properties of the nodes, just moved them and the control arms to achieve the shape I wanted.

2. Create a new vector layer named body. Draw a circle. Edit the nodes. While in edit mode double click one of the nodes, this will select them all. Ctrl+S. On the bottom node, bring the control arms out. One the side nodes, move the control arms in and round as shown.

3. Convert both layers to raster, merge visible. Rename layer to base. Ok, now we're going to have a bit of fun. Don't forget the undo function, you may not get this bit right first time round, don't give up :o) With the selection tool rectangle, antialias unchecked, feather 25, select the best part of the face. Effects - Geometric Effects - Circle. Now select the best part of the stomach area, repeat the circle effect.

The screen shot shows the area selected, without feathering, for your reference.

Ctrl+A, Ctrl+F, Ctrl+Shft+F. Effects - Geometric Effects - Cylinder vertical at 30%. Ctrl+D.

4. Create a new layer named fur1. Null the background and set the foreground to brown, I used #634E4B. Magnify your image. With the paint brush, paint around the edge of your image but not around the bottom. Make it so that the painted layer overlaps that of the body. Create a new layer named fur2. Layers - Arrange - Send to bottom. Change the size of the paint brush to 20, paint around the edges. Create a new layer named fur3, send the layer to the bottom, darken the colour more, paint around the edges. Create a new layer named fur4 and repeat. You should have something like this.

Paint Brush Setting
Round
Size 6
Hardness 0
Opacity 100
Step 25
Density 100

5. Make the fur1 layer active. With the retouch tool at the shown settings, pull out the fur.

I started just on the edge and pulled the fur out using different angles. Going over the same area extends the length of the fur. Don't worry about making gaps, this will give a more tufted line to where the fur meets the body. Have a play and have fun, there's always the undo tool.

Effects - 3D Effects - Drop Shadow at the settings given.

Repeat step 5 for all the fur layers.

Retouch Tool
Smudge
Round
Size 7
Hardness 1
Opacity 76
Step 25
Density 100

Drop Shadow
Vertical 0
Horizontal 0
Opacity 100
Blur 6
Colour Black

6. Make the base layer active. At this point you can colourise the image, Colours - Colourise. In the layer palette, lock

the transparency of the layer. Effects - 3D Effects - Cutout. Unlock

the transparency.

Ok, lets add his arms and legs

Cutout
Vertical -8
Horizontal 3
Opacity 100
Blur 50
Colour Black

7. Create a new vector layer named foot. Null the foreground, set the background to #D1A1AA. Using the preset shapes tool, rectangle, antialias and vector checked, start drawing from the left hand corner, draw out a rectangle. Edit the nodes. Move the top nodes so that they are in line with the body. Ctrl+1 or 2 or S to each node as shown in the screen shot. Give the foot some shape by moving the control arms. Layers - Duplicate.

8. In the layer palette, click the plus sign next to the duplicated foot layer. Double click Rectangle to open the vector properties dialogue box. From there null the fill, set the stroke to black. Change the line style to small dash, stroke width 2. Image - Resize by 85%, uncheck all layers.

9. Convert the foot layers to raster. Make all layers except the foot layers invisible

Merge visible. Lock the transparency of the layer. Effects - 3D Effects - Cutout using these settings -

Vertical 2
Horizontal 2
Opacity 100
Blur 30
Colour #7F4B56

Unlock the transparency of the layer. Layers - Duplicate. Image - Mirror. move into place if need. Bring all the layers back into view .

10. Create a new vector layer named hand. Layers - Arrange - Bring to top. With the preset shapes tool, ellipse, same settings as before, draw a circle. Edit the nodes. Bring the bottom and left side node in line with the body, move the control arms in as shown.

Ok, we're now going to add some nodes and play with their placements to make some fingers. Add 5 more nodes and move into place moving the control arms if needed.

The screen shot shows the original nodes in yellow, the added nodes in red. I did not have to change the properties of the nodes. I just had to move the control arms slightly.

11. Duplicate the layer and follow the instructions given in step 8, resizing does not seem to work as well so you will need to edit the nodes instead. Simply bring in the nodes, altering some of the control arms slightly. Convert the hands layers to raster. Make all layers except the hands invisible, merge visible. Repeat the cutout in step 9 changing the vertical and horizontal to -2, remembering to lock the transparency of the layer.

Layers - Duplicate. Image - Mirror. move into place if need. Bring all the layers back into view.

12. Create a new vector layer named nose. Set the background to black. With the preset shapes tool draw an ellipse. Bring the top node down and move the control arms of the bottom node as shown. Convert to raster. Effects - 3D Effects - Inner Bevel. Use the round preset but change the angle to 0, smoothness 20 and depth 15. Apply the same drop shadow as in step 5.

13. Create a new raster layer named eye. With the preset shapes tool, uncheck vector, hold Shft and draw a circle. Apply the same inner bevel and drop shadow. Duplicate the layer and move into place.

14. Create a new raster layer named detail. Set the foreground to black, null the background. With the draw tool

freehand line, width 4, #1 solid, antialias checked, draw his mouth, the his eye brows. Apply the same drop shadow.

And there you have your knitted hedgehog. Merge all layers visible and save as a tube or in PSP format.

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