
We are going to color with the cutout tool. This is one of the easiest fastest ways to color a pixel outline. Here is what we are going to do...

You can right click and save the outline (or right click and copy, then paste rigth into your PSP program) here...

I am going try and explain the how and why of coloring this way. This is only one way to color pixels.
There are tons of different ways, and each person gets in the habit of doing it their own way.
There is no wrong or right way, just what makes you happy. So with that, lets begin!
Open the outline in to your PSP program. I am using PSP XI, so my screen shots may look a little different from yours, but
it is possible to do this in any version of PSP.
Once you have the outline in your program you want to click on your fill tool.

Go to your material pallet and choose a color, you could choose green, yellow, red, any colors that apples come in! I have chosen red.

And fill your apple.

Go back to your matterials pallet and choose a leaf color. Again it is up to your, what color. Mine are green!


Now back to your apple color. click on your materials pallet, on your foreground color. Now put your eye dropper on your apple, and click the color. This can be done a few other ways to. The fastest way would be by holding down the CTRL button on your keyboard, and hold your cursor over your apple, but my screen shot program would take the picture with the CTRL button held down, so I did it this way. Anywayssss! You want to choose the color of your apple now.

Once you have the color chosen, you want to drag the little circle in the middle upward in your color box.

So that you have a darker color of your color. How much darker is up to your, but not too much, to where it looks black, and enough so you can see the difference.

You can also just use your colors here, use the red and the maroon in the little boxes. What ever is easiest for you.

Once you have the dark color, you want to click on your Color Replacer tool.

Now on your materials pallet, make your background black, because that is the color of the outline. We are going to color the outline, so it isn't black. Although some people do leave the outline black and it looks nice too! But I usually color mine.

The reason that you set up your color this way, is that when using your
color replacer. The foreground color is the color you want it to be, and the background color is
the color it is. So if you have another outline that is a different color, you can still do this,
just make your background color that color.
My color replacer tool is set like this.

When you have a big object like this apple, this part is easy! When you do an outline with smaller things to color, you can make this tool smaller, and zoom in close to see it. You want to take your cursor and go around the red part's outline, it will change from black to your darker color.

And when you are done going around your apple, the outline should now be the darker color!

Now we repleat this step for the leaves and the stem of your apple.


When you are done, it should look like this up close.

Now you want to select your magic wand tool.

And click on your apple.

Go to Selections/Float.

You must click float before you can use the cutout correctly here. If you forget to click float,
it will mess up your apple and the color will go away. So if this step isn't working for you,
it is probably because you forgot to click float.
Now go to Effects/3D effects/cutout.

Inside the cutout work area, you want to go to your apple and find your darker color with the eyedropper. You don't have to hold down any buttons, just move your mouse until you find the dark outline.

Now as for adding the shadows. This is all up to what you like, but let me try and explain what you might want to look for. When you change the Vertical and Horizontal numbers, it effects the shadows on your apple.(or anything you are coloring) For instance, here I have made these settings. See how the shadow is quite big, and to the left.

That is because the Vertical decides the amount of shadow to the right or left. And the Horizontal decides how much shadow on top or on bottom. Now if I choose a smaller number in each box, I get this.

See how the shadow is smaller? When you are workig on some very small
outlines, you will want to use very small numbers, because other wise the shadow would fill the
whole area with the dark color, not doing much good for shading.
In this next screen shot I have changed the Vertical number to a whole number, instead of a minus
number, and the shadow is on top of the apple. This comes in handy if you want to put a highlight
on your pixel.

Soooo here is the setting I have decided on. If you take a look at the blur number, you will see I have changed it to a higher number, to give it a softer look.

And here is my apple with a shadow!

Now use the wand again and select a leaf.

Go back to the float and cutout. And select your dark color.

Here I have chosen big numbers to show you how the leaf is filled with the dark color, this is not what you want.

So I change the numbers to lower numbers and I get this.


I repleat ths on each leaf and the stem. The same settings work for each. The only time you may change them, is if you want the shadow to move to top to bottom or right to left. Then you would change the whole number to minuse or visa versa. Like I said it is all up to your liking. But most times shadows are on the bottom, either to the right or left. And highlights are on top. So if you add the darker color to the bottom, it should work out. Also the blur can effect the look on the softness. Sometimes if it isn't soft enough, your object might look like it is embossed instead of shaded. So you have to play with this. So here is my apple, all shaded!

Add your name and you have a tag!
