Well, all it took was completing my first
"pixel painting" tutorial and I was hooked.
 

 
(Click on the above graphic for an explanation of the FBN skill ratings.)

This tutorial written by Cathy on December 26, 2003.
Written using Paint Shop Pro Version 8.1, but should
work fine with earlier versions.

*** PREPARATION ***

For this tutorial you will need:

Paint Shop Pro, which you can get at the Jasc site.

My fill pattern below (if you wish to use my colors):

Right click and save to your hard drive.

My color swatch below, although I will give you the html code for the colors used.  Right click to save this swatch. Then open in PSP.

***If you have a hard time painting the pixels due to eyesight of any other physical dilemma, but would still like to create this image, please email me by clicking here.

The best advice I can give you is to SAVE, SAVE, SAVE!!!  There's not much worse than losing all your hard work due to a program or computer lock up or melt down!!!  So...save your work often...I will be putting reminders throughout the tutorial:

Save 

This tutorial relies mostly on screenshots. I've included the number of pixels where necessary, but you will have to rely on the screenshots for the smaller number of pixels. As with any of my tutorials, please feel free to use any colors you like to create you own unique image.

Okay, let's get started...

*** PAINTING OUR IMAGE - PART I ***

1. Open a new image 175x250 pixels. Save this image as "my_bunny" in psp format.

2. Rename your Raster 1 layer "pixels". (In earlier versions rename Layer1 to "pixels".

3. Change your foreground color to black.

4. Click on your Paintbrush Tool, using the following settings:

5. Set your foreground color to black and paint the following:

TIP: My screenshots for pixel placement will all be zoomed in at 400%, so the width/height of each gray and white squares you see in the screenshot is 4 pixels.

NOTE: I will only give you numbers for 4 or more pixels
(occasionally 3 or less if I think it will be helpful)

  Save

6. Continue painting as follows (previously painted pixels have been changed to red):

  Save

7. Continue painting as follows (previously painted pixels have been changed to red):

  Save

8. Continue painting as follows (previously painted pixels have been changed to red):

  Save

9. Continue painting as follows (previously painted pixels have been changed to red):

Remember: each square is 4 pixels.
Use this information to figure out the blank spaces.

You should now have this:

It might be a good idea to take a little break.  This pixel painting is hard on your wrist.

  Save

*** PAINTING OUR IMAGE - PART II ***

1. Continue painting as follows (previously painted pixels have been changed to red):

TIP: My screenshots for pixel placement will all be zoomed in at 400%, so the width/height of each gray and white squares you see in the screenshot is 4 pixels.

  Save

2. Continue painting as follows (previously painted pixels have been changed to red):

  Save

3. Continue painting as follows (previously painted pixels have been changed to red):

  Save

4. Continue painting as follows (previously painted pixels have been changed to red):

  Save

5. Continue painting as follows (previously painted pixels have been changed to red):

Remember: each square is 4 pixels.
Use this information to figure out the blank spaces.

6. Continue painting as follows (previously painted pixels have been changed to red):

You should now have this:

  Save

*** ADDING THE FACIAL DETAILS ***

1. Using your Paint Brush add facial details as shown below (previously painted pixels have been changed to red and the opacity lowered):

TIP: My screenshots for pixel placement will all be zoomed in at 400%, so the width/height of each gray and white squares you see in the screenshot is 4 pixels.

  Save

It might be a good idea to take a little break.  This pixel painting is hard on your wrist.

That's it for the pixel painting portion...now we'll add our color...
 

All Art Work & Graphics Designed by Cathy
This tutorial originally posted on December 26, 2003
Copyright © 1999 - 2003 by Cathy.
All rights reserved.
Revised: April 06, 2008.