I drew all of these tutorials from scratch, but I have made selections for you to use. There is a bit of shading and simple drawing involved in this tutorial, but I've provided a lot of screenshots to guide you through. I assume that you have a basic working knowledge of PSP.

Paint Shop Pro. I used version 7.04 but if you are familiar with PSP, you should be able to convert the tutorial without problems. You can download the latest PSP version demo here.

My selection files. Place them in your PSP selections folder (or any location of your choice - just remember where you place them). You can download them here.

If you would like my little red baloon, it's in psp format and you can download it here.

Step 1. Open up a new image 350 x 400, background color of your choice.

Step 2. Add a new layer. Load selection 1. Flood fill with black. Contract by 2. Flood fill with a reddish color #704C4C.

Step 3. Add a new layer. Set your foreground color to #432727 and your background color to #D0B6B6. Choose your airbrush and use the settings below in the screenshot. Spray some color around in a pattern similar to mine. (Note: change the size of the airbrush down as you need to).

 

Step 4. Add a new layer. Choose your retouch tool, smudge brush and use the settings below. Smudge the colors around. There's no "pat" way to do this, a lot of it is finding your own personal style. Generally, I start on the outside bits first, go all around the darker bits first, smudging them gently. Then I do the lighter bits. Finally, I blend them as I need to. (Note: You can change the size of the smudgebrush down to get a more defined effect).

Smudge the colors around, but don't worry about getting it perfect right now. Just get something rough and we'll go back at the end when everything's assembled, and tidy things up.

 

Step 5. Add a new layer. Set your foreground color to black. Choose your draw tool and set it to freehand line, size 1. Draw some lines on the face, similar to mine (don't worry about it being perfect, you can correct it later.

Step 6. Add a new layer. Load selection 2. Flood fill with black. Contract by 2. FLood fill with red #707C42. Add a new layer. Airbrush colors on similar to mine below (use colors #432727 and #D0B6B6). Smudge as before.

 

Step 7. Add a new layer. Load selection 3. Repeat step 6 above.

 

Step 8. Add a new layer. Move this layer underneath the body layer. Load selection 4. Repeat step 6 above.

Step 9. Add a new layer. Load selection 5. Flood fill with black. Contract by 2. Flood fill with red #800000. Spray airbrush colors (same as before). Smudge.

 

Step 10. Add a new layer. Load selection 6. Flood fill with 707C42. Repeat step 6 above.

 

Step 11. Add a new layer. Load selection 7. Flood fill with black. If you have Eye Candy, choose the glass preset (bevel profile: button; setting: glass tubing; all other settings as in the screenshot below. Be sure to change the glass color to black). If you don't have Eye Candy, you can use an inner bevel in PSP (the default "round" one is a good one)

 

Step 12. Add a new layer. Load selection 8. Place this layer underneath the ear. Flood fill with black. Contract by 2. Flood fill with a color, pattern, texture, etc. I chose a gold gradient to use on mine (one comes in PSP).

Step 13. Now you'll need to go back and erase black lines that overlap on the body. I erased bits from the front leg, the back leg, and ear area (see the screenshots below). Once you've erased, be sure to smudge and blend the areas where you deleted. You'll do this on probably more than one layer.

   

Step 14. Now we'll add some finsihing touches. It's also a good time to go back and check your shading and fix any areas that need a bit more (or less). You can erase, spray more, smudge more as you wish. The "undo" button is your friend!

Step 15. I added some lines to define some of the body parts. For each body part that you add lines to, do so on a new layer. Set your foreground color to black and your background color to null. Choose your draw tool, freehand line, size 1. I drew lines on the front legs, the back legs, and the ears. See my screenshots below.

   

Step 16. Add a new layer. Put this layer on top of the body but underneath the ear. Load selection 9. Flood fill with black. Contract by 2. Flood fill with color, pattern, etc. of your choice. I used the same gold gradient that I used for the collar (angle is 140).

Step 17. Add a new layer. Put this layer underneath the hat. I drew some stringies for the hat. To do this, set your foreground color to red #9F3535 and your background color to black. Choose your draw tool set to freehand line, size 2. Draw some curved strings (straight lines will only show the foreground color). I also changed the red color to my gold gradient and drew some like that as well. Here's my end result.

Step 18. I decided to add something to his collar as it looked a bit naked. Add a new layer. Set your foreground color to the gold gradient and your background color to black. Choose your preset shapes tool, ellipse, and draw a small circle. Apply either Eye Candy Glass (same settings as before) or an inner bevel. Copy and paste this a couple of times more until you have something you like. (You could also decorate the collar in other ways)

Step 19. I added a balloon but that's optional. If you want to use it, I've included the little psp file. Just copy and paste it onto a new layer. Draw a ribbon with your draw tool freehand line (line size 1). And that's it, all done! This little guy's ready to party!

I hope you've enjoyed this tutorial. As always, please let me know if you experience any problems, and I'd love any feedback you have about the tutorial.