Here's one more tutorial in my Christmas 2005 series. It's another quick pixel tut.

My pixel outline. You can download it here.

My color chart. Right click on it and save to your computer.

My image is just a guide. Feel free to change the colors, apply cutouts or not, or add other effects to your liking. I put everything on its own layer (and name each one). That way you can easily go back and change colors later and correct any mistakes you've made. It makes a lot of layers, but it also keeps things organized and will save you a lot of heartache.

It makes things easier if you enlarge your graphic (use your magnifier tool) so you can see the pixels clearly. Feel free to save my images in this tut too, and enlarge them as necessary.

The basic procedure for each piece will be the same. You'll add a new layer. Set your brush size to 1 and paint the outline of the piece in a darker color and then paint the inside in a lighter color (Hint: to do the inside coloring, make the outline layer active, choose your magic wand and click inside the section you want to color - then apply the color on your new layer).

I've applied a cutout to some pieces, usually using the same color as its outline color. To apply the cutout, select and float the selection (selections>select all>selections>float). You'll see the marquee ("marching ants") around the selection. Apply a cutout (effects>3d effects>cutout), using the settings in the screenshot (the shadow color will change for each selection). For some items, I repeated the cutout, changing the horizontal and vertical to -1 instead. Just play with the settings, it's a bit of a personal preference.

[Hint: When you're going to add a cutout, set your foreground or background color to the shadow color you're going to use. Then, when you apply your cutout, just right click on the shadow color box and choose the color from the recent colors displayed there.]

Step 1. Open up the pixel outline you downloaded. There are two layers - a background and the outline layer.

Open up the color chart you saved. Copy and paste it as a new layer onto your image. Move it to the top, out of the way. When you need a color, just click on it with your dropper tool.

Step 2. I'll show you the colors I used for each section of the graphic - feel free to change these as you wish.

Posts outline - 1 Vertical posts inside - 2 Vertical posts cutout - 1 Horizontal posts inside - 3 Hinges outline - 4 Hinges inside - 5 Hinges cutout - 4

Wreath

Outline - 6 Inside - 7 Cutout - 6 Balls outline - 8 Balls inside - 9 Balls cutout - 8 Ribbon outline - 10 Ribbon inside - 11 Ribbon cutout - 10

Birdies

Outline - 10 Inside - 11 Cutout - 10 Beak - 12 Eye, Line Around Mouth, Feet - black

Birdhouse

Outline - 13 Inside - 14 Cutout - 13 Bar inside - 15 Roof inside - 16 Hole - 17 Hole cutout - black Tree outline - 18 Tree inside - 19 Tree snow - 20 Tree star outline -9 Tree star inside - 21

Text

Text - 11

Step 3.Add a new layer and place it on top of your background layer. Choose your selection tool>rectangle, and draw a box from the top of your image down to the bottom of the fence. Flood fill with color #22.

Step 4.I added some snow to my image, but that's optional. To do so, set foreground to white. Add a new layer on top of your sky layer. Choose your airbrush, using settings in the screenshot, and spray. Lower the opacity of the layer down as you wish (mine's at 65).

Step 5. When you like your work, delete the color chart and merge all layers.

And there you have it. Hope these lil guys can stay warm. Enjoy the tut!