This tutorial is for the Train pictured above. I love the way this one turned out!

My canvas with the pixel outline. You may download it here.

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

First, a few notes.....

My image is just a guide. Feel free to change the colors, 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, especially with an image that has as many pixels as this one.

It makes it 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 to see.

The basic procedure for each piece will be the same. You'll add a new layer. Choose your paintbrush tool and set the size to 1 and paint the outline of the piece and then paint the inside, along with any shading. (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).

Step 1. Open up the pixel outline you downloaded. There are two layers - a background and the outline layer. Make the outline layer visible and add all of your other layers on top of it.

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.

In the following steps, I'll show you the colors I used for each section of the graphic - feel free to change these as you wish.

Step 2. Engine

Engine outline-1, inside-2,3,4, black (at bottom) Smoke stacks outline-6, inside-7,8, top inside-9 Cab outline-6, inside-7,8 Front wheels outline-7, inside-9,10,6 Rear wheels-9, shading-10 Pilot (that bit at the bottom front of the train) outline-6, inside-7,9 [By the way, on real locomotives, that bit was used to move possible obstacles off of the track]

Step 3. Passenger Cars

Top outline-6, inside-7,8 Middle section outline-1, inside-2 Horizontal and vertical bars outline-6, inside-9 Bottom section of train outline-6, inside-7,8 Wheels-9,10,6, Steps-black,11 Window frames-6, inside-12,5

Step 4. Caboose

Outline-1, inside-2,3 Vertical trim inside-9, outline-1 Bottom of train (horizontal red bit) outline-6, inside-7,8 Windows outline-1,2, inside-12,5 Top of top window-6 Wheels-9,10,6,

Step 5. Color the connecting bits on on the cars black.

Step 6. Now take a look at your image and tweak anything you'd like to at this point (If you'd like to make more cars or rearrange the ones in the image, feel free to do so). When you're satisfied with it, delete the color chart, outline, and background layers. Merge visible layers. Save as a PSP file.

Now complete the other tuts in this series. You'll find them all here.

Enjoy the series!