I assume that you have a basic working knowledge of PSP and its tools in order to complete this tutorial. However, since it's pixel and pretty straightforward, most folks should be able to complete it without difficulty.

My canvas with the pixel outline. You can 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 makes it easier to go back and change colors later and correct any mistakes. It makes a lot of layers, but it also keeps things organized and will save you a lot of heartache.

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, size 1, and paint the outline of the piece in a darker color, 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).

Step 1. Open up the canvas you you downloaded. There are two layers - a background and the house outline. You'll notice that the outline is in different colors. I've done this so it's easier for you to tell which pixels go with which part of the image. When doing pixels, every single pixel is important - coloring one the wrong color can make a lot of difference in your final product.

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

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

Step 2.

House boards outline-1; inside-2 Roof outline-3; inside-4 Top Window shutters outline-5; inside-6 Top window frame outline-5, 3; inside-4,8; light-7 Bottom window shutters outline-5, inside-6 Doorway outline-3; inside-4; window outline-3; window inside-4; window light-7 Doorway roof outline-5; inside-6 Posts outline-5; inside-8 Steps outline-5; inside-6

Step 3. Now take a look at your image and tweak anything you'd like to at this point. I always save a version of all my images in PSP format, with all layers intact - just makes it easy if you want to go back later and change things. Just save as a psp file (I named mine "house3master").

Then, delete the color chart, outline, and background layer. Merge visible layers. Save as a psp file.

Now continue on through the rest of the series, here.