My pixel outline in psp format. You may download it here. My color chart. Right click on it and save it 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. It helps to 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 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. 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. Move it to the top of your graphic 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.
Step 3. I decided to add some clouds to my sky. If you wish to do so, just choose your picture tube tool and navigate to the cloud tube. Set the scale to 20, step 25, placement mode-continuous, selection mode-incremental. Add a new layer and draw clouds as you wish. I also lowered the opacity of the clouds down to about 80 (they were a bit too white for my taste).
 Step 4.When you're satisfied with your creation, delete the outline layer and the color chart. Merge visible layers. And that's it, all done. I hope you've enjoyed this tut, and remember the Alamo!
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