I claim the copyright to this tutorial.  You are free to do whatever you please with what you make, but please do not take my tutorial.  Do not send the tutorial through email.  Only share my link.

This tutorial was created for some friends of mine who wanted to begin learning more about PSP.  It is intended for intermediates to learn how to use preset shapes and to shade.  If you have any questions, please feel free to email me.

To do this tutorial you will also need Paint Shop Pro.  I used Paint Shop Pro 8, but the steps used may also be done in Version 7.04.  You may download a free trial at Jasc.

You need a brush tip.  If you don't have one, you can make one out of any tube here.

Remember to save as a psp file often!

1.  Open a new, transparent image.  Size doesn't really matter.  I made mine 500 x 500 .  Flood-fill with white.

2.  Right-click on the layer in the Layer Palette, and choose New Raster Layer

3.  Choose your paint brush tool, and these are my settings:  I chose the brush tip I wish to use, size = 400 (choose size appropriate for your image size), Step = 12, Density = 100, Opacity = 100

4.  This is how you choose your Brush tip:

  Click on the paint brush tool.

  In the brush tip drop-down menu, click on the drop-down arrow.

  Scroll down to find your brush tip that you wish to use.

  Choose the brush tip and click OK.

5.  Choose black for your foreground color and click once in the middle of the image.  You can see below that since you have chosen the brush tip, you will see the outline of the brush on the image.

6.  Choose the magic wand tool.  In the Layer Palette, make sure that you are on the top layer.  Hold the Shift Key down while you select all the area around the brush.  Don't forget the inside white areas too.

7.  In top menu, click Selections > Modify > Expand.  Expand Selection by 1 or 2.

8.  In top menu, click Selections > Invert.

9.  In top menu, click Selection > Load/Save Selection > Save Selection to Alpha Channel (in case we lose our selection)

10.  Keep selected!

Now there are 2 methods to colorize.  I will explain each.

Method 1:  Changing Color to Target

11a.  In Layer Palette, right- click on brush (top) layer and choose Duplicate.  Click on the eye of the middle layer to hide that layer.  Now activate the top layer.  We duplicated in case we make a mistake coloring.  We can just delete that layer and start over.

12a.  From the tool menu, select the Change to Target Tool.  You will find this in the tool choice right above the eraser.

13a.  In the tool options bar at the top, choose these settings:  size = 5, hardness = 50, Step = 25, Density = 100, Opacity = 100

14a.  Choose a color for the foreground, and carefully paint over the region that you want to be that color.  For example, I chose red and painted over the ball in the picture below.  Then choose another color, and paint that section of your brush.  Continue to do this until all of your brush has been painted.

15 a.  When you are through coloring and satisfied, then you can right-click on the hidden middle layer and choose Delete.

Skip to Step 16  to continue.

Method Two:  Paintbrush Method

11b.  In the Layer Palette, right-click on the brush layer and choose New Raster Layer.

12b.  Choose the paintbrush tool, brushtip = default, Size = 10, Hardness = 50, Step = 20, Density = 100, Opacity = 100.

13b.  Choose your foreground color.  Then paint that color where you want it on the image.  Make sure that you are painting on the New layer and not the brush layer.

14b.  When you are finish using that color,  Go to the Layer Palette, and in the Layer properties, choose Screen.  (You can choose soft light instead)

15b.  When you want to use a different color, Add a new raster layer, paint the new color, then set the layer to Screen.  Continue coloring until you have finished the image.

16.  In the Layer Palette choose the bottom (background layer)

17.  In top menu, click Selections > Invert

18.  Press the delete key on the keyboard.  This deletes the white part that extends beyond the colored tube.

19.  In top menu, click Layers > Merge > Merge Visible.

 20.  If you are not happy with the brightness of the colors, In top menu click Adjust > Adjust Brightness/Contrast > Brightness /Contrast  and change the numbers.   Remember that positive numbers will make the image get brighter, negative numbers make it get darker.

21.  Now save the image as .psp tube for later use.

22.  For the purposes of displaying your brush work to a psp group,  Add a background and a Frame. to your image and save as a jpg.  (The reason why we did steps 8 - 11 is that you can see a white background preserves the brush better.  Makes it crisper.  So we merged it onto a white background.  But now that it's merged, we can add another colored background without affecting the brush color.)

 Please do not remove this tutorial from my site.  Share my url.