Elephant Tutorial

Elephant

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Some of the screenshots in this tutorial have been resized and colors lowered to save on load time,
the images may not look the same as what yours will.

This tutorial is written using PSP7 but should work in PSP6. Note.. that if 6 is used the
position of the tools, effects, and filter will be different or not available with 6.

This tutorial uses vectors and assumes you have a working knowledge of PSP using Vectors and Nodes.

Let's get started.
Open a 600x600 transparent
Set your background color to a medium gray, I'm using #C0C0C0

For this tutorial when I say preset shapes, these are the settings we will be using unless otherwise noted..
Note.. line width does not matter unless noted

With your shape to the settings above, draw out an oval in the top center of your canvas. Make it fairly
large, this will be the head and trunk of the elephant.
Click on Object Selector then right click on your canvas and select Node Edit. Pull the bottom node
down a little until you get something that looks kind of like an egg. Something like this..

Now take the top Node and pull up and out on the handles, then use the side Nodes to round out the face
so you have something that looks like the start of a heart. Like this..

Add two Nodes on the right and left of the bottom original Node (first screenshot below). Pull the original
Node down (screenshot 2). Add two more Nodes on the left and right so you can round out what will be the
trunk (screenshot 3). Go back up to the face part of the vector and place two more Nodes about where you
think the bottom jaw would be (screenshot 4). Using the bottom handle of the node to turn them inward slightly.
Look at screenshot 5 below to see what I mean, screenshot 6 is how it should look finished....

Convert to Raster when finished, rename to head.
With the same settings as before on your preset shapes, draw out a small circle that will be the end of the trunk where the
nostrils will go. Using Node edit to shape it so that it will look sort of like a pigs nose, something like this...

Convert to Raster, rename to nose.

Make Layer 1 your active layer.
Use the Preset Shapes tool to draw another oval on the left side of the head, this will be the ear.
Grab the top node, pull it inward to meet the top of the head where the hump in the head starts.
Pull up on the left handle of the node to round it out some (screenshot 1 below). Grab and pull the
bottom node in and round out like you did the top node (screenshot 2). Add two nodes on the
top left between the top node and the left middle node (Screenshot 3). Pull them out to round
the ear some, turn the handles to put dips in the ear. Add two more nodes between the middle
and bottom nodes and do the same things as last steps (Screenshot 4). You should ended up with
something that looks like screenshot 5.

Doesn't look much like an elephant yet does it? *L* But it will I promise!

Convert to Raster when you're happy and rename to left ear.
I'm not going to Duplicate and mirror the ear now, we will do that after we add our final touches to it later
on in the tute.

If you haven't already saved your work as a PSP do so now.

Once again make Layer1 your active layer.
Preset Shapes tool. Draw out a large Horizontal Oval. This will become the body, front legs and feet of the elephant.
Add 4 Nodes where indicated on screenshot below..

Take Node 1 shown on the screenshot above and pull it down to start to form the left leg. Do the same thing with
Node 2. Look at the screenshot below and see where I've placed 4 more Nodes to help shape the legs..

Use those 4 nodes to help round out the legs.
Now on to bringing out his feet.
Working on the left foot first. Place nodes where I have indicated on the screenshot below..

Pull what was Node 1 down and the two nodes that are beside Node 1 out and round them some.
When you are happy with your left foot place the same nodes on the right and create the right foot
as you did the left, you don't have to make them look the same.
Now before converting to raster lets play a little with the body part of the elephant. Pull on the nodes
some to give the elephants body a little less oval look and more of a full figure look *L* Look closely at the
above screenshot to see how mine looks.
Convert to Raster now, and rename to body.
Now for the back left leg.
Make Layer1 your active layer.
With your Preset Shapes tool draw out a long slender oval on the left side, just to the side of where the left front
leg is. Below is a screenshot of my back leg. As you can see it's pretty much like the front legs but without the body
on it of course.

When you are happy with your back leg Convert to Raster, rename to backleft leg.
Okay, we have all the parts to our elephant made, no more vectors from here on!! We will duplicate and mirror
our back leg and ear after we add some texture and shadows to them.

You may want to Save again about now! *S* Sure wouldn't want you to lose all that hard work!
Ready to get started making this elephant come to life? I have to say this is actually the hardest part of making
him. I really had a hard time getting the eyes to look right, so take your time and play around a lot with different
shades of gray and even black to get the shading to look right in his face and behind the eyes to give them lots
of depth.

With your head Layer your active layer, Go to Selection, Select All, Selections, Float.
Add a new Layer naming it highlights.
Foreground color set to a darker gray, I'm using #8E8E8E
Airbrush to these settings..

Spray some areas on his trunk and around his face. Change the size of your brush, to large and then smaller, lower
and raise Opacity and Density of your brush to get different shadows. Even change the color to different grays and
even black to get more shadows. Check from time to time by using Gaussian Blur set to around 5, 6 or 7 to see how
it's looking. As you can see in the screenshot below I did place two dark sprays where I thought I would want my eyes
just to give me a perspective to go by with the rest of the sprays. You can always hit the undo button if you're not
happy with the look. I waited until after I had my real eyes in place before I did the dark shadowing behind them.

Okay let's work on the eyes then we will do some more shadowing on the face and a cutout.
Add a new Layer naming it eyes..
Change the foreground color to black, background color to a light gray/white #D6D6D6.
Okay so I lied a little, we do have one more vector to do *L* But it's just the eye!!
Preset Shapes tool to the same settings as we used for the elephant except make the line
width 1. Draw out a small oval on the left side of the head. Now add a new layer without converting
the other layer. Change the background color to black, foreground should be Null. Draw out another
oval that will be the center of the eye. Use the nodes to fit in inside of the white area of the eye.
Convert both layers to Raster when you are happy with the look. Make the white area of the eye layer
your active layer. Now use the Draw tool set to single line, width 1, foreground color black. Draw a line
coming off the inside corner of the eye and one coming off the outside corner. Look at the image below to
see what I mean.

With the black part of the eye your active layer, go to Selections, Select All, Selections, Float.
Go to Effects, 3D Effects, Inner Bevel, use the round preset, but then change the shininess to
69 and the angle to 189 but leave all other settings as they are. Click okay.
Make invisible all layers except the two eye layers, merge visible.

Now that the eye is merged go back to Inner Bevel, click on the Preset and select Round again. Do
not make any changes to the settings from there. Click okay.
Duplicate and Mirror the eye and move into position on the other side.

I thought the eye and face area still needed something, so I went back to my head layer and selected it again
then added a new layer and applied more shadowing around the eye using the dark gray #8E8E8E
and black, I then used Gaussian Blur with a radius of 7 to smooth out the shadowing. Here is what I got...

Make invisible all layers of the head except the nose layer. Now lets work on that nose. Make the nose
layer your active layer.
With your background set to the dark gray, Preset shapes tool set to the teardrop. Draw out a small teardrop
to be the nostril. Convert to Raster, Duplicate, move into position as the other nostril. You can add a drop
shadow behind the nostrils if you wish.
Select your nose. Selections, Select All, Selections, Float. Add a new layer and apply some Airbrush sprays to
the nose using the dark gray and black like you did to the face of the elephant. Select None. Merge nose layers
visible with your face and rename to head. Now let's Apply a cutout to our head..

Go to Selections, Select All, Selections, Float. Go to Effects, 3D Effects, Cutout, apply these settings...

While still selected add a new layer and apply the same cutout but make the Vertical and Horizontal both minus 2
Deselect Merge cutout layer with head layer and rename to head.

Now let's work on the ear.
Make your left ear layer your active layer. Go to Selections, Select All,
Selections, Float. Add a new layer. With your Airbrush at the settings we used for the head. Foreground color
to the gray. Start spraying some shadow areas on the ear. Change the setting on the Airbrush just like you did for
the head and you can change the color to black and other gray tones too. Place close attention to the shadowing
close where the ear meets the face. That area should be shadowed darker. Here is what mine look like...

Use the Gaussian Blur with a radius of 7 to blur your sprays.
While still selected add a New layer and apply a cutout using these settings...

Deselect and merge ear layers visible renaming to left ear. Duplicate and Mirror the ear, move into position,
rename to right ear.
Make Body Layer your active Layer. Go to Selections, Select All,
Selections, Float. Add a new layer. With your Airbrush at these settings as for the ear and head.

Spray some areas of shadows on the body of the elephant, changing from the grays to the black to get the shadows.
Had some hard lines to the legs and around the foot area.

Use the Gaussian Blur with a radius of 5 to blur your sprays.
While still Selected, add a new layer and apply a Cutout using these settings..

Deselect. Hide all Layers except the body layer, Airbrushed layer and the Cutout Layer and merge visible.
Rename to body.
Make the left back foot layer active. Go to Selections, Select All,
Selections, Float. Add a new layer.
Spray the back leg just like you did the legs on the front. Use the Gaussian Blur with a radius of 5 to blur
your sprays. While still selected add a new layer and apply a cutout using the same settings as before.
Hide all Layers except the back leg, Airbrushed Layer and the Cutout layer and merge visible, rename to
left back leg. Duplicate and Mirror the layer, move into position and rename to right back leg.
Looks more like an elephant now, doesn't it? *L*
Here is my finished elephant..

You are ready now to merge all your layers visible and export as a tube or whatever you would like to do
with it. I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial.
Until next time,
God Bless,
Connie

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