^2001-2003

Easy Mouse

Tutorial written by Arizona Kate, ©2001
and may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without prior
written permission from ArizonaKate.com

Please read terms of use

This tutorial was written for PSP version 7, but is also suitable for users of version 6. If you haven't reviewed the intro & program notes on page 1, please do so now.

Color settings for this tut: Select black for stroke color and any mouse color of your choice for fill. Pick a pastel, a bright color, a realistic color...doesn't matter...this is a cartoon!! I'll be using #BBA5AD, a lavender gray....for no particular reason! *G* Both Texture boxes should be set to null.Ø

Remember, you must always use the Object Selector to select a vector object for editing.

#1

Egg Preset Shape

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Select Preset Shapes tool, select the egg shape made in the EggToon tutorial, "Egg".
Line width 1, style solid, retain style UNchecked, antialias CHECKED, vector CHECKED.
Draw an egg that is about 85wx12 pixels. (Look at the lower left corner of the screen to see PSP status bar display size of egg as you draw.)

#2

Create More Preset Shapes

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Use the Preset Shapes tool to draw 2 ellipses, any size (same settings, same colors as above). They will become the arms and legs.

Change fill color to a pink or peach (I used #FF9681) and draw some circles. Draw 3 circles that are 40x40 ...these will be the ears. Hold shift key down as you draw an ellipse and you will get a perfect circle. Draw 1 circle that is 8x8...it will be the nose.

Now click the double-headed arrow by the Styles box so that black moves to the fill position.
Change the stoke to null Ø.
Draw one small black circle 6x6 (this is one eye..we'll duplicate it in a moment).
Your canvas should look like screenshot #2 above.

#3

Switch to Object Selector tool. All the following steps will be done with the Object Selector tool.

Move the one eye into position as left eye. Next, right click (RC) the eye circle and select copy. Move your cursor slightly to the right, RC again and select paste new vector selection. Copying & pasting is the easy way to make sure both eyes are the same size.

Move the ears into position on the mouse's head.
The right ear needs to be placed behind the body.
To do this: RC the circle that is the right ear, select arrange, send to bottom .
Move the nose into position near the eyes.

Your mouse should now look like screenshot #3.
Now for some node editing!!

#4

Edit the Ears

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Zoom in on your image so you're working at a 2:1 size....makes things easier to see!!
Select the left ear with the Object Selector.
RC select Node Edit. In Node Edit mode, the fill color does not show ... all you'll see are the nodes and line segments that make up the shape. This circle has 4 nodes, but I want to use only 3 ... so that the shape looks a little more like an ear than a circle. Let's delete one node. Select the bottom node, RC select Edit, then Delete.

Now we have 3 nodes but only half an ear!! Pull the left node down until the shape overlaps the body of the mouse as shown in screenshot #5 below.

#5

By pulling that one node down we've distorted the shape of the circle a little.
To fix the shape of the ear and make it an ellipse again, select the bottom node, 2 handles will appear ...one handle has an arrow on the end and one has a knob. Pull the top handle (the arrow handle) up and to the left until this shape looks like an ear again. See closeup in screenshot #5.
RC select Quit Node Editing

#6

The finished ears should look like the ears in screenshot #6.
Notice that by deleting a node we have 'broken' the outline and there's no black line between the inner ear color and the body color. This can be a handy trick to use when making complicated shapes!

#7

Shaping the feet

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Next we'll work on the feet. With the Object Selector, select one of the ellipse shapes we already made. (You're still working with an enlarged canvas.... 2:1, right?)
RC select node edit. Select the top node of the ellipse, RC and select break. This breaks the line in 2 and ADDS a node... creating 2 nodes where there used to be one.

Move those 2 nodes up to the body for the top of the legs as shown in screenshot #7.
Move the 3 other nodes around until you have a rough shape of a leg and foot.
You should end up with a node at the top of each leg, a node for the heel, a node where the leg turns into the foot and another node at the toes.

Now let's fine tune the shape of the foot by adjusting the handles of each node.

Notice how moving the node handles will effect the shape and direction of the adjacent line segment.

#8

Move the handles that stick out of each node as follows:

Node #1: Both ends point straight up and down.
Node #2: The arrow end points straight up and the rounded end makes a right angle turn to the right.
Node #3: The arrow end point left and the rounded end points up and slightly to the right. This should make the toes more rounded and should make a perfectly straight line between nodes 2 and 3.
Node #4: The rounded end points up, slightly angled to the right. The arrow end points at an angle that also helps the toes be a little more rounded.
Node #5: This points straight up and down like node #1.
RC select quit node editing

#9

Use the Object Selector to move the left leg into position, if it isn't already. Duplicate the left leg to make the right leg. To duplicate: RC select copy. Move cursor a little to the right, RC again, select paste new vector selection.
But, oops! The leg is in front of the belly! To fix: RC again. Select arrange, send to bottom. Your mouse should now look something like the one in screenshot #9!

#10

Shaping the Arms

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We'll shape the arms the same way as we did the legs. We'll also need to add a few nodes to shape wrist and fingers!

Zoom in 2:1. Use Object Selector to select the remaining unedited oval shape and move it over close to the left side of the body. RC select node edit.

Select the top node, RC select break. This breaks the line and adds a node like we did for the leg. Move the top 2 nodes into a position for the shoulder and the armpit. Arrange the node handles so they point straight and align with the line.

Next we need to add another node. Hover your cursor over one of the lines (near the wrist area) while holding the Control key down, when +ADD appears next to your cursor, click to add a node. Don't worry about exact position, we'll edit in next step. You should have a total of 6 nodes for the arm and hand.

#11

Move 2 of the nodes into wrist area and 2 nodes into area of fingers.

Select one of the wrist nodes, hold down Shift key and select the other 3 nodes for the hand. RC select node type, cusp.
Arrange the nodes as shown in screenshot #11.
RC select quit node editing.

Adjust Zoom back to 2:1 for the following steps.

#12

Duplicate the left arm to make the right arm. RC select copy. Move your cursor over to the right side of the body, RC again, select paste new vector selection.

Oh-oh! The arm is facing the wrong way! *S* To mirror the arm to make it face the other way. Select it and grab the center right handle of the boundary box and pull it to the left and back over itself. The arm shape will follow and mirror itself. Doing this may distort the shape...but that's easy to fix. To correct distortion caused by mirroring: Select the left arm, hold down the Shift Key and select the right arm, RC select make objects same size, both

#13

Now put the right arm behind the body by selecting the right arm, RC select arrange, send to bottom. Adjust position of right arm behind body. Your mouse should now look something like screenshot #13! All he needs now is a tail and a snout!

#14

Editing Tail and Muzzle

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Your fill color should still be black and your stroke color null. If it isn't, make those changes.

For the tail, draw a long, narrow, black triangle with the Preset Shapes tool and the same settings as before. Make triangle any size, any location. Set aside, we'll be editing it soon.

For the snout/muzzle, click the double headed arrow by the Styles boxes to put black in the Stroke position.

Select the line tool and make these settings in the Tool Options box:
Line type point to point, line style solid, line width 1, antialias and vector checked. Close path unchecked.

Draw a sideways V shape for the snout by clicking once between the eyes, once on the nose and once again below the eyes.
RC Quit Node Editing.

Next thing we need to do is position the "nose" above the snout lines we just made.
RC the nose, select arrange, bring to top.

Now select the lines for the snout and make some adjustments to the shape. Position the first node slightly below and between the eyes. Position the 2nd node behind the nose circle. RC the 3rd node, select node type, curve before. Pull on the node handle to give a slight curve to the combination snout/muzzle/mouth as shown in screenshot #14.

#15

With the Object Selector, select the triangle we made for the tail. RC select arrange, send to bottom. RC again for node edit.

Move the nodes around until 2 of them are behind the body and the 3rd one is the tip of the tail.

To put a curve to this tail, add 2 more nodes. One on each line. Holding Control key down, hover your mouse over the line until +ADD appears, then click to create a node.

Select one of the nodes, hold shift key down, select the other node. RC select node type, asymmetric.

Click in any blank area of canvas to de-select both nodes.

Select just one of the nodes. Pull on the node handle until the tail curves similar to finished image. To change the shape and size of the curve, lengthen the node handle and move it slightly until curve looks smooth. Do the same for the node on other side of tail to get a similar curve. You may have to play around some with the node positions until you get a nice curvey mousey-looking tail.

There you have it!! I bet it seems like a lot of steps and that it took quite a while! But, once you get used to Node Editing, you should be able to create another mouse like this in less than 10 minutes. It just takes a lot to explain it!! LOL

Save one copy of your EggToon mouse in psp format to make more mice! You have many options with your finished vector image. You can change colors by right clicking and selecting properties. You can face him the other way by selecting 'all' and mirroring image. You could also make some smaller mice, like those below. To resize, drag the Object Selector tool completely around your character to Select All. Push or pull on one of the corner handles of the selection box to resize.

Export your EggToon as an Optimized GIF (or PNG). First, use the Crop Tool to reduce the size of your canvas to the smallest area possible (smaller area = smaller file size). Save a copy of image by selecting File > Export > Gif Optimizer (or Png Optimizer if you prefer that format).

Next time you're ready to practice, go to the tutorial index and select another EggToon character ....or invent one of your own!! The more you practice with vectors, the easier it will become. After a while, it will become the only way you'll want to draw!!!   ;-) Have fun! ....Kate