Creating the different EggToon characters is part of a tutorial series written especially for those just learning the vector tools in Paint Shop Pro 7. If you've come directly to this page and haven't reviewed the explanation of the Vector Tools or how to create the Egg Preset Shape, you should probably review those first.


Color settings for this tut:

Select black for stroke color and any 'bunny' 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 color #F0C5A2.

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

Open new image 300x300 or 400x400. Use extra large canvas to give you plenty of working room...don't make bunny so large it fills canvas! Create with a white background layer. Click the 'new layer' button on the layer dialog box and add a 'new vector layer'. All vector drawing will be done on this layer.

SHAPES: Select Preset Shapes tool, select the egg shape. (tut to create egg preset shape is here)

Line width 1, style solid, retain style UNchecked, antialias CHECKED, vector CHECKED, colors as described above.
Draw an egg that is about 85x120 pixels. Also draw 3 ellipses, any size (same settings, same colors). Position anywhere on your canvas....they will become the ears, arms and legs later on.

EARS: Using the OS, move one 'ear' oval over to the top of the egg.
Pull on the center top handle to stretch the shape into a long bunny ear.
Right click (RC) and select Node Edit. The ear turns into an object with 4 nodes.
Select the bottom node (the node will change to solid black when selected). RC select Edit>Break. You now have 2 nodes in place of the one and the line has been broken.
Arrange those 2 new nodes to align with the bunny's head and adjust the node handles to make the sides of the ear a straighter line (turn handles so they almost line up with the line segment). Getting a smooth, gentle curve is made easier if you RC select Node Edit, select one of the bottom nodes, RC select Node Type>Smooth Tangent. If you want a perfectly straight line, you could also select 'line before' (or 'line after'). However, for the bunny ear, a slight curve to the line might look better.

To soften the curve of the top of the ear slightly, select the 'ear' shape, RC select Node Edit, select the top node, RC select Node Type>Symmetric. Lengthen the handle of this top node very slightly.
Move the nodes in the middle outwards, just slightly, to fatten up the ear a little.
When done, RC select Quit Node Editing.
Position the ear on the body (the large egg shape) as the left ear. The bottom nodes should line up with the outline of the body. You may have to RC Node Edit to shorten or lengthen the lines for the ear. See screenshot of finished ears below.

Now we need to duplicate the ear to make the ear for the other side. With OS select the ear, RC select Copy. RC again, select Paste New Vector Selection. To make the new ear a mirror of the other one. Select the center handle on the right side of the selection box and pull it toward the left....it will pull the ear over itself and mirror it. See screenshot.

The mirror action may have distorted the size and shape of the ear some. To fix that, select the first ear, then, while holding the Shift key down, select the 2nd ear. Now RC, select Make Objects Same Size>Both. The 2 ears should now look alike.
Deselect the ears by clicking in any blank space on your canvas.
Move the new ear into position on the right side of the head and make any final adjustments to position of ears before moving to next step.

FACE: Click the double-headed arrow by the Styles box so that black moves to the fill position. Also change the stoke to null.Ø (Click the small triangular arrow on the Styles box to open the flyout & view the options.)
Using Preset Shapes, ellipse, draw one small black circle 7x7 (this is for eyes). Hold Shift Key down as you draw ellipse and you will get a perfect circle.
With OS, select circle, RC Copy. Move your cursor slightly to the right, RC again, select Paste New Vector Selection. (Copying & pasting is an easy way to make sure both circles are the same size.)

Arrange the 2 eyes close together and close to the top of the egg body as shown in the screenshot above.
To get them to line up perfectly with each other, select both eyes, RC select Align Object>Vertical Center.
Next he needs a nose! Click the double-headed arrow by the color swatches to move black back to the stroke position and pick a pink color for fill. Use Preset Shapes, ellipse, and draw a small circle for nose. Approx. 8 x 8 pixels.

Click the arrow for the Styles box flyout and change the fill style to null.Ø
Zoom in. Select Line/Draw tool with these settings:
Line style single line, solid, line width 1, vector and antialias ON (checked), close path OFF (unchecked).
Draw an upside down V shape for bunny's mouth.
Draw a line between mouth and nose.
Draw 3 whisker lines on each side of mouth. See screenshot for sample.

FEET: Next we'll work on the legs and feet. (You're still working with an enlarged canvas, right? Zoom in at least 2:1 to clearly see nodes.)
With the OS, select one of the extra ellipse shapes made at the beginning and move it into position as a leg. RC select Node Edit. Select the top node, RC select Edit>Break. This breaks the line in 2 and creates 2 nodes where there used to be one. Move the top 2 nodes up to the body for the top of the legs. There's now 5 nodes for this object and the leg shape starts out looking something like this screenshot.

Now we need to do some node editing and change some node types in order to give some shape to the bunny's foot. You should still be in Node Edit mode...if not, select leg, RC>Node Edit.
Select one of the top nodes, RC>Node Type>Smooth/Tangent. Select the other top node and do the same thing. (Or select both nodes at the same time by holding down the Shift Key.)
Move the nodes around until you have the shape of a leg and foot as shown in the screenshot. You should have 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, fine tune the shape of the foot by adjusting the angle and length of each node handle as follows:
Top left node #1: Move this up to connect to the body. Turn handle vertically until you have a smooth line going to the leg.
Node #2: The arrow end of the node handle points up and the rounded end makes a turn to the right to give a little curve to the heel.
Node #3: Change the Node Type. RC>Node Type>Symmetric. Move the node handle around and extend it's length a little to give a nice curve to the toe area.
Node #4: Arrange the node handles as shown in this screenshot.
Node #5: This Node overlaps the body and is at a slight angle.

RC>Quit Node Editing.

Duplicate/copy the left leg to make the right leg. Use Object Selector, RC select Copy.
Move cursor a little to the right, RC again, select Paste New Vector Selection.
RC again, select Arrange>Send to Bottom.
Move the leg into a position that lines up with with body. Your bunny should now look like this screenshot.

ARMS: We'll shape the arms the same way as we did the legs. Zoom in.
Use OS, select the remaining oval shape that was made at the beginning and move it over close to the left side of the body. RC>Node Edit.
Select the top node, RC select Break. This breaks the line and adds a node just like we did for the leg. Move these 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 segment.

For the arm and hand, the Node Type for all nodes should be Symmetric except the 2 on each side of the thumb should be Cusp. Check all your nodes to see what type they are and change the Node Type if necessary. RC the node, select Node Type and the existing node type will be the one that is greyed out.
Arrange the nodes as shown in the screenshot above. All nodes should make a smooth curve except the 2 cusp nodes by the thumb. Arrange the handles on the node between the thumb and hand so they are close together and make a sharp turn. Note position of handles in screenshot.

RC>Quit Node Editing

Adjust Zoom back to normal for the following steps.
Duplicate the left arm to make the right arm. Select left arm, RC>Copy. Move your cursor over to the right side of the body, RC>Paste New Vector Selection.
Mirror the arm by pulling it over itself....the same way we mirrored the ear!
Now put the right arm behind the body by sending layer to the bottom. Select right arm, RC>Arrange>Send to Bottom. Adjust position of right arm behind body so just part of arm is showing.

TAIL: With a stroke color of black and a fill color of white, draw a bunny tail (Preset Shape>ellipse) and position it appropriately. Using Object Selector, select tail, RC>Arrange>Send to Bottom.

TOES: Keep stroke color black and set fill to null.
Zoom in on the feet 3:1 or 4:1.
Use the Line/Draw tool, same settings as before except use Freehand Line.
Draw a short curved line to represent the toes. See screenshot.
To make another line for 2nd toe, RC the first line, Copy>Paste as New Vector Selection.

Paste as New Vector Selection twice more for toes on other foot!


Your Honey Bunny is done!!

Hope you had fun making this EggToon!

Save original in PSP format. Use the Crop tool to reduce the canvas size to it's smallest possible size and export your bunny as an optimized GIF or optimized PNG.

To make a transparent background for the bunny...Before exporting as GIF, flood fill the background layer of your image with a color that is DIFFERENT than any other color in your bunny image, preferably the background color of your webpage or something similar. I'll use gray in this example. If the background/transparency color used is drastically different than the webpage background, the anti-aliasing will end up showing a ring of noticeable color around your image.

If the color used to fill the image background is in the stroke position of the Styles box, move it into the background/fill position. Just click the double-headed arrow to switch positions (this just makes things easier in the long run!). Next select Export as Optimized Gif from the File menu or with the shortcut button.

In the GIF Optimizer dialog box, under the Transparency tab, select the option 'Areas that match this color'. The color shown next to that selection defaults to whatever color you have in the Color Styles box as background/fill. This should be the same as your image background if you followed the steps in previous paragraph. If the color exactly matches the background color of your image, the preview box (the image on the right) will show the checkerboard pattern, indicating it is transparent.

Now that you've got the vector tools all figured out ;-)
...why don't you try making your own original version of the EggToon bunny. You can make longer ears or legs, make him/her taller or fatter, add cheeks, clothes...etc.
This bunny is all dressed up and ready for the Easter Parade!