This tutorial will walk you through the process of using two of the Vector Tools in Paint Shop Pro to create a honeybee; the Preset Shapes tool and the Draw tool. You will also learn how to create your own gradients.

It is recommended that you save your work often in the PSP format or use the "Autosave" feature located under File > Preferences to prevent loss of your work due to program or system crashes.

*Screenshots are shown at actual size.

Before beginning the tutorial it is important to briefly explain what a vector "object" is, how it appears in the layer palette, and how to access the vector editing menu.

Any time you have the "Create as vector" option set for the draw tool or the preset shapes tool, each shape or line that you draw is added to the image as a vector "object." In the layer palette, each object is listed separately under the vector "layer" that it resides on. To view the list of objects residing on a layer click the plus sign next to the layer icon. See screenshot.

Each object can be and moved and edited without affecting the other objects on the layer, and vector objects have a different set of editing commands than image data residing on raster layers. To access these commands, make sure a vector layer is active in the layer palette (this does not have to be the layer containing the object that you wish to edit...any vector layer will work), activate the Object Selector Tool, select the object(s) to be edited, then right click to bring up the Vector Editing Menu.

Body

Open a new 300 X 300 image with a white background.

Use the labeled screenshot of the color palette, on the right, and the instructions below to change the settings for the "Style" section:

1. Set both the stroke & fill style to "Solid Color" by clicking on the "Flyout Arrow" on each button and choosing the paint brush from the resulting menu.
2. Right-click on the "Stroke Style" button and choose black from the "Recent Colors" dialog box, then right-click on the "Fill Style" button and choose white.

The "Textures" should both be set to "Null" and the lock option should be checked.

Activate the Preset Shapes tool, with the following settings, and draw a small ellipse on the left side of the canvas. Hold the Ctrl key and pull the top-right deformation handle down.
See Figure 1.

Preset Shapes-Tool Options Shape Type: Ellipse Retain style: unchecked Antialias:checked Create as vector: checked Line width: 2 Line style: #1 solid	Figure 1

Figure 2

Activate the Object Selector then right-click on the image and choose "Copy" from the context menu. Right-click again and choose "Paste as new vector selection." Position the selection over the first shape and click.

Make this shape mirror the original by pulling the left-center deformation handle to the right. Right-click and choose "Select All" from the context menu. Choose Objects > Make same size > Both, and then choose Objects > Align > Top. See Figure 2.

Right-click on the vector layer in the layer palette and choose "Rename" from the context menu. Name this layer "Wings."

Before moving on the the next step you may wish to customize PSP so that your gradient is saved to a custom folder for easier backup and maintenance. Click here to learn how to do this.

Change the "Fill Style" (see screenshot) to Gradient then create a custom gradient by following the steps below:

Creating a Gradient

1. Click on the button, under the "Styles" section of the color palette, that contains the gradient.
2. Click on the "Edit" button.
3. Click on the "New" button, name the new gradient "Honeybee_Gold" then click "OK".
4. Click on the "Custom" button.

5. Click on the left slider then click on the color swatch and type #FFFD4D into the "HTML code" text entry area of the resulting Corel Color dialog box. Click on the right slider, click the custom color swatch again and type #AD8435 for this color.
• If you do not see the "HTML code" text entry area then you are not using the Corel Color Dialog box. Click on File > Preferences >General program preferences, activate the "Dialogs and Palettes" tab and uncheck the option to "Use standard Windows color picker".
6. Drag the diamond shape above the gradient bar to set the "Location" to 59%.
7. Leave all other settings at their defaults and click "OK" to exit the "Gradient Editor."
8. Before leaving the "Gradient" dialog box, adjust the settings as follows:

Gradient Settings Gradient Style: Sunburst Horizontal & Vertical: 50 Repeats: 0 Invert Gradient: unchecked

Figure 3

Right-click on the existing layer in the layer palette and choose "New Vector Layer..." from the context menu. Name this layer "Body." Using Figure 3 as a guide, activate the Preset Shapes tool with the following settings and draw an ellipse below the wings for the bee's abdomen, then draw another ellipse for the thorax. Click on the gradient button in the color palette and change the vertical setting to 57, then draw a small circle for the head.

Activate the Object Selector , hold the Shift key and click on the three ellipses that you created for the body then choose Objects > Align > Horizontal Center.

Set the gradient style to "Null" and click on the "Style Switcher" arrows (see screenshot at top of page). Change the Preset Shape to "Rectangle" and draw a thin rectangle over the abdomen. Figure 4.

Preset Shapes-Tool Options Shape Type: Ellipse Retain style: unchecked Antialias:checked Create as vector: checked Line width: 2 Line style: #1 solid	Figure 4

Zoom in on the image & activate the Object Selector Tool. Click on the rectangle to select it, then click the "Node Edit" button in the Tool Options palette. You should now see the rectangle as a series of nodes and line segments. Follow the steps below to create a curved stripe.

Take note of the different cursor styles in the screenshots below.
	Click on each node and drag them so that the sides of the stripe line up with the sides the abdomen.
	Hold the Ctrl key on the keyboard, hover the cursor over the center of the top line segment, and click when you see the word "Add." Repeat to add a node to the center of the bottom line segment. See screenshot.
	Select both of these newly added nodes by clicking and dragging to surround them. You will see a selection rectangle appear as you drag. Make sure that you surround only the center nodes.
	Right click on the image and choose Node Type > Symmetric from the context menu then click on one of the selected nodes and drag downward to create a curve. Since both nodes were selected, they should move together.
	Click anywhere outside the stripe to cancel all selections, then click on the top node and drag either of the handles at the end of the control arm to widen the curve. Repeat with the bottom node.

Figure 5

Click once outside of the image to exit "Node Edit." The stripe should be selected. If it isn't, activate the Object Selector and click on it.

Right-click on the image and choose "Copy" from the context menu. Press Ctrl+G to "Paste as New Vector Selection" and position the second stripe below the first. Click the "Node Edit" button and position the nodes as needed. Repeat this process to create a third stripe. Your image should resemble Figure 5.

Details

Figure 6

Activate the Preset Shapes tool and draw a narrow, inverted, teardrop shape for the bee's stinger. If you do not have the "Teardrop" Preset Shape then you can use a triangle. Expand the vector layer in the Layer Palette by clicking on the plus sign & locate the newly created teardrop (or triangle) object, click and drag it to the bottom of all other objects on the vector layer.

To draw an inverted shape, right-click or click to establish the starting point then drag upward to create the shape.

Figure 7

Using Figure 7 as a guide, draw another inverted teardrop shape for the right eye. Change the fill color from black to white and draw a small inverted teardrop shape inside the eye. If you do not have the teardrop use ellipses for this step.

Change the color back to black and click on the "Style Switcher" arrows.

Activate the Draw Tool with the following settings and use the instructions below to create a bezier curve for the eyebrow.

Draw - Tool Options Type: Bezier Curve Width: 3 Line Style: #1 Solid Antialias: Checked Create as vector: Checked Close path: unchecked

Bezier Curve Instructions Click on a starting point above the eye, hold the mouse button in and draw a line. Release the mouse button, position the cursor slightly above the line, midway between the start and end point. Click twice to set the line.

Activate the Object Selector , hold the Shift key and click on the white part of the eye, the black part of the eye, and the line used for the eyebrow (be careful not to select anything else--zoom in on the image if necessary). Right-click on the image and choose "Group" from the context menu. The objects should now be under a "Group 1" sublayer as illustrated in the screenshot below.

Use the key combination, Ctrl + C, to copy the "grouped" shapes and Ctrl + G to "Paste as new vector selection." Position the eye then mirror by dragging the left-center handle to the right.

Hold the Shift key and click on the other eye, then right-click on the image and select Make Objects Same Size > Both. Right-click again and choose Align Object > Top.

Activate the Draw Tool, change the width to 2 (leave all other settings), and draw a bezier curve for the nose and another for the mouth.

Change the line type for the Draw tool to "Point-to-point" and the width to 3. Starting at the top of the bee's head, click three times to create an antenna. When you click to create the third point, hold the mouse button in an pull downward to create a slight curve. Repeat this process for the other antenna.

Add all of the legs to the middle segment (thorax) of the bees body.

Use the same "Point-to-Point" drawing technique to create three legs on each side of the body. Click at the body to start the line; click again where you want the leg to bend; click a third time to create the bottom part of the leg; and finally, click and pull down for the fourth point to create a slight curve for the foot.

Change the line type for the Draw tool to "Single Line" and the width to 2. Draw several small lines around the bee shape and add a couple of longer lines at the top of the head. Save the image (if you haven't done so already) as a PSP file.

That's it! You're finished! Now you can quit for the day or you can learn how to animate this little critter.