This tutorial was written in April 2001 and  © by Lady Oz.  You have my permission to make a copy of this tutorial or print it out for your own personal use ONLY .  If you think that my work is good enough and would like to create a  TEXT LINK to my tutorials, or share them with a group, please let me know.  This tutorial belongs to this site and I wish it to remain here.

What you create from my tutorials belong to you, to do with as you wish....I hold no claim to them...but I would love to see what you create from them. ;o)

 

                                 
 

When is a bear, not a bear?....When it is a Koala Bear, of course! ;o)

I have seen several tutorials for the usual kind of bears, but not many for the Australian Koala Bear.  So I have plucked up the courage to not only create one but also have a go at doing a tutorial for it.  Now those of you who are now experts at doing these, I want you all to forgive any mistakes that I may have made....gee, thanks pals, I knew that I could count on you all...phew!  ;o)

To get the effect I have achieved on my Koala, you'll need the filters below and they need to go in your 'Plugins' folder.  I have also added some a gum leaf tube for you to use...put that in your tube folder!

PSP 7      You can download a 30 day trial from here.

Eye Candy 4

Texturizer    You can use the PSP texturizer or the Adobe if you happen to own one.

Gum leaves
 

  Koala's come in varying colours, and fur types, I have chosen this particular one as it is very much like the one that I held in a Conservation Park, it has the same coloring and big ears.  ;o)

Screen shots were resized by 65% for quicker downloading.
Don't forget to save often as you go and if you have PSP 7 to make sure that it's set on auto save to a folder of your choice.  I am assuming that you not only have a working knowledge of PSP, but that you have also got a kind heart that will go easy on me should you need to e-mail me for help!


The 3 colours that I have used for my bear are below, if you wish to use them:
#5D727B  #8598A1  #E8E7E7

Are you ready? Well let's go..."Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda, you'll come a waltzing, Matilda with me".


First open a transparent image sized about 400 x 500, makes working easier if it's not too small and can be reduced when you have finished.

With Pre-shapes tool select Ellipse....Antialias and Create as Vector checked, Background the #5D727B, Foreground null, draw the body of your bear, then using the nodes change it until you are completely satisfied with the shape....it would be nice if we could do this to our own body, huh?

When you have got the desired shape, convert to Raster Layer and deselect.  Then with your selection tool set on Rectangle, select around the body shape and click in the middle, you should now have the marching ants around it. Go to Selections...Modify...Expand by 3.
Grab your Airbrush with these settings which we will keep throughout this tutorial, only changing the size down to 5, for when we do the fingers, toes and other fine details.  Select the medium colour #E8E7E7 and spray lightly around the expanded area reaching into the dark  area, spray in places inside the shape, but don't overdo it.   Choose your dark colour #5D727B again and spray very lightly and sparsely around the edge ....we are after an even mixture here.

Now with Eye Candy you can use the fur feature, I played around with it for awhile and came up with this setting, after you apply this you can use the Texturizer, on Sandstone for a lovely effect.  I have Screen captured the Texturizer settings for you too, as they are needed for both options of making the fur.

The second option is the one that I chose to use, Eye Candy, Swirl....settings: Whirlpool spacing 47.77...Smear Length 9.50...Twist 4...Streak detail 9. Then the Texturizer above, simply because I had a particular Koala in mind. ;o)

Grab your Preset Shapes tool again, this time I chose the heart (2) and with Antialias and Vectors checked, Background  #8598A1, Foreground null,  Make your heart shape in the middle of the body, then with the nodes, shape it until you are happy with it.  Convert to Raster Layer...deselect as before and then use your Selection tool to select the heart shape.  Same routine, Expand by 3, then grab your airbrush with same settings and dark shade #5D727B, spray around edges and a little in the centre.  Then use 'Swirl' and Texturizer again....just look at that lovely fur.  Now fit this shape on top of the body and center it, you can change the size of the shape at this point if you wish.  Then merge the body and heart shape...call it Body.

This is how my Koala's fur looked when I finished. Still with me?  Good, as I'd hate to lose you already.

Preset shape tool again, this time Heart (1) and same settings, dark color as fill, make a large heart shape which is going to be the head.  Go to Image, and Flip your shape, placing it on top of the body so that you can get the correct size.  Use the nodes again to get the shape you want and when you have that, convert to Raster Layer and deselect.

Select head, expand by 3, with airbrush and light medium shade #E8E7E7, spray edges,  next do a spray of dark again.  With light shade, spray around where eyes, nose, mouth and cheeks will be.  Then use Swirl and texturizer, like so:

You need to deselect this shape and go onto your next layer, which will be the eyes.  Make new layer, go to Preset shapes -Ellipse...Antialias checked Vectors unchecked...Foreground Null...Background Black, make a small oblong or circle for the eye.  Select eye with selection tool .  Copy and Paste to other side, then Image and Mirror.

I used Eye Candy Glass for this at these settings.

Now for the nose, using Ellipse in Preset shapes Antialias and Vectors checked, black fill, draw an oblong shape.  Then use the nodes to change the shape. Convert to Raster Layer and deselect, grab your rectangle selection tool and 'pick' your nose, ahem! ;o)  Go to Effects, 3D effects and Inner bevel with these settings.

Select body layer again and with airbrush   using the same settings, spray a triangle shape where the mouth will be, change colour to #FF8080 and put a dot in the centre of triangle for the tongue.  Keep the body layer under the head layer.

 

Preset shapes -Ellipse, Antialias and Vectors checked, line width 5, medium shade for the Foreground and light  shade for Background, make an oval shape.  Then using the Object Selector tool change the shape like below.  Convert to Raster layer, select ear in the usual way, expand by 3.  Using the light shade and your airbrush, spray around edges, then change to dark shade, spray over, lightly, adding a little touch to the inner ear.  Use Swirl then texturizer.  Still keeping your airbrush, reduce the size to 5 and with the dark shade add some markings, until you get the effect you desire.  Isn't he looking cute?

 

The legs are next...Preset shapes   Rectangle, dark shade for fill.... using Object Selector tool to create the desired shape. Convert to Raster Layer.  Select leg with Selection tool and rotate to desired angle and put into place.  Expand by three and alternating between light and dark shade, repeat as before.  Use Swirl and Texturizer. Copy, Paste and Mirror to other side.

 Sorry, I forgot to screen capture finished legs, feet and arms.....you'll have to look at finished pic to see how it is done... :(  The pic below is of the legs and feet....the feet being extended out from the body further than the legs...if that helps.  The legs go on top of the body

 

 Pre-shapes tool select Ellipse....Antialias and Create as Vector checked, Background the #5D727B, Foreground null....make an oval shape for the foot, using the Object Selector tool to change the shape.  Convert to Raster Layer, and select foot with Selection tool  Expand by 3, spray lightly  with light or medium shade, and  then use both the Swirl and Texturizer.  Use the airbrush with the lower size of 5 for the toe lines etc.  Make sure that each time you use the airbrush to use the correct size for the task at hand.  You could just use the one setting for all the big tasks, then re-selecting the layers later for the finer details...up to you.  Copy, Paste and Mirror to the other side as in pic above.

Pre-shapes tool select Ellipse....Antialias and Create as Vector checked, Background the #5D727B, Foreground null....make an oval shape for the arm, using the Object Selector tool to change the shape.  Convert to Raster and re-selected it with selection tool .  Expand by 3 and spray lightly again with light, then dark as before.  Then use both Swirl, Texturizer and airbrush with size 5 and light or medium shade to make fingers and arm creases.  Copy, Paste and Mirror to other side when happy with it.

If you wish to add a leaf or branch at this stage then do so.  

Now all that remains is to merge all layers, except the background, and call it Koala!  :o)

I then used the airbrush to make a small shadow area under the hands and around the base of the Koala.  Play around til you get it the way that YOU want it.   Select Koala and apply a drop shadow then do what you want with him but ...DON'T FORGET TO TUBE HIM!