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This tutorial has been written using PSP 7. It will work in other versions with slight modifications
made for the differences in layout between the versions.
I usually try to write tutorials for beginners because I remember how hard it was to learn. This tutorial is more for intermediate users but I have used a lot of details not usually included for intermediate users so hopefully a novice user can still manage it without too much frustration *smile*. Please remember to save often !

> 1. Open up a new image 350 by 350, transparent background.Add a new raster layer. Name it body. Chose the preset shapes tool. Set the stroke and fill colors to black.Using the ellipse, draw an oval near the middle bottom of your image. Size it approximatley 150 -160 pixels across lengthwise. See image below.

2. Make a new raster layer , call it "head". Using the preset shapes tool again with same colors, draw a circle. Size it approximately 80 - 85 pixels across. Place this circle on the oval, slightly overlapped. On layer palette arrange this layer under the body layer. (Click and drag it down).Now go back to the very bottom layer (the one under your body layer) and flood fill with white. This will make it easier to see what we are doing in the next steps. See images below.

3. Now activate your "body" layer again on your layer palette and add a new raster layer. Name it "stripes". Select the draw tool, set to "freehand", stroke width "16". Chose a yellow on your color palette. I used #F2DB51. Now draw three curved lines on top of the body section. Don't worry if they extend slightly past the body. Place one line so that it just touches the part where the head meets the body and space the other two evenly from there.. See images below. Now would be a good time to save. *smile*

4. Lower the transparency on the stripes layer to about 40 and then erase any yellow that extends past the black.

5. Now use your retouch tool set to "smudge" with the settings shown below to make the yellow stripes look "Fuzzy". Just push outwards along both edges of each stripe till you get a look you like.

6. Now for his eye and antena *smile*. Make a new raster layer. Name it "eye". Chose preset shapes. Set stroke color to white, fill color to black. Use ellipse shape with line width set to "1". Draw a small circle on the head and place it where you want. Now chose draw tool, line width set to "1" or "2". Now draw two little antena on the top of your bees head. Remember "undo" is your friend.. LOL. See image below. By the way, have you saved lately??

7. Now hide all layers except for the head and eyes layers and "merge visible". Name this new layer "head". This is when we will smudge the outside edges of the head and body to make the bees body and head look fuzzy too. Activate the "body" layer and do your smudging .Then activate the "head" layer and smudge that as well. Use the same settings as you used for the yellow stripes.

8. Make a new raster layer and name it "stinger". Drag this layer under the body layer on your layer palette. Select your preset shapes tool.Chose "triangle" and set stroke and fill colors to black. Draw a narrow triangle at the end of the body. Go to "Image", "rotate" and rotate approximately 75 degrees right and move the stinger into place .You may need to reposition your bee to the right a bit to make room for the stinger. See image below.

9. The next step is the wings. This will use a little bit of node editing. Nobody panic !! *grin* It will be easy. I promise. Hide the very bottom layer...the one flood filled with white. On your layer palette activate the very top layer. Chose preset shapes tool. Set fill color to white and stroke to black, line width to "2". Make sure that "create as vector" is ticked. Using the ellipse shape draw an oval above your bee. Make it approximately 150 -200 pixels tall. we will be resizing it to fit the way you want later. See image below.

10. Ok... now comes the node editing part.... Click on the object selector tool, then on the tool options box that comes up chose "node edit". Drag the nodes (little boxes) on each side up to the top slightly and the very bottom one down to form a rounded point.Then move the side ones outwards slightly till you get a wing shape you are happy with.If you are feeling brave you can add a node on each side of the bottom one to help you make it more pointy. You can add a node by holding down the "control" key and holding your mouse cursor on the outside line where you want to add the node. The word "add" will come up next to the cursor. When that happens just left click. When you have the wing shaped the way you want click on the node edit on the tool options box again. Now hold your mouse over the little node box beside the one in the very middle of your wing.( See images below.)until you see two arrows in a circle near your mouse cursor. You can click and rotate the wing into position on your bee. Now is a good time to resize the wing as well by clicking and dragging the outside node boxes. When you have your wing the way you want click on "select none" under "Selections" on the toolbar.You probably should save again now. You would be pretty upset if you lost all this work..*grin*

11. Right click on the wing layer and chose "duplicate". Move this new layer over to the right and click and rotate this second wing into position. On layer palette drag this new layer under the "body" layer. When you have the wings placed as you want you can adjust the layer transparency. (Open up the layer palette and drag the sliders)I set mine to 75. See image below.

12. Well... now you can make sure everything is placed the way you like it and "merge visible". You are done! Well, except for finding a cool background for your Buzzy Bumble Bee. Hope everything went well...if you are having problems just e-mail me at k-h-gervais@shaw.ca

This tutorial is copyrighted to the writer, Kim Gervais, March 1,2002

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