To do this, we will be using the layers feature of Paint Shop Pro.

First, this is the image we will start with. Place mouse over image to see finsihed product.

If you don't already have a black and white image to pratice with, heres how to create one.

First, open the color image in Paint Shop Pro.
From the menu bar select Colors/Gray Scale. Your image should now be black and white.
Now, we want to increase the color count, so from the menu bar select Colors/Increase Color Depth and select 16 million.
Finally, we want to protect our original color image, so from them menu bar select Window/Duplicate. This will make a duplicate of your original image.
Now, close your original image. When your asked if you want to save the changes select No.
This will ensure your original color image is not changed, altered or damaged in any way. We will work strictly from the duplicate.

OK, now the first thing we want to do is add some layers to our b/w image. So from the menu bar select Layers/New Raster Layer.

When the layer properties box opens, change the name from Layer1 to hair and change the blend mode from Normal to Color. Then click OK.

We are going to create additional layers, named

Face
Eyes
Eyebrows
Lips
Blouse
Backdrop

All using the same settings.

Now, if you press the letter "L" on your keyboard, your layer palette box should open, and look something like this:

with the backdrop layer highlighted. This indicates it is the selected layer. We want to start with the hair, so click on the hair layer tab to highlight it, then press the "L" key again to close the palette.

First, click on the foregound color box in your color palette

This will give us a nice brown color for the hair.

Now, select the paint brush tool and set the shape to Round, with a tip size of about 7 from the Tool Options palette.

Zoom in a little on the image and begin to paint the hair.

Continue until your done.

Take your time. Remember, in graphics work, patience is the difference between "Oh that's nice" and "WOW! How the heck did you do that!!!"

Ok, now that the hair is done (for now) let's start on the face.

Open your Layer palette (press L on keyboard) and select the face layer.

From the color palette change the RGB settings to a skin tone color. I used the numbers 234-182-160 but you can use what ever skin tone you like.

I usually like to trace around the outline of the facial features first

and than fill in the rest

Done, for now. On to the lips

Again, change the RGB settings in the color palette to 199-128-124 and zoom in tight on the lips. I lowered the brush tip size to 3.

Paint the lips

Moving right along, select the eye layer and choose an eye color. I selected a green from the color palette, RGB setting of 0-192-0. Color the eyes

I know, the eyes are a little intense, but not to worry. We are going to fine tune everything shortly.

To finsh the face, I selected the eyebrow layer, and set the RGB to 141-111-7:

A easy red for the blouse

and a blue for the back drop

and our image is done..... Almost!

All that remains is to fine tune our colors a little. Open the layer palette again (press L on keyboard).

You will notice on the right side of the palette is a setting that shows 100 right now. Just to the right of that setting, you will see little slider arrows.

These control the opaciyy of the layer, or how transparent the layer appears.

Select the Face layer, and move that slider to the right till the setting is about 66.

Notice the difference? Now, select the eye layer which is more dramatic and slide it down to about 37. Notice the vast difference in the eye color? I wanted just a hint of color, as you might expect in an actual photo.

These are the settings I used for each layer

You can modify them to your taste of course.

But my end result in this project came out like this:

Well there you go. I hope you found this tutorial useful or helpful. If you would like to download this entire tutorial, click the download link. Unzip into a folder of your choice and click the the enclosed index.html file.

Download   tutorial.