Basic Female Cartoon Bodies

Creating cartoon bodies is a lot of fun. The above body type was created with vector shapes, triangle and ellipse. For this tutorial we will start with a very basic cartoon body. Once you have that down you'll see how easy it is to modify into other body types.

For each of the shapes you create in the tutorial you will want your foreground style set to black and a fill color of your choice unless otherwise noted.

Open a new image 400x400. Create a new vector layer. After clicking on the Shapes icon on the Tool Palette, select the triangle shape. Make sure that you have Create as Vector selected. Draw a triangle on your new layer and from the Image menu choose flip.

Create a new vector layer. Choose the Ellipse shape from the Tool Options palette and draw a black oval for a foot. Position it. From the Edit menu choose Copy and then Paste as a New Layer. Position the copy of the foot.

Create a new vector layer. Using the pencil tool with a line width of 1, draw a line to create the appearance of two legs.

Create a new vector layer. Using the triangle shape, draw a triangle and shape it for an arm. Position it. From the Edit menu choose Copy and then Paste as a New Layer. Position the copied arm.

Create a new vector layer. Draw a triangle on it for the upper body. From the Image menu choose flip and position it resizing where necessary.

Create a new vector layer. Draw a triangle shape on it and click on the Vector selection tool. Click on Node Edit on the Tools Option Palette. Right click on the left bottom node and from the pop up menu choose Node Type>Asymmetric. Do the same thing with the other two nodes on the triangle. Turn off stroke style and draw a rectangle to cover the lines between the upper body triangle and the triangle you just created.

Just for fun, create a new vector layer. Create a contrasting color triangle and flip it. Position it and there you have it. A basic female cartoon body. Add hands and a head and you're all set.

When you're all done you can save each body shape to the Shapes library for use later. To do that:

1. Select all the pieces of your body.
2. Right click on the selection and choose Group.
3. On the Tool Options palette choose Properties and name the Group.
    I usually name it the same as I am going to name the group for the library.
4. From the File menu choose Export>Shape.
5. Name the Shape.
6. Paint Shop Pro will create the shape in the shapes library so you'll always have it handy without having to recreate it.

Copyright Vikki Olds, All Rights Reserved