Chinese New Year is coming next month. It is Rat year for year 2008 for Chinese zodiac. So, I do a tutorial on how to create a rat. It can be use as a newsletter as well. Lets start then.
1. First of all, you may need some drawing skill in using Pen Tool. Anyway, it doesnt matter if you really wish to learn. Since it is a simple artwork, so, I didnt sketch on paper. Draw out the shape as shown below with the color given. That is actually a color code. You can easily find the correct color by inserting the number given into the color picker window.
2. Then the mouth with the color given. remember to rename the layers you created for a easier modification later on.
3. This is a bit tricky but I think it wont make you stop here. It is actually not that hard. Just draw out the shape first and then double click on the created layer thumbnail to pick the correct color.
4. Here is the ears. Watch carefully the animation steps shown below. You need to draw out the ear shape first. Then only create the shadow part. To create a clipping mask, select the ear_darker layer and press CTRL + ATL + G or you can hold down the ALT key and click between the layers you wish to be masked.
5. Then the eyes, follow the steps shown below.
6. Tail and nose
7. Again, for the shadow. You need to use the masking method.
8. hand, here you may need to zoom in by pressing CTRL + + to draw the tiny part.
9. Draw its teeth.
10. Well, the basic shape is done so far. Now, we add some shades for it to make it look more real and give it some color tones. Pick the soft 175 pixel brush and set the foreground color to #000000 or black color. Create a new layer above the lowest shape layer you created in the first step. For me, I name it as body. Mask the layers as shown below and change the shade layer blend mode to soft light with 75% opacity. Now, simply click once at the bottom left of the stage to get the result. You can also resize the brush by pressing [ (reduce) and ] (enlarge).
11. After you get your desired effect. Now, select the brush tool but this time with a 4 pixel hard brush. Press F5 to bring out the Brush Preset then checked the Shape Dynamics and Scattering. Pick up the Pen Tool and select path. You can refer the setting as below:-
12. Create a new layer above all layers and start draw the outline of the mouse. You can learn the line drawing skill from my previous tutorial about 
13. Tadaaa! Here is the final art work. Simply add a some text there and here is the Lucky Mouse for Year 2008! For those who dont know mandarin. The text read as Gong Xi Fa Cai which mean May You HaveA Prosperous New Year
discuss this topic to forum
