Tour of PaintShop Pro

It would be a good idea to take a break from the screen now - grab yourself a drink or something to eat and then come back... to avoid eye strain, it's best to take a 5 minute break away from the computer screen for every hour that you use it - especially when you are concentrating on something!  :o)

Next, we are going to be looking at the toolbar on the right hand side of the screen.  This is the Colour Palette and it's where you get to choose the look and feel of your image.

Right at the top you have your last used foreground and background colour.  

The one on the left (red in the screenshot above) is the foreground colour and the one on the right (yellow in the screenshot above) is the background colour.  

If you click on the arrows in the middle, it switches the colours (so red would be the background and yellow would be the foreground).  

If you right-click on one of the boxes, you get a pop-out box of your 10 most recently used colours - this can be *really* handy!  :o)

Immediately underneath the last used colours you have the colour picker (or colour chooser - I can't decide which name I prefer for it lol)

This is one of the places you can choose which colour you want to use in your image.  Move your mouse cursor over this area - you'll notice that it changes from an arrow to a dropper.  Use the dropper to pick the colour you want to use - left click for foreground and right click for background.  Your last used colours have now changed to the colours you've just chosen.

The next block ("Styles" and "Textures") is another way to choose your colours/textures.  

If yours look like this, don't worry, it just means that nothing has been selected for them yet.  

To choose the colour (or gradient or pattern), you need to click and hold the left mouse button on one of the "Styles" buttons until a pop-out box appears

The paintbrush (the first icon on the pop-out box) gives you a solid colour, the lines give you a gradient and the squares give you a texture/ pattern.  

To make a solid colour, click on the paintbrush.  Your last used colour will appear in the box.  If you want to change the colour, single left click on the box with the colour in and the Colour dialogue box will appear:

In the screenshot above I have already chosen my custom colours - you don't need to worry about these atm... I'll go through it in more detail in another tutorial.  You can choose the colour you would like in one of 4 ways in here.  
1) You can choose one of the "Basic Colours"
2) You can type in the values of the colours (if you know them) either as the RGB (Red, Green, Blue) values, the HSL (Hue, Saturation, Light) values 
3) You can type in  the HTML code
4) You can use the colour circle to choose your basic colour and then use the square in the middle to adjust the shade to your liking

In the tutorials I write, I give the HTML code of the colours I use.  

When you have chosen a colour you like, click on the "OK" button.  Do this for both the foreground and background colours.

To choose a gradient, you need to select the lines (the one after the paintbrush).  A gradient will appear in the box.  Single left click on the box and the Gradient dialogue box will appear.

On the left hand side there is a preview window with an arrow at the side (where the Yellow Neon gradient is in the screenshot above).  Click on the arrow next to the gradient and you will get a drop down list of all the gradients that are available to you.  Click on one of the gradients and it will appear in place of the previous gradient.  You can either click on the "OK" button now if you like the way the gradient looks or you can play around with the settings on the right hand side to get it to look like you want it to, then click "OK"

Do this for both the background and foreground.

To choose a pattern, choose the square in the pop-out box (the 3rd one from the left, after the gradient lines).  A pattern will appear in the box.  Single left click in the box to get the Pattern dialogue box

On the left hand side there is a preview window with an arrow at the side (where the Wrapped pattern is in the screenshot above).  Click on the arrow next to the pattern and you will get a drop down list of all the patterns that are available to you.  Click on one of the patterns and it will appear in place of the previous pattern.  You can either click on the "OK" button now if you like the way the pattern looks or you can play around with the scale and angle at the bottom of the box to get it to look like you want it to, then click "OK"

The "Textures" section is a little more complicated so I'll talk more about it in another tutorial.

Have a play around with them all and get used to how it works - you'll be using them a lot!  :o)