Coloring tabs in a tab control

just drop a tab control on a form with DrawMode = OwnerDrawFixed and put a couple of tab pages in it

VB Code:

Private Sub TabControl1_DrawItem(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.DrawItemEventArgs) Handles TabControl1.DrawItem
 
        'Firstly we'll define some parameters.
        Dim CurrentTab As TabPage = TabControl1.TabPages(e.Index)
        Dim ItemRect As Rectangle = TabControl1.GetTabRect(e.Index)
        Dim FillBrush As New SolidBrush(Color.Red)
        Dim TextBrush As New SolidBrush(Color.White)
        Dim sf As New StringFormat
        sf.Alignment = StringAlignment.Center
        sf.LineAlignment = StringAlignment.Center
 
        'If we are currently painting the Selected TabItem we'll 
        'change the brush colors and inflate the rectangle.
        If CBool(e.State And DrawItemState.Selected) Then
            FillBrush.Color = Color.White
            TextBrush.Color = Color.Red
            ItemRect.Inflate(2, 2)
        End If
 
        'Set up rotation for left and right aligned tabs
        If TabControl1.Alignment = TabAlignment.Left Or TabControl1.Alignment = TabAlignment.Right Then
            Dim RotateAngle As Single = 90
            If TabControl1.Alignment = TabAlignment.Left Then RotateAngle = 270
            Dim cp As New PointF(ItemRect.Left + (ItemRect.Width \ 2), ItemRect.Top + (ItemRect.Height \ 2))
            e.Graphics.TranslateTransform(cp.X, cp.Y)
            e.Graphics.RotateTransform(RotateAngle)
            ItemRect = New Rectangle(-(ItemRect.Height \ 2), -(ItemRect.Width \ 2), ItemRect.Height, ItemRect.Width)
        End If
 
        'Next we'll paint the TabItem with our Fill Brush
        e.Graphics.FillRectangle(FillBrush, ItemRect)
 
        'Now draw the text.
        e.Graphics.DrawString(CurrentTab.Text, e.Font, TextBrush, RectangleF.op_Implicit(ItemRect), sf)
 
        'Reset any Graphics rotation
        e.Graphics.ResetTransform()
 
        'Finally, we should Dispose of our brushes.
        FillBrush.Dispose()
        TextBrush.Dispose()
    End Sub

I got the code from http://dotnetrix.co.uk/tabcontrols.html and even though it's not mine, I though I would share.
kevin