How to draw and paint with Microsoft Paint

You don't have to have sophisticated software like Photoshop to create a work of art! MS Paint, which is found in all versions of Microsoft Windows, is a very suitable program for this, with which you can create interesting pictures. This wikiHow article will guide you on how to use old and new versions of this program, as well as some helpful tips. So let's start with Step 1!

Steps

Method 1 of 3: Using Classic Paint

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Step 1. Sketch with a pencil

Using the Pencil tool, sketch out your drawing. It will be better if you use any color other than black.

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Step 2. Draw the main lines

Using a pencil, draw the main lines of your drawing. You can do this schematically or try and give them the final look.

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Step 3. Paint over with the foreground color

Using the Paint Bucket tool, fill your drawing with the foreground color. You may need to zoom in on some areas of the drawing to see and paint over every possible small void.

The Paint Bucket icon looks like a paint bucket pouring out

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Step 4. Draw the borders of the shading

Use the Pencil to draw lines that will define the shaded areas. It's okay if it overlaps the black edges a little. This can then be easily corrected. The color you use for these lines should be the same color you will use for the shading and highlighting areas.

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Step 5. Add shadows

Use Fill to paint over the shaded areas, while using a color slightly darker than the base color.

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Step 6. Add highlighting

Use Fill to paint over the highlight areas, while using a color slightly lighter than the base color.

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Step 7. Done

You can add more details and textures, but this is the core of the process. Keep practicing!

Method 2 of 3: Using a new Paint

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Step 1. Work with large file sizes

Since MS Paint works with pixels, if you want to create a really good drawing, you should increase the canvas size. This can be done by clicking on the resize button and setting the dimensions larger than 2000 pixels.

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Step 2. Make a sketch and download it to your computer

The process will be much faster if you take a real sketch of the drawing and scan or photograph it to send it to your computer. You can also sketch in MS Paint itself, but in this case it is better to do it with a light gray color.

If you are able to scan your sketch, just open the file in MS Paint to finalize it into a cool drawing, but make sure you have a copy of the scanned version somewhere (in case you get it wrong and need to start over)

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Step 3. Draw the main lines

Using the Curve tool, draw the main lines of the drawing using black. Find an icon with a long curved line (like eyebrows) and click on the beginning and end of the line. Then, using the mouse, grab the resulting straight line and curve it into an arc according to your sketch. Repeat the steps until your sketch is completely rendered in black.

The use of black is very important. You can always change the color of these stroke lines later, but for now, make them black

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Step 4. Remove the rough lines

Time to get rid of the original sketch lines! Click Select, right-click the picture, and then select Invert Colors. Then switch from color to black and white by choosing File → Properties. Press OK, let the mode switch, and then return the drawing to color mode in the same way. Now invert the drawing again and you will have a clean picture.

It can be helpful to keep a copy that has just black lines, especially if you later make a mistake and need to restore those lines

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Step 5. Paint over with the foreground color

Using the Paint Bucket tool, fill your drawing with the foreground color. Make sure to paint over tiny areas that may be between closely spaced or overlapping lines.

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Step 6. Add shadows, highlights and midtones

Now comes the fun part. Select everything and copy your drawing as it is now. Then select the area you want to shade (say, hair). Select the foreground color of this area and set it to Color 2. Then change the shading color to Color 1. Use any tool you like to draw the shading border. Don't worry about going beyond the black lines! Just outline the area (which is filled with the foreground color).

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Step 7. Create "layers"

Now is the time to get rid of the colors that go beyond the boundaries of the lines! Zoom out so that you can see the whole picture, Click Select, right-click on the picture and paste the picture you copied earlier. Now for some magic. Click on the arrow below the Select button. Then check the Transparent selection box. Ta-dam!

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Step 8. Continue until you're done

Repeat this process for every area and every shade until you are happy with the result!

Method 3 of 3: Exploring What You Can Do

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Step 1. Work within the limitations of the program

You must remember that MS Paint is not Photoshop. Don't expect your drawings to look like they were drawn in Photoshop. You can create pretty pictures, but they look very specific. Take it as it is. You should also keep in mind that files are saved with poorer quality than programs like Photoshop, so don't expect to be able to print them in high resolution and with good quality.

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Step 2. Make whatever changes you can

Know what changes you can make to an existing image such as a photograph. MS Paint is not Photoshop, but there are some tricks you can do with it. For example, you can do the following:

Crop the image. Cropping in MS paint is actually much easier than in other programs, as you only need to drag the corners of the image.
Hide small problems. Copying and pasting small selected sections of the image will help you easily "close up" some small imperfections in the image, if you are, of course, patient enough.
Correct the red eye effect. If you have small areas of dark pixels you can simply copy and paste, or if you feel you can do it with the paint tools, then getting rid of red-eye is a doable task in programs like MS Paint.

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Step 3. Experiment with other programs

If you're using MS Paint simply because you think you can't get your hands on a better program, don't worry. There are several options. Be sure to check out these options that may help you on your road to drawing mastery:

One program that you may find useful is the free Oekaki program. It looks like MS Paint, but it has more features. You don't even need to download anything. On many sites, Oekaki works like an applet that runs on your browser. This program will allow you to create real layers like in Photoshop, which means you can create more beautiful paintings.
If you want to use a more powerful program but don't want to pay for Photoshop, there are other options. Paint Tool Sai, Manga Studio and many other programs that are similar to Photoshop can be purchased for as little as $ 20-50 (700 - 1800 rubles).

Advice

Saving in GIF format is suitable for flat colors (i.e. pictures without shading) and animation,-p.webp" />
Practice and indulge in other tools until you master them.
You can zoom in and out if you are uncomfortable working with the drawing by simply clicking "View" and then "Zoom" in the upper left corner of the screen.
When using the Paint Bucket tool, make sure that all pixels of the same color are connected together. Using a fill in case of gaps in the boundary line will cause other areas to be painted as well.
Repetition is the mother of learning!

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