Introduction to MS Paint

Introduction to Microsoft Paint Program

Microsoft Paint is a drawing program rarely used by many computer users. There are those who even do not know it exists. It is important to know how to use Microsoft Paint program because there are a number of things you can do with it.

The Paint program can be used to create simple to detailed drawings, but of course, it will depend on who is doing it. The best thing is that these drawings can be done either in black and white or in color.

MS Paint Window

Editing Photos Using Paint

Apart from creating new drawings, Paint can also be used for editing pictures. It can be an important program for writers who want to edit pictures to use for illustrating purposes in their articles. For example, I capture screenshots using the print screen and paste them on the MS Paint window. Then, from there, I modify them before using them for my articles.

The drawings you make can be printed, e-mailed to your friends, used as a desktop background, copied to another document, sold for a profit, and a variety of other uses.

How MS Paint Can Be Used to Edit an Image

Starting MS Paint

To start the Paint program:

• Click on start
• All programs
• Accessories
• Paint

The MS Paint Window Features

Note: If you are using Windows 7 or other advanced operating systems, you will find a much more improved MS Paint Program.

At the very top, we have the title bar written untitled – Paint. Once you save your file, the name untitled will be replaced by the name you are going to assign your drawing.

Menu Bar

It consists of the following menus:

1. File menu – this is for creating a new file, saving, printing, setting as desktop background, etc.
2. Edit menu – For undoing, redoing, copying, pasting, etc.
3. View menu – For displaying toolbox, color box, status bar, text toolbar, zooming and viewing bitmap.
4. Image – This menu is used for flipping, stretching, inverting colors among others.
5. Co lours – You can use this menu for editing colors.
6. Help menu – This provides comprehensive help about the paint program.

The Tool Box

The toolbox is very useful because it contains the tools you will use in order to come up with your drawing. It contains the following tools:

1. Free-form select and select tool – for selecting a specific object which then you can copy and paste in another location, or you can opt to delete that selection.
2. Eraser/color eraser – this is for erasing your drawing or the color you have applied.
3. Pick color – this picks a specific color you want and makes it the active color, meaning that whatever you do next will have that color.
4. Pencil – you will use it for drawing.
5. Airbrush – for spraying your object with color.
6. Line tool – for drawing a line. To make your line straight, hold down the shift key and then drag your mouse holding the left button. Select the thickness of the line below the toolbox.
7. Rectangle tool – for making rectangles. You can also draw a square by holding the shift key.
8. Ellipse – for drawing an ellipse, you can also draw a perfect circle by holding the shift key before you start dragging your mouse.
9. Fill with colour – as the name suggests, you use this tool to fill an object with colour at once.
10. Magnifier – this is a zoom tool, you can use to magnify a part of your drawing.
11. Brush – use this for painting, just like you would paint your house.
12. Text – you will use this for entering text.
13. Curve tool – for drawing a curve.
14. Polygon tool – for drawing a polygon but still you can draw a lot of other objects.
15. Rounded rectangle – this tool helps you to draw a rectangle with rounded corners.

The Color Box

The color box contains the colors that you will use for painting your drawings.

Knowing the tools used in Paint, you can now come up with a drawing. Open Paint and think of something to draw. It is only by a lot of practicing that you can improve your skills

Setting Your Drawing as the Desktop Background

After drawing, make sure you save your work. To set your drawing as the desktop background, click on file set as desktop background. Try both centered and tiled to see which one you like.