Introduction to Paint

 Introduction to Microsoft Paint Program

Microsoft Paint is a drawing program used by many computer users.  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.

MS Paint Window

Starting MS Paint

To start the Paint program:

  • Click on start
  • All programs
  • Accessories
  • Paint

The MS Paint Window Features

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 – 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 tool box, color box, status bar, text toolbar, zooming and viewing bitmap.
  4. Image – This menu is used for flipping, stretching, inverting colors among others.
  5. Colors – You can use this menu for editing colors.
  6. Help menu – This provides comprehensive help about the paint program.

The Tool Box

The tool box 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 color – as the name suggests, you use this tool to fill an object with color 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.