Painting and Drawing 

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PAINT is a simple drawing program that is part of Windows.  Paint lets you create simple or elaborate drawings.  Many of the tools and techniques from Paint work the same way in other graphic editing programs - try it!

Color Box    

• To set the foreground color, click a color in the color box.
• To set the background color, right-click a color in the color box.

The default foreground and background colors appear in the left side of the color box. The top color square represents the foreground color. The bottom color square represents the background color.

Techniques used by several tools:

For these tools           , when you hold down the left mouse button and drag the pointer, the foreground color is used. You can use the background color by holding down the right mouse button and dragging the pointer.

For these tools     , the border width of the box is the same as the thickness selected for the line tools. To change the border thickness, click the line or curve tool in the toolbox, and then click the thickness you want in the box below the toolbox.

To draw a straight line

Click . Click a line width. Hold down the left mouse button and drag the pointer to draw the line. You can draw a perfectly horizontal, vertical, or 45-degree diagonal line by holding down SHIFT while dragging.

To paint with a brush

In the toolbox, click . At the bottom of the toolbox, click a brush shape.   You have 12 choices for the brush shape - 3 round, 3 square, 6 ribbon - you might remember that we used one of the "ribbons" to make a scarf on a snowman in class. To paint, hold down the left mouse button and drag the pointer.

To draw a free-form line

Click . Hold down the left mouse button and drag the pointer to draw the line. In class we usually use the paint brush with the smallest round shape instead of the pencil.

To create an airbrush effect

In the toolbox, click . At the bottom of the toolbox, click a spray size. To spray, hold down the left mouse button and drag the pointer.   You used this in class to make "snow" on a winter scene with a snowman.

To draw an ellipse or circle

Click . Click a fill style. Hold down the left mouse button and drag the pointer diagonally. You can draw a perfect circle by holding down SHIFT while you drag the pointer.

To draw a rectangle or square

Click to create a square-cornered shape, or click to create a round-cornered shape. Click a fill style. To draw a rectangle, hold down the left mouse button and drag the pointer diagonally in the direction you want. To draw a square, hold down SHIFT while dragging the pointer.

To fill an area or object with color

Click . Click or right-click a color in the color box if the color you want is different than either the current foreground color or background color. Click or right-click the area or object you want to fill.

Be careful:   If the shape you want to fill has any breaks in its border, the fill color spreads to the rest of the drawing area. You can find and close any openings by clicking the View menu, pointing to Zoom, and then clicking Large Size or Custom. You can fill with the foreground color by clicking, or you can fill with the background color by right-clicking.

To select part of a picture

Click to select a rectangular area, or click to work with a free-form area.

The rectangular tool allows you to define straight-edged areas that you want to move or change in your picture. The free-form tool allows you to define exact areas of picture that you want to change. You can trace a shape, drag it to another area of the picture, rotate it individually, or remove it.

Don't confuse this tool with the rectangle tool or the text tool.  

To draw a polygon

Click . Click a fill style. To draw the polygon, hold down the left mouse button and drag the pointer to draw a straight line. Click on the “paper” where you want each new line segment to appear. Repeat these steps and double-click when done. To use only 45- and 90-degree angles, hold down SHIFT while dragging.  We usually don't use this in class.

To type and format text

Click . To create a text frame (box), hold down the left mouse button and drag the pointer diagonally to the size you want. On the text toolbar, click the font, size, and style you want for the text.  If you don’t see the text toolbar, click on View in the Menu Bar, then click Text Toolbar. Click inside the text frame to type text. Now type the text.

• You can enter text in a text box only once. After you click outside the box, you cannot make it active again.
• Click to use the opaque background, in which the color of the text is defined by the foreground color, or line color, and the background is defined by the background color.
• Click in the toolbox to insert the text on a transparent background.
• You can enter text into a picture only in Normal view.
• Click a color to change the color of the text.
• Click in the toolbox to insert the text on a colored background. Then right-click in the color box to change the background color.
• When the text tool is selected, you can paste text only. You cannot paste graphics.  

To draw a curved line

Click . Click a line width. Draw a straight line by dragging the pointer. Click on the line where you want one arc of the curve to be, and then hold down the left mouse button to drag the pointer to adjust the curve. Release the mouse button and repeat this step for a second arc. You can only create two curves for each line.   We usually don't use this in class.

To copy color from one area or object to another

Click . Click the area containing the color you want to copy. Click . Click the object or area where you want the new color.

• Copying a color using the eyedropper tool will change your foreground color.
• If you copy a color with the eyedropper tool by right-clicking, you will change your background color.  

To erase a small area

Click .  Click an eraser size. Right-click a color in the color box if the color you want to erase with is different than the current background color. Hold down the left mouse button and drag the pointer over the area you want to erase.

• The current background color is the eraser color. You can change the background color by right-clicking another color in the color box.

To erase a large area

Click to erase a rectangular area, or click to work with a free-form area.

Hold down the left mouse button and drag the pointer to select the area you want to erase. The eraser color is the same as the background color shown in the color box at the bottom of the toolbar. Right-click a color in the color box if the color you want to erase with is different than the current background color. On the Edit menu, click Clear Selection.

To erase an entire image

If any part of the image is selected, click outside of the selected area. On the Image menu, click Clear Image. The current background color will be used to fill the cleared area.

To zoom in on an area

Click .  Click on the amount of enlargement you need (2x, 6x, 8x). Drag the enlargement rectangle to the work area where you need to “be closer”.

To flip or rotate a picture

Select the picture.  From the Image menu, click Flip/Rotate then click one of the options under Flip or rotate.

To specify opaque or transparent drawing (layering)

To change the size of the "canvas"
Perhaps you want to change something on a piece of clipart.  You pasted the clipart (copied from a Word document) and there is too much "white space" on the right side and bottom.

1. Look carefully at the edges of the canvas.  You should see a midpoint indicator on each side.
2. Individually drag the midpoint toward the clipart, as needed, to change the outer dimension of the canvas.
3. Now you can either save the image, or copy/paste it

To copy and paste part of a picture

1. In the toolbox, click the selection rectangle to copy and paste a rectangular area, or click the free-form selector to work with a free-form area.
2. Hold down the left mouse button and drag the pointer to define the area you want to copy.
3. Select a method of pasting: Click either opaque background or transparent background
4. On the Edit menu, click Copy.
5. On the Edit menu, click Paste.
6. Drag the selection to a new location. You may resize the pasted selection.

You cannot paste graphics when the text tool is selected. You can paste multiple copies of an object by holding down CTRL while you drag the object to a new location. Repeat as needed. You can remove the selection box by clicking outside the box.

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Last updated June 23, 2011 ~ Mrs. K. Bradley
kbradley@otsegoknights.org