Coalision of avatarists who use MS paint?

[Hart av Srednak]

There seems to have been some big issue about shading versus non-shading. It's not big issue for me. Without shading it's more faitfull to Giants work, but some pictures here wouldn't have worked without it. I've tried to do both of them. There seems to be bigger issue for me. I'm a person whose first posts to this arts forum were all about paint (sorry if someone thought it was disturbing... I'm new with web at home and also new at any forums... so I did say some things in too many threads for pure newbiesness)...

to the point:

I was embarrased when I first told that I use paint and like it. It shouldn't be that way. After seeing some marvelous work people have done with paint and after lankybuggers guide how to work with paint, it only should be among different alternatives to use. There's no accounting for taste.

Should we put up some kind of coalision for artists who use MS paint. I've red many comments like "yes, that's good for paint work but you should learn to use some more sophisticated program".

What I'm saying is: yes, please learn to use some other graphic program than MS paint, if that's only one you can use - it's good to know how to work with those programs BUT you don't have to master any other program than paint to make good OotS-style avatars.

For ex:
my friend the AD and who makes graphics with coputers for living can do OotS-style pictures investing double of time I use with no better quality and he uses commercial top-of-the-craft prorams. That's because I have some routinue now. I also believe that even if he would spend time to learn how to make OotS avatars he wouldn't be that much better nor faster. OotS-style is simple (and genious) way to express things. But it's simple - so simple program can do it. Sometimes it's even easier with it.

This was my point.

And question remains: should there also be coalision of artists who use MS paint?

I - for one - am not good example because I use GIMP for post-styling (not just for transparency). Still I've drawn every picture with paint. I just play with new program afterwards to picture looke as good as possible in 117X117 form.

[Ava]

MS Paint is a medium that just about everyone has access to, and it's an even playing field. I think the more limiting your medium is, the more creativity and artistic ability it takes to create something great. There's definately something to be said for the simplicity of artwork done in MS Paint. :)

Of course, if you have more sophisticated tools available to you, then you should use them. It's just a different medium and it's great to explore all your options. Limiting your tools is a great excercise though, because it can be more challenging in some ways.

I definately think it would be cool to see what people can come up with in MS Paint. :) I made my avatar today in Paint at work!

[Jannex]

Huzzah for Paint!

I do all the artistic work for the avatars I make in Paint. I have an old version of Photoshop (which I don't really know how to use) that I resize in, but that's all I use it for (especially since I've apparently forgotten how to do transparent backgrounds with it).

Paint is awesome for OotS.

[Schlammmeister]

Huzzah for Paint!

I do all the artistic work for the avatars I make in Paint. I have an old version of Photoshop (which I don't really know how to use) that I resize in, but that's all I use it for (especially since I've apparently forgotten how to do transparent backgrounds with it).

Paint is awesome for OotS.

Wow! Jannex uses paint! I've become a fan of your work since you did my avatar, I now I feel even better about my drawings because all I use is paint...

[Jannex]

Wow! Jannex uses paint! I've become a fan of your work since you did my avatar, I now I feel even better about my drawings because all I use is paint...

I have a fan? That's awesome! :smallbiggrin: Thanks!

[Ego Slayer]

I've got an avatar of yours. It's surprisingly good for having been made in Paint/Photoshop. ^_^

[That Lanky Bugger]

Bugger all these comments about how "limiting" MS Paint is... I remember back in the day I used to whoop ass at the Iron Avie competitions with nothing but MS Paint and my charm. Anybody who thinks paint is limiting can take a look at the Iron Avatarist competition for dragons (If I remember correctly, I got 2 Gold and 1 Bronze in that one alone).

So there. Nyaaah!

Oh, and Jannex... Just get Irfanview for resizing and making your backgrounds transparent. It's EASY!

[Sampi]

Paint is easy, and easy to learn. I also have a routine with it, mostly since I haven't got a fancier program on my home machine. Sure, I can use a vector-based thingamajig, but those layers just take time.

I like using paint for these things, and I'm happy with what I've done. I'm not changing into another program for the avatar-things.

[That Lanky Bugger]

Vector programs are unneccessary for avatar-sized images. When you get right down to it, these images DON'T need to be scaled. It's very unlikely someone's going to beg for a wallpaper of a particular avatar anyone's done, so you really only need to worry about the final product being 120x120 or under.

Yeah, and I do know how to use those more advanced programs... but as Sampi noted, they're so SLOW. I don't have the patience to work with half of them.

[Hart av Srednak]

:smallbiggrin: Seems that coalision might not necessary be a bad idea.

This is also first paint thread with nobody saying: stop using paint.. oh crap, now it's said ;-)

PS I find it odd that no-one has yet stickified lankybuggers paint guide

[That Lanky Bugger]

I don't think anyone's requested it. I was worried nobody was using it, but I see from some of the comments here, and in other threads, that it's very popular. I've actually been thinking about expanding it, including something about how to do limited transparencies.

[Adghar]

Vector programs are unneccessary for avatar-sized images. When you get right down to it, these images DON'T need to be scaled. It's very unlikely someone's going to beg for a wallpaper of a particular avatar anyone's done, so you really only need to worry about the final product being 120x120 or under.

Yeah, and I do know how to use those more advanced programs... but as Sampi noted, they're so SLOW. I don't have the patience to work with half of them.

I don't have any experience making avatars with Paint, but my first couple of avatars were done with Photoshop, which is an even worse choice than Paint if you're going for OotS avatars. In any case, one of the things I like(d) best about using Illustrator is the object order control. I never use layers anymore, because order control is superior. I don't find it slow at all to draw two objects, drag Object B over Object A, and press Ctrl+[ to make Object B go behind Object A.

Another aspect of Illustrator that I want to mention without rebutting anything is the fact that I can redraw parts of paths simply by drawing over the original path. If I need to "erase" part of a path, I can draw over with a curly thing or a mess, press A to summon the Direct Selection tool, and delete the unnecessary parts.

I don't want any conflict with Paint users - I think the difference between Paint/Irfanview and Illustrator is the same as sword/shield and pike. They've got different styles and are suited for different things, but specialists in each are each good at creating a snazzy avatar/slaying a dragon.

Also it's spelled coalition.

Also even if someone asks for a wallpaper of an avatar, couldn't you just reapply your method, using perhaps 450x450 heads and going wild? I seem to remember there are limited brush sizes for Paint, so maybe not. What you could do is use 150x150 heads, then expand it 1x, 2x, 3x, 4x, ..., THEN resize back with Irfanview. Paint is pretty good at resizing into larger sizes, as long as the resizing coefficient is a natural number.

[Korias]

I use paint, then transfer the image into Infranview. No Photoshop, No Adobe. Just regular paint.

See that guy in my sig? The one on the right? Did it in half an hour, with paint. And that was my second OoTS Drawing EVER.

Yes. MS paint deserves its own group. I would be for it, And we should have a list of tricks that can help people out (Such as Templates, Skin colors, and Weaponry tips) that can give people a bit of an edge to the more "limit-less" programs, such as Adobe and photoshop.

I am for paint. Let the painters of MS unite!

[Quincunx]

Schlammeister, your Paint avatar is the example for the current Iron Avatarist competition. I'd say you've made a name for yourself.

I'd appreciate tips'n'tricks on high contrast colors. Some of what I've made just fades into invisibility once made into a .gif file, and I'd like to know how to prevent that.

[Sampi]

Try formatting as .png - I found that solved many of my problems in one go.

[Schlammmeister]

Schlammeister, your Paint avatar is the example for the current Iron Avatarist competition. I'd say you've made a name for yourself.

I'd appreciate tips'n'tricks on high contrast colors. Some of what I've made just fades into invisibility once made into a .gif file, and I'd like to know how to prevent that.

I know! I saw! Yay! Though technically, I only made the avatar female, I didn't draw the original male version. On the other hand, it did make me feel honored!