resizing with paint

[r23r5]

I draw with ms paint and consider myself to be a decent drawer, but whenever I resize my avatars it becomes a pixely mess. Any suggestions on what I could use to make my avatars resize better?

[Omega]

Before people start saying "get Inkscape it blah, blah, blahs!". Download IrfanView (http://www.irfanview.com/), you can resize with it, making your drawings look less 'pixely'. :smallsmile:

[Abardam]

Image -> Resize

e.g. do not select and resize.

also, don't save as a jpg.

[Holammer]

Switching to Inkie *would* still be a swell idea eh?
Embrace the power of the vector art r23r5. Search your feelings, you know it to be true!

[Quincunx]

I've searched my feelings, Holammer. I have time for one person today to talk down Paint. Today is not your day. Tomorrow isn't looking good either.

Omega has the right way, as recommended on Lankybugger's terrific tutorial (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=33471). I use IrfanView for resizing also, used to use .gif but have switched to .png through peer pressure. Next step: learning how to shade. The best Paintatarists all use shading. No argument possible. Is it because Paintatars don't look as polished as vector art and the blurriness is a desirable quality in shading?

[Holammer]

The obvious advantage to vector based is the ability to scale pretty much any way you want without any quality loss out of the box. As in this example:


http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn217/Holammer/vectorsyeah.png

The artwork can be easily be recoloured, nodes modified to change the pose without redrawing the entire thing. You prolly know this stuff already, but just in case.
The use of shading? I don't think software used got much to do with that, it's a purist thing for some. Others think shading is great. I don't do it myself to keep it simple, but I do add quite a bit more detail than Rich does.

But if you still wish to work with Mr Pixel, why not make yourself a favour and take a look at GIMP (http://www.gimp.org/)? It's not what it sounds like. It means GNU Image Manipulation Program, it's a free piece of software akin to Photoshop. Lightyears more advanced than MS Paint and with lots of extra bells and whistles to really pimp out the art. Did I mention it was free? Free as in free beer, not as free speech.

I do admit that some Paintatarists draw wicked stuff and it's mad skill to do it with Paint, but it seems rather quixotic to use such a poor tool when better free ones are readily available.
Enough proselytizing for me today :smallwink:

[Nameless]

Aye, that's the one thing i like about inkscape...

[r23r5]

I've tried Inkscape and I don't really like using it, but I'll try IrfanView and GIMP if that doesn't work.

Thanks

[Nameless]

Inkscape is used for the Dark Arts...

[Holammer]

Inkscape is used for the Dark Arts...

Whut? Holy Word!

r23r5: Good luck with the Gimp, it's basically a really really pimped out MS paint. You'll figure out the basics pretty quick I reckon. Let us know your first impression of it.

[Maulrus]

*snip*

The best Paintatarists all use shading. No argument possible. Is it because Paintatars don't look as polished as vector art and the blurriness is a desirable quality in shading?

Oh, come on, the difference is practically negligible.

Though, for making avvies, shading is a hella lot easier in Paint (Illustrator too). Paint's impossible for comics if you want consistency.

EDIT: In regards to the above post's mention of the Gimp:

*thinks about a certain Pulp Fiction scene*

[Nathan]

Just to reiterate: Irfanview (http://www.irfanview.com/).

It makes resizing and adding in transparency extremely simple. Make sure your image is a png too, which is a high quality and low size alternative to gifs and jpgs.

Generally what I do is make the image in Flash, screen shot it, then paste the screen shot into Irfanview. Then I crop it as much as possible. After which I resize it. Lastly when I save it I select the color I want to make transparent and I'm set.

It's a great tool.

[Holammer]

EDIT: In regards to the above post's mention of the Gimp:

*thinks about a certain Pulp Fiction scene*

"bring out the gimp". Sadly this is one of the reasons why the authors behind gimp ought to change the name already, there is a shall we say "negative" connection to the word.

[Abardam]

Just to reiterate: Irfanview (http://www.irfanview.com/).

It makes resizing and adding in transparency extremely simple. Make sure your image is a png too, which is a high quality and low size alternative to gifs and jpgs.

Generally what I do is make the image in Flash, screen shot it, then paste the screen shot into Irfanview. Then I crop it as much as possible. After which I resize it. Lastly when I save it I select the color I want to make transparent and I'm set.

It's a great tool.You know, you can do that in Flash

[Nathan]

You know, you can do that in Flash

Except the cropping part. I do the whole avatar, and often I crop off parts of it. It's easier and faster for me to do that in Irfan.

But... yes! Gogo gadget Flash.

[Abardam]

Nah, Flash can do that too. Just set your canvas size to 120x120, do the avatar, then resize or move it around until it fits the tiny box. Then Export Image -> Full Document Size and BAM

[Nathan]

Wizard. Thanks.