YOU CAN TURN MICROSOFT PAINT INTO A MINIATURE IMAGE EDITOR
Note. Below are the steps I used to make a favicon in an early edition of Microsoft Paint. You may find your version is slightly different. I can't test in all versions of Windows - especially as I've now switched to a Mac! However, the basic procedure is the same, whatever art editor you're using.
It boils down to this:-
Open a new canvas at the right pixel size. (For a favicon 16 x 16 pixels. An emoticon could be 15 x 15 pixels or a mobile phone agenda icon even smaller.)
Draw with a one-pixel brush, pen or pencil. Magnify so you can see what you're doing, but keep checking that your image looks uncluttered at tiny size.
Save in the right format. That's it.
Don't try reducing a photo. At this tiny size you'll probably end up with a blob. Don't forget you've been able to draw symbols ever since you could hold a crayon.
Here's the special drill I used in MsPaint:
MAKE YOURSELF A ONE-PIXEL PAINTBRUSH
1. Fire up msPaint.
Select File, New. Go to menu item Image. Choose Attributes.
On the panel that appears, enter the image size you want. If it's a favicon icon, say Width 16, Height 16. Make sure the Units are pixels and you're working in colours. (Even if you're making a black-and-white icon.)
2. You'll hardly be able to see the resulting white square in the MS Paint drawing area, so go to View - Zoom - Custom and click 800% magnification.
3. Select the paint brush not the pencil and choose the round brush head (top row in the 'brush drawer' panel) at the tiniest size. This gives a one-pixel drawing tool.
4. Now you can draw your artwork comfortably. Keep it bold and simple to look good at tiny size.
When it's almost done, select 100% magnification again to preview how your miniature will look in real life.
Zoom up once more and alter the shapes and colours as needed.
Preview the result again.
Carry on zooming and editing until the image looks clear and uncluttered without magnification. Check that the image also looks good at 200% magnification. This will ensure that it's acceptable on the odd occasion when it's seen at 32 x 32 pixel size.
4: Now go to File - Save As.
Give the image a name. Favicon, MyIcon, Albert or whatever. Under Save As Type select '16 Color Bitmap'. Save your blank canvas. This will display the 16 colour palette for you to work with.
Note 1. The fewer colours you have, the smaller your file will be.
Note 2. Even if you're making a two-colour (black and white) image, you'll need to work in colour first. Select shades with a good contrast between dark and light. Save as two colours only when you've finished. (If you try to paint in two colours, the mouse may annoyingly spatter trails of unwanted pixels.)
There you are then.
Canvas, brushes and paints all ready to work with.
If you want to use your image as a favicon icon, you'll need to convert it to an .ICO file, (and its name has to be 'favicon.ico') but that's no problem. If you've saved as a .BMP file, try simply replacing the '.bmp' with '.ico'. If you have problems - or even if you don't, Irfanview is strongly recommended. It's free, it's a fantastic art editor, and has so many other uses you'll be glad you discovered it.
MS Paint probably came with Windows on your PC:
just look for 'Paint' in the Startup menu.
MS Paint as an icon editor
