MSpaint, Microsoft Paint as an icon editor

YOU CAN TURN MICROSOFT PAINT INTO A MINIATURE IMAGE EDITOR

Note. Below are the steps I used to make a favicon icon 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 for making tiny images is the same, whatever art app you're using.

It boils down to this:-

Open a new canvas at the right pixel size.

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 and 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 are working in colours.

Even if you're making a 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.)

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. Keep your artwork bold and simple to look good at tiny size.

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.

Carry on zooming and editing until the image looks clear and uncluttered without magnification. Check that a favicon image also looks good at 200% magnification. This will ensure that it is acceptable on the odd occasion when this icon is 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'.

If you want to use your image as a favicon icon, it's best to convert it to an .ICO file, (and its name has to be 'favicon.ico'). Irfanview should make an excellent job of the conversion.

MS PAINT AS AN ICON EDITOR

YOU CAN TURN MICROSOFT PAINT INTO A MINIATURE IMAGE EDITOR

MS PAINT
AS AN ICON EDITOR