MS Paint: Difference between revisions
Rescuing 1 sources and tagging 0 as dead.) #IABot (v2.0.8
(Import from TV Tropes TVT:Main.MSPaint 2012-07-01, editor history TVTH:Main.MSPaint, CC-BY-SA 3.0 Unported license) |
(Rescuing 1 sources and tagging 0 as dead.) #IABot (v2.0.8) |
||
(11 intermediate revisions by 5 users not shown) | |||
Line 1:
{{
[[File:mspaint.png|link=Recursive Reality|
'''Microsoft Paint''' (usually shortened to MSPaint) is a picture editing program that has been included as a free tool with Windows since the very first version (although it was named "Paintbrush", rather than "Paint", during the Windows 3.x era) and always maintained alongside later versions. It is a relatively simple program, offering the bare necessities to create and alter pictures. Due to the fact that it has been offered free with the single most popular operating system series in computing history, it is also the most widely familiar picture editor. Due to its simplicity, however, it is not used by professionals.
In the context of art and [[Web Comics]], MSPaint is used as a term to refer to both an artwork style and an implied resulting quality (note that many of the below issues don't apply to the version of Paint that came with Windows 7):
* Due to lack of support for digitizer tablets, things tend to either look really wobbly due to the awkwardness of drawing with the mouse or too straight due to usage of line tools.
* Due to a lack of gradient shading support and the difficulty of manipulating patches of colors that aren't ''exactly'' identical, colors tend to be flat.
* Resizing images tend to look shoddy due to the program handling it by adding or subtracting identical rows/columns of pixels; though since at least the XP version, [https://web.archive.org/web/20130121041706/http://img522.imageshack.us/img522/4002/gradientgif.gif at least some measure of interpolation is done when sizing down].
* Copy and paste elements not created by the program tend to look glaringly out of place due to a lack of tools to adapt said elements. It also generally discourages using multiple elements due to its use of a single layer.
* Paint also has problems with image compression:
** The GIF format would be appropriate, but uses 256 colors and Paint does not provide color quantization algorithms: Even in pictures with fewer than 256 colors, Paint systematically uses the system palette and screws up the colors. Besides, GIF transparency support fails in the Windows XP version.
** The PNG format is handled mostly correctly, although the compression is pretty sub-optimal. Windows 7 Paint defaults to PNG.
** The JPEG format is
** Early versions had the opposite issue, that all images were saved as uncompressed bitmaps. That means that a 2048x2048 expanse of white could easily take up over 8 MB of space.
Line 19:
The term generally gets applied to things that exhibit this (usually unintentional) art style, but has also seen use as an insult against artists. Referring to something as a "Microsoft Paint picture" when it is clear that it couldn't have been made by that program is to suggest that it has a banal simplicity, a rushed feel or both. Conversely, ''actually'' bad artists (particularly those that make bad sprite comics) will blame the low quality of their work on "only having Paint." On the other hand, however, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUWqRhReaZk showing how you made a complex picture with MS Paint] is one of the best ways to score massive artistic cred.
The majority of pure [[Sprite Comic
Windows 7 features an upgraded Paint that is actually a big improvement. It now supports different brush types for blending images/colors and support for adding objects seamlessly onto the image.
* ''[[MS Paint Masterpieces]]''
* [[
* [http://community.livejournal.com/mspaint_lolz MSPaint TV], a fan comic that parodies ''[[House (TV series)|House]]'' and ''[[Lost]]''
* ''[[MS Paint Adventures]]'' ([[Artifact Title|only]] [[Jail Break
** Also, ''[[Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff]]'', a [[Stylistic Suck]] webcomic [[Show Within a Show|ostensibly created by]] [[Homestuck|Dave Strider]]. Though it's instantly recognisable as a parody of crude MS Paint comics rife with JPEG artifacts, it also isn't actually made in Paint, and [[Reality Is Unrealistic|it couldn't look nearly that bad if it were]] owing to its fairly intensive techniques to achieve such a level of suck.
** A sizable portion of "[[Fanfic|fan]] [[Interactive Comic|adventures]]" on the MSPA forums are done in Paint owing to a lack of easy availability of anything else. A standout example is ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20150306064136/http://www.mspaforums.com/showthread.php?29716-Her-Name-Was-Alia Her Name was Alia]'', which is drawn with Paint on a tablet ([https://web.archive.org/web/20130218215418/http://www.mspaforums.com/showthread.php?29716-Her-Name-Was-Alia&p=3831020&viewfull=1#post3831020 see last spoiler of post]). It looks ''gorgeous'' and very much averts the typical traits associated with Paint work.
* [[Daddy Long Legs (
* [[Image Board|4chan]]
** [[Memetic Mutation|9001 hours in MS Paint]].
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20111215123517/http://www.bitmapworld.com/ Bitmap World] - The main artist uses Paint Shop Pro. The co-writer and secondary artist does his strips and touch-ups of the main strips in MS Paint.
* [http://experimental.comicgenesis.com/ The DOOM Army] - "the RPG webcomic nobody reads"
* Some strips of ''[[The Comic Adventures of Left
* ''[[Stickman and Cube]]''
* ''[[Adventure Dennis]]''
* ''[[Arthur, King of Time and Space]]''
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20121202031015/http://mind-numbinglyboringwebcomic.smackjeeves.com/comics/1403320/strip-number-one/ The Mind-Numbingly Boring Webcomic]
* [[
{{reflist}}
Line 46:
[[Category:Photography and Illustration]]
[[Category:MS Paint]]
[[Category:
|