Create A Picture:
There are toolbars running along the side and base of the
Paint window with which you can draw or alter your picture. If you can't see
these icons, go to View and make sure Tool Box, Color Box and Status Bar all
have ticks by them. If you hold your mouse pointer over one of the icons for a
moment, a small description will appear. To start a new picture, click File
> New. To change the size of the canvas area, go to Image >
Attributes where you can adjust the height and width. As you move your mouse
pointer around the canvas you will see the co- ordinates change on the Status
Bar below. Double-click a colour on the Color Box below the canvas or click
Colors > Edit Colors to select from the basic colour palette, or define
custom colours if you don't see the colour you want to use.
Tool Box :
The Tool Box down the left of the screen gives you various
options for creating and selecting parts of your picture. For example, to draw
a box click the Rectangle tool and then on the canvas, click and drag the
cursor to create a box which will be outlined in your chosen colour. Pick a
different colour and then click the Fill With Colour button on the left menu.
Now click anywhere inside your box to automatically fill it with that colour.
Experiment with the other drawing tools on the menu which include lines, curves,
and ellipses. Notice that when you click on certain tools you will see other
options appear below the menu. For example, the brush tool will display a range
of brush types. Use the pencil or brush tool along with the Magnifier zoom tool
for detailed drawing. The select tools allow you to edit or apply effects to
particular areas of your drawing. Use them like the drawing tools by drawing an
outline around the area you want to select
After selecting a particular area, you can use the Edit menu
to Cut, Copy and Paste. Use Edit > Select All to make the entire canvas
the current selection. To wipe or clear the canvas, use Image > Clear
Image.
Work With An Existing Image:
To open an existing picture file, click File > Open.
Browse to where the file is located on your hard drive, click to select it then
click Open. To insert a picture onto an existing canvas, use Edit >
Paste From and browse to where the picture is located on your hard drive. Click
to select the picture you want then click Open. The picture will now appear on
your canvas. The image will have a dotted outline meaning you can move it by
clicking on it and dragging it, or you can resize it by clicking on the corner
handles. To change the appearance and size of a picture, use Image >
Stretch/Skew to stretch in percent and skew in degrees. For example, if you
have a picture you would like to double in size, enter 200% in the horizontal
and vertical boxes. From the Image menu you can also choose to Flip/Rotate an
image, or Invert Colors which gives you a kind of 'negative' effect
Saving Your Work :
To save your work, click File > Save As. You will be
able to choose where to save the picture on your computer, what name to call
it, and what filetype it will be saved as (such as .BMP, .JPEG, or .GIF).
Bitmap (.BMP) is the standard image filetype but it can be very large, while
JPEG and GIF are 'compressed' versions and use less disk space, though the
quality is reduced. You will find that most people nowadays tend to use the
JPEG format, which gives a good balance between quality and file size. Many of
the more advanced image editing programs also allow you to set the precise
amount of compression applied to a file when converting it to JPEG. Compressed
picture files like JPEGs are especially useful on the Web and when you want to
send pictures with e-mails, as they are smaller and therefore reduce the time
that it takes to send and receive them.
