06:PAINT.NET-powerful & free
Last week, I talked about how life would not be worth living without some of my favorite software tools (just kidding...I actually CAN enjoy my life without any technology. My time in the woods is a lot more fun!)
My favorite software tool is something I've used for years called "PAINT.NET". It is completely free, and is one of the most powerful graphic design tools out there. I am not one to go buy expensive software if there is something that will do the job well and meet my exacting standards. PAINT.NET is one of those tools.
For high end illustrations, designers like Adobe products, particularly Adobe Illustrator, which currently costs $20/month to license it. Coupled with Adobe Photoshop (another $20), you can do almost anything you want to work magic on your images. Two other excellent illustration products are Gimp and Inkscape, and both are also free.
Gimp is the closest thing to PAINT.NET because it works with pixels. Inkscape however is what is called vector illustration software. Inkscape is tough to learn, but I've been able to do some cool things with it. I use Inkscape for advanced work, and will talk about it in another blog post.
Many of us (particularly those who have been around a long time) started our graphics experience using the program Microsoft Paint. (I'm not a Mac user, so can't address that.) PAINT.NET is a full replacement of that with 100 times more capability, but is not 100 times more complicated. In many ways, its interface is similar to Paint.
I use PAINT.NET for modifying images and for creating completely new images. These may be logos, backgrounds for web pages, illustrations and diagrams, callout boxes, web buttons -- almost anything that I can visualize. I often use royalty-free images from the web and doctor them up to suit my needs.
PAINT.NET creates images in all the major graphics formats: GIF, JPG, PNG and PSD. Images can have transparent backgrounds if saved in GIF and PNG formats.
My favorite aspect of using PAINT.NET is that you can use "layers". This allows you to separate all the various components of an image onto different layers and then combine them for the final image. This gives you an enormous amount of flexibility in moving things around, enlarging them, changing colors, fonts, etc. without messing up some of the other elements that are part of your image.
Here is my logo for PetNetTucson.com. It was created by an artist in India for $5 on Fiverr.com. Over time I have modified it continuously to meet all kinds of web needs. This is the image you'll see on my website header now.
Importantly, you can save these layers in the proprietary PAINT.NET format "PDN", so that you can come in later and tweak the image to easily make changes. Once you've got everything right, you save a version in your chosen image format - GIF, PNG or JPG.
I do not intend to teach you to use this product in my post today. I would encourage you to go get a copy for yourself and install it. Their site is getpaint.net. The site has a very active user forum which is enormously helpful, and other training resources. For more training, head to YouTube and search for PAINT.NET and you'll find a wealth of tutorials there.
If you go to my PetNetTucson.com site, you'll see plenty of examples of my graphics. Everything there was created using PAINT.NET.
Learning a tool like PAINT.NET takes time and patience, but you will find yourself creating images almost immediately that you never thought were possible. Even if you have few visual talents, PAINT.NET can transform your images into works of art!
Recent Comments
21
Sweet, I was an art freak...I have been looking for better tools for graphics. Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful site.
Kim
Glad that you're going to try it. I am a total fan of this application. I am actually improving my inadequate art skills by using this because it is so easy to correct some of my horrible design mistakes!
That is too funny, I really do appreciate it. Haven't had a chance yet to check it out, but looking forward to it.
Thanks for sharing, but I'm a mac user, so it don't work.
PS. Little advice: use less links in your blogs: 12 times paintnet, this will really hurt the google crawlers.
Actually, the WA blog application does it...it converts the name automatically to http://paint.net which is NOT the right place, so I had to go back manually to fix it! I agree, I didn't want the links in there but it doesn't offer a way to NOT show it! I also broke the name into "PAINT .NET" but didn't like that since it looks like a mistake.
Giludi, since you're a Mac user, can you offer readers here a Mac alternative that is powerful and free? I would love to have a Mac to do my visuals, since it seems that Mac has always been ahead in the creative stuff of computers (art, music, etc.)
As i'm a professional publisher I do have mostly professional (paid ) tools like photoshop, illustrator, indesign, camtasia. But I will do my best to find some good, free tools.
I was wondering if there might even be something that comes free with the Mac OS that is pretty good. If you can find anything, please come back and post it here. It will help all those in the Mac world who, like me, try to use less expensive or free applications! (Although, I have to admit, I'm so tempted to subscribe to Adobe's Creative Cloud, but I am afraid that I'd end up spending all my time playing with them!)
What a fabulous blog post... thank you for sharing your secret weapons and turning me on to new software that is free, and user applicable for almost all of us.
Thanks I am a huge fan of this software. If you have any questions, you can usually find an answer because there are so many of us out there that have learned it well. If you need help while you're learning it, drop me a note.
~~~Tip
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I've been using paint dot net for about 6 years and I LOVE it. I recently found that there's a free plugin for it that allows importing PSD files.
That's right, and I use it all the time. When you work with graphics artists like on Fiverr, they often offer to send PSD files (usually you pay extra for these) and with that PSD plugin, you can convert them to Paint.Net format. I know YOU know that, but I'm amplifying the explanation for those that read this blog! Thanks for mentioning this plugin.
The PSD import plugin was the first one that I've used. Do you have any other plugins that you'd recommend? (I use paint dot net for minor photo editing rather than heavy-duty graphic arts stuff.)
Bob, good question. Currently, this is the only plugin I use. When I bought my new computer last year, I immediately installed Paint. net, and also installed the PSD plugin, but there were about six others that I neglected to install because I hadn't used them in quite a while. Mostly they were special effects that I had needed for specific projects.
Just curious, do you mind mentioning which other applications you use for your more challenging work?
Actually, I don't really do "more challenging work". I am by no means a graphics artist and the fairly simple photo editing I do is about all I need. For line drawings and other non-photo type graphics, I do use Inkscape (another free program). I find that some things are easier to do in paint dot net while others are better handled with Inkscape.
Totally agree with you. I think Paint .Net is easier than Inkscape, but Inkscape is really the best way to go for vector images. I now try to always get my logos done in vector so that they are easily scalable to any size without degradation. Took me years to understand this concept!
I intend to do a write up on Inkscape in my blog series of favorite tools.
Bob, I just wanted to mention one plugin that I like to use, and ironically, I needed to use it tonight. It is a plugin that adds many different effects, but the one that I need the most is "drop shadow." It is a common way to add a 3rd dimension to a flat graphic. I need to show a book, so I want the book to cast a shadow. In fact, if you look at my PetNetTucson logo above, you'll see how I added the drop shadow, that was not originally in the logo that I had designed.
There is a complicated way to do drop shadows without the plugin, but it is far easier to install the plugin and use its power. The plugin can be gotten at this link: http://users.telenet.be/krisvandermotten/Downloads/PaintDotNetEffects.html.
The plugins available give versatility to Paint .Net just as plugins boost the flexibility in WordPress.
Thanks for that link. I'll check it out.