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So, I was thinking the other day, that I would share with everyone how a picture of mine evolves. I hope this works. If anyone is wondering, the pictures you are about to see are completely created and manipulated using nothing but your standard version of MS Paint (Windows XP.)

The series shown are my saved files of my "Jedi Defender".



EDIT NOTE:: I have updated the captions of each picture for better clearification of what is happening in each slide. I made this thread sort of in a hurry, and didn't have time to get into specific details.



This is where it all starts. Now, keep in mind, that this little bit alone took a while. I already had an idea of what I wanted to draw, but it has to start somewhere. This is the basic outline of the form I wanted. This was made using 1 Circle Tool, 2 Curved Line Tool, and a whole lot of Straight Line Tool. I used a very light Gray color. The reason for this is to simulate "layering".





Next is where I start drawing permanent lines. As you can see, I have already begun with costume design. Normally, you will want to lay in with a bit more detail on overall character form, negating costuming altogether. But, I've had a bit of practice with this method, and as most artists will confirm - sometimes you just "know" how stuff should look. At any rate, this is truely one of the more exciting parts of the entire project - costuming. A good character artist can go absolutely nuts here.

So, the idea behind actually drawing in MS Paint, is like drawing with a pencil - everything is drawn with what? A line. As a result, most everything you see is drawn with the Straight Line Tool. With practice, you can simulate curved lines. I rarely use the Curved Line Tool unless I absolutely have to. (MS Paint doesn't come with nifty shortcut keys... I hate switching tools all the time.)

Lastly, to point out - I graduated to a darker Gray, here. I redraw over the initial sketch so I know what the general idea is. It's not exactly tracing. They're more like guidelines for direction. Don't worry about making a mess - I will show you how to erase those lines later. What will make this work later on, is the fact that you are using a different color. (You could just as well use red or blue, but I stick with gray scale for this process.)





So, basically, this is continuing on from Slide 2. There really isn't much to discuss here, except that I now have a completed form, minus any major detailing.

Anyway, at this point in the process, I was pretty satisfied with the whole idea. At least, I thought I was. You will find that with most of the pictures you draw, some aspects, or maybe the entire picture, will take many twists and turns. Her overall costuming is pretty simple, but I didn't want something extremely flashy. I had already made a Jedi character with flashy armor in a previous picture - I wanted to vere from that as much as possible, here.

Lastly, I would like to point something out. At some point during THIS drawing phase, I noticed a few problems. The artists out there viewing this will probably have already noticed a couple of these MAJOR issues, which I will discuss in just a bit.





So, at this stage, I was actually pretty pleased with the picture. So I wanted to color her.

Coloring is usually a very complicated process for me. I usually draw characters I have written "history" for. As a result, I have to imagine this character, standing next to several other characters from the same mythos (you can see the face of one of them on the slide next to her.) Basically, they can't have too similar costuming, and they can't have too similar coloring. My Jedi Defender here proposed a bit of a challenge.

Right off the bat, my inital idea was to give her some black slacks, with some lighter brown boots, and a pink or light purple shirt. The idea was for her to originally have a black vest (as you can see, eveolved into a long blouse.) But, when placing the colors on the character, there was just too much black, which gave her a bit of a "bad guy" feel. Plus, coupling that with her blonde hair... she looked too much like Juno Eclipse - which was actually unintentional.

At any rate, upon finishing this pass of color, it became appearant that the drawing was incorrect. So, even though I knew there were problems already, I decided to ignore them, overall. Why? Well, I don't know. I guess I figured I could correct them as I went. I was wrong.





(to be continued...)

Back to the drawing board! This slide shows her completed initial form. I have discarded any and all "sketch" lines from the first slide by using the eraser tool and a little technique I discovered a while back. In all truth of the matter, it's probably the most awesome thing you can do with MS Paint..... besides painting. Also, I refilled the colored portions with White (a quick and easy erasure.)

Anyway, to do the eraser trick, I right click on the color I want to erase (which is the Light Gray), and left click the color I want to replace it with (in this case... White.) Basically, this will erase only the Light Gray, and nothing else. Since the Dark Gray is on top of the Light Gray, you won't have any holes to plug in later. This is why I gradute from light to dark.... simulated layering!

Remember those issues I spoke of before? Those things I thought I could fix? Well, this was the point of no return. Either I fix them, or I complete the picture as is - flaws and all.

What's important here isn't that a good artist has zero flaws, and a bad artist has many. The difference between a good artist and a bad artist is (in my opinion) seeing the flaws for yourself, and choosing whether or not to fix them. This is called "learning". A good artist is always learning.

Let me point the mistakes out:

• There is something really weird going on with her hip.
• Her knee is completely wrong.
• The extended arm is way too long.
• There is a lot of dead space around her shoulders.

Alright, so now we have what looks like a completed drawing! Now we're getting somewhere - right? Wrong! The slide looks altogether different for several reasons. Nevemind it's darker for the moment. Let's just talk about what is going on with the structure.

As you can see, the blouse is now in front of her hip. This is a result of me trying to hide the fact that there is something clearly wrong with her hip. The knee had always been a problem from the very beginning - which I was trying to mask all along with just bunching the pants up. I added gloves to add weight to her hands, which I figured would make her arm "feel" right. And then I gave her some Padawan Braids to fill in the dead space around her shoulders (which technically wasn't a flaw of the picture.)

So, at this point I thought "NOW! I've made it right..." No... I really haven't done anything but take the easy way out. However, I think it's only fair to state that I wasn't conciously avoiding "fixing" the real issues. Point in fact, I really had no idea how to properly fix them. It isn't shown in these slides, but I seriously redrew a lot of stuff a million times in the hip and knee sections, trying to fix the drawing. Essentially, I had given up on fixing these issues, and consequently gave in with just trying to hide them. But anyway... moving on....

This is usually the final phase before going into full out valuing (shading) and coloring. All Lines are changed to Black (use the eraser technique) and any other cleanup operations are exhausted.





Well, I've commited to the picture as it is now. There goes the color. Keep in mind, that at this point, I've already put in several hours of work. I'd say maybe five or six. I spent a lot of time trying to repair my mistakes.

So anyway, because I had an initial colored picture before, I used it as my color palette. A quick copy and paste - and there we go!

As you can see, not a whole lot changed other than the blouse. I think it was the perfect choice, personally. It was a lighter color, but just enough away from gray to not be too monotone with the pants, and not so much color it takes away from her shirt. Choosing colors is a big deal, folks! At least for me it is. I'm sort of fashion concious when it comes to these sorts of things. You can't have a Jedi wearing jungle green pants and a hot orange shirt - they would look dumb!

Now, listen - I'm somewhat of a perfectionist. I'm not the best artist, but I strive to do the best I can, most of the time. Upon coloring this picture, I noticed a new problem. She is extremely..... well.... top heavy. Basically, I was very disappointed with how this picture was turning out, and I couldn't for the life of me figure it out! But, I was tired of reworking stuff, and I just wanted to finish it!







So, this was it. I was going all the way with this picture. At least I thought so half way through coloring. As you can see, I had the full layer of Black on the picture (for lighting.)

Not bad... WRONG! This is terrible!

Sure, it looks pretty decent. But, nevermind the fact that the drawing was fundamentally incorrect (which I knew it was) - I didn't want my character filled with a lot of Black paint. It just wasn't what I was going for. I'd already done a picture like this - I wasn't doing anything new. I wasn't learning something new! I was being a bad artist!

So.... well... I pretty much hated this picture and only knew one way to fix it....







(to be continued...)

Back to square one! I know, I know... how could I start all over after doing all that work? I mean, we're talking about throwing away about 8 hours of work here. How could I do that? No seriously... how?

Well, you may not realise it at first glance, but these few simple alterations of form are going to completely transform the entire picture. For one, they'll correct the hip issue. And because of that, the knee will fall right into place. Lastly, it will fix that whole "top heavy" issue. Essentially, the character will appear thinner and much more sleek and agile - which was the original idea. To do this took some figuring.

You see, the pose is not as straight forward as it appears to be, since there is a twist involved. And because of that, there are vanishing points to consider, horizon lines, and foundation or "strength" lines. Yes. All of those things you wouldn't think would be involved in a picture so simple.... effect everything! Trace your eyes with me for a moment.

The center line that goes from the top of the head, down to the bottom of the legs - that is the most important line of the picture! It's the strength line - her center of gravity. Everything plays off of that. Luckily, it's pretty simple to identify and not mess up (for this picture anyway.)

The Black lines are my alteration lines. The long one that splits the character in half is the horizon line - which is where the vanishing point plays from. You'll notice that there are other black lines coming from that which create a triangle. This little simple thing is why the hip and the knee were so hard to fix - they weren't drawn on the correct plane. You can see the underlying sketch beneath it. By comparing the two, you can clearly see where my problems occurred.

Lastly, her chest was slightly reconfigured. Oh so very slightly! Basically, the reason she appeared top heavy, was because the width of her shoulders was wider than her pelvis - which for a female, gives her a very masculine appearance. But it's not just as simple as lessening the gap a bit. No, the line on the top of the chest, is the collar bone. It must meet the vanishing point - which is indicated where the two longer lines at the bottom meet. See? Now... pay attention in art class next time! These "useless lessons" we all take for granted, are important!

Oh! How close I was to just eyeballing this stuff. So close... yet so very, very far away.... Now, I am being a good artist - discovering my mistakes, and more importantly, discovering how to fix them!







BAM! Problem's solved, friends!

I skipped a lot of "steps" here for the sake of space and time. But generally, a lot of cutting and pasting was involved... and a whole lot of just general line drawing. Now tell me, honestly - doesn't this look better?

Anyway, I kept the blouse in front of her hip on purpose. Even though I used it originally as a way to cover my mistake... I actually liked how it looked. So... I kept it! HAHA! Also, I kept all the other things I added because they ended up being awesome costume ideas. Let this be a lesson to you - mistakes.... can be useful!





Now comes the coloring... again. I think at this point I should say something important. Never be afraid to start all over if you have to. It's not as bad as it seems, and you'll thank yourself in the long run. Let this be another lesson to you aspiring artists.... DO NOT TRY TO FAKE YOUR TALENT! Always do your best. In the end, you'll appreciate the picture and yourself!

Anyway, I'm usuing the same colors I used from my initial coloring process. I really liked them, for the most part, but I also knew I didn't want to use black as a way to scale light and shadow. What to do?

Lastly, I would like to explore with you what I'm thinking about when I am drawing this character. I already had a "history" for her, and it wouldn't be fair to say that anything I added to the original concept of the picture, had nothing to with that history. On the contrary, it had everything to with it!

See, she's a Jedi, but she is more of an empathy based Jedi - she is a healer. But she also hasn't gone through a lot of formal training. She started it, but then because of her past, she sort of had to figure a lot of things out on her own. So, a lot of her costuming was brought into play to give her character more life. Don't get me wrong, I probably wouldn't have thought about these costume ideas had I not caught my mistakes.

But, in fixing those mistakes, whatever I added or altered, I knew had to fall in line with that story. I couldn't very well draw something on her that made no sense, whether I was hiding poorly drawn art or not - see what I mean? For instance, instead of Padawan Braids, I could have just drawn her a jet pack. But... I mean... it has nothing to do with who she is - therefore, I had to make sure whatever I did, made sense.

I gave her Padawan Braids, because she is still something of a Padawan - she is still learning about the Force. I gave her a blouse (like a robe) instead of a vest, because a vest would sort of give her too much of a rouge look (and she's trying to hold on to her Jedi heritage.) Besides, I already implied her being something of a rogue with the gloves (sort of a Fringer type.) And lastly, the stripes on her pants are inspired by none other than Han Solo - and we all know where his came from.... Corellia (which is where she's from, so it makes sense.)

I might be the only person who could deduce this background out of the character just by looking at the picture.... but hey... at least I thought about trying to put story into what is seen (HAHA!) Maybe it worked, maybe it didn't. Telling a story with a picture is an entirely different art - I don't think I'm there yet... but anyway...







You may not be able to see it really well from here, but this is where I started the "Pop-Out" process. Basically, this is a method used to make the picture standout more. The idea here is to remove all Black that isn't connected to a Gray Scale color. In other words, I am replacing the black outline of the drawing, with a color more suited to the color of the positive space it is making a boundary for. So, for her skin, I am using a darker skin tone (a light brown.) How do I do this? Eraser technique!

This technique can be relatively tricky, and somewhat time consuming - especially when you get into positive spaces (anything that is part of the picture) that are connected to each other. Like, her shirt is connecting with the skin on her arm. The idea I use here is that the line belongs to whichever object holds the space closer to the viewer in a 3-dimensional viewing. This is going to take some practice, because it really is a line by line basis. Sometimes the arm is closer to the viewer, sometimes the shirt is (just one example.)

Fundamentally, this is a method used to make the picture standout more. It gives it more life and even gives the picture a slight 3-dimensional look to it. Before this picture, I'd never tried to do this, so I was kind of winging it. I've since found better ways to execute this process, but in any case, I think it turned out great, here!


Lastly, I filled the background with a Dark Gray, because I was tired of staring at a white background that was hurting my eyes. I could have done that a long time ago though, HAHA!





(to be continued...)

Here, we have our Jedi Defender in the full range of color.

For the most part, when I use MS Paint, I use a three values of color rule of thumb, in addition to Black to show the dynamics of light. However, as I've said before, I chose not to use Black on this peice simply because.... well... it gave her too much of an edgy look. In the end, I wanted something with a bit more complexity.

So, I just went with the three tones on each color. Beleive me when I tell you that trading out the Black "ink" for the Pop-Out, will make the character or picture a lot better. Yes, it is a bit more time consuming, and can present a few problems later on - but in the end, it will look a LOT better.

Also, don't be afraid to use more than 3 shades. In fact, on the leg in the and the boot - I did! And they look awesome, if I say so myself. But I did that for a reason.

I was trying to simulate a blur effect... you know - for motion (she's jumping after all.) But, it didn't turn out the way I had hoped, and since it looked so good, I just kept it. There are some things MS Paint just won't let me do - or at least, I haven't figured out how to do it yet..... but don't think I can't!

Anyway, just remember - the more tones you use, the more time you're going to spend on it. I was pretty much exhausted on this picture at this point, so I took it easy.





This is the final image. I know, it doesn't look like much. But maybe it can put some things into perspective of how complicated a process can be. Of course, I could have saved myself a lot of time had I just done it right the first time - but some cool costume ideas came out of it in the end.

The final touch was the Lightsaber. I tend to make the blade of the saber a bit fatter at the tip, with a rounded edge. It's sort of part of my style, which I really have no idea where I got inspiration from in the first place. I could say Comics... but I never collected them, and I've only read or looked through maybe 10 my entire life. I mean, I've sort of come into my own in a way. I like drawing exxagerated reality - which is why I (for one) am drawn to the art direction of SW:TOR!

Anyway, back to the lightsaber....

For added effect, I could have taken it a bit further with the scale of width increase, but the focal point was the girl, and I didn't want to take too much attention from her.

The Lightsaber is actually very easy to do. Just make a cylinder (use the Straight Line Tool) of the darkest color, fill it, and then continue inwards with smaller cylinders, making the tone lighter each time, until you hit White. Use as many colors as you want or have room for, but three or four should be all you really need!





I hope you guys have enjoyed this. I really hope it's not something most people will generally find disinteresting, especially since I posted this image a few months ago. But, I've always enjoyed watching people draw... you know... it's just fun. So, I thought maybe it would be fun to share this, and for someone out there, fun to watch how just a simple picture evolves

Thank you!

Wow, great job! I will never look at Paint the same way again

Wow, that is really neat. Love seeing you get to the finale pic. Very Aeon Flux to me.

yay u have returned! number one MS fan right here!

thanks for showing a step by step process for all us MS'ers to practice on!

Lol I've just been wondering for the last 5 minutes to find the exacts word that would fit your talent.

Let"s say it's the artist that gives life to the tools.

Impressive! Thank you for sharing.



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Thanks everyone! Sorry I don't actually have a new picture yet. I've been struggling with learning Photoshop and I've sort of come to the conclusion that I'm going to have to break down and buy a Wacom Tablet.

Most of the tools I used in MS Paint just don't apply to Photoshop, which means everything I paint in PS is free hand with the mouse. In other words.... I just don't have the precision control I need.

At any rate, thank you for the comments, and I'm glad you enjoyed it.

I know what ya mean raice, i tried a demo of photo and was like w.t.f? lol

MS is just so simple to use and understand, other stuff just has too much useless crap, Do i want to warp my circle? what is that? I just want to paint a circle, do you want a design on the cricle? no i want a circle! lol