Most image and photo editing software comes in the form of Adobe Photoshop or GIMP; both programs offer incredible capabilities while being more complex than simpler solutions such as Microsoft Paint. This article will introduce a freeware raster graphics editor program called paint.NET that is simple yet effective.
Basic editing
While Paint Net may not offer as many features or capabilities as Photoshop, it still makes a useful editing solution for basic editing needs. Free and with a small footprint, this raster graphics editor enables users to modify digital photos and images – similar to Microsoft Paint – while it can also create and manipulate text documents.
Paint Net makes altering an image’s background straightforward. Use the Paint Bucket tool to fill it in with new colors or patterns; or add a transparent layer and use Brush Tool for painting over it; the Lasso tool lets you select objects before copying them onto separate layers.
Layers
Layers allow you to work on different parts of your image independently from one another, using drawing and editing tools only on individual layers at any given time, changing existing contents without touching other layers below it, changing individual layer properties, blending modes or applying effects – truly elevating pixel art to new heights! By becoming skilled with advanced layer techniques, your pixel art could reach new heights!
Simply adding a new layer to your project is straightforward. Clicking the Layers menu or pressing Ctrl+Shift+N (Windows)/Cmd+Shift+N (Mac) will bring up a dialog requesting layer name and other parameters; once complete click the + icon.
When working with a multilayered image, ensure the layer containing your drawing is selected. You can do so by clicking the Layers window icon (looks like a folder with plus signs on it), with active layers being indicated by being highlighted within this window.
If your pixel artwork does not meet your standards for cleanliness or precision, consider reviewing these items:
Layer Visibility: If one or more layers appear distorted or its colors seem discordantly blended together, check their visibility settings. If any are set as invisible, reselect and modify accordingly.
Blend Modes: If a layer is appearing inconsistent, alter its blending mode to see if this helps resolve its appearance issues.
Layer Grouping: Take advantage of layer groups to speed up your workflow and save time by easily moving, collapsing or expanding group layers with just one click – making it simpler than ever to locate and edit specific elements of your composition.
Cropping
Cropping, the process of extracting part of an image for framing purposes or to emphasize subject matter or change aspect ratio, may be performed physically with a knife or guillotine or digitally with image processing software. Cropping is one of the basic photo manipulation processes widely utilized within printing, graphic design and photography industries.
Cropping can be used in painting to improve its composition and direct viewers’ gaze towards an important element within an image. Cropping can also remove excess noise from peripheries of paintings or alter perspectives by changing perspective or eliminating extraneous features that might otherwise distract.
Once your image is ready, right-click within its rectangular bounds and choose “crop.” This will remove any part of it that lies outside, leading to much smaller images that may require further editing such as resizing or resolution adjustments.
Although the Crop tool can be extremely helpful, it’s important to keep in mind that an image’s dimensions do not correlate to its resolution. For instance, if your image contains 300 pixels per inch (ppi), its resolution won’t change when cropping it to 1 x 1.
Cropping can help make an otherwise disjointed painting more successful by breaking it into several individual jewels and creating more cohesive composition.
Resizing
Paint.NET makes image resizing quick and easy, but sometimes you may just want to resize a foreground object without altering its context or background – for instance if you have an image with a solid color background and you want to change its hue through patterns or filling canvas with another hue with Paint Bucket. In this version of Paint.NET there have been improvements made to image resizing: these include new “Adaptive (Best Quality)” and “Lanczos” modes as well as more options for gamma correction and higher quality antialiasing for lines/curves and shapes.
Pasting
The paste feature can be invaluable when editing large documents as it enables you to quickly cut and paste text and other objects. This feature makes editing much faster than having to retype everything!
Paint NET offers many special effects such as Exposure, Highlights & Shadows and Temperature & Tint that you can apply to any image. In addition, straighten and rotate features allow you to adapt photos for specific sizes or frames; plus its new Sepia filter offers subtler, antique looks for images.
