Dog Dog 123's Homeroom

[Dog Dog 123]

[Lovely banner made by the students]

Hello, and welcome to DD123's Painted Homeroom. This'll basically be a thread for students to post and be given help and guidance as they learn to use the simplest image editting program in existance, MS Paint. So basically this thread'll be used for anything relating to the classes and whatever else, as long as it isn't spam.

Quick summary of what's mainly being taught here: Simple editting. Using the program to do things more Photoshop-ish. Most of these lessons are done in the form of signatures due to the requests of students. If you wish to learn spriting or something of that sort, you are probably better off with a different teacher. I believe Rantick is teaching Sprites in Paint. So here it's mostly focusing on image editting and forming things to look nice. Or look ugly, if that is what you want to do with it.

Also, I'll apoligize in advance. Many explainations and things I say will end up looking very very long, but that's because I like to give reasons and such. Just know that if I send you a ten page tutorial, it usually won't take nearly as long to do the skill as it will to read through all that I've typed. So, sorry for any future blabbering on about nothing.




Current students:
Link Spyro22
Notsil
Crimson
Zarah
Forte
Verxis
Chari
Forseti
Sane
Hero

Students who are still students but seem to have disappeared:
Forty
Hylian Guardian
WindWakerrules (Windy)
Sasuke Uchiha



Note: If you wish to join into the class, please just go ahead and post here about it.
Or, if you wish to drop out of this class, please don't play messenger. "Freddy told me that Bob told him to tell me to tell you that George is leaving this class" gets annoying really fast. If you leave then let me know.

So welcome to all of you, and please lemme know if I leave you off the student list or mispell your name on it.

As of now, I have absolutely no idea what any new students are able to do already. Therefore, all new students, tell me these few things:
1. Have you ever worked with Paint to do anything before?
2. Have you found the icon to open up Paint on your computer?
3. How old is your computer? Or basically, which version of Paint do you have? Is it Windows 98, Windows XP, Vista, or something else? (Yes, Paint has a few differences in it depending on how old it is)
4. If you've worked with Paint before, what're some of the things you've done with it?
5. Do you have a way to upload images to the internet? (Photobucket or Imageshack and such)
6. What are some of the major things you wish to learn about? Is there anything you really want to focus on, or skills you have trouble with? Or are you new to it all?
7. How much have you used the program? Have you figured out what different tools do, or are we starting from scratch?
8. Do you have a version of Microsoft Word on the computer?
9. Look for a Print Screen button on your keyboard. Does your computer have one? It might be written as PrtSc or so, but you should be able to hit that button and click paste to get a picture of what the window looks like. Can you find and make that button work? (Yes, it's an important key)


So all new students fill that out for me so that I can figure out where everyone is at. Also, yes, new students are always being accepted. If you wanna join, just go ahead and post! ^^ None of us have closed off our classrooms to new students.



~ New assignments will be posted throughout the thread. Please try to keep up. ~

[I am Raine also Cody rocks]

First off may I say, you sound like a great teacher and I know your gonna put us through alot but im looking forward to it =)

1. Have you ever worked with Paint to do anything before? yes
2. Have you found the icon to open up Paint on your computer? Yes lol
3. How old is your computer? Or basically, which version of Paint do you have? Is it Windows 98, Windows XP, Vista, or something else? (Yes, Paint has a few differences in it depending on how old it is) I am using Vista Paint
4. If you've worked with Paint before, what're some of the things you've done with it? I have recolored some sprites when I was bored. I have done other stuff before. I have tried to make sigs before but im no good. That's why im here
5. Do you have a way to upload images to the internet? (Photobucket or Imageshack and such) Yes I use photobucket
6. What are some of the major things you wish to learn about? Is there anything you really want to focus on, or skills you have trouble with? Or are you new to it all? Im kinda new to it all. I want to learn how to make sigs and avys and anything else you want to teach me
7. How much have you used the program? Have you figured out what different tools do, or are we starting from scratch? I know most of the stuff but im sure there are things you can teach em that I don't know yet.
8. Do you have a version of Microsoft Word on the computer? No, I only have wordpad
9. Look for a Print Screen button on your keyboard. Does your computer have one? It might be written as PrtSc or so, but you should be able to hit that button and click paste to get a picture of what the window looks like. Can you find and make that button work? (Yes, it's an important key) Yea I know where it is

*Edit* I added the other 2 questions

[Dog Dog 123]

Alright, so Raine, I'll start you off with the basics. (YAY! A NEWBIE! ^^) After I finish typing up a tutorial on how to start off a simple siganture. And I'm thinking of shortening it alittle bit. Unless you wanna read ten pages. ;P

*rereads first post* Wow, my brain must have disappeared. I left off two questions on that list...

8. Do you have a version of Microsoft Word on the computer?
9. Look for a Print Screen button on your keyboard. Does your computer have one? It might be written as PrtSc or so, but you should be able to hit that button and click paste to get a picture of what the window looks like. Can you find and make that button work? (Yes, it's an important key)

*edits into first post*

And Chari and Hylain Guardian, please post whenever you see this thread, or else I shall come and hunt you down.


EDIT: Hmm... Anyone have a suggestion as to the best way to upload ten pages of typing/pictures to the internet without making annoyingly long posts in this thread everytime or taking over the tutorial board? And in other news, the banner is mostly made in Paint now, but still farily simple, so I'll change that soonish.

[Hylian Guardian]

Glad to be here, Dog Dog. *doesn't want to be hunted down*

1. Have you ever worked with Paint to do anything before? Yes.
2. Have you found the icon to open up Paint on your computer? I'm pretty sure it's the one with the little paintbrushes in a jar.
3. How old is your computer? Or basically, which version of Paint do you have? Is it Windows 98, Windows XP, Vista, or something else? (Yes, Paint has a few differences in it depending on how old it is) Windows XP, I believe.
4. If you've worked with Paint before, what're some of the things you've done with it? I've drawn simple pictures, done some minor editing (resizing, adding text, scribbling), and played around with the airbrushes/paintbrushes to make cool things.
5. Do you have a way to upload images to the internet? (Photobucket or Imageshack and such) Yep.
6. What are some of the major things you wish to learn about? Is there anything you really want to focus on, or skills you have trouble with? Or are you new to it all? Um.. I'd just like to learn how to fully use Paint, like all of the tools and how they can be used and such.
7. How much have you used the program? Have you figured out what different tools do, or are we starting from scratch? I use the program a decent amount, and I've figured out what a majority of the tools' basic functions are.
8. Do you have a version of Microsoft Word on the computer? I have Word on my mom's computer, but only WordPerfect on mine. It claims to have a "Microsoft Word" mode, though.
9. Look for a Print Screen button on your keyboard. Does your computer have one? It might be written as PrtSc or so, but you should be able to hit that button and click paste to get a picture of what the window looks like. Can you find and make that button work? (Yes, it's an important key) Yes, I have the button, and I hope it works.

[Dog Dog 123]

A Simple Signature (MSP)

^ Alrighty, both of you go read that and see what you can come up with. I'm pretty sure Chari already knows how to do most of that stuff, but I'll start poking at her about this thread soon anyways. Chari, you read through that too. Practice with resizing and cropping an image so that you can become familiar with doing it, simply because you'll end up doing that for almost every single signature you make. Borders are fun to experiment with as well, as are fonts and such.

Glad to be here, Dog Dog. *doesn't want to be hunted down*

Don't worry, as long as you know this thread exists I'm not gonna come chasing after you.

*starts reading answers*
Raine - Alrighty, so you're on Vista. I think the two are mostly the same, except that Vista Paint is more shiny. If something I say doesn't work the same way in your program, feel free to say so and I'll find you another way to do whatever. And no word... That's no fun. Can you paste an image into word pad and get options similiar to these? If not, then you might not be able to overlay black and white onto the picture... For now it doesn't make much difference though.

Hylian Guardian - That's good. Whoo, someone who has the version of Paint that I work with most. Also, it'll be a while before I start dragging word into all this, so that's fine as long as you can get to it if wordperfect doesn't work right.


Alright...

CURRENT ASSIGNMENT
Read the tutorial linked to above and post one or two of the things you end up with here. Experiment alittle and see what you get. (Chari, I still need you to answer the questions in the first post)



EDIT: Wow, students continue to multiply. Welcome Ethan (is that a nickname or a forum name?), please reply to the questions in the first post and start on the current assignment when you see this.

[I am Raine also Cody rocks]

Hmm.well that's no good. I know what it is your asking DD. Is there anyway I can download Word? I'll look into it. And going to read this tutorial now.

[Dog Dog 123]

Hmm.well that's no good. I know what it is your asking DD. Is there anyway I can download Word? I'll look into it. And going to read this tutorial now.

As far as I know, there's not a way to download it without paying... But don't worry about it for now. It's just one effect, and it's only used for lightening and darkening pictures, so for now it's alright that you don't have it.

Anyways, for now start with the basics and let's see if you can learn the simple little concepts from that tutorial. When you finish post it here.

[I am Raine also Cody rocks]

Ok. Well my first sig I have ever made really so..yeah it looks horible. I didn't make an avy though. I want to get better at sigs before I start on avys. I didn't know what kind of text to use and where to place it. Also sorry for the pciture. When I shrunk it, it came out like that. Is there a better way to shrink them so they don't look all blocky and..I don't know what you would call it. Well here is my first sig. I know I need to improve alot. Next time, im going to try a fancy border. Tell me what I need to improve on please.

[Chari]

1. Have you ever worked with Paint to do anything before? Yup :3
2. Have you found the icon to open up Paint on your computer? ....Yup
3. How old is your computer? Or basically, which version of Paint do you have? Is it Windows 98, Windows XP, Vista, or something else? (Yes, Paint has a few differences in it depending on how old it is) I use XP version...and since the price is too high I probably will never upgrade to Vista
4. If you've worked with Paint before, what're some of the things you've done with it? I've made some sucky Signatures, and I do little doodles from stratch sometimes...
5. Do you have a way to upload images to the internet? (Photobucket or Imageshack and such) ImageShack
6. What are some of the major things you wish to learn about? Is there anything you really want to focus on, or skills you have trouble with? Or are you new to it all? I want to make good Signatures....and make good Scratch Drawings in paint.......or anything else that would come in handy for the suckish user like me
7. How much have you used the program? Have you figured out what different tools do, or are we starting from scratch? I know a lot of functions on Paint, Photo Editor, and Word......but I don't think I know all or them or using them to it's full extent
8. Do you have a version of Microsoft Word on the computer? XP version....WOOT!
9. Look for a Print Screen button on your keyboard. Does your computer have one? It might be written as PrtSc or so, but you should be able to hit that button and click paste to get a picture of what the window looks like. Can you find and make that button work? (Yes, it's an important key) Yup, that button is awesome :3

[Dog Dog 123]

Raine - That's not too bad for a first try. Random observations:
- From the looks of it, you've saved your signature as a .jpg file type. Or at least I'm guessing this from the look of the border. Whenever you save anything, always make sure the file type is set to .png so that the colors don't get destroyed. Doing it this way will keep the borders and font from becoming pixelated.
- Unfortunately, Paint doesn't do a very good job resizing. Occasionally changing the percentages you shrink it by can help, and sometimes you can zoom in a free hand edit around the icky spots, but usually resizing does end up looking a wee bit rough.
- You say you plan to figure out signatures before avatars. That'll be fine. Avatars are just like signatures except with different demensions and smaller spaces to work with.
- Have you tried placing the text so that it isn't right in the middle? Try picking a slightly more out of the way spot, or slide the text box around to see what looks best when you're placing your text.

Work on those little bits and see try again. It'll also be easier to figure out what needs improvement when it's saved as .png so that the colors haven't been distorted to death...

But yes, resizing is unforunately one of those things that Photoshop does better then Paint at.

For those of you with Word on your computers, you might find it easier to paste the picture into Word first, click and drag the corner to resize it, then hit the printscreen key, then paste into Paint. *hits head on keyboard* I can't believe I'm forgetting such simple things as using Word to resize...

EDIT: Chari! ^^

7. How much have you used the program? Have you figured out what different tools do, or are we starting from scratch? I know a lot of functions on Paint, Photo Editor, and Word......but I don't think I know all or them or using them to it's full extent

Alrighty, you mention Photo Editor. I'm not familiar with that program. Can you get me a screenshot of the program? I'm pretty sure it does things that Paint doesn't.

[I am Raine also Cody rocks]

This one is a little better. I saved it as .png. Im not happy about the white around the Logo. How do I get rid of it? I found this one easier to make since I wasn't cutting something out of a picture. The resizing was also better. Im happy about this one.

*Edit* Lol I found the invert colors button. It's cool.

[Dog Dog 123]

Raine - That looks wonderful.
- Yes, the picture did resize pretty well. However, one of the things I'm noticing is that it looks alittle bit pixilated along the edges of Naruto, so you might wanna try zooming in, use the eyedropper tool on the color that looks okay, and go along the messy places of the picture to clean it up alittle bit. Of course, it might not show up as clearly on your computer as it does on this one, so if the messy spots along Naruto don't show you might as well leave it alone.
- For the logo, I was actually just working on that. In Photoshop, when you render (cut out) a picture, the eraser tool automatically makes the edges anti-aliased (or something like that) so that it blends without a hard edge. For now you can try zooming in and tracing the letters with the Paintbrush, but just know that I'm just now figuring out how to get yet another Photoshop style effect out of Paint.
- Also, I'm trying to figure out why it is that the border still looks alittle bit blurred... Oh well, chances are my eyesight is starting to go again...



YAY! *starts jumping with joy* Because of this thread and trying to work out a better way to do edges when cutting stuff out, I've just learned a new trick! Hooray for Overlaying images! (You guys'll be the test mice for the new idea after I make a nice long tutorial for it)

SQUEE!

*goes back to typing out tutorial*

Raine - Keep working through that until you get comfortable with that sort of stuff. It's good to know that you're starting to figure it out.

HG - Take a look at that tutorial I linked to somewhere up the page and try that out. It's not hard to do, I just wanna make sure you all understand it.

Chari - I'm pretty sure you already know how to do all that stuff in the tutorial. I'll give you a different assignment instead. Review the section about how to cut down on the sizes of an image or whatever I called it. After that, I want to see you do that with more fun shapes, rather then squares. So what I want you to do is make the banner for the shop. And yes, I give you this assignment because I'm lazy. CLICKY! Keep the outlines of the letters and leave whatever's white blank for now so that I can set it to transperancy later. So, take the letters and work on filling the colored spaces with different pictures. See what you can do with it, and if you can make it look nice then it goes in the first post in place of the pathetic banner I had done.

Ethan person - If you aren't dead and do come and see this, answer the questions from the first post for me and then go read the tutorial I linked to somewhere up the page.



Raine - I'll try to find you a downloadable trial version of Word or something. I want more test subjects for overlaying images.

[Ethan]

1. Have you ever worked with Paint to do anything before?--yes
2. Have you found the icon to open up Paint on your computer?--yes
3. How old is your computer? Or basically, which version of Paint do you have? Is it Windows 98, Windows XP, Vista, or something else? (Yes, Paint has a few differences in it depending on how old it is)--Windows XP =)
4. If you've worked with Paint before, what're some of the things you've done with it?--drawn up sketches (not so good ones =/) etc. mainly drawing
5. Do you have a way to upload images to the internet? (Photobucket or Imageshack and such)--yes
6. What are some of the major things you wish to learn about? Is there anything you really want to focus on, or skills you have trouble with? Or are you new to it all?pretty much new to it all.... learn to make sigs and avys
7. How much have you used the program? Have you figured out what different tools do, or are we starting from scratch?--basic tools... need to learn the advanced ones
8. Do you have a version of Microsoft Word on the computer?--yes
9. Look for a Print Screen button on your keyboard. Does your computer have one? It might be written as PrtSc or so, but you should be able to hit that button and click paste to get a picture of what the window looks like. Can you find and make that button work? (Yes, it's an important key)--yes

[Dog Dog 123]

Ethan - Yay! You actually did show up and post here. Alrighty, go follow the tutorial that I just told everyone else to go read.

A Simple Signature (MSP)
^ Hopefully none of you have missed it. Wow, links to forum pages actually show the name of the thread...


Hmm... Maybe I should make my little brother try to follow along with the overlaying images tutorial after I finish making it... Maybe not...

Anyways, Ethan, Raine, and HG, start with the basic stuff and show me that you can understand that much. Chari, look at the post above this one for the banner thing I want you to do.

7. How much have you used the program? Have you figured out what different tools do, or are we starting from scratch?--basic tools... need to learn the advanced ones

Advanced ones? XD Most options in Paint are really simple, it's just knowing how to use them together that makes each option special.

[I am Raine also Cody rocks]

OK I made another one. This one was easy too make and looks good. So tell me what you think.

[Dog Dog 123]

Easy to make? Good. When it starts to feel easy to make stuff, that shows that says that you're beginning to grasp how of the concept. As far as the things you we adding to it, the first thing I find to point out is that your border is uneven along the top. See that spot right about Sasuke's head? Also, now that you've figured out how to do standard borders, how bout you see if you can find a new creative style for doing borders? Also, the font's a wee bit plain. Try exploring with fonts that'll fit better with the rest of the signature.

Download fonts | dafont.com
^ All of you might want to consider looking through that site for a few fun fonts. It has a nice big selection there and fonts downloaded should work in Paint. (Or at least in Windows XP they do)



*pokes Chari* How ya doing with that banner assignment? Lemme know if it's too much for you to handle.

Also, all of you can feel free to give feedback on things that the others in this class make. If there's any little things you're noticing that could be done better in another student's signature, go ahead and comment on it.

[I am Raine also Cody rocks]

With this one, I tried speech bubbles. I don't know why I made it and it is super bland and boring. Bu I wanted to try speech bubbles for some reason. Dang I forgot a border. Also, I tried Dafont before. With Vista, these don't work for me. When I tried to install one after I download one, my computer goes crazy.

[Verxis]

I wanna try

1. Have you ever worked with Paint to do anything before? Yes
2. Have you found the icon to open up Paint on your computer? Yeah.
3. How old is your computer? Or basically, which version of Paint do you have? Is it Windows 98, Windows XP, Vista, or something else? (Yes, Paint has a few differences in it depending on how old it is) Windows XP
4. If you've worked with Paint before, what're some of the things you've done with it? Look at my sig. I've made another ones but they are realy bad.
5. Do you have a way to upload images to the internet? (Photobucket or Imageshack and such) Imageshack
6. What are some of the major things you wish to learn about? Is there anything you really want to focus on, or skills you have trouble with? Or are you new to it all? I really want to know how to put images.
7. How much have you used the program? Have you figured out what different tools do, or are we starting from scratch?I'm not too good with the program but I've used it sometimes
8. Do you have a version of Microsoft Word on the computer? Yes, I do
9. Look for a Print Screen button on your keyboard. Does your computer have one? It might be written as PrtSc or so, but you should be able to hit that button and click paste to get a picture of what the window looks like. Can you find and make that button work? (Yes, it's an important key) Yes, I have it

[Chari]

I'll accept the challenge!

By the way, I did the Dafont thing to try to get a font for a sig I was making here, and I just quit on downloading it because it was too hard for me to put in a Font folder for some reason......yea, I'm a wreck when it comes to downloading fonts @_@

*Cries in corner*

[Dog Dog 123]

Rain - Wonderfully nice to see you trying new things. The one thing I'm noticing is that the speech bubble barely overlaps the face of the bear, so you might wanna leave a few pixels between the bear and the speech bubble.

Alrighty, seeing as font downloads are troublesome, then don't bother with it.

So we now have an exidid in our class? Great. Look on the first page for the link to the tutorial that the others are working with.

Raine - Um, no new tutorials for you yet, but keep experimenting and playing around with all that stuff for now.

Chari - YAY! It'll be nice to have a different banner. Eventually it'll probably become a group assignment with one letter per person of something like that, but for now we'll see what you can get to with it.

Um, I'll have that overlay tutorial finished soonish...

Raine - Try searching for a trial version of Word, I would work on searching for it now, but can't because I'm working on typing up a tutorial...


EDIT: Wow, second page of this thread... Exidid, let Leminnes know that you're joining this class. He's the one that's been keeping track of student assignments.