Step 1: Open Paint, click Image, then Attributes:
Now, we're selecting the size we want this to be...for this project I chose 300 wide by 90 high. You can change these number as you need for different size banners, signatures and avatars. Just remember to check with the site/forum/message board you'll be using these for their graphics guidelines.
Now you'll have a plain white rectangle in the upper left side of your Paint window:
Step 2: get your image...Click Edit, then select Paste From:
Now, when you click Paste From, your Pictures will open. Choose the picture, click on it, click Open:
You should now have the image you selected sitting on your white rectangle with a broken line "box" around it...this means you can use your cursor to move that image to where ever you want it -- once the "box" disappears, that's where your picture stays!
For this project, I wanted to have that image on both sides, mirroring each other. So, click Edit, Copy, Paste. A second copy of your image will appear. You can move this second image around just like the first one. You can also click Image, then Flip/Rotate - I "flipped" this image horizontally:
Step 3: To The Text! Now we're going to add our Text. Click the large A on the side toolbar of Paint. If you want the text a certain color, either click Colors on the top toolbar if you want a custom color, or choose a basic color from the tray at the bottom of the page. Now, draw a "box" in the space where you want your text. Just draw straight across and drag down so you have a good sized box or rectangle. Yes, you can move this around some before you start typing. After you do this, click View, then select Text Toolbar - so you can choose your font and size:
Type...if you don't like the size or type of font, just backspace and choose another size and/or font. When you're done, it will look something like this. To keep it and get rid of the "box" you drew, just click with your mouse below your text box:
Step 4: Color! Yes, we're going to color in the background and add a small border. First, choose the color you want for your background. I clicked Colors, then clicked Edit Colors to make a softer, lighter yellow. Then click the little "paint pot" - Flood...place that on the banner, click and you've got a background color:
Now, you need to check, sometimes there are small areas that didn't get filled in when you did the color flood. Click View, Zoom, Large Size. Look for anyplace missing your background color and use the Flood "pot", Painbrush or Pencil depending on size) to fill everything in. When you're done, you can click View, Zoom, Normal Size...or leave it Larger and we'll add the border!
To add a very easy border, choose a color that goes with your image/text/background. Then on the side toolbar click on the \ -- then under that, choose the width of the line. I used the second, slightly thicker line. Start at the corner of your banner and just holding the left mouse, move it. Watch the line -- if it starts to do something like _- just move your mouse slightly and the line will straighten itself out. Do this on all 4 sides of your banner/siggy/avatar.
Step 5: All you need to do is save and upload! I usually save the original in 24-bit .bmp format, then either save in .gif (using a slightly different name so I can tell them apart) or use something like irfanview.com to convert that bmp to a gif. Sometimes Paint will cause a color loss when saving to gif and you will get a pop up window saying that if you do save as gif format in Paint. I DID save this as a gif in Paint ... the banner looks fine, but you can see the color loss in some of the Paint images.
And taa-daa...this is the finished graphic! Trust me, once you have practiced this a few times, you will become fast and proficient, and you'll probably find a few things and shortcuts to make this even easier and more fun. Enjoy!
Using a Picture or Image for a Banner/Siggy/Avatar
You are going to follow the basic directions above. The difference is, you're using a picture or image as your background instead of adding a picture and/or coloring in a background. Yes, this can be tricky, as there is no 'Crop' in Paint. When you choose your Attributes, only part of your picture will show up. Of course, if you like, you can add pictures and/or a border to this.
The difference is you need to select the Draw Transparent, which I have shown here. Just click on that second little box:
Follow Step 3 above as far as instructions on setting up your font, color, size, etc. This is basically what you should see -- the "box" with the broken lines, which is where your text will go:
And this is a sample of what your finished graphic will look like:
Using "Draw Transparent" with Paint
This is just to show 2 different ways to use the "Transparency" option in Paint. The Default for Paint is Draw Opaque. Should you want to add images, text, etc., to a project, you'll want to change that Opaque. Here's how:
Or, another way is:
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