PaintChat Toolbar
When you click on the Toolbar, a selection of 11 different tools appears on the left side of your drawing area. They are: Pencil, Pen, Water, Water2, Air-Br, Eraser, Eraser2, Dodge, Burn, Grad, and Min. Each tool has its own unique characteristics and abilities that we will now discuss in order.
PaintChat Pencil Tool
In the upper left-hand corner of the canvas is the pencil tool. Click on the icon and let's see what this tool can do.
The Pencil Tool (Continued)
The PaintChat Pencil Tool is good for outlining characters and drawing all kinds of lines--except for smooth lines, as we'll see in a minute. Pencil tool is excellent for pixel to pixel drawings, such as for sprites.
! Interesting Fact: Sprites are what classic (old-time) video game characters are called.
The Pencil Tool (Continued)
Zoom in on a pencil drawing using the plus sign (+) near the bottom left portion of your drawing surface, just above the chat window.
Notice that the pencil tool can produce some unwanted artifacts, often called stairsteps or jaggies, which are a form of aliasing. These artifacts are caused by the process of converting vector data (smooth and continuous) into pixel data (rectangular). The Pencil Tool isn't that great at converting the data, so our character winds up with a "bad hair day".
PaintChat Pen Tool
Our next tool is the Pen. Click on the icon and give it a try.
The Pen Tool (Continued)
Notice that when we draw, the lines are nice and smooth. Antialiasing rocks! That's something built into the PaintChat Pen Tool that eliminates (or at least reduces) the unwanted artifacts or jaggies.
The Pen Tool (Continued)
Even when we zoom in, the lines appear nice and smooth.
PaintChat Water Tool
Our next tool draws like a watercolor brush. Click on the icon and give it a try.
The Water Tool (Continued)
Notice that when we draw, the lines are nice and smooth. As with the Pen Tool, antialiasing is built into the PaintChat Water Tool and eliminates (or at least reduces) unwanted artifacts or jaggies. This tool is great for filling in between the lines.
The Water Tool (Continued)
Again, even when we zoom in, the brush strokes appear nice and smooth.
PaintChat Water2 Tool
Our next tool also draws like a watercolor brush, with a little extra feature. Click on the icon and give it a try.
The Water2 Tool (Continued)
Notice that when we draw, the lines are, one again, nice and smooth. So what's different about this brush tool? The icon gives us a hint: it's a broad brush.
The Water2 Tool (Continued)
Water2 allows us to mix and blend colors between the brush and the background image that we're painting on. This is great for painting highlights and shading. Look at what we've done here with the lips, nose, cheeks and eyes.
PaintChat Air-Br (Airbrush) Tool
Our next tool is an airbrush with some cool abilities. Click on the icon and give it a try.
The Airbrush Tool (Continued)
This tool allows us create highly rendered images with a high level of realism. Proper technique allows for the blending of two or more colors in a seamless way, with one color slowly becoming another color.
The Airbrush Tool (Continued)
A skilled airbrush artist can produce paintings of photographic realism or can simulate almost any painting medium.
! Interesting Fact: The first airbrush was invented in 1879 by Abner Peeler in Iowa, USA.
PaintChat Eraser Tools
Good art with PaintChat is all about give and take. For taking away parts of your painting, PaintChat has two erasers, each with its own characteristics. Click on the first eraser and let's get started.
The Eraser Tool
The first eraser is not equipped with anti-aliasing. In that regard, it's similar to the pencil tool. The erased path contains "stairsteps" or "jaggies". Think of this eraser as the "jaggy" eraser.
PaintChat Eraser2 Tool
The second eraser has different properties. Click on the icon and give it a try.
The Eraser2 Tool (Continued)
The second eraser is equipped with anti-aliasing. In that regard, it's similar to the pen tool. The erased path is smooth and continuous. Think of this eraser as the "smooth" eraser.
PaintChat Eraser Tools: A Summary
Each of the two PaintChat erasers is useful is different situations to produce different effects. Just remember: Eraser one = "jaggy"; Eraser two = "smooth".
Touching Up with the Dodge, Burn and Grad Tools
Whether you choose to touch up a painting depends on your art and what you are trying to achieve. Sometimes, certain elements of your painting are either too dark or too light, and you need to make an adjustment. Let's begin by clicking on the Dodge Tool to enhance the painting below.
Touching Up with the Dodge, Burn and Grad Tools (Continued)
Use the Dodge Tool to lighten up areas of the painting like so:
Touching Up with the Dodge, Burn and Grad Tools (Continued)
Use the Burn Tool to darken areas of the painting like this:
Touching Up with the Dodge, Burn and Grad Tools (Continued)
Use the Grad Tool to blur areas of the painting. For example, a painting goes from this...
Touching Up with the Dodge, Burn and Grad Tools (Continued)
...to this:
PaintChat Min Tool
This tool is a bit of a mystery. It makes some wacky little images that you might use for texturing. I don't really know what it is--do you?
Next: PaintChat Layers