RIP, Microsoft Paint
MS Paint, the first app you used to edit images, will likely be disabled in future Windows 10 updates and replaced by the new Paint 3D app. Microsoft lists the 32-year-old app under “deprecated features” in the next fall update to Windows 10, a small cross marks the end of an era.
The app is definitely a holdover from the days when the average computer user couldn’t open Photoshop, Skitch, Pixelmator, or thousands of web apps. MS Paint cannot save image components as layers or vectors; this is only for creating flat static images. It doesn’t smooth out lines or guess your best intentions. He does what you tell him, and nothing more, accurately reproducing the jerks of drawing by hand with a computer mouse. This is the time to touch, the time to trackpads.
As more sophisticated options emerged, Paint’s clumsy aesthetic became a conscious choice. “Paint” has become a metonym for this aesthetic, even if the image was actually created in another application. TV Tropes lists the main limitations that led to a certain look: wobbly freehand lines, awkward color handling, and inappropriate export settings that give Paint its distinctive look.
In 2014, Gawker’s Sam Biddle noted Paint’s influence on conspiracy theory imagery by naming the shape “Chart Brut.” In an effort by amateur detectives to identify the Boston Marathon demolitions, the simplicity and unevenness of Paint evokes a “crazy wall” aesthetic with red thread and scribbles, clearly without irony.
That same year, internet historian Patrick Davison explored the impact of Paint on the last decade of meme culture , especially Rage Comics . The aesthetics of outsider art seem to fit the relevant everyday content and make the art form safe.
Of course, Paint offered several anti-aliasing features, such as the circle and line tools and the fill tool, which were used in Stoner’s comics in the early 10s. Most importantly, these circles still had jagged curves. Stoner’s bright comics colors are flat as MS Paint doesn’t support gradients (notricky trick ).
Compare these pixelated lines to the sleek, stylish face from this drawing tutorial :
This smoothness lies in Paint’s successor, Paint 3D. From the moment you start painting, Paint 3D will make your drawings smoother. (It also supportsauto-selection and content-aware filltools to compete with Photoshop.)
By automatically enhancing the art, Paint 3D hides the process behind the image. Paint’s negligence is probably why rage comics have become so popular. By looking at the rage comic, you can tell exactly how it was drawn and how you could draw it yourself. By providing exactly what the artist paints, MS Paint renders an image that the viewer can mentally reconstruct and simulate.
Unless you go crazy.
Reddit user Toweringhorizon painstakingly put together the “To a Little Radio” drawing using MS Paint tools such as an oil brush , stretching the medium while maintaining a pixelated look. This is one of the best works on the MS Paint subreddit , a beautiful collaborative art gallery. Scrolling through this drawing is like flipping through a sketchbook for the most artistic kid in high school. There is common rudeness, desirable minimalism. For example, the exquisite raindrops in the artwork above are reflected on the flat, featureless countertop. Like a solid-state radio, Paint may show its age, but this rugged little gadget shouldn’t be underestimated.
“To a Little Radio” doesn’t even come close to checking Paint’s limits. Saying goodbye to the app that shaped an era, let’s take a look at this whimsical soundtrack time-lapse depicting Santa Claus in MS Paint on Windows 7 for 50 hours. We can only believe that it is real, because it would be even more difficult to fake it.