Gradients in Microsoft Paint

by DRADIS

266K2276

Intro: Gradients in Microsoft Paint

How to create simple color gradients in MS Paint.

STEP 1: Open Paint

Open paint. It is located under "Programs" and then "Accessories". After you have Paint open, press Ctrl+E. This will open the Attributes window (Attributes can be found under 'Image' too). Set width to 100, and height to 500. (Height can be any number, but 500 works well.) Make sure 'Pixels' and 'Colors' is checked and click OK.

STEP 2: Draw the Line

Your screen should now look like it does in picture 1. Now, select two colors you want to blend. Using the first color that you chose, use the line tool to draw a diagonal line connecting two corners, as in picture 2.

STEP 3: Fill & Shrink

Using the bucket tool, fill the top half of the page with the line color and the bottom half with the other color you chose. Now, press Ctrl+W. This opens the Stretch and Skew window (this can also be found under 'Image'). Enter 1% into the horizontal stretch area. Click OK.

STEP 4: Stretch It Out Again

Your screen should now look like picture 1. To stretch it out, again open the Stretch and Skew window. This time, enter 500% into the horizontal stretch area (500 is the max amount allowed). Click OK. Do this two or three more times, until your gradient is wide enough to be admired.

STEP 5: Wavy Gradients

This step is a bonus trick I just learned. First, get your gradient to be relatively skinny. Then, use the corner dot to drag your page size so most of your screen is white. Make sure your secondary color white before you do this. Then, select your gradient using the rectangle select tool, and click transparency. Then, while holding the shift key, drag your gradient in any way you want, such as a wavy line. Lastly, use the fill bucket to fill in the white space around the edges. Voila!

52 Comments

Natgeo564 6 years ago

How do I do gradients in windows 10? This is the image I'm trying to add it to... Sorry if can't see

beentheredidntdothat 3 years ago

Or maybe like this. Your flying machine is the wikedist space ship or Bird of Prey I've ever seen. I'm fascinated.

beentheredidntdothat 3 years ago

Maybe like thus.... Done with mspaint XP and Greenfish Icon Editor. Original image Natgeo564

hwgramm 3 years ago

12 year old data and still relevant today. Had trouble until I set the screen size to 100 x 768 pixels to start with. Then the expanding out several times got me over 1024 and I simply used the pixel settings rather than percentage on the last resize to 1024 x 768 and it worked great.

kmarie16 11 years ago

I have windows 7 and and mine does re size and skew not sketch and skew! so it does not work.

AngelFirePone 8 years ago

This'll help you out -->

XD it actually is possible, I did it quite a few times on my own. I also use windows 7 :P

AngelFirePone 8 years ago

I'm confused. I did all of this, and it's just coming up as a bunch of huge blocks. Can I get any help?

Jocelyn AngelicaT 8 years ago

I got that first to, but when I realized that paint automatically checks 'maintain aspect ratio', so uncheck that and change it, done, the gradient is made

AngelFirePone 8 years ago

Yeah, I figured that out after I looked at a couple YouTube videos. Thanks anyways!

Rain0Knight 11 years ago

Actually, it's possible, I did it on my windows 7 PC

AaronS4 9 years ago

Nope...it's possible...i just did i on my Windows 7 PC

artworker 11 years ago

Sooooo coool! This trick is so very out of this world. Please tell us how you found this trick. I would love to know the story behind this.

Icalasari 13 years ago

Still annoys me that they removed this feature

They actually made their program have FEWER features >.>

Aye Pod 14 years ago

dude NICE this is a really good guide

The Jamalam 15 years ago

I have to say this is quite cool. look what i made!

iSmack 15 years ago

Hey those gradients rock!! How did you make the one on the left??
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