The Poor Man's Guide to Logo Design: Paint Tutorial Thread

[Cult of the Black Flame]

I think the guy that said "I dismiss you COMPLETELY" is quite a bit more of a jackass than the guy that's actually trying to help. I feel sorry for paint users that are actually trying to improve because a select few are making everyone look bad by saying "fvck you" to any advice they're offered. You have artists that are genuinely trying to help you but you choose to see it as "hate" (which is the probably the most immature term you could use in this situation). I'm not sure what else I can add, GFB's post pretty much sums it up:

Hijacking someone's helpful thread to say 'we're better artists listen to us!' is punk, and nobody asked for your help. Start your own thread.

[IceCap]

The thread was made in good faith as a means to help those who only have MS Paint at their disposal improve. There is nothing inherently wrong with that. Hopefully this will spur on a process that will allow other young designers improve their skills in paint and allow them to move on to the next level. Everyone starts somewhere and this is a guide to help with that.

So everyone needs to stop with the bickering. Personal attacks and further posts that drive this thread off topic will not be tolerated. Thank you.

[Shadojoker]

???? applause

[McCall]

mod edit

[eagle98]

Thank you to all who gave feedback. I especially appreciate some of the more senior members of the board taking their time to weigh in. I will use the feedback I have received to improve future tutorials.

I see now how the first tutorial was not really a logo per se and is just a traced image. Future tutorials will try to focus on the entire process of designing a logo, including the step of sketching something on paper.

I feel that no matter what happens there will still be people on here who use Paint. I figure that we may as well have people creating decent Paint concepts rather than bad ones. Maybe in later tutorials, I will try to introduce Inkscape and try to get people started with that using skills that they have learned while using Paint.

Thank you to GFB for your useful insight. I will try to have future tutorials include more design skills that can be transferred over to another program. (Your analogies made me laugh, too). My hope is definitely to make it a smoother transition from Paint to another program.

Thanks to slapshot for your post. I will see if I can do an extension of the first tutorial and turn it into more of a logo than an illustration.

The upcoming Logolympiad gave me an idea. I was thinking that I could use Logolympiad challenges (maybe from back in 2011 or 2012) as the basis for some tutorials.

I agree that if one wants to create professional logos, then it is absolutely necessary to use a different program. However, I think that no matter what, it is best to start out with something simpler and maybe a little less sophisticated. For example, if one is learning to fly a plane, they will probably not start out on a military fighter jet.

As a personal aside, the reason that I stayed in Paint for so long was that I had no other choice. Before I got my own computer a couple years ago, I couldn’t use any other programs because my parents wouldn’t download them onto the family computer for me. So I had to use Paint (and later MS Word). Because I used Word’s path feature in my logos, I was better equipped to work with vectors when I finally started using Inkscape.

As a final thought, this thread is definitely aimed at beginners. Just like I (an Inkscape user) would not have need to look at a Photoshop thread), most of the board would have no need for a Paint thread, but I think it would still be valuable for the board members who are either beginning or just like design and are not trying to be professionals. I want people to be able to create logos in Paint and then receive feedback on them just the same as if they were using any other program. Nothing frustrates me more than a Paint user receiving comments that only take issue with the program and ignore the design itself. Oftentimes I myself have recommended that someone use another program, but that comes only at the end of my post after I have addressed the issues with the design itself.

Thank you again to all for your feedback.

P.S. to llfhockey: This thread is directed (among others) at people like you. However, if you want to improve, it is imperative that you accept criticism to improve concepts. Throughout your time on the boards, you have come off as belligerent and stubborn. If one does not put effort into improving, ultimately it does not matter what program is being used.

[suplauren]

I think a lot of people here are underestimating just how useful a skill tracing in a computer program is.

Even if you draw your own logo, you're going to bring it onto the computer. And then you have to trace it. And sometimes that's hard! Sometimes it can be tough to tell where to define the boundaries of your sketch. Sometimes lines get blurry.

Also, I've been playing around with revamping old logos for a while. It takes tracing! And it's not easy! You need to be able to make your own judgement calls about what does and doesn't look good. It's also a good way to teach yourself how to work with paths in a design program, how to build with shapes instead of lines, and other general design concepts.

And many people didn't even seem to read Eagle98's first post... he never said that tiger was meant to be a good logo. It's a starting point. Everyone needs to start somewhere. That first tracing part can help young artists to decide what parts of an image should be in a logo, and what is too detailed. Also, making something you're actually proud of is a confidence booster, and it can spur you on to make more, and from there you get better. No one ever said these kids have to stay in paint forever.

[SuperLeafsFan]

suplauren nailed it on the head. I have stuck with paint myself for the same reasons as eagle98, and I find that it's pretty useful albeit I do wish that you could rotate better than you can as of now. But I have thought about trying out either Paint.NET or Gimp for my upcoming project (Doing the AFL), and I am looking at revamping some logos....

I have one other thing to say: Paint isn't as bad as people make out. Some great concepts can come from Paint if you use it properly and keep at it. Yes, it takes time, but it is a great tool not only for beginners, but people who can't buy or download other tools as well. I also will agree that people use paint as a excuse. Those people seem to be the new Instagram craze that has joined the site, or trolls. I know this may sound mean but ignore the excuse and be helpful. Being harsh to someone who is trying their best isn't helpful.

[JTswag187]

A lot of paint users are way too stubborn to make the transition. I was a paint user once, and for paint I made decent concepts, I would go pixel by pixel and took 8 hours to make a basic logo. You can make good concepts in paint, but its still a program for 4 year olds in my opinion. Paint is extremely inefficient, the most basic concept I could make in inkscape would take weeks in paint. Though you can express creativity in paint, you will learn nothing but what colors look good together. The transition was very easy for me, It took me a couple hours of watching toturials to learn how to use the tools and by the end of that month I could make okay concepts. It's not as hard as it seems, if you're a paint user, make the change, it will do you magic. Abandon paint completely, it'll force you to realize how stupid you have been staying with paint for this long. I don't know how you paint users do it, I felt that paint was primitive when I was 8.