Making an Advertisement Using Paint.NET

For graphic designers, graphic art beginners, and everything in between, Paint.NET is a fantastic tool for digital art. It’s versatile, modular, easy to learn, and most importantly, free.

Paint.NET can be used for numerous different applications, such as designing logos, creating infographics, editing photos, and much more. In this Instructable, we'll make an 8.5" x 11" poster-style digital advertisement to market an event.

For this tutorial, all you’ll need is a computer and Paint.NET software (download from getpaint.net). A basic understanding of keyboard shortcuts and a mouse would both be helpful for this tutorial but are by no means required.

After opening Paint.NET, start by setting up your interface. On the right side of the top ribbon, make sure to click the four icons to show the “Tools,” “History,” “Layers,” and “Colors” toolbars. These will help to create designs, choose colors, align graphics, and much more.

On the left side of the top ribbon, click the “New” icon to create a new image. A popup will appear requesting the dimensions of this new image. We’ll be creating an advertisement similar to an 8.5” by 11” sheet of paper, although any size will work. Using a high quality of 300 pixels per inch will make this advertisement look professional and easy to read, so we’ll be making this image with a width of 2550 pixels and a height of 3300 pixels. Hit “OK” to create the image and get started.

To start off the design, decide on what the background of the advertisement will look like. This can be an image, a pattern, a solid color, or anything that will add some flair without distracting the audience from the content. For this advertisement, we’ll make a gradient as the background.

Select two colors by clicking in the Colors toolbar at the bottom left corner of Paint.NET. In the top left dropdown, toggle between “Primary” and “Secondary” to choose each respective color. Hit the “More > >” option to enter a color in RGB, HSV, or Hex codes instead of clicking one that suits the advertisement.

Hit the gradient icon in the Tools toolbar or press the “G” key to initiate a gradient. Left click and drag on the canvas to make a gradient. After releasing the mouse button, the circles on the canvas can be dragged to make modifications to the location of the gradient. Different types and patterns of gradients can be chosen in the top ribbon.

Tip: Websites like https://coolors.co/ can be very helpful for choosing cohesive color schemes.

Next, make a foreground that will grab the viewer’s attention. This can be a picture, a graphic, a logo, or anything else that will make the viewer want to read the rest of the advertisement. In the case of a dog owner meetup, we’ll put a picture of dogs to catch the interest of the target audience.

Start by clicking the “Add New Layer” icon in the Layers toolbar, then click the “Properties” icon on the right side of the same toolbar. In the popup, give the layer a descriptive title, such as “Foreground,’ and hit “OK.”

Once you have an image in mind, paste it in this layer. To crop this down to the preferred size, choose one of the selection tools on the Tools toolbar. Select an area to delete by dragging along the canvas, and hit the delete key to erase it.

Finally, to center this image, click on the “Move Selected Pixels” icon or hit the “M” key, and drag the image to its desired location. Hit the escape key to deselect the picture.

Tip: The arrow keys can be used to give a more precise means of alignment for a selection.

We now need a descriptive title to tell the viewer the subject of the advertisement. Create a new layer, and name it “Title.” Choose the color you’d like the title to be, and select the “Text” tool or press the “T” key.

Click on the canvas and start typing the title of the advertisement. The text font, size, alignment, and more can be selected along the top ribbon.

To give the viewer all necessary information, we now need to list the details of the event. Create another new layer, and name it “Details.” Choose the color you’d like this message to be, and select the “Text” tool or press the “T” key.

Click on the canvas and start typing the details of the advertisement, such as the location, time, and anything the viewer should know prior to the event.

To make the advertisement more eye catching, some small decorations can be added to the image, such as logos, graphics, or pictures. Staying on the example of a dog theme, we’ll make small designs of a bone and a paw print.

Create a new layer, name it, choose a color, and select the “Shape” tool. For the bone, start by selecting the elliptical shape in the top ribbon, making sure the shape will be drawn filled. Make several ellipses in the shape of a bone, and connect them with a rectangular shape in the center.

For the paw print, start with another layer and color. Make several more ellipses in the shape of the toe prints, rotating them as desired by clicking just outside of the shape boundaries and dragging around the shape. Lastly, make the palm of the paw. This can be made with more overlapping shapes, or the “Paintbrush” tool can be selected and used to draw the remaining design by dragging the cursor in the shape of the palm.

Tip: There are numerous tools to make designs, such as utilizing the “Line” tool or “Pencil” tool.

To get the most out of these designs, sprinkle them around empty space on the advertisement. Choose the layer of the design to decorate with, and choose a selection tool. Select the design, copy it, and paste it on the canvas. This selection will now be in “Move Selected Pixels” mode, so it can be moved, rotated, and sized into the desired position and rotation on the advertisement. Repeat this process to fill up some of the empty spaces on the canvas.

Tip: The advertisement shouldn’t be too busy or cluttered with designs, but a few to accentuate the image can be extremely beneficial.

Subtle details can make a big difference in appearance, so small effects and adjustments come in handy making advertisements.

Using the “Duplicate” icon in the Layers toolbar, duplicate the “Title” layer, and select the lower layer. Select “Invert Colors” under the “Adjustments” menu item at the top of Paint.NET. Hit the “M” key and use the arrow keys to move the contents of the layer down and over slightly. This will give the title a shadow effect to make it look slightly more professional.

Duplicate the layer of bone designs, and invert the colors of the layer again. Under the “Effects” menu item, select “Blurs” and “Gaussian Blur.” Increase the blur radius to give the bones a slight outline, then duplicate the layer to make the outline more opaque. Once more, this little addition helps the design pop.

Before exporting the advertisement, it’s a good practice to save the file as a .PDN file, a Paint.NET specific filetype. This will save the layers and details of the file so individual changes can be made to the layers when the file is reopened.

After the image is saved as a .PDN file, hit “Flatten” under the “Image” menu item. This will condense all of the pixels on every layer into one, making it ready to export into a standard image type.

Tip: Before flattening the image, make sure each layer is in the correct spot. If parts of the image that should be in the front are covered by other graphics, drag that layer upward to move this graphic in front of others.

Finally, hit “Save As…” under the “File” menu item. Choose the location you’d like to save a fully rendered image to, and choose the file type to export. This can be .JPG, .PNG, .TIFF, etc., but .PDN cannot be displayed without opening Paint.NET software.

After hitting the “Save” button, a popup will appear asking for the specified save configuration. Settings can be entered to raise or lower the image quality to reduce the file size, but the default settings are usually reliable. Hit “OK,” and your advertisement should be finished!