Using Microsoft Paint to illustrate your book

What do you do when you are stuck working the overnight shift at a hospital reception desk? You become an expert in Microsoft Paint.

Turns out, sometimes our resistance to learn something new and master a new skill can lead to something pretty amazing. Pat Hines, who couldn’t be bothered to learn Photoshop and illustrated his ebook using good old Microsoft Paint, is the proof. “I suck at Photoshop and other programs, and have worked exclusively in Microsoft Paint for over ten years… I honed my craft working long overnights at a hospital reception desk…,” the guy writes. That’s why when it came to choosing the program to create illustrations for his novel Camp Redblood And The Essential Revenge, he looked no further and just went for something he was already good at.

So many times we try to find the perfect tool that will allow us to create works of art, but the perfect tool doesn’t exist. It’s like the photographer question, “What’s the best camera?” to which the answer is, “The one you have with you”. Don’t let lack of access to tools stop you from creating!