17 ms·

A 97-Year-Old Man Who Draws Using Microsoft Paint from Windows ’95

596 points by tvladeck 13y ago

unimpressive 13y ago
This story illustrates two things that invalidate a lot of excuses. 1. It's probably not too late to start a new skill. 2. For digital drawing/painting in particular, the tools probably aren't as important as most people think. (Though to say they're not important would be lying. Bad tools shorten your life.)
- deleted 13y ago
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  - unimpressive 13y ago
    I'm not really sure what you're saying with this. Do you mean that they're worthless because he could have done so much better? Or that the methods are worthless because they won't translate to other programs? Or do you literally mean that they're worthless because they were done in MS paint? EDIT: Ah, your edit clarified. Yes, you want to move away from bad tools ASAP. Which means that nobody here should be using MS paint when Gimp, Paint.net, Krita and others are available free of charge.
    - deleted 13y ago
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      - eksith 13y ago
        They're both limiting media; the only variant here is degree. The Excel artist prints at a higher resolution... and that's about the only difference really. This is contradictory to your original assertion that it was "worthless" because of the technique used. The method used is interesting, but art doesn't have to have a higher resolution to be enjoyable. I mean this is in a museum for crying out loud : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Malevich.black-square.jpg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Malevich.black-square.jpg Quality of the lines, the resolution, the medium are all irrelevant when art considered on an individual basis and not comparatively. For the record, I feel like creating my own piece. Not in Paint, but with snips of fabric, paper and glue. It will be a lot of effort, but that effort will be fulfilling. Maybe that's another reason why I appreciate this. There's effort involved that aren't necessary. But then most of Pollock's work is just splatters of paint without "passion" isn't? Edit: Arrrgh! I hate it when people delete posts. Now I don't remember what the hell I was replying to or what arguments were made.
        stan_rogers 13y ago
        Actually, I think Pollock's work is more the other way around — the pieces are the remnant of a bit of performance art the viewer never got to see. While I'm not in any sense a fan of the work aesthetically, it feels even more of a cheat since the process was what was important, not the product. Neither do I particularly care what sort of anguish Mark Rothko may have been feeling when he put a black border around a yellow rectangle — however poetic his intent may have been, he had a piss-poor way of expressing himself. At least the Warhols and Lichtensteins of the period were authentic: they were unashamedly in it for the fame and the bucks.
  - eksith 13y ago
    How someone looks at a beautiful piece of art (regardless of whether it's done in Paint, Photoshop or yak dung) and claim "the examples shown have 0 value of any kind" without the age, software and year prefix, is beyond me. I'd love to have the forest paint in particular in my living room. Edit: And you've heavily edited your original post to the point it has completely lost its original context. As I recall, what you originally wrote left no room for "misinterpretation" or else that's rather like claiming you intended to fly to Canada and bought a plane ticket to Russia.
    - rlt3 13y ago
      Pieces like these (and others, like a 5 year old's painting) can have monetary value. People might place value on its level of enjoyment, such as yourself. But artistically, you'd be hard pressed to find any value in this due to its only merit being "made in Windows 95 in 2013" or "made by a 7 year old" or whatever. Typically, intentionally doing work in a difficult manner for the sake of making it hard on yourself isn't rewarded because it doesn't really add anything. This piece isn't made better because it was made in Windows 95 and Paint, yet that's the only reason why we're talking about it.
      - vacri 13y ago
        How something is made can be a significant part of the price. I remember a report on a painting that was unsigned. Experts were divided on who had painted it. I can't recall the painter's name, but if it was him, the painting was worth $200k. If it was one of his students, as half the experts thought, it was worth $2k. Same painting - only thing different is the 'metadata' for who made it, which made up literally 99% of the value. Similarly, there is art out there where an aficionado knows how difficult it is to do and hence will pay more for it, where a layperson will say "what crap" and refuse it. The story of a piece often has value over and above the piece itself - and making something to a certain level of quality while using inferior tools can be a valid part of that story.
        rlt3 13y ago
        Typically, extra labor -- that is rewarded -- for an art piece is going to be something that is pertinent for some common end. Using Windows 95 to paint something doesn't add anything to the end of a piece. Using marble and creating a structure that looks like a fluid river (or flowing something) adds value to the piece even though it was hard. Using marble, period, adds value simply because the work is in marble (monetary value) and represents a skill that you can produce works of art in marble. Using Windows 95 means you can use dated technology to produce literally the same thing that Photoshop CS6 could product (most likely in less time): a JPG. It literally is the same difference as painting a scene with your hands, and then doing it with your feet. Nothing was added and the work is no different, but you did it with your feet.
  - stfu 13y ago
    But this argument is like telling painters they produce stuff of no value because they could just take a photograph. Or use a painting effect if they insist on the style. Art has often a self-limiting aspect that makes it beautiful.
    - GhotiFish 13y ago
      Is it not fair to judge a piece of art without its context? In my opinion it isn't.
      - alan_cx 13y ago
        Yeah, art, IMHO, is all about context. In some cases, the actual piece of art, or perceived quality, is irrelevant. Cave paintings can be said to be rubbish art. Any one going to claim they have no relevance or value? With out context, to me, art is just a picture.
  - mynameishere 13y ago
    if he had spent 5 months on photoshop Or acrylics. I'm pretty sure everyone involved was aware of acrylics and he was really just using MS Paint as a pastime. Chill.
    - deleted 13y ago
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  - npalli 13y ago
    Well, he is doing pointillism. How is that going to be better in Photoshop? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pointillism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pointillism
    - rdtsc 13y ago
      Apply a filter. There is a Photoshop filter for it, I am pretty sure. Which again brings us to a discussion point. Would that be art? What if this man spend time building a Photoshop filter and starting applying the "pointillism" filter to random images. What if he wrote a script scraped the web, applied the filter and then published it out in his image archive. Would that be impressive? Would we have heard about him?
      - jussij 13y ago
        > There is a Photoshop filter for it, I am pretty sure In other words find a shortcut. I would say when it comes to art, shortcuts are not the best approach. Anyone could use that Photoshop filter, but it takes real skill to do it by hand.
      - npalli 13y ago
        That's not what he is doing though. He is actually manipulating the pixels, applying the filter will not give him any control over the pixels. He wants to do pointillism, not achieve a pointillism-like effect on a regular painting.
        rdtsc 13y ago
        I was being sarcastic.
      - alan_cx 13y ago
        Would you walk up to some one painting, and tell then to get someone else to do it?
        rdtsc 13y ago
  - rdtsc 13y ago
    >On the other hand, if he had spent 5 months on photoshop at any point in the past 20 years, On yet another (third) hand maybe not. It is like saying. "Yeah look he can bike 100 miles _but_ just imagine if he had his drivers' license, he could have driven 2000 miles!". Yeah maybe he could. But it wouldn't be the same story. > The art is (would be) much better, and useful without the story. Not matter how much we try it is always tied to the creator. The same doodle can be made by me, but if an elephant does it OMG it is amazing, sell it for $200k! If you don't see the creator or know how they are, it is tied indirectly to them via understanding of the work went into it. For example, maybe I don't know the name but if someone shows me a a large pointillist painting it will be impressive and the work put into it is part of it.
  - woofyman 13y ago
    I think they're beautiful. Very 50s illustration in style.
  - unimpressive 13y ago
    >For "2. For digital drawing/painting in particular, the tools probably aren't as important as most people think." I said this wrong. If you want to get into digital drawing/painting, the tools probably aren't important enough that you'll fail without them.
- toble 13y ago
  Older tools can be liberating because you have to work within their modest set of features. Choice isn't always a good thing etc.
  - deadfall 13y ago
    This is true. I am not expert in PS, so when I use it I basically only use the basic tools that MS paint provide. Unless I use the auto blend feature which is a fantastic. I think some of this art would be great backgrounds for indie pixel games.
  - woofyman 13y ago
    Having a limited set of tools forces me to be more creative. When I only had simple monophonic synthesizers, the results were much better than with the nearly unlimited sounds at my disposal now.
    - keithpeter 13y ago
      I take your point, however, have you considered simulating a simple analogue synthesiser in something like PD?
- chestnut-tree 13y ago
  "For digital drawing/painting in particular, the tools probably aren't as important as most people think" I agree, there's a lot of longevity and capability in older software. Watching this MS Paint video makes me realise we're too quick to dismiss software as outdated or inadequate. This story reminded me of another artist: an illustrator called Bob Staake who uses Photoshop 3 and a mouse to create his illustrations. He has a series of short videos on his website showing his process http://www.bobstaake.com/pixfix/films.shtml http://www.bobstaake.com/pixfix/films.shtml
lettergram 13y ago
I'm impressed.
Lazaro4100 13y ago
I have to admit that the video made me tear. As a graphic artist myself, this man is my ultimate hero!
peterkelly 13y ago
Wow! Just goes to show it's not about what tool you use, it's about your skills and what you can do with it. We would do well to remember this in all the programming language debates we like to have here.
- atondwal 13y ago
  Unless it's about text editors. Then you can't get _anything_ done if you don't use ed.
  - deleted 13y ago
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- jackschultz 13y ago
  I might even go so far as saying that is isn't about the tool, it's about the enjoyment you get from it. Quality should be important only if it's important to you. For most people it is, but if you enjoy doing something, it shouldn't matter what the quality is.
- zw123456 13y ago
  I agree, I just posted the same sentiment, sorry for being redundant.
- jberryman 13y ago
  What I thought of was about the importance of process and the notion of a medium. Limitations are essential to creativity. That's why I think talking about "digital photography" as a medium is nonsense, and why I think instagram should be taken seriously. I'm not sure how I think that relates to what programmers do.
- ddeck 13y ago
  Absolutely. Further highlighted by the link at the end of the story to a page on Tatsuo Horiuchi, who creates his artwork with.....Excel! http://www.spoon-tamago.com/2013/05/28/tatsuo-horiuchi-excel-spreadsheet-artist/ http://www.spoon-tamago.com/2013/05/28/tatsuo-horiuchi-excel...
coldcode 13y ago
I don't care what some fancy digital artist complains about above. It's beautiful. You try painting something beautiful with 90% of your vision gone. I imagine you probably dislike Michelangelo's work since he didn't use Photoshop either.
zw123456 13y ago
Whether you are using ancient tools like brushes and oil, or the most cutting edge paint program out there or MS Paint, or whatever, it is the artist's skill that matters.
iopq 13y ago
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hb3A1TdqXug http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hb3A1TdqXug this one is more impressive to me than his artwork
- jussij 13y ago
  That link is pretty darn good, but don't forget the 97 year old guy is nearly blind.
- primelens 13y ago
  I agree that it shows awesome mastery of paint, but the 97 year gentleman is making his own art - he just uses paint to do it.
dmotles 13y ago
Yay :) The video made me very happy. Thanks for sharing.
cjh_ 13y ago
Truly stunning.
cdhack 13y ago
Sometimes old tools are better, they have a stable operation and a lower CPU and memory usage. Maybe some famous tools like Photoshop should review their products carefully, they do have abundant functions, but to a certain extent, are they useful or practical for most common users? Best wishes to this great man.
- unimpressive 13y ago
  >are they useful or practical for most common users? Photoshop purchased legitimately is extremely expensive, it's not targeted at common users.
  - GuiA 13y ago
    Photoshop Elements is (somewhat) cheap, targeted at the everyman, and suffers from those problems though.
  - cdhack 13y ago
    It's not wise to simply judge a product's user by its price. MS Office professional is expensive, most users are still ordinary people.
bane 13y ago
A quote I once heard but can't remember the attribution "you don't need better tools, you need to do better with the tools you have" also http://readwrite.com/2013/06/11/excel-is-an-art-form-these-beautiful-images-are-proof http://readwrite.com/2013/06/11/excel-is-an-art-form-these-b...
- zw123456 13y ago
  When I was growing up in Oregon, the dude that was the awesomest best skiier, was the guy wearing Levi's and really shitty skis. Some things never change.
  - sramsay 13y ago
    I'm a pretty good (acoustic) guitarist, and I swear it's because the guitar I began with probably should have been used as kindling. The action sucked, so I developed excellent finger strength. The poor tension made it really easy to choke a string, so I developed incredible accuracy. It was really "buzzy," so I learned complicated finger-style patterns just so it wouldn't sound so bad when I played. The first time I got my hands on a real guitar, I sounded like Andres Segovia. :) I won't say that I never tried to blame my tools after that, but I do often manage to remind myself that when things are going wrong it's probably not the fault of the knife, hammer, programming language . . .
  - alan_cx 13y ago
    Reminds me of Seasick Steve. He plays a guitar with 3 strings missing. Sounds better than most with all 6.
    - phormula 13y ago
      look up Brushy One String
phektus 13y ago
I fell in love with computers during high school, where my teacher would allow me to play pokemon via gba rom in exchange for creating our school brochures and flyers using MSPaint. I have the honor of making the first soft version of our school logo, which the school only have in paper back then. Surprisingly, I didn't learn Photoshop in college and just went full speed to programming, which I hated in high school as it was taught using Visual Basic.
fear91 13y ago
It's always amazing to hear senile (but still sharp) people talk. 97 years of existence must teach a lot about life and what is really important. I wonder what could be achieved in one particular field of expertise if you devoted all that time to it. It's over 500,000 hours of possible learning ( for a 90 year old ). Some say that 10,000 hours is what takes to gain mastery ( I know this is controversial ). I like to imagine myself mysteriously falling into some other dimension where I am forced to live for 1000000 years and practice one craft, then returning and comparing my skills to those who had only one short life :) It helps to push the boundary of what seems "impossible" a little bit more.
- altrego99 13y ago
  Starting at 40-50, each decade you loose 2-3% of your neurons. At 90, by that calculation - unless things accelerate further - you'd loose 12% of your neurons. I hope I remain still as sharp when I reach my 90s.
- Hello71 13y ago
  http://www.xkcd.com/505/ http://www.xkcd.com/505/
  - photorized 13y ago
    That was beautiful.
freework 13y ago
If there is such a thing as a software hall of fame, MSPaint deserves to be in the inaugural class. Microsoft has written some real crap over the years, but MSPaint is no one of them. Its a shame that Microsoft seems to have left MSPaint behind after XP. I've tried all the open source MSPaint alternatives, and none of them even come close to being as good as MSPaint. Its like the "Super Mario Bros" of desktop software.
- edlinfan 13y ago
  I have copied mspaint.exe from a WinXP machine. It doesn't seem to have any prerequisites, and still works fine!
- yuhong 13y ago
  Win8 still have it.
  - GuiA 13y ago
    It does have the ribbon interface though, right? Sure, it's still mostly there- but what made the original so great was its straightforward interface. I find the ribbon interface takes that away.
    - recursive 13y ago
      You find the ribbon in Paint confusing? HN: Git is intuitive and Windows Paint is not straightforward.
- jussij 13y ago
  It's there on Windows 7. Just select the Windows Start button, type in paint and hit return.
  - deepblueq 13y ago
    It's not nearly as nice an interface, though.
jrarredondo 13y ago
After a while, most HN posts just fade away in my memory. I will remember this one forever.
beforebeta 13y ago
I read this and I think - what would the creator of MS Paint think if he read this story. As a developer and a creator, if I would ever read a story like this, about a product that I had created, I would think my life to be complete. Stories like this inspire me to keep stretching the boundary of what is possible and to keep creating...
D9u 13y ago
Windows "Paintbrush" was the application that piqued my interest in computers back in 1991. My artistic skills are definitely less than acceptable, and my inability to color within the lines in my grand-children's coloring books is proof. But with "pbrush.exe" I was ushered into an entirely new realm where even I could draw a straight line, or perfect spheres and polygons. However, none of my art work ever looked as awesome as that produced by Mr Lasko.
DigitalSea 13y ago
In an age of Photoshop and Illustrator this guy is drawing in an archaic painting program I used when I was in single digits and producing some awesome results. I don't care whether or not you think MsPaint is lame, old or other debatable points about it, you can't argue this piece in particular 'Rambo' is awesome: http://hallasko.com/collections/prints/products/rambo http://hallasko.com/collections/prints/products/rambo Being creative has nothing to do with what tools you use at the end of the day. People were creative long before the digital age and this guy has proven you don't need the latest, greatest or most expensive tools to produce a piece of art. Just an idea and any means to explore that idea is all you need. This is nothing short of inspiring to me. Probably one of the most positive and inspiring things I've seen on HN in a long time.
ivanbrussik 13y ago
this man is inspiring, what a beautiful story i love MS Paint - I work in a large marketing firm and use it everyday sometimes on advertisements that a million people see
kabisote 13y ago
Two statements from Grandpa that made an impact on me: "I got a lot of patience. That's what you really need anyway." and "When I worked I always had to do something to please the client. Now I can do whatever I want."
stephth 13y ago
Has anyone found any of his paintings in native resolution? I'd agree if you said that was a requirement to fully appreciate pixel art.
BasilAwad 13y ago
This is a great story. These are also the type of stories that should be shared to build bridges between different cultures and communities. The elderly are our nation's treasure.
- logn 13y ago
  They are. And soon we'll be them. I hope my NES works when I'm 90. And I'm hoping they still have a copy of Notepad and javac.exe around for me.
semicolondev 13y ago
I use Paint: 1)when I'm bored. http://www.flickr.com/photos/bhu1st/4911339994/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/bhu1st/4911339994/ 2)when I've to crop/edit quick screenshots 3) while teaching students about web design process (I do design/prototype quick web page layouts using paint). 4)meme generator ! Stitch images quickly to share it online. While switching to Linux or other OS I sometime unknowingly try to hit win-r->mspaint.
sp332 13y ago
The title reminded me of "Hyperbole and a Half" http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/11/dogs-dont-understand-basic-concepts.html http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/11/dogs-dont-unde... which manages to fit some pretty complex emotional expressions into mspaint-based stick figures.
japt 13y ago
it's not the tool it's how you use it
alinspired 13y ago
This should be called "A 97-Year-Old Man Who Draws".. MAN capitalized
emitstop 13y ago
This is one of the most inspiring videos I've had the pleasure of watching. This gives me hope for when (if) I become an old man myself. I do a lot of creative work, and if I ever lost the ability to do or experience those things. It'd just be devastating. Time goes by so quick.
baumgarn 13y ago
Nice guy and paintings. Still, I am fed up with the obtrusive "pitch" narrative of these kind of videos. If the resulting sentiment is mainly due to technical style, what does that say about your real values?
calandoa 13y ago
Who DARE challenge the power of MS Paint? http://www.elftor.com/elftor.php?number=112 http://www.elftor.com/elftor.php?number=112
keepingcom 13y ago
No layers... wow. I wish I still had win 95 to try to draw without any layer
- mkr-hn 13y ago
  You can use GIMP or Photoshop without adding layers.
mokash 13y ago
We spend so much time discussing to death the tools we use, time which should be spent using them instead. This man just got on with it.
Roonerelli 13y ago
On a similar note, you can send in suggestions to this guy and he'll draw them in MS-Paint http://jimllpaintit.tumblr.com/ http://jimllpaintit.tumblr.com/ There are a lot of really funny ones in there
- Toenex 13y ago
  Truly a beautiful thing.
koft 13y ago
kool
akadien 13y ago
This is cool. It demonstrates that imagination is more important than tools. I'm going to code in Notepad.exe today as a show of support.
enemtin 13y ago
MS Paint. What a classic.
hablahaha 13y ago
Prints! Shut up and take my money! Oh, that's a lot of money...
xwowsersx 13y ago
Just came here to say this was awesome. Really moving. Inspired by how full of life Hal seems even at his advanced age. Also, really nice to see technology enhance someone's life in such a wholesome, simple way.
ftwinnovations 13y ago
This was so inspirational and amazing that I purchased two prints for my office. Nice work grandpa!

596 points by tvladeck 13y ago

This story illustrates two things that invalidate a lot of excuses. 1. It's probably not too late to start a new skill. 2. For digital drawing/painting in particular, the tools probably aren't as important as most people think. (Though to say they're not important would be lying. Bad tools shorten your life.)

deleted 13y ago
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- unimpressive 13y ago
  I'm not really sure what you're saying with this. Do you mean that they're worthless because he could have done so much better? Or that the methods are worthless because they won't translate to other programs? Or do you literally mean that they're worthless because they were done in MS paint? EDIT: Ah, your edit clarified. Yes, you want to move away from bad tools ASAP. Which means that nobody here should be using MS paint when Gimp, Paint.net, Krita and others are available free of charge.
  - deleted 13y ago
    [deleted]
    - eksith 13y ago
      They're both limiting media; the only variant here is degree. The Excel artist prints at a higher resolution... and that's about the only difference really. This is contradictory to your original assertion that it was "worthless" because of the technique used. The method used is interesting, but art doesn't have to have a higher resolution to be enjoyable. I mean this is in a museum for crying out loud : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Malevich.black-square.jpg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Malevich.black-square.jpg Quality of the lines, the resolution, the medium are all irrelevant when art considered on an individual basis and not comparatively. For the record, I feel like creating my own piece. Not in Paint, but with snips of fabric, paper and glue. It will be a lot of effort, but that effort will be fulfilling. Maybe that's another reason why I appreciate this. There's effort involved that aren't necessary. But then most of Pollock's work is just splatters of paint without "passion" isn't? Edit: Arrrgh! I hate it when people delete posts. Now I don't remember what the hell I was replying to or what arguments were made.
      - stan_rogers 13y ago
        Actually, I think Pollock's work is more the other way around — the pieces are the remnant of a bit of performance art the viewer never got to see. While I'm not in any sense a fan of the work aesthetically, it feels even more of a cheat since the process was what was important, not the product. Neither do I particularly care what sort of anguish Mark Rothko may have been feeling when he put a black border around a yellow rectangle — however poetic his intent may have been, he had a piss-poor way of expressing himself. At least the Warhols and Lichtensteins of the period were authentic: they were unashamedly in it for the fame and the bucks.
- eksith 13y ago
  How someone looks at a beautiful piece of art (regardless of whether it's done in Paint, Photoshop or yak dung) and claim "the examples shown have 0 value of any kind" without the age, software and year prefix, is beyond me. I'd love to have the forest paint in particular in my living room. Edit: And you've heavily edited your original post to the point it has completely lost its original context. As I recall, what you originally wrote left no room for "misinterpretation" or else that's rather like claiming you intended to fly to Canada and bought a plane ticket to Russia.
  - rlt3 13y ago
    Pieces like these (and others, like a 5 year old's painting) can have monetary value. People might place value on its level of enjoyment, such as yourself. But artistically, you'd be hard pressed to find any value in this due to its only merit being "made in Windows 95 in 2013" or "made by a 7 year old" or whatever. Typically, intentionally doing work in a difficult manner for the sake of making it hard on yourself isn't rewarded because it doesn't really add anything. This piece isn't made better because it was made in Windows 95 and Paint, yet that's the only reason why we're talking about it.
    - vacri 13y ago
      How something is made can be a significant part of the price. I remember a report on a painting that was unsigned. Experts were divided on who had painted it. I can't recall the painter's name, but if it was him, the painting was worth $200k. If it was one of his students, as half the experts thought, it was worth $2k. Same painting - only thing different is the 'metadata' for who made it, which made up literally 99% of the value. Similarly, there is art out there where an aficionado knows how difficult it is to do and hence will pay more for it, where a layperson will say "what crap" and refuse it. The story of a piece often has value over and above the piece itself - and making something to a certain level of quality while using inferior tools can be a valid part of that story.
      - rlt3 13y ago
        Typically, extra labor -- that is rewarded -- for an art piece is going to be something that is pertinent for some common end. Using Windows 95 to paint something doesn't add anything to the end of a piece. Using marble and creating a structure that looks like a fluid river (or flowing something) adds value to the piece even though it was hard. Using marble, period, adds value simply because the work is in marble (monetary value) and represents a skill that you can produce works of art in marble. Using Windows 95 means you can use dated technology to produce literally the same thing that Photoshop CS6 could product (most likely in less time): a JPG. It literally is the same difference as painting a scene with your hands, and then doing it with your feet. Nothing was added and the work is no different, but you did it with your feet.
- stfu 13y ago
  But this argument is like telling painters they produce stuff of no value because they could just take a photograph. Or use a painting effect if they insist on the style. Art has often a self-limiting aspect that makes it beautiful.
  - GhotiFish 13y ago
    Is it not fair to judge a piece of art without its context? In my opinion it isn't.
    - alan_cx 13y ago
      Yeah, art, IMHO, is all about context. In some cases, the actual piece of art, or perceived quality, is irrelevant. Cave paintings can be said to be rubbish art. Any one going to claim they have no relevance or value? With out context, to me, art is just a picture.
- mynameishere 13y ago
  if he had spent 5 months on photoshop Or acrylics. I'm pretty sure everyone involved was aware of acrylics and he was really just using MS Paint as a pastime. Chill.
  - deleted 13y ago
    [deleted]
- npalli 13y ago
  Well, he is doing pointillism. How is that going to be better in Photoshop? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pointillism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pointillism
  - rdtsc 13y ago
    Apply a filter. There is a Photoshop filter for it, I am pretty sure. Which again brings us to a discussion point. Would that be art? What if this man spend time building a Photoshop filter and starting applying the "pointillism" filter to random images. What if he wrote a script scraped the web, applied the filter and then published it out in his image archive. Would that be impressive? Would we have heard about him?
    - jussij 13y ago
      > There is a Photoshop filter for it, I am pretty sure In other words find a shortcut. I would say when it comes to art, shortcuts are not the best approach. Anyone could use that Photoshop filter, but it takes real skill to do it by hand.
    - npalli 13y ago
      That's not what he is doing though. He is actually manipulating the pixels, applying the filter will not give him any control over the pixels. He wants to do pointillism, not achieve a pointillism-like effect on a regular painting.
      - rdtsc 13y ago
        I was being sarcastic.
    - alan_cx 13y ago
      Would you walk up to some one painting, and tell then to get someone else to do it?
      - rdtsc 13y ago
- rdtsc 13y ago
  >On the other hand, if he had spent 5 months on photoshop at any point in the past 20 years, On yet another (third) hand maybe not. It is like saying. "Yeah look he can bike 100 miles _but_ just imagine if he had his drivers' license, he could have driven 2000 miles!". Yeah maybe he could. But it wouldn't be the same story. > The art is (would be) much better, and useful without the story. Not matter how much we try it is always tied to the creator. The same doodle can be made by me, but if an elephant does it OMG it is amazing, sell it for $200k! If you don't see the creator or know how they are, it is tied indirectly to them via understanding of the work went into it. For example, maybe I don't know the name but if someone shows me a a large pointillist painting it will be impressive and the work put into it is part of it.
- woofyman 13y ago
  I think they're beautiful. Very 50s illustration in style.
- unimpressive 13y ago
  >For "2. For digital drawing/painting in particular, the tools probably aren't as important as most people think." I said this wrong. If you want to get into digital drawing/painting, the tools probably aren't important enough that you'll fail without them.
toble 13y ago
Older tools can be liberating because you have to work within their modest set of features. Choice isn't always a good thing etc.
- deadfall 13y ago
  This is true. I am not expert in PS, so when I use it I basically only use the basic tools that MS paint provide. Unless I use the auto blend feature which is a fantastic. I think some of this art would be great backgrounds for indie pixel games.
- woofyman 13y ago
  Having a limited set of tools forces me to be more creative. When I only had simple monophonic synthesizers, the results were much better than with the nearly unlimited sounds at my disposal now.
  - keithpeter 13y ago
    I take your point, however, have you considered simulating a simple analogue synthesiser in something like PD?
chestnut-tree 13y ago
"For digital drawing/painting in particular, the tools probably aren't as important as most people think" I agree, there's a lot of longevity and capability in older software. Watching this MS Paint video makes me realise we're too quick to dismiss software as outdated or inadequate. This story reminded me of another artist: an illustrator called Bob Staake who uses Photoshop 3 and a mouse to create his illustrations. He has a series of short videos on his website showing his process http://www.bobstaake.com/pixfix/films.shtml http://www.bobstaake.com/pixfix/films.shtml

lettergram 13y ago

I'm impressed.

Lazaro4100 13y ago

I have to admit that the video made me tear. As a graphic artist myself, this man is my ultimate hero!

peterkelly 13y ago

Wow! Just goes to show it's not about what tool you use, it's about your skills and what you can do with it. We would do well to remember this in all the programming language debates we like to have here.

atondwal 13y ago
Unless it's about text editors. Then you can't get _anything_ done if you don't use ed.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
jackschultz 13y ago
I might even go so far as saying that is isn't about the tool, it's about the enjoyment you get from it. Quality should be important only if it's important to you. For most people it is, but if you enjoy doing something, it shouldn't matter what the quality is.
zw123456 13y ago
I agree, I just posted the same sentiment, sorry for being redundant.
jberryman 13y ago
What I thought of was about the importance of process and the notion of a medium. Limitations are essential to creativity. That's why I think talking about "digital photography" as a medium is nonsense, and why I think instagram should be taken seriously. I'm not sure how I think that relates to what programmers do.
ddeck 13y ago
Absolutely. Further highlighted by the link at the end of the story to a page on Tatsuo Horiuchi, who creates his artwork with.....Excel! http://www.spoon-tamago.com/2013/05/28/tatsuo-horiuchi-excel-spreadsheet-artist/ http://www.spoon-tamago.com/2013/05/28/tatsuo-horiuchi-excel...

coldcode 13y ago

I don't care what some fancy digital artist complains about above. It's beautiful. You try painting something beautiful with 90% of your vision gone. I imagine you probably dislike Michelangelo's work since he didn't use Photoshop either.

zw123456 13y ago

Whether you are using ancient tools like brushes and oil, or the most cutting edge paint program out there or MS Paint, or whatever, it is the artist's skill that matters.

iopq 13y ago

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hb3A1TdqXug http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hb3A1TdqXug this one is more impressive to me than his artwork

jussij 13y ago
That link is pretty darn good, but don't forget the 97 year old guy is nearly blind.
primelens 13y ago
I agree that it shows awesome mastery of paint, but the 97 year gentleman is making his own art - he just uses paint to do it.

dmotles 13y ago

Yay :) The video made me very happy. Thanks for sharing.

cjh_ 13y ago

Truly stunning.

cdhack 13y ago

Sometimes old tools are better, they have a stable operation and a lower CPU and memory usage. Maybe some famous tools like Photoshop should review their products carefully, they do have abundant functions, but to a certain extent, are they useful or practical for most common users? Best wishes to this great man.

unimpressive 13y ago
>are they useful or practical for most common users? Photoshop purchased legitimately is extremely expensive, it's not targeted at common users.
- GuiA 13y ago
  Photoshop Elements is (somewhat) cheap, targeted at the everyman, and suffers from those problems though.
- cdhack 13y ago
  It's not wise to simply judge a product's user by its price. MS Office professional is expensive, most users are still ordinary people.

bane 13y ago

A quote I once heard but can't remember the attribution "you don't need better tools, you need to do better with the tools you have" also http://readwrite.com/2013/06/11/excel-is-an-art-form-these-beautiful-images-are-proof http://readwrite.com/2013/06/11/excel-is-an-art-form-these-b...

zw123456 13y ago
When I was growing up in Oregon, the dude that was the awesomest best skiier, was the guy wearing Levi's and really shitty skis. Some things never change.
- sramsay 13y ago
  I'm a pretty good (acoustic) guitarist, and I swear it's because the guitar I began with probably should have been used as kindling. The action sucked, so I developed excellent finger strength. The poor tension made it really easy to choke a string, so I developed incredible accuracy. It was really "buzzy," so I learned complicated finger-style patterns just so it wouldn't sound so bad when I played. The first time I got my hands on a real guitar, I sounded like Andres Segovia. :) I won't say that I never tried to blame my tools after that, but I do often manage to remind myself that when things are going wrong it's probably not the fault of the knife, hammer, programming language . . .
- alan_cx 13y ago
  Reminds me of Seasick Steve. He plays a guitar with 3 strings missing. Sounds better than most with all 6.
  - phormula 13y ago
    look up Brushy One String

phektus 13y ago

I fell in love with computers during high school, where my teacher would allow me to play pokemon via gba rom in exchange for creating our school brochures and flyers using MSPaint. I have the honor of making the first soft version of our school logo, which the school only have in paper back then. Surprisingly, I didn't learn Photoshop in college and just went full speed to programming, which I hated in high school as it was taught using Visual Basic.

fear91 13y ago

It's always amazing to hear senile (but still sharp) people talk. 97 years of existence must teach a lot about life and what is really important. I wonder what could be achieved in one particular field of expertise if you devoted all that time to it. It's over 500,000 hours of possible learning ( for a 90 year old ). Some say that 10,000 hours is what takes to gain mastery ( I know this is controversial ). I like to imagine myself mysteriously falling into some other dimension where I am forced to live for 1000000 years and practice one craft, then returning and comparing my skills to those who had only one short life :) It helps to push the boundary of what seems "impossible" a little bit more.

altrego99 13y ago
Starting at 40-50, each decade you loose 2-3% of your neurons. At 90, by that calculation - unless things accelerate further - you'd loose 12% of your neurons. I hope I remain still as sharp when I reach my 90s.
Hello71 13y ago
http://www.xkcd.com/505/ http://www.xkcd.com/505/
- photorized 13y ago
  That was beautiful.

freework 13y ago

If there is such a thing as a software hall of fame, MSPaint deserves to be in the inaugural class. Microsoft has written some real crap over the years, but MSPaint is no one of them. Its a shame that Microsoft seems to have left MSPaint behind after XP. I've tried all the open source MSPaint alternatives, and none of them even come close to being as good as MSPaint. Its like the "Super Mario Bros" of desktop software.

edlinfan 13y ago
I have copied mspaint.exe from a WinXP machine. It doesn't seem to have any prerequisites, and still works fine!
yuhong 13y ago
Win8 still have it.
- GuiA 13y ago
  It does have the ribbon interface though, right? Sure, it's still mostly there- but what made the original so great was its straightforward interface. I find the ribbon interface takes that away.
  - recursive 13y ago
    You find the ribbon in Paint confusing? HN: Git is intuitive and Windows Paint is not straightforward.
jussij 13y ago
It's there on Windows 7. Just select the Windows Start button, type in paint and hit return.
- deepblueq 13y ago
  It's not nearly as nice an interface, though.

jrarredondo 13y ago

After a while, most HN posts just fade away in my memory. I will remember this one forever.

beforebeta 13y ago

I read this and I think - what would the creator of MS Paint think if he read this story. As a developer and a creator, if I would ever read a story like this, about a product that I had created, I would think my life to be complete. Stories like this inspire me to keep stretching the boundary of what is possible and to keep creating...

D9u 13y ago

Windows "Paintbrush" was the application that piqued my interest in computers back in 1991. My artistic skills are definitely less than acceptable, and my inability to color within the lines in my grand-children's coloring books is proof. But with "pbrush.exe" I was ushered into an entirely new realm where even I could draw a straight line, or perfect spheres and polygons. However, none of my art work ever looked as awesome as that produced by Mr Lasko.

DigitalSea 13y ago

In an age of Photoshop and Illustrator this guy is drawing in an archaic painting program I used when I was in single digits and producing some awesome results. I don't care whether or not you think MsPaint is lame, old or other debatable points about it, you can't argue this piece in particular 'Rambo' is awesome: http://hallasko.com/collections/prints/products/rambo http://hallasko.com/collections/prints/products/rambo Being creative has nothing to do with what tools you use at the end of the day. People were creative long before the digital age and this guy has proven you don't need the latest, greatest or most expensive tools to produce a piece of art. Just an idea and any means to explore that idea is all you need. This is nothing short of inspiring to me. Probably one of the most positive and inspiring things I've seen on HN in a long time.

ivanbrussik 13y ago

this man is inspiring, what a beautiful story i love MS Paint - I work in a large marketing firm and use it everyday sometimes on advertisements that a million people see

kabisote 13y ago

Two statements from Grandpa that made an impact on me: "I got a lot of patience. That's what you really need anyway." and "When I worked I always had to do something to please the client. Now I can do whatever I want."

stephth 13y ago

Has anyone found any of his paintings in native resolution? I'd agree if you said that was a requirement to fully appreciate pixel art.

BasilAwad 13y ago

This is a great story. These are also the type of stories that should be shared to build bridges between different cultures and communities. The elderly are our nation's treasure.

logn 13y ago
They are. And soon we'll be them. I hope my NES works when I'm 90. And I'm hoping they still have a copy of Notepad and javac.exe around for me.

semicolondev 13y ago

I use Paint: 1)when I'm bored. http://www.flickr.com/photos/bhu1st/4911339994/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/bhu1st/4911339994/ 2)when I've to crop/edit quick screenshots 3) while teaching students about web design process (I do design/prototype quick web page layouts using paint). 4)meme generator ! Stitch images quickly to share it online. While switching to Linux or other OS I sometime unknowingly try to hit win-r->mspaint.

sp332 13y ago

The title reminded me of "Hyperbole and a Half" http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/11/dogs-dont-understand-basic-concepts.html http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/11/dogs-dont-unde... which manages to fit some pretty complex emotional expressions into mspaint-based stick figures.

japt 13y ago

it's not the tool it's how you use it

alinspired 13y ago

This should be called "A 97-Year-Old Man Who Draws".. MAN capitalized

emitstop 13y ago

This is one of the most inspiring videos I've had the pleasure of watching. This gives me hope for when (if) I become an old man myself. I do a lot of creative work, and if I ever lost the ability to do or experience those things. It'd just be devastating. Time goes by so quick.

baumgarn 13y ago

Nice guy and paintings. Still, I am fed up with the obtrusive "pitch" narrative of these kind of videos. If the resulting sentiment is mainly due to technical style, what does that say about your real values?

calandoa 13y ago

Who DARE challenge the power of MS Paint? http://www.elftor.com/elftor.php?number=112 http://www.elftor.com/elftor.php?number=112

keepingcom 13y ago

No layers... wow. I wish I still had win 95 to try to draw without any layer

mkr-hn 13y ago
You can use GIMP or Photoshop without adding layers.

mokash 13y ago

We spend so much time discussing to death the tools we use, time which should be spent using them instead. This man just got on with it.

Roonerelli 13y ago

On a similar note, you can send in suggestions to this guy and he'll draw them in MS-Paint http://jimllpaintit.tumblr.com/ http://jimllpaintit.tumblr.com/ There are a lot of really funny ones in there

Toenex 13y ago
Truly a beautiful thing.

koft 13y ago

kool

akadien 13y ago

This is cool. It demonstrates that imagination is more important than tools. I'm going to code in Notepad.exe today as a show of support.

enemtin 13y ago

MS Paint. What a classic.

hablahaha 13y ago

Prints! Shut up and take my money! Oh, that's a lot of money...

xwowsersx 13y ago

Just came here to say this was awesome. Really moving. Inspired by how full of life Hal seems even at his advanced age. Also, really nice to see technology enhance someone's life in such a wholesome, simple way.

ftwinnovations 13y ago

This was so inspirational and amazing that I purchased two prints for my office. Nice work grandpa!