PaintBBS Overview

PaintBBS is one of the most used oekaki programs. But of course, it's not fun to use unless you actually know how to use it! It looks pretty small, but each button hides many more if you keep clicking it. I will explain each button going in order down the sidebar of the program.

Solid
This tool is probably one of the most used tools. It simply lets you draw with a solid color, as if you were using Paint. It is best used for lineart or coloring.
Watercolor
If you click the solid tool twice, it should change into this tool, known as the watercolor tool. It colors similar to the solid tool except it will be smooth and not entirely solid with one stroke. Most skilled artists would use the watercolor tool for possible lineart and detailed shading.
Text
If the solid tool is clicked a third time, it will become this tool. Basically this tool will let you type something into your picture. Just click where you want the text to start and a box will pop up for you to type it in.

Halftone
This tool creates halftones. Halftones are basically like a solid line but with pieces out of it...like instead of being one line it might be lots of dots. Many artists use this for pretty shading or environmental effects. Increasing the alpha channel or A (explained later) will make the halftones more dense.
Blur
I don't know why they didn't call this tool simply "Blur" because that's all it does. You can get to it by clicking the halftone tool twice. If you have something like a solid line basically it will blend the edges with the colors around it to make it look blurry. Unless it is a certain special effect in your drawing, you should try to avoid this tool, since clear pictures are nicer than blurry ones.
Highlight
If the halftone tool is clicked yet again, you will get this tool. I think they intended for people to use it to create highlights on their picture..but most artists prefer to just use watercolors to shade/highlight their picture. It might help in a few areas, but I would also try to avoid this tool.
Shade/Darkness
Click the halftone tool again, and you'll get this. Like the highlight tool, I would stay away from this one. All it does is...the opposite of the highlight tool...it makes things darker, like shading them. Most people would use the watercolor tool instead of this for shading though.

Rectangle
This tool is simple...it creates a filled-in rectangle of the color you have selected.
Line Rectangle
If you click the rectangle tool again, you will get this tool which also makes a rectangle, but it will just be the outline of one...not filled-in.
Oval
Click the rectangle tool a third time to get this. It works in the same way as the rectangle took except it makes an oval or circle instead.
Line Oval
This tool is the same as the oval tool, except it is just the outline.

Copy
This tool comes in handy since many artists make the mistake of not drawing where they want too. This tool will seem to draw a rectangle, but inside that rectangle it makes a copy of everything and lets your move it wherever you want. If you're picture isn't quite where you want it be sure to try this tool out.
Layer-Unify
Click the copy tool twice to get this tool. It is another really handy tool, but it takes a while to get the hang of. It will seem to draw a rectangle just like the other tool, but everything inside the rectangle this time will all be moved to the current layer you are on. The most common thing I've seen it used for is when an artist accidentally draws their lineart on the bottom layer. They switch to the top layer and use the layer-unify tool to bring all of their lineart to the top layer with them. If you need help understanding layers, feel free to check out my Layers Section.
Antialias
The antialias tool works like the blur tool, except it lets you blur in rectangles. I don't see many people using this tool, and like I said before blurring pictures might not be a good idea.
Reverse Left/Right
This tool is a fairly new tool, so older versions of PaintBBS might not have it. Basically when you draw a rectangle around your picture with it it will horizontally reverse anything inside the rectangle. In other words, anything on the right inside of the rectangle will be moved to the left and left to right.
Reverse Up/Down
This tool works in the same way as the reverse left/right tool except up will become down and down to up. It's like turning something upside-down.
Lie
I don't know why they call this tool "lie" but basically it will rotate your picture by 90 degrees clockwise. It's hard to explain that any further..

White
You use THIS to erase!! DON'T use the color white to erase, because PaintBBS will actually see it as the color white and not clear. When you erase with this it will be clear. So basically this is the eraser tool.
White Rectangle
This works in the same way as the white tool, except it will erase in rectangles. It works great for erasing huge portions of a picture.
Clear
This tool is only used if you want to erase your entire picture on all layers. One click on your picture with this will clear everything.