blog > How to Make Blinkies in Paint

This is a tutorial on how to make blinkies. To keep it concise & accessible, this article only covers simple two-frame blinkies. I may write guides/tips on more advanced techniques in the future!

Note: In this tutorial I use Kolourpaint, but MS paint has all the same tools!

  1. Start with a blank blinkie template like this one:
    pink blinkie frame template

  2. Let's say you wanna make a green blinkie. In your fav paint app, floodfill the border and inside background with different shades of green:
    floodfill blinkie border and background

  3. Then use the floodfill tool to recolour the pips around the border:
    manually recolour pips around the blinkie border
    This can be pretty tedious, so you can save time by copy/pasting a section of recoloured pips: select and copy a section of recoloured pips
    paste and position the section of recoloured pips
    position the recoloured pips

  4. Repeat until all your pips are the colours you want! Your first frame background is complete, so save it!
    green blinkie background - first frame

  5. Make a copy of your first frame. This copy will be your second frame. Flip it both horizontally and vertically: flip the first frame both horizontally and vertically to get the second frame
    Your second frame background is complete, so save it!
    green blinkie background - second frame

  6. Next, go back to your first frame and write/draw whatever you want:
    draw anything on the first blinkie frame
    Your finished first frame is complete, so save it!
    green blinkie - first frame complete

  7. Copy/paste everything inside the border:
    copy the drawing from the first frame to the second frame
    Paste it to the second frame. Your finished second frame is complete, so save it!
    green blinkie - second frame complete

  8. Finally, combine your frames into a gif. The Ezgif gif maker is easy to use -- just upload your finished frames, click "Make a GIF!", and download your blinkie!
    green blinkie - finished!