Sumo Paint 2.0 is a great on-the-web image editing program. There are no files to download or install. Anywhere you have internet access you can edit an image. You can edit images from your computer or from a url address. The program is quite extensive for a free, web-based application but it is not as accurate as a quality image editing program that may be installed on your computer like Adobe Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro, or even the open source program named Gimp.

A common image edit needed for posting images to Artalyst is the Crop and Resize of an image to create the 80x80 and 260x170 thumbnails. Sumo Paint isn't the easiest way to accomplish this, but it can be done following the steps below. If are on your computer and don't need the convenience of a web-based application, use an installed program like Adobe Photoshop. Alternately, if you are short on cash, use Gimp, it's free. You can use Sumo Paint for free here: www.sumo.fi/flash/sumopaint/

In this example, we will crop a section of our "Ship on Water" picture and resize it 260x170 to form our preview thumbnail for upload.

Step 1: Upload your image to Sumo Paint 2.0 for editing

When you open the Sumo Paint 2.0 program in your browser, a default image area opens. Close the image editing window in preparation to open an existing file from your computer. It should look like this.

Select from the Sumo Paint menu, not the browser menu, >File>Open from My Computer>. Then you will be shown a window with the files located on your computer. Navigate to the correct folder and choose the file you want to edit, then click the Open button.

When you open a new image, or just about anytime you do any type of selective work on the image, it will default to 100% zoom, or actual pixel size. If you have a large image, this can get old really quickly. At the bottom left corner of the image pane, the zoom percentage, along with the pixel size is indicated. With the selection tool highlighted (right column, top row of the tool pane), right-click on the zoom percentage and choose "fit to screen".

Step 2: Resize the image to a manageable size for editing

Then you will have your full size image shown completely on the screen. Notice that the zoom percentage in the bottom left corner of the image pane now reads 20% but the pixel size is the same. Because the image will keep snapping back to 100% zoom when we make edits, and the desired size of our final image is only 260x170, we want to make the image fit the screen and be at 100% zoom.

In the Sumo Paint menu, choose >Image>Image Size>. A dialog box will open to allow you to adjust the image size in any way. Be sure that the "Constrain Proportions" check box is checked on or the image will be distorted. The "fit to screen" zoom is 20%, so change the image size size "Percents" field to 20% also. This will cause the image to reduce in size just enough to fill the screen and yet be at 100% zoom. If your image size is different in anyway, such as too small that the final size is smaller than our desired 260x170, then play with the settings until you get the correct size.

Step 3: Create a new image 260x170 pixels

Image editing programs can easily just crop and image with a desired aspect ration, 260x170 pixels in this case. Sumo Paint is a great application, but it isn't that sophisticated. We can easily help it out by giving it a template to crop to. In the menu, select >File>New>. In the provided dialog box, enter 260 for width and 170 for height and click OK.

You should now see your new solid white image on top. In the bottom left corner you can see your new image is 260x170 pixels. Be sure that your new image is selected by clicking on the image pane's top bar. Then select all pixels by choosing >Select>All> from the menu or ctrl+a. Copy the selected white rectangle to your clipboard by choosing >Edit>Copy> or ctrl+c. You can now close the newly created white image.

Step 4: Place the white rectangle on the image

Be sure that you have your original image selected and paste the white rectangle you put in the clipboard earlier. Choose >Edit>Paste> from the menu or ctrl+v. Use the selection tool to move the white rectangle around.

In the layer menu in the bottom right corner of Sumo Paint, change the opacity of the white rectangle so that you can see the area of the original image that is under it.

Step 5: Adjust the area to be cropped

You and move the white rectangle anywhere you like. The idea is to place and/or resize the rectangle over the original image to indicate where you will eventually crop the image. In this example, we want to crop the whole boat, so the rectangle will have to be made larger to cover the boat. Now to change the size of the rectangle and not change it aspect ratio (260:170). Be sure the layer containing the white rectangle is selected and choose the >Edit>Free Transform> option from the drop-down menu or ctrl+t. Hold down the shift key and adjust one of the corner grip boxes to adjust the size of the rectangle.

It is important to hold down the shift key while adjusting the rectangle so that the aspect ratio doesn't change. Unfortunately, when you are transforming the rectangle, it becomes solid white again and you cannot see the original image beneath. Don't worry, you can Free Transform as many times as you like to get the rectangle the correct size. After you have the rectangle the required size, click the "Apply Transform" button just below the drop-down menu and above the tool pane. Now the rectangle is transparent and you can see exactly where the crop will happen.

Step 6: Crop the image

You now need to select the exact area of the newly resized and moved white rectangle. Remember that you created the rectangle to have the proper aspect ration of 260:170 and that has not changed, even though you have made it larger and moved it around. Use the magic wand tool in the first column, second row, of the tool pane. While the layer with the white rectangle is selected, click in the rectangle. You should see a blue border around the white rectangle. You actually want to remove everything except the original image underneath the white rectangle. So now invert your selection by choosing >Select>Inverse> from the menu.

Now your selection contains everything outside of the white rectangle. Remove everything in your selection. Be sure the layer containing your original image is selected, then choose >Edit>Cut> from the menu or ctrl+x. Now the area you want to crop is surrounded by empty white space. You do not need the white rectangle any longer so you may delete the layer it is on or turn it off by clicking the eye next to it in the layer box to the bottom right. Sumo Pain doesn't have a way to crop by selection, but we can crop out all the empty space by choosing >Image>Auto Crop> from the menu.

Step 7: Final image adjustments

You have finally cropped the image! Sumo Paint isn't extremely accurate like an installed program may be, so you may have a tiny sliver of white on one or more sides of the cropped image. No problem, we can force the image to be more precise by adjusting the canvas size. Choose >Image>Canvas Size> from the menu. In the dialog box, fill in both "Percents" fields to 99%. That will remove the tiny white sliver on the edge. It's important that both width and height fields be the same percentage so that the aspect ration remains correct.

The final adjustment is to reduce the cropped image to the proper size which should be exactly 260x170. Choose >Image>Image Size> from the menu. In the dialog box, change the width to 260 and the height to 170. Do not check the "Constrain Proportions" check box on. Because Sumo Paint isn't that accurate, you may get an image that is one pixel off in one fo the dimensions. This way you can force the image to the precise size needed. In this case, the only size that is allowed to upload to Artalyst preview thumbnail.

Step 8: Save the image

Save your image to your computer by selecting >File>Save to My Computer> from the Sumo Paint drop-down menu, not the browser menu.

When the dialog box opens, select the radio button "JPG" and adjust the quality setting. Usually 70 is adequate for reducing the size enough to upload to Artalyst. Images are different so play around with the settings. I recommend saving the image using a filename that is unique, but identifies the image as a preview thumbnail. In this case, the "-pv" is added to the end of the file name.

There are other free, web-based, paint or image editing programs on the internet. You can always try one of the others to see if you like them better. It is recommended to use an image editing program that you install on your computer for many reasons. They are faster, create a more precise edit, crop, resize, etc., create a cleaner image with less artifacts and distortion.