You may be a burgeoning artist, but what if you don’t have the funds to buy expensive design software (or your internet connection is too slow to download it)? MS Paint is scarcely what I’d call a respectable art program, but if that’s all you’ve got, what can you do?

Believe it or not, there are ways to make art on the internet and directly create art online. Sure, it won’t be nearly as excellent as something done in Photoshop, but these internet art sources are usually a little better than MS Paint and are a good place to start learning the nuts and bolts of crafting digital art.

One of the most common forms of internet canvas is a graffiti or oekaki board. With one of these, you can usually choose the size of the canvas and you can use a mouse or tablet to draw in the allotted space. Some of these sources aren’t much better than MS Paint, but some permit you to use varying brush transparencies, airbrush effects, layers, and texture effects, which can result in some pretty neat-looking pieces. Check out artpad.art.com for a Flash-based digital sketch book. The Flash illustration boards can be a little tougher to use compared to HTML ones, but they generate largely the same effects.

Keep in mind, though, that no matter how breathtaking your picture turns out, it’s probably not going to be something that you could put in a graphic designer resume. It might be remarkable considering the limited resources you had, but potential employers will not want to hire someone who doesn’t have the basics as far as expected digital design capabilities (translation: Photoshop). And an art college, if you wish to enroll in one, will almost certainly laugh in your face if you show them such work. As said, use these online painting pads as a means of building an artistic foundation, but don’t rely on them fully.