Tune in for a shot for shot recreation of Blade Runner in Microsoft Paint

2 min. read

Published on December 5, 2016

published on December 5, 2016

Readers help support Windows Report. We may get a commission if you buy through our links.

While Ridley Scott’s sci-fi masterpiece Blade Runner will finally get a sequel to be released in cinemas in late 2017, a fan has found a fun way to pay an homage to the movie he loves using Microsoft Paint (via Open Culture) . For the past six months, David MacGowan has been using the decades old graphic editor (it was released initially with Windows 1.0 in 1985, three years after Blade Runner) to create “a shot by shot re-enactment of Blade Runner through the magic of Microsoft Paint.” While MacGowan is not a professionnal drawer, it’s still fascinating to see his passion and attention to detail being expressed through the legacy software.

MacGowan is publishing is work on a Tumblr blog called MSP Blade Runner, which was first discovered by Vice’s Motherboard website. Vice also interviewed MacGowan, who shared that he’s a long time MS Paint user. “Years ago I used to draw really crappy basic MS Paint pics for a favourite pop group’s fan site, and they always seemed to raise a smile. The idea of doing something else with MS Paint, a kind of celebration of my not being deterred by lack of artistic talent, never really went away,” he explained.

In the interview, MacGowan also reveals that some of his drawings can take him as little as five minutes, depending on the amount of details in the shots he has to reproduce with Paint. A new drawing is published every day on his blog, but MacGowan is still far to recreate the whole movie. “I don’t really think about giving up. The idea of actually completing something I start out to do for once in my life is very appealing. And it’s fun, it’s not a chore,” he added.

Radu Tyrsina

Radu Tyrsina has been a Windows fan ever since he got his first PC, a Pentium III (a monster at that time). For most of the kids of his age, the Internet was an amazing way to play and communicate with others, but he was deeply impressed by the flow of information and how easily you can find anything on the web. Prior to founding Windows Report, this particular curiosity about digital content enabled him to grow a number of sites that helped hundreds of millions reach faster the answer they're looking for.