Deluxe Paint by EA

Deluxe Paint was first released in November 1985 for the Amiga 1000. It was created by Dan Silva for Electronic Arts and quickly became a legendary graphics program. It played a key role in the creation of many computer games in the 1980s and early 1990s. Over time, newer versions were released for different systems.

• Amiga (OCS) Deluxe Paint 1,2,3, and 4 releases
• Amiga (AGA) Deluxe Paint 4 and 5 enhanced releases

• Apple IIGS Deluxe Paint release (1987), developed by Brent Iverson
• MS-DOS Deluxe Paint II release (1988), supporting the 256-color VGA standard
• MS-DOS Deluxe Paint II Enhanced (1989), supporting super VGA video modes
• Atari ST Deluxe Paint  release (1990), supporting the STE 4096-color palette

Deluxe Paint Versions History

Deluxe Paint started as a project called Prism at Electronic Arts. Dan Silva expanded it and released Deluxe Paint I in 1985 for the Amiga. It was far ahead of its time and quickly gained popularity, even with artists like Andy Warhol.

• Dan Silva left EA in 1989 to work on 3D Studio at the Yost Group

Deluxe Paint 1,2,3 (Amiga OCS)

Dan Silva was the leading programmer in the first three DPaint releases (up to III).

•    Deluxe Paint I was released in 1985, supporting 4096 colors on the Amiga
•    Deluxe Paint II (1986) added features such as pattern and gradient fill and the ‘Effects Menu’
•    Deluxe Paint III was released in 1989 and was the first program to support 'animbrushes' and 'cel-like animation'. DPaint III also added new editing modes and supported the ‘Extra Halfbrite’
•    Deluxe Paint IV (1991) offered significant improvements, such as the HAM-mode support for creating images with up to 4,096 colors on screen. In addition, animation tools were enhanced.

Deluxe Paint 4,5 (Amiga AGA)

Commodore International commissioned Electronic Arts to develop a Deluxe Paint version for the A1200 and A4000 machines featuring the Advanced Graphics Architecture (AGA). 

• Version 4.0 (AGA) appeared in two versions (standalone and Commodore-bundled versions)
• Version 5.0 (AGA) was also released in 1995, following Commodore's bankruptcy in 1994. DPaint V supported true 24-bit RGB images
• Supporting the expanded HAM 8 mode, access to over 262,000 colors

Deluxe Paint II and Deluxe Paint Animation for IBM PCs (MS-DOS)

Released in 1988, Deluxe Paint II for PC required MS-DOS 2.0 or higher with 640 kB of RAM.

• Supporting all PC graphic cards of the era (CGA, EGA, MCGA, VGA, Hercules, and Tandy)
• There was also an enhanced version called 'Deluxe Paint II Enhanced', released in 1989

In 1990, there was also an animation program from Electronic Arts. The Deluxe Paint Animation for the IBM PCs:

•    Easily animate images
•    Supporting 320×200 screen resolution with 256 colors
•    The program was used in the development of many video games in the '90s

Released in 1994, Deluxe Paint II Enhanced 2.0 proved the most successful version for IBM and compatibles.

•    Supporting Super VGA video cards
•    800×600 screen resolution with 256 colors on screen (from 262,144)
•    1024×768 screen resolution with 16 colors on screen (from 262,144)
•    Compatible with ZSoft's PCX image format file

Deluxe Paint for Atari ST (GEM)

The Deluxe Paint ST was released in 1990. The software was developed by ArtisTech Development and published by Electronic Arts.

•    It was significantly different than other versions of Deluxe Paint
•    Supporting the 4096-color palette of the STE
•    Was awarded "Best Application Software Of 1990" and "Best Art/Graphics Package" by the magazine ‘ST Format’

Similar Product Releases from Electronic Arts

Deluxe Paint was the first of a series of similar products from Electronic Arts, which included:

•    Deluxe Music Construction Set (1986) for the Amiga and the Macintosh
•    Deluxe Video III for Amiga (1990)
•    Deluxe Paint Animation for IBM PCs (1990), mentioned earlier
•    Studio series of paint (Studio/8 and Studio/32) in 1990, and animation programs (Studio/1) for the Macintosh

Video Games Development & Other Uses

Deluxe Paint was used in the production of many classic games:

• LucasArts: The Secret of Monkey Island, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis

• Other games: Another World, Eye of the Beholder, Dark Seed

• Even FPS games: Doom, Wolfenstein 3D, Quake

Other Notable Uses

• Used for graphics in the 1989 film Murder on the Moon

• Featured in the webcomic Unicorn Jelly

• Used in the 2003 music video Move Your Feet by Junior Senior (by the art group Shynola using an Amiga)

Fun Facts

• The gold mask of Tutankhamun in DPaint was created by EA artist Avril Harrison

• In 2015, EA released the source code for Deluxe Paint I as a historical artifact

Sources:

•    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deluxe_Paint
•    https://www.datagubbe.se/dpaint
•    https://www.warhol.org