History Main / PolkaDotPaint

Sometimes, cartoon characters will paint with one or two strokes in colour combinations that simply cannot be done that way in the real world, such as stripes, checks, polka dots, or even more elaborate patterns.

* To get jobs in the fire department, WesternAnimation/RenAndStimpy use "dalmatian paint" -- one quick swipe each with a brush and they're white with black spots -- Stimpy's tongue included.

* In "The Vanishing Private", WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck paints a field cannon with red, green and yellow stripes, and black polka dots. All at once, with a single brush and bucket.

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrographics_%28printing%29 Water transfer printing]] is freakishly close to being this in real life. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enFSoiCo-lA&feature=youtu.be&t=115 In this video]], for example, you can see a wheel being painted ''paisley'' by dipping it in a vat.

* One ''Literature/NormanHunter'' book had the protagonists needing to fulfill a promise by painting with striped paint. They fake the effect by painting the stripes in advance and whitewashing over them. The "striped paint" they then demonstrate is water, which removes the whitewash and leaves the stripes.

* In the ''Creator/{{Disney}}'' short "Santa's Workshop" one of Santa's elves paints chess boards with checkered paint.

* In ''Film/AnExtremelyGoofyMovie'', the toy factory Goofy works at is shown to use black and white checkerboard paint to color chess boards.

* ''WesternAnimation/PrivateSnafu'': In "The Goldbrick", Goldie applies a coat of spotted 'measles paint' to Snafu's to allow him to fake being sick.

* The WesternAnimation/SillySymphonies short, "[[SantaClaus Santa's]] Workshop" has one elf using checkered paint to paint checkerboards.

* Some of the Rainbow Pool paintbrushes from ''Franchise/{{Neopets}}''. And the Chia pops, the transmogrification potions, and the Lab Ray colors.

* A British paint manufacturer actusally developed workeable polka-dot paint. The "dots" were little blobs of a contrasting color paint, held together with a thin waxy membrane, that "burst" when applied to the surface being painted. This was developed for the thrill of resolving a technical challenge: public indifference resulted in there being no market for it.

[[AC:ComicBooks]]

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]
* One NormanHunter book had the protagonists needing to fulfill a promise by painting with striped paint. They faked the effect by painting the stripes in advance and whitewashing over them. The 'striped paint' they then demonstrated was water, which removed the whitewash and left the stripes.

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]

[[AC:VideoGames]]
* Some of the Rainbow Pool paintbrushes from ''Franchise/{{Neopets}}''.
** And the Chia pops, the transmogrification potions, and the Lab Ray colors.

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]
* In the ModernMadcaps cartoon "Travelaffs", a passenger has his bag checked: A few strokes with a broad brush, and it's painted with a checkerboard pattern.
* In "The Vanishing Private", DonaldDuck paints a field cannon with red, green and yellow stripes, and black polka dots. All at once, with a single brush and bucket.

* An Indian camouflaging his horse in the ''ComicBook/LuckyLuke'' film ''Daisy Town'' swipes his brush back and forth on the horse, and behold! the horse is coated in an elaborate landscape.

* To get jobs in the fire department, WesternAnimation/RenAndStimpy use 'dalmatian paint' - one quick swipe each with a brush and they're white with black spots - Stimpy's tongue included.
* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', it's shown that rainbows are this. Pinkie Pie dips a hoof in the liquid rainbow and it retains seven distinct stripes of color, despite dripping off her hoof. She then ''licks'' it...and [[FireBreathingDiner starts breathing multicolored fire!]]
** Earlier in the season, Rainbow Dash used the pool of it in her own front yard as war paint as part of a LockAndLoadMontage; it appeared as red, yellow, and green stripes.

[[AC:RealLife]]

* A British paint manufacturer actusally developed workeable polka-dot paint. The "dots" were little blobs of a contrasting colour paint, held together with a thin waxy membrane, that "burst" when applied to the surface being painted. This was developed for the thrill of resolving a technical challenge: public indifference resulted in there being no market for it.

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrographics_%28printing%29 Water transfer printing]] is freakishly close to being this in real life. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enFSoiCo-lA&feature=youtu.be&t=115 In this video]], for example, you can see a wheel being painted ''paisly'' by dipping it in a vat.

[[quoteright:320:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/coatofal.png]]

* Some of the Rainbow Pool paintbrushes from ''{{Neopets}}''.

* ''TinyToonAdventures'' would continue the WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes tradition from time to time.

* Whenever something is drawn in ''DogCity'', it's done this way.

* To get jobs in the fire department, RenAndStimpy use 'dalmatian paint' - one quick swipe each with a brush and they're white with black spots - Stimpy's tongue included.

* In the ''{{Disney}}'' short "Santa's Workshop" one of Santa's elves paints chess boards with checkered paint.

* In "Easter Yeggs", BugsBunny paints Elmer's head blue with yellow polka dots in two strokes.

* In one of the episodes of ''VideoGameRockinKats'', a paint was used which made white-red striped paint for every odd swipe and blue-yellow polka dot paint for every even swipe.

* In one of the episodes of ''[[RockinKats Rockin' Kats]]'', a paint was used which made white-red striped paint for every odd swipe and blue-yellow polka dot paint for every even swipe.

* One Norman Hunter book had the protagonists needing to fulfill a promise by painting with striped paint. They faked the effect by painting the stripes in advance and whitewashing over them. The 'striped paint' they then demonstrated was water, which removed the whitewash and left the stripes.

* In one episode of HomeImprovement, Tim claims to have a machine that can scan anything and make a color of it. Perfectly reasonable at first, but then Tim scans Al, produces "A nice can of Al", and proceeds to paint his portrait on a wall with a paint roller. Everyone else is shocked or amused by this, so in-universe it's probably just a magic trick.
* ''TheGoodies'' acquire the nation's art collection to stop wealthy Americans buying it, but end up stuck with the bill. After all their efforts to foist the cost off to the National Gallery fail, Tim invites the Americans back in, but now they're only interested in a single painting, ''The Monarch of the Glen'' by Sir Edwin Landseer which Bill refuses to part with. Graham then produces a roller brush which paints ''Monarch of the Glen'' over every painting they have.

* In the Modern Madcaps cartoon "Travelaffs", a passenger has his bag checked: A few strokes with a broad brush, and it's painted with a checkerboard pattern.

* In one of the episodes of ''Rockin' Kats'', a paint was used which made white-red striped paint for every odd swipe and blue-yellow polka dot paint for every even swipe.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}", Fry paints a convincing military uniform on himself with three squirts from a can of "All-Purpose Spray."