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80-Year-Old Man Masters Excel To Create Amazing Paintings (19 Pics)
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80-Year-Old Man Masters Excel To Create Amazing Paintings (19 Pics)

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80-year-old Tatsuo Horiuchi from Japan is known all around the world for his incredible drawing skills. However, he doesn’t use pencils, pens, or paint for his art. Instead, he creates masterpieces in Microsoft Excel!

Around 20 years ago, before retiring, Horiuchi thought that he needed a new challenge in his life. So he settled on painting. However, he didn’t want to spend money on art supplies—he decided to use his PC. But he didn’t go for any fancy digital drawing software either and opted for Excel.

If you enjoyed Horiuchi’s art, you can order one of his paintings on his website right here. You can find his email address there, too, if you want to say a quick ‘hello’ or ask him to share his PC wisdom with you. Meanwhile, scroll down, enjoy Horiuchi’s paintings, and let us know in the comments which ones were your favorite, dear Pandas!

Tatsuo Horiuchi has been making paintings using Microsoft Excel for around 20 years

Image credits: Tatsuo Horiuchi

He draws landscapes of Japan on his computer

Image credits: Tatsuo Horiuchi

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Here’s what his work process looks like

Image credits: Tatsuo Horiuchi

Image credits: Tatsuo Horiuchi

Image credits: Tatsuo Horiuchi

Horiuchi started learning how to draw after he retired in 2000

Image credits: Tatsuo Horiuchi

He didn’t want to buy any art supplies or digital software. So he settled for Excel

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Image credits: Tatsuo Horiuchi

Here are some more of his paintings

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Image credits: Tatsuo Horiuchi

Image credits: Tatsuo Horiuchi

Image credits: Tatsuo Horiuchi

Image credits: Tatsuo Horiuchi

Image credits: Tatsuo Horiuchi

Image credits: Tatsuo Horiuchi

Image credits: Tatsuo Horiuchi

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Image credits: Tatsuo Horiuchi

Image credits: Tatsuo Horiuchi

Image credits: Tatsuo Horiuchi

Image credits: Tatsuo Horiuchi

Image credits: Tatsuo Horiuchi

You can watch a video about Horiuchi right here

Horiuchi’s example is inspirational to a lot of people. He shows that everything is possible if you put your mind to it (though I doubt that most of us have the patience to figure out how Excel works) and that we should all continue learning new things as we grow older.

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“I didn’t expect it [my painting] to improve immediately, so I made a 10-year plan,” Horiuchi told AFP.

“For the first 3 years, I concentrated on ‘drawing’ and drew all the things that could be seen, such as vegetables such as carrots and Japanese radish, and wild grass, in Excel. For the next 3 years, I practiced combining the motifs one by one to construct a painting.”

Six years after starting his Excel art journey, Horiuchi applied to an Excel Authoshape Art Contest and won the grand prize. That’s when he started getting more and more attention from people for his skills.

Since then, he has become somewhat of a legend and some of his artwork has even been acquired by the local Gunma Museum of Art.

The Japanese artist prefers Excel to Microsoft Paint because it offers more flexibility, has more functions, and is easier to use.

Social media users loved Horiuchi’s art and a lot of them were impressed that you can use Excel to draw

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Jonas Grinevičius

Jonas Grinevičius

Writer, BoredPanda staff

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Storytelling, journalism, and art are a core part of who I am. I've been writing and drawing ever since I could walk—there is nothing else I'd rather do. My formal education, however, is focused on politics, philosophy, and economics because I've always been curious about the gap between the ideal and the real. At work, I'm a Senior Writer and I cover a broad range of topics that I'm passionate about: from psychology and changes in work culture to healthy living, relationships, and design. In my spare time, I'm an avid hiker and reader, enjoy writing short stories, and love to doodle. I thrive when I'm outdoors, going on small adventures in nature. However, you can also find me enjoying a big mug of coffee with a good book (or ten) and entertaining friends with fantasy tabletop games and sci-fi movies.

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Jonas Grinevičius

Jonas Grinevičius

Writer, BoredPanda staff

Storytelling, journalism, and art are a core part of who I am. I've been writing and drawing ever since I could walk—there is nothing else I'd rather do. My formal education, however, is focused on politics, philosophy, and economics because I've always been curious about the gap between the ideal and the real. At work, I'm a Senior Writer and I cover a broad range of topics that I'm passionate about: from psychology and changes in work culture to healthy living, relationships, and design. In my spare time, I'm an avid hiker and reader, enjoy writing short stories, and love to doodle. I thrive when I'm outdoors, going on small adventures in nature. However, you can also find me enjoying a big mug of coffee with a good book (or ten) and entertaining friends with fantasy tabletop games and sci-fi movies.

Justinas Keturka

Justinas Keturka

Author, BoredPanda staff

Read more »

I'm the Visual Editor at Bored Panda, responsible for ensuring that everything our audience sees is top-notch and well-researched. What I love most about my job? Discovering new things about the world and immersing myself in exceptional photography and art.

Read less »

Justinas Keturka

Justinas Keturka

Author, BoredPanda staff

I'm the Visual Editor at Bored Panda, responsible for ensuring that everything our audience sees is top-notch and well-researched. What I love most about my job? Discovering new things about the world and immersing myself in exceptional photography and art.

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laggy in zoom
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

He is so talented! I love how he uses all sorts of 2d drawings and then assembles it all. I love this! Especially love that his hobby is so cool, and he is very, very, good at it. I would totally buy these and put them in my room!!

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laggy in zoom
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

He is so talented! I love how he uses all sorts of 2d drawings and then assembles it all. I love this! Especially love that his hobby is so cool, and he is very, very, good at it. I would totally buy these and put them in my room!!

Load More Comments
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