Painting functions prepare a window for painting and carry out some useful general-purpose graphics operations. Although all the paint functions are specifically intended for the system display, some can be used for other output devices. The following list briefly describes each painting function:
| Function | Description | |
| BeginPaint | Prepares a window for painting. | |
| DrawFocusRect | Draws a rectangle in the style used to indicate focus. | |
| DrawIcon | Draws an icon. | |
| Function | Description | |
| DrawText | Draws characters of a specified string. | |
| EndPaint | Marks the end of window repainting. | |
| ExcludeUpdateRgn | Prevents drawing within invalid areas of a window. | |
| FillRect | Fills a given rectangle by using the specified brush. | |
| FrameRect | Draws a border for the given rectangle. | |
| GetDC | Retrieves the display context for the client area. | |
| GetUpdateRect | Copies the dimensions of a window region's bounding rectangle. | |
| GetUpdateRgn | Copies a window's update region. | |
| GetWindowDC | Retrieves the display context for an entire window. | |
| GrayString | Writes the characters of a string using gray text. | |
| InvalidateRect | Marks a rectangle for repainting. | |
| InvalidateRgn | Marks a region for repainting. | |
| InvertRect | Inverts the display bits of the specified rectangle. | |
| ReleaseDC | Releases a display context. | |
| UpdateWindow | Notifies the application when parts of a window need redrawing. | |
| ValidateRect | Releases the specified rectangle from repainting. | |
| ValidateRgn | Releases the specified region from repainting. |