corel painter - 02 - magazine, art, digital painting, drawing, draw, 2d

Issue two

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agazine.co.ukO

f cial Corel Painter TM Magazine

Learn to paint digitally today!

Artistic advice and inspiration

Precise colour selectionUsing the Airbrush options

Creative tips and tricks

Philip StraubDiscover how this Painter Master creates his amazing artworks

The art of glazeThe art of glazeQuickly add definition and zing to your work by applying a glaze

RealBristle brushesAchieve realistic brush strokes with these phenomenal new brushes

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Free CD inside

Official Magazine

Learn to paint digitally today!

Artistic advice and inspiration

Precise colour selectionUsing the Airbrush options

Creative tips and tricksOfficial MagazineOfficial Magazine

brushesb ushTake control of

Learn how to select, edit and use the best brushes in Corel Painter

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PC and Mac

ISSUE TWO 6.00ISSN 1753-3155

9 7 7 1 7 5 3 3 1 5 0 0 0

0 2

PHOTOS | GUIDES | FONTS | TRIALS

Tonal controlThe options available for correcting colour in images

Tonal control Edward HopperWe reveal how to paint in the style of this iconic American artist

CompositionLearn how to arrange objects for maximum effect

OPM_02-Cover.indd 1 6/3/07 16:40:00

Imagine PublishingImagine Publishing

5Jo Cole [email protected]

WelcomeNo doubt a lot of you will have tried Corel Painter X by now and no doubt you will have been very excited by the new RealBristle brush category. This makes Corel Painter act even more like traditional

media because it allows you to make the brush behave as if it was a real brush. Our tutorial on page 38 shows how it works using a rather lovely seascape as an example.

And keeping with the brush theme, our feature this issue explores some of the best brushes for creating certain artistic effects. While a mere feature could never hope to capture the complete power of Corel Painters brushes and controls, its enough to give you some creative ideas! And for even more ideas, turn to our Paint Like tutorial (page 56) and discover how to re-create one of the most iconic modern paintings of our time Edward Hoppers Nighthawks. Also learn about composition on page 66 and see how it can improve your artwork.

Happy painting!

This is THE magazine for anyone wanting to further their Corel Painter skills or learn how to become a better artist

ISSUE TWO

Visit our website!If you find that the magazine isnt enough to satisfy your Corel Painter appetite, you can always visit our website. Pop on over to www.paintermagazine.co.uk and register as a user. Once this is out of the way, explore the pages and enjoy great content such as Downloadable resources Online galleries to share your work Special forum for meeting other Corel Painter users

Clone and glaze

Pg 30Build up a glaze effect by manipulating the clone command and produce a glorious portrait

Brushes: Airbrushes

Pg 64

Discover how these brushes work and use

them in your art

Paint like: Edward Hopper

Pg 56

Use Corel Painter to re-create this classic image of America

003_OPM02_Welcome.indd 3 12/3/07 09:45:05

Regulars in every issue

Pg 34

08 Subscriptions Sign up to subscribe to the

magazine and save yourself up to 40%!

10 Painter showcase Look out for the special pages

presenting some of the best work from Corel Painter artists

12 Letters The newest addition to the mag

this is where you can send your art and comments

76 Art Class A hotbed of solutions to

creative queries, as well as speci c software questions

94 Readers Gallery Jennifer Miller shares some of

her exquisite work in the latest Readers Gallery

Reviews

6

97 Readers Challenge Load up the supplied

images and enter our regular challenge

98 On the disc All the content found

nestled on this issues special CD-ROM

84 Fuji lm FinePix F31fd We take a look at the Fuji lm

FinePix F31fd and see whether its face-detection technology is pure gadget or sheer genius

86 HP Photoshosmart Pro B9180 Big artistic ideas require a big printer

to let others see them. We try this A3+ printer and see if its good enough for your work

88 Books Three more fantastic titles that

will inspire you and expand your working knowledge of traditional art techniques

90 The Big Print Company Learn more about this professional

printing company and then see how you can order an MDF block mounted print

WIN!YOUR WORK

PRINTED TO CANVAS

Pg 97

Philip Straub

Regulars

P38 USING THE REALBRISTLE BRUSHES

SPECIAL TUTORIAL ON USING THIS FABULOUS NEW COLLECTION OF

BRUSHES IN COREL PAINTER X

P99 GET STARTED WITH DIGITAL PAINTING FREE CD-ROM PACKED WITH ESSENTIAL RESOURCES FOR CREATING DIGITAL ART

ON T

HE F

RONT

COV

ER

Discover more about this artist and how he creates his awe-inspiring art

Clone and glaze pg 30

Learn more about this professional

how you can order an MDF block

InterviewPg 14

The newest addition to the mag

special CD-ROM Pg 97

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RealBristle brushespg 40

7

66 Learn about compositionApplying the tried and tested rules of composition is a good way of ensuring that your work is as pleasing as possible to the eye. We look at the best and show how to use them

30 Clone an image and get a glaze effect

Emulate the look of an old master by cloning an image and applying glaze effects

38 RealBristle brushes Discover how this new brush

category in Corel Painter X can be used to produce art

52 Create your own gallery We reveal how to set up your

own gallery on the magazine website and also see what else you can do there

56 Paint like: Edward Hopper His paintings became cultural

icons of America. Re-create his Nighthawks painting and learn more about his style

PrimersGet up and running36 Effects: Tonal Control Use this menu to unearth the

commands for colour correcting your photos and artwork

64 Brushes: Airbrushes The best options for using these

delicate and smooth collection of brush effects

Feature focusGet to know your tools48 Select colour You have a few choices when it

comes to setting a hue to work with we show you what they are

Traditional artistic techniques

Drawing 101

Paint like Edward Hopper pg 56

20 Get started with Corel Painter brushesRead this guide to discover which brushes work best for which style of artwork and guarantee yourself great pictures every time

Special creative guidesFeature

Get started with brushespg 20

www.painter magazine.co.uk

Visit ourwebsite now!

Philip Straub

tutorialsCreate inspirational art

66 Learn about compositionApplying the tried and tested rules of composition is a good way of ensuring that your work is as pleasing as possible to the eye. We look at the best and show how to use them

Traditional artistic techniquesTraditional artistic techniques

Drawing 101

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news even ts resources even ts resources even ts letters website letters website letters info news even ts resources even ts resources even ts

Buying artworkIve wanted to get into digital art for a while now and inally have the time now that I am retired. The thing is, I feel as though I have missed the boat in terms of inding helpful online resources I just want somewhere that I can visit from time to time to get some inspiration. Also, can you give me the contact details of any artists who sell prints of their work?

By the way, congratulations on a great magazine. Its already help me get the hang of Quick Clone, so I am more than pleased that it has come out. Please keep up the good work!

Steve Marchent

our LettersHello Steve, thanks for getting in touch and for the praise! In fact, thank you to everyone who has written in and said how much they enjoy the magazine. Its exciting to think about how the title can develop with your help, of course! Now onto your question.

A lot of artists offer prints of their work from their site, but by far the best way to shop for some digital art is to visit the deviantART site. It might be that youve already found it but if you havent, it is a bubbling cauldron of talent of artists covering all disciplines. The shop allows you to buy prints (canvas and paper) of your favourite work, as well as calendars, puzzles and various other novelty items. Find it all at http://shop.deviantart.com.

Famous paintingsIve just bought issue one great stuff! I particularly liked the Van Gogh tutorial and wondered if youll be doing more of the same? Ive always been fascinated with copying masterpieces.

Dave Ridgely

It sounds like you could have a career in the art forgery business, Dave! Just keep our names out of it

You will be delighted to hear that well show how to re-create a famous painting each and every issue. We get a big kick out of deciding who to decode and will be looking at classic works as well as more contemporary artists. This issue we look at Edward Hopper, p56.

Welcome to the part of the magazine where you can come

and share your thoughts on anything you fancy!

Featured GalleryOur favourite readers gallery this month

Lynne Mitchellwww.paintermagazine.co.uk/user/LynneMitchell

Lynne impressed all of us with the images she posted on the website, especially the still life studies. She has

a awless application of paint, and the brush strokes are think and luxurious. Her eye for lighting is also excellent and manages to enhance the painterly elements even further.

Visit the site to see Lynnes work or pay a visit to her main website, found at www.rabbitholeproductions.com

Our favourite readers gallery this month

with the images she posted on the website, especially the still life studies. She has

a awless application of paint, and the brush strokes are think and luxurious.

and manages to enhance the painterly

Visit the site to see Lynnes work or pay

Readers tipReaders tipShare your Corel Painter wisdom

Keep your impasto canvas wet for later editsI always change my mind, so nd it invaluable to save work in the RIFF format, because this means I can keep my impasto layer editable, and open up to change surface texture or play with depth.

Sandra ChoiIf you have a creative tip youd like to share with others, send it in to us and well print it!

Lynne Mitchellwww.paintermagazine.co.uk/user/LynneMitchell

a awless application of paint, and the brush strokes are think and luxurious. Her eye for lighting is also excellent and manages to enhance the painterly elements even further.

Visit the site to see Lynnes work or pay a visit to her main website, found at www.rabbitholeproductions.com

Garlic and OnionsA fine still life that would do Cezanne proud

Formal BettyCheck out how Lynne has applied textured strokes to all areas

Zoe Portrait

A great example of

Lynnes brush work

Of cial Corel Painter Magazine, Imagine Publishing, Richmond House, 33 Richmond Hill, Bournemouth, Dorset BH2 6EZ, UK

If youd prefer to contact us via email, send your message to [email protected]

Send your letters to...

For some very reasonably-priced artwork, make your way over to the

deviantART store http://shop.deviantart.com

012-13_OPM02 letters.indd 12 9/3/07 17:12:20

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The latest from our forum and website

User: cgntoonartistSubject: Work in Progress sectionA Work in Progress section on this forum would be great! A place where we can share and post images (step-by-step), how we create our artwork or just to show what we have been creating with Corel Painter and have image progressions on how we got there. What do you folks think of this?

User: editorjoSubject: Re: Work in Progress sectionGreat idea consider it done!

resources letters website letters website letters info news even ts resources letters website letters website letters info

Corel Painter portfolioHello, I was wondering if youd be interested in printing my images in the magazine? They are titled Fall and My Love. Since I was a child, nature has inspired me more than anything else to create arts. Autumn in Canada is one of the most beautiful seasons. When it comes to colours, nature is the best inspiration. So in the Fall image, I was trying to duplicate some of the colours that nature offers and I did my very best to get it right.

I always wanted to paint portraits and with My Love, I had some inspiration to paint the portrait of a lady that I love. This image was painted in Corel Painter IX and the Artists Oils brushes were used for the medium. I used Adobe Photoshop for the inal touches like tonal and the odd bit of

colour correction. It took me 16 hours to complete it.

Ata Alishahi

Thanks for sending in those images, Ata. We love seeing what readers are creating, so never be shy about sending stuff in. If youd like to see more of Atas work, get yourself over to www.atadesigner.com.

And on the subject of showing us your work, make sure you pay a visit to our website at www.paintermagazine.co.uk. Were going to keep plugging this because the gallery feature makes it a perfect place to show off your portfolio. You have to sign up as a member to create your own gallery, but this only takes a few moments. Once its done, youre free to upload your images for all to see. For a full guide on how it works, turn to page 52 for a tutorial.

Camellias and Old BoxA lovely still life with rich colours and a texture you can

almost feel

Ata finds inspiration in the natural colours of Canada, which is clearly expressed in this beautifully serene image

Atas portrait of his love works because of the strong colours and also the unusual pose. Of course, the brush strokes dont hurt either!

www.paintermagazine.co.uk

Theres lots to do on the magazine website, but dont forget the website challenge. Every two months or so we will post a new set of pictures. It is then your task to take these and do something with them! The winner will receive a subscription to the magazine and worldwide adoration!

Its early days yet, but here are our two favourite entries so far. The top is by Stephen Salmon, while the bottom is by Karen Bonaker.

Dont be shy theres still time to enter! Go to www.paintermagazine.co.uk/competitions

ENTER THE FORUM CHALLENGE

Website challengeSome of the best so far

Forum highlightsThe best topic of conversation

Head over to the forum to see whats the topic of conversation today!www.paintermagazine.co.uk/forumAtas portrait of his love works because of the

strong colours and also the unusual pose. Of course, the brush strokes dont hurt either!

Ata finds inspiration in the natural colours of Canada, which is clearly expressed in this beautifully serene image

012-13_OPM02 letters.indd 13 9/3/07 17:12:43

Interview Philip Straub

14

Silent Morning Using a mixture of Corel Painter and Photoshop, Phil has managed to create a beautifully evocative piece that perfectly captures the stillness of a new day

website www.philipstraub.comjobtitle ArtdirectorforNCSoft,freelancedigitalartistclients Corel,Disney,WarnerBrothers,UniversalStudios

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hilip Straub lives and breathes creativity. Over his professional life he has been creative director at Electronic Arts, as

well as his work appearing in over 30 childrens books. His list of clients include Corel, Disney, Mattel and Warner Brothers and he also has a set up a licensing business with his ianc. In terms of style, Philip covers a dazzling range of looks, from bright and colourful childrens illustrations, to intricate concept art and fantasy landscapes. We recently spoke with Philip to discover how he works and to ind out more about how he uses Corel Painter to create his masterpieces.

We caught up with the phenomenally talented Philip Straub to find out more about how he works and what inspires him

Philip StraubHow did you manage to become involved with Ballistic Publishings Painter book? Did you nd it dif cult to judge other peoples work?Ive had a relationship with Ballistic for many years now and theyve always been very generous in including me in such products. I worked with them on the irst Dartiste book as one of the four authors, Ive judged two of their CGChallenges and also teach a workshop annually through the CGWorkshops brand.

Ive judged a number of competitions in my career and its always a challenge to go through the thousands of entries ultimately choosing a fraction of the

entries as inalists. In my experience, the top pieces usually just jump right out at you for their excellence, its picking those last few inalists that becomes dificult.

Tell us a bit about the childrens books you are currently working on. Do you plan to release them worldwide or will it just be limited distribution?Its based on the Secret Places brand Ive been working on for a few years. Currently, a few images are available as massive wall murals through Brewster Wallcovering and Ive been negotiating with a few different companies to have puzzles made as well as stationery. Once

An interview with

well as his work appearing in over 30 childrens books. His list of clients include

We caught up with the phenomenally talented Philip Straub to find out more about how he works and what inspires him

Philip Straub Philip Straub



16

I inish the book the goal is to distribute it worldwide eventually. I have to inish two other book projects Im working on before I can complete this one though.

What is your proudest creative moment so far?I dont know thats a really tough one! Probably winning a Silver Medal in the Society of Illustrators annual illustration competition. I really feel like I still have so much to contribute to the art ield and am just getting started.

How do you start a digital painting? Do you have a typical work ow process or does it differ according to the particular piece you are doing?The answer is yes and yes! I have a couple of different worklows I use depending on my mood and the project.

For my more free-form personal concept illustrations the process is usually quite chaotic. I just simply start throwing down shapes and colours onto the canvas and see what happens. Usually after a short while something takes shape and I reine down from there.

I always try to bring my personal touch to all the professional work I produce

[ABOVE] The HiveThis was the first painting I created using only the Artists Oils in Painter IX. In this situation, I worked on only the canvas layer, building up the texture, color, and composition as I worked

[MIDDLE PAGE] Enchanted EveningThis image won an award at the Society of Illustrators Los Angeles 2005, as well as being featured in The New Masters of Fantasy III

When working on a commissioned painting the process is usually a bit more precise. First, I do some research on the subject matter by gathering all kinds of visual reference so I can have as complete an understanding of all the elements in the painting as possible. Next, I usually begin sketching in black and white at a fairly low resolution so that memory limitations dont stile the creative process. During the sketch phase Im primarily focused on basic shape construction, overall composition and positive negative space. Once Im happy with the overall composition, I usually begin reining down the technical aspects of the painting, focusing on perspective and/or anatomy. Once Im feeling comfortable with the drawing, Ill begin adding colour to the image.

How did you make the leap from digital artist to home decor products? I really like the idea of diversifying my portfolio and the work that I produce. When I began working with rep. she suggested I begin tailoring some of my work towards the licensed market. She


17

felt that my more whimsical childrens book style could ind success on licensed products so I began to expand that out into the latter, more graphic style seen in the scrapbooking, stationery and wallpaper products I produce. I cant take all the credit though, my ianc helps me out with a lot of the brand development.

Did you nd the move from traditional painting to digital painting smooth or was it a bit of a jolt?Id say it was a bit of jolt! I was trained as a traditional oil painter and at the time I thought that was how I would produce paintings for the rest of my life. Its important to keep in mind computer illustration was still in its infancy when I was in school. There were a few classes just being offered to the Graphic Design and Interior Design majors but many artists still hadnt made the transition.

I was introduced to digital illustration at my irst real art job working for childrens book illustrator Mercer Mayer. Id played around with computer-aided design with a variety of programs before but never thought of it as a real illustration tool. I wasnt alone, very

felt that my more whimsical childrens book style could ind success on licensed

Afternoon Light (above)When I set up my files in both Painter and Photoshop I always break down the structure by placing the background, middle ground, and foreground objects on separate layers. This ensures that they can easily be edited. Towards the end of the painting process, I ll usually place a post layer at the top of the layer hierarchy and paint in atmospheric perspective using either an airbrush or cover pencil.- Philip Straub

few illustrators were using it to paint and much of the computer-generated illustration at that time was lat and graphic. When I started at Mercers studio I remember thinking how dificult Photoshop 1.0 was its kinda funny looking back on those days.

Are you thinking of expanding the products for sale on your website? Im currently not set up for e-commerce simply because Ive just not found the time. As most illustrators will tell you, depending on how much you want to do with your site, maintaining an online presence can become very time consuming. I try to post regular updates on my site as well as post as much of the imagery I produce once its available or I have clearance. Right now I currently have some of my images available as ine art archive quality prints through Imagekind but I may expand that down the road.

What inspires you?So many different things. Films, artists contemporary and classic, television

[ABOVE] Nightmist This image is part of

Philips Concept series, and shows how he

uses Corel Painter and Photoshop to create

intricate scenes



18

shows, books, music, and every day life. I ind theres inspiration to be found everywhere you look!

Is your personal work different to your professional art?Absolutely. Although I try to always bring my personal touch to all the professional work I produce, after all thats what my clients expect! My personal work tends to be almost therapeutic and an extension of my subconscious. While some of my paintings are simply exercises, experiments trying out new techniques, many are also for my fantasy projects.

Why did you start using Corel Painter and when did you start?Ive been using Corel Painter almost as long as Photoshop. I cant even remember

the irst version I used but I think its been in my worklow for around ten years. Corel Painter has always been really amazing at reproducing traditional media and its just a blast to experiment with.

Whats your favourite Corel Painter tool?My absolute favourite is the Rotate Canvas tool, it really allows you to re-create the rotating of your canvas/paper in traditional media. Ive also used the nozzle tools within Corel Painter quite extensively to quickly create different types of foliage, leaves, and rocks. The cover pencil is a mainstay of my worklow, especially in the early sketch stages.

If youd like to see more of Philips work or buy one of his posters or prints, pop over to www.philipstraub.com

I feel like I still have so much to contribute to the art field and am just getting started

Cohabitation (above)Originally sketched in Painter 8 using a variety of different brushes and experimental techniques. During the creation of this piece I made a ton of new brushes in Painter and really learned a lot more about the flexibility and power of the brush generation tool in Painter. As I regularly do, I bounced back and forth between Photoshop and Painter as I worked, using some of my favourite brushes in both packages.

- Philip Straub


Original artwork by Philip Straub

Feature Get started with Corel Painter brushesFeature Feature Feature Get started with Corel Painter brushes

020-27_OPM02_feature.indd 20 9/3/07 15:48:53

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magine being let loose in the biggest, most well-stocked art shop in the world, with a unlimited amount of spending money at your disposal for any artist, a dream come true indeed! Now multiply the excitement of that perfect scenario by ten and youll come close to the experience of stepping

into the artists heaven that is Corel Painter!Within Corel Painter, every painting and drawing tool and every

painting and drawing medium is at your ingertips, with a mind-boggling selection of brushes that no paint box could ever hold. Its true to say that this collection of tools is so vast that, for the novice Corel Painter user, it can be quite overwhelming and that was the inspiration for this feature, to lead you by the hand through this mammoth collection. Of course, even if we hijacked the whole magazine for this feature there still wouldnt be enough space to give you the full low-down on all the brushes. But well give you the basics so you can dive into the wonderful world of Corel Painter brushes with more conidence.

Corel Painters brushes are divided into categories which relate to traditional painting and drawing media, so before you choose an actual brush, you need to choose the category that relates to the medium you want to simulate, such as Oils, Pastels, Watercolor, Charcoal and so on. The actual brushes that relate to the chosen medium reside inside the category, and there are many brush variants to choose from. A brush variant is a particularly shaped brush, with a number of preset settings applied to it. Well look at these settings in more detail throughout this feature.

You can completely change the way a brush behaves, and the marks it makes, by changing the settings applied to it via the Brush Controls palette (Window>Brush Controls>Show General), or via the Brush Creator (Window>Show Brush Creator). These brush controls relate directly to every aspect of the brush, including its size, the way it interacts with paint already applied to the canvas, how much paint it carries and the kind of strokes it makes, among a plethora of other characteristics. Of course, the way a brush behaves also depends on the kind of surface youre painting on, and before you start to paint you need to choose this from the Papers palette (Window>Library Palettes>Show Papers).

At a loss for what brush variant to use? Heres our guide to the most useful

Get started with Corel Painter

brushes

Get started with

At a loss for what brush variant to use? Heres our guide to the most useful

Get started with

020-27_OPM02_feature.indd 21 9/3/07 15:50:23


Feature Get started with Corel Painter brushes

o lets get down to some speciics about these remarkable brushes! First, were going to take a look at the brushes within Corel Painter

which use opaque, gloopy mediums such as Oils, Acrylics, and Gouache. These are the category of brushes that youll use to create paintings with rugged paint surfaces, body and texture, where the marks made by the brushes can either be wonderfully oily and wet, or where thick, opaque areas of paint can be laid on to the canvas, creating stunningly realistic impasto effects.

As far as the speciic categories of these brushes are concerned, they consist of:

ACRYLICS ARTISTS OILS OILS GOUACHEWithin these separate categories are a

huge number of Brush Variants which are designed to apply the virtual paint in many different ways. So, for instance, within Artists Oils, youll ind variants that range from soft blender brushes, which apply very wet paint in a very soft way, through to dry and grainy brushes which react strongly to your chosen painting surface. You even get heavy impasto brushes which apply lots of nice thick paint that holds marks made by the brush and produce impasto effects where the paint stands proud of the painting surface.

On the whole, all of these brushes paint with opaque colour, but each of the variants within each category can behave quite differently. Its worth taking some time to look at the individual Brush Property settings that can signiicantly affect the way the variants work, how they interact with paint already applied to the canvas and how they react to your choice of painting surface.

Broadly speaking, within each of the above categories, youll ind a selection of brushes which can be divided into four distinct types:

Dry Brushes: These brush variants, although they still apply opaque paint,

are rather dry, and tend to deposit paint roughly over your painting surface, catching just the high point of the paper grain and texture.

Wet Brushes: These brushes give the appearance of applying lots of very wet paint, which can mix and blend with any paint already applied to the canvas. These

types of brush are great for quick, gestural lines and large, painterly areas of colour.

Impasto Brushes: Here were dealing with brushes which apply very thick paint which stands proud of the painting surface and create impasto. You will often see this effect used in many traditional oil and acrylic paintings.

Most of the active dynamic categories for the brushes contain an Expression control section. This control determines how the particular characteristic of a brush responds to your graphics tablet stylus

GLOO

PY, OP

AQUE

MED

IA BR

USHE

SGL

OOPY,

OPAQ

UE M

EDIA

BRUS

HES Build up a painting full of texture and gloopy

goodness by using this selection of brushes for the wet and loaded look


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Soft, blending brushes: This group of brushes apply wet paint which readily blends with paint already applied. Marks made with these brushes blend together as you paint, creating very subtle transitions between different colours and tones.

As you can see from the painting above, by choosing your brush variants carefully from these categories, super-realistic effects can be achieved. One great way to get used to exactly what these brushes can do is to use the Brush Creator (Window>Show Brush Creator). Within this panel, you can see and modify

Acrylic Thick Acrylic Bristle

AO Clumpy Brush

AO Dry Brush AO Impasto Oils

AO Soft Blender Brush Gouache Broad Cover Brush

Gouache Fine Bristle Gouache Opaque Smooth Brush

Gouache Wet Gouache Round

Oils Bristle Oils

Oils Fine Feathering Oils

Oils Smeary Round

Oils Thick Oil Flat Oils Thick Wet Oils

Opaque Acrylic Thick Acrylic Flat

Wet Acrylic

In the detail, you can clearly see the dramatic difference between areas of smooth, wet paint and accents added using impasto brushes. Brushes that use impasto can add a real three-dimensional quality to you opaque media paintings

Gloopy, opaque brushesLayer the paint on nice and thickly

all of the attributes applied to the brush, and test its appearance in the large white scratchpad. Any brush characteristics that are applied to the current brush are shown in black down the left hand side, while any properties which dont feature in the brush are greyed out. For instance, if you click on Impasto, which is often a very important characteristic of these opaque media brushes, youll be able to control the extent of this Impasto effect via the Depth slider. The same applies to changing any other brush characteristics within the Brush Creator.

For any of these brushes to work properly, its vital that you irst set your Brush Tracking via Edit>Preferences> Brush Tracking, so that the Corel Painter brushes know how to respond to the unique way you use your stylus. Within the Brush Tracking dialog, simply make a few representative strokes on the scratch pad as you would normally use your stylus and Corel Painter will adjust the brushes responsiveness accordingly.

All of the usual brush shapes appear within these categories, including round and lat brushes, pointed and ine detail brushes and rough bristles for real texture and dynamism. To the right, you see a selection of brushes from these categories that create the range of techniques and effects that youd expect to see with opaque media.

Remember, many of these brushes create impasto effects and this can be switched on and off via the small button at the top right of the document window. You can also control the depth and shine of the impasto effect via Canvas>Surface Lighting. Within the dialog you can also modify the direction and intensity of the light that falls across the image and create the highlights and shadows that describe the surface of the impasto.

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hen it comes to dry media, such as Charcoal, Pencil, Chalk and Pastels, the drawing medium itself,

and the surface you draw on work hand-in-hand together and in terms of the effects achieved. By their very nature, dry mediums work by depositing themselves on, or within, the surface texture of the drawing surface, unlike paint or ink, which sticks to, and is absorbed by the painting surface itself. Dry media depend on their particles of pigment being shaved off and held by the paper texture. If you were to try and use charcoal on a completely smooth surface, for instance, it would not make a single visible mark. However, in a stark contrast to this, if you were to use the same piece of charcoal on a piece of rough sandpaper, just the lightest strokes would create a gloriously dense, black mark in an instant.

The exact same rules apply within Corel Painter when you are using dry media brushes. However, a slight difference is the fact that the result of the marks you make is governed not only by the surface you choose to work on, but also by the unique settings you apply to the particular brush variant you are using and we will look at these variables here.

The Dry Media categories within Corel Painter consist of:

CHALK PENCILS CONTE PASTELS OIL PASTELS COLORED PENCILS CRAYONS

Although these categories are distinctly different, they are all dependent on particular characteristics when it comes to controlling the marks the brushes within the categories make and the effect you can achieve with them.

When youre using any of the variants within these categories, one of the most vital setting you will come across is the Grain slider. This setting determines how much effect the surface of your chosen paper has on the strokes made with the currently selected dry media brush variant. At relatively low values, the marks made by the brush penetrate the paper grain very little, so the paper texture is very obvious within the strokes of colour. At high grain values, the dry media penetrates deeply into the paper grain, so

and the surface you draw on work hand-in-hand together and in terms of the effects achieved. By their very nature, dry mediums work by depositing themselves on, or within, the surface texture of the drawing surface, unlike paint or ink, which drawing surface, unlike paint or ink, which sticks to, and is absorbed by the painting sticks to, and is absorbed by the painting surface itself. Dry media depend on their surface itself. Dry media depend on their particles of pigment being shaved off and particles of pigment being shaved off and held by the paper texture. If you were to try held by the paper texture. If you were to try and use charcoal on a completely smooth and use charcoal on a completely smooth surface, for instance, it would not make surface, for instance, it would not make a single visible mark. However, in a stark a single visible mark. However, in a stark contrast to this, if you were to use the contrast to this, if you were to use the same piece of charcoal on a piece of rough same piece of charcoal on a piece of rough sandpaper, just the lightest strokes would sandpaper, just the lightest strokes would create a gloriously dense, black mark in create a gloriously dense, black mark in an instant.an instant.

The exact same rules apply within Corel Painter when you are using Corel Painter when you are using dry media brushes. However, a dry media brushes. However, a slight difference is the fact that slight difference is the fact that the result of the marks you the result of the marks you make is governed not only make is governed not only by the surface you choose by the surface you choose to work on, but also by the to work on, but also by the unique settings you apply unique settings you apply to the particular brush to the particular brush variant you are using variant you are using and we will look at these and we will look at these variables here.variables here.

DRY M

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DRY M

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traditional real media effects, the dry brushes are very hard to beat. Heres a look at the best

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the surface texture itself will be much less obvious in your inished drawing.

The Resat slider controls the amount of colour that replenishes within the stroke. At 100% the colour will be at maximum saturation all the way through the stroke, this saturation within the stroke will reduce at lower Resat values.

Youll also see a Bleed slider when using dry media variants, which is pretty important in determining how your brush behaves. Essentially, the Bleed value

determines how much a current stroke of the brush blends with any other colour already applied beneath it. At high values, colour from your brush will blend readily with any colour beneath it. At low Bleed values it will blend very little. A practical demonstration of this is that any dry media brush variant that contains the word soft in its name will automatically have a medium to high bleed value, whereas for the brush variants labelled hard, the Bleed value will quite often be set to zero.

Of course, the settings within the brush is not the only thing that determines the look of the strokes made with the brush. The actual look of the brush is also dependent on its footprint. You can easily see the individual footprint of the brush, simply by making a single click with the brush on your canvas. Youll see from this footprint that some brushes contain texture within their footprint, while others have either hard or soft edges. Here we come to another feature of dry media brushes which should not be overlooked, namely Jitter. By default, the stroke of a brush will be made up of multiple

footprints of the brush, placed closely together and in line with each other. The Jitter slider adjusts the placement of these footprints, scattering them either side of the central line of the brushstroke to a lesser or greater extent dependent on the value of the Jitter slider. This feature can be very useful to avoid the edges of your brushstroke being too uniform and is worth experimenting with.

Remember that all of the variants within the dry media categories here are

Dull Grainy Chalk Variable Chalk

Square Chalk Sketching Pencil

Oily Variable Pencil Dull Conte

Charcoal Gritty Charcoal

Soft Charcoal Soft Vine Charcoal

Artist Pastel Chalk Soft Pastel

Square Hard Pastel Chunky Oil Pastel

Soft Oil Pastel Waxy Crayons

Using the Square Hard Pastel variant, the difference between a 10% Grain setting and a 100% setting is hugely dramatic

Dry media brushesFor brilliantly-textured papered effects

The surface you choose to draw on is vital with dry media brushes. You can also adjust the scale of the paper grain, its Brightness and Contrast

Dry mediums work by depositing themselves on, or within, the surface texture

drawing media and as such, the kind of marks you make with the brush variants is key to replicating the effect of a traditional drawing. Its good to bear in mind that drawing is an exercise that depends very much on building up tones with lots of linear shading and crosshatched strokes. As well as this, many of these variants also respond to the pressure you apply to your drawing stylus, in regard to size, opacity and grain, so its vital that you consider this as you draw.

In the boxout to the right youll see a selection of examples of some of the best brush variants from each of the dry media categories available within Corel Painter. Try each of them and vary the paper surface you use with them to see the different effects that can be created.

One inal point; remember that dry media brushes often work very well on a coloured ground, so experiment with irst illing your canvas layer with a solid colour rather than automatically choosing a white canvas.

paper surface you use with them to see the

media brushes often work very well on a coloured ground, so experiment with irst illing your canvas layer with a solid colour rather than automatically choosing

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atercolour painting is often seen as synonymous with the very best in British art. There is a charm, delicacy and directness associated

with water-based transparent media that simply cannot be replicated by any other techniques and this fact holds true within the realms of Corel Painter. This is one area where Corel Painter particularly excels, and some of the most realistic results can be achieved. Here are the categories which can be regarded as transparent media:

SUMI-E WATERCOLOR DIGITAL WATERCOLOR LIQUID INKThe Sumi-e category features variants

similar to those traditionally used inChinese brush painting techniques and can

create beautiful, effective watercolour-like paintings. The variants within this category vary from broad bristle brushes through to small detail Sumi-e brushes. Each of them feature the Resat setting mentioned in the previous section and another brush property, namely the Feature slider. This slider, common in many of the brushes in the watercolour-like categories control the density of the hairs, or bristles within the brush. Low values here create strokes where the individual hairs are densely packed, producing more solid strokes. High values produce strokes where the bristles of the brush are more sparsely packed, leaving unpainted gaps between them.

The Digital Watercolor category contains a wealth of brushes which can be used on the Canvas layer, or normal loating layers to create effective watercolour paintings. Although these brushes are a less advanced version of the Watercolor category brushes, they can still yield super results and are dependent on very particular brush property settings.

The brush variants in this category include broad mop brushes, which apply beautiful wet, broad washes of colour, dry

When you use Watercolor variants, notice the special Watercolor Layer that appears in the Layers palette


WATE

RCOL

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WATE

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ND TR

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When you need a bit of subtlety in your work or just the bearest hint of colour, the watercolour and translucent options are well worth investigating. Try these suggestions to start with

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is the Water section of the Brush Controls palette. The settings in this category of brush properties allow the colour you apply with the brush to diffuse and low across the painting surface and in this section you can control how wet the paint and paper is, how far it runs and diffuses and even the direction in which colour applied by the brush lows.

There is a vast range of variants within the Watercolor category of brushes and all of them are directly comparable to traditional techniques. The variants themselves include runny brushes which apply pools of really wet paint that will

low over the paper; dry brushes which can create areas of texture that take advantage of the surface texture of the paper; sponge effect brushes and wash brushes that can be used to apply broad, diffused washes of colour.

The Liquid Ink group of brush variants imitate the effect of inks, which can range from thick, gloopy ink to ine, almost pen-like calligraphic lines of ink. Again this group of brush variants work on a special layer, added as soon as your begin to use one of the brushes. This group of brushes is fantastic for spontaneous sketches and bold, graphic images. With these variants, youll also ind two new brush property settings; Smoothness and Volume, which allow you to control the amount of ink on the brush and the smoothness of your strokes.

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brushes which will give the impression of a fairly dry brush just brushing the surface grain of your painting surface and even brushes which appear to spatter colour and water across your canvas. All of these brush variants feature two very important brush properties to create the feel of watercolour. The irst of these variables, Diffusion, essentially controls how wet the surface is that youre painting on. Traditionally, working with a watercolour, if you apply paint to wet paper it spreads and diffuses as soon as you make a mark. This setting creates exactly the same effect. Low Diffusion values mean that

the brush you use keeps its distinct edges, but high values mean that the edges of the colour you apply diffuse into the surrounding area.

The Wet Fringe setting is great for simulating the effect of watercolour paint pooling around the edges of a brushstroke, the effect intensifying at higher values applied to this slider.

The Watercolor category group of brush variants deserve special attention, as the stunningly realistic effects you can achieve with these brushes equal those of real-world watercolour effects. They also rely on some very speciic settings. These Watercolor brushes require a special type of layer, which will be added to your image as soon as you begin to use one of the brushes. The feature of these brushes which deserves special attention

Sumi-e Dry Ink Flat Wet Sumi-e

DW Diffuse Water DW Spatter Water

Watercolor Diffuse Camel

Watercolor Grainy Wash Bristle

Watercolor Runny Wet Flat

Watercolor Sponge Wet

Watercolor Smooth Runny Camel

Watercolor Wet Wash Flat

Watercolor Watery Soft Bristle

Watercolor Spatter Water

Liquid Ink Smooth Bristle

Liquid Ink Sparse Bristle

Liquid Ink Velocity Sketcher

Liquid Ink Clumpy Ink

Transparent brushesUse for subtle washes and calm landscapes

Liquid Ink Calligraphic Flat

The Water section of the Brush Controls allows you to bend and twist the Watercolor brushes for exceptionally realistic results. From soaking the paper to creating a drip effect, it has it all

Theres a charm associated with water-based transparent media that cannot be replicated

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Liquid Ink Liquid Ink Clumpy Ink

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Tutorial Clone and glaze

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eing a restless sort, I am given to trying every way I can discover to achieve my ends. I am even likely to learn a few things in this

tutorial! Corel Painter is so versatile that effects can be achieved in many ways and I encourage everyone to approach painting digitally with that in mind.

The project at hand should leave us with a very nice emulation of a character painted in oil, using the technique of slowly building up light, shade and colour harmonies with semi-transparent layers of digital paint. Because I have spent so much time gawking at masterworks from the Renaissance, there will be a lavour of that look in the inal piece.

We will begin by doing a few necessary things to a photo reference, including adding parts of the body. We will then transfer the igure to a background we will prepare together. After establishing a light source, we will build up the kind of atmospheric effects that one associates with oil painting. Because the process is a gradual one, it is also forgiving. It is evenly matched by the forgiving nature of digital painting in general. If a muddle-head like myself can do it, so can you!

In this tutorial, Jeff Johnson walks you through how he cloned a photo and applied a glaze effect to create a digital masterpiece

Clone and glaze In this tutorial, Jeff Johnson walks you through how he cloned a photo and applied

Clone and glaze

Painter master

Time needed

Skill level

On the CD

Jeff Johnson

2 hours

Intermediate

Starter photo and sketch

Tutorial info

01 Scaling the reference photo Wow, what a nice thing to have to stare at for the next few hours! I copied and pasted the photo onto a new canvas (37cm high by 23cm wide). Via Effects>Orientation>Scale I resized it. Using Canvas>Compositions>Show Layout Grid I placed the eyes on line with the upper third of the canvas, a common practice in portraiture. If you havent got Corel Painter X, do this by eye.

02 Altering and rotating the photograph With the photo still selected and on a separate layer, I rotated the head two degrees via Effects>Orientation> Rotate. I also pinched the left side on top and bottom via Effects>Distort to x some minor lens distortion. Using the Lasso tool, I copied and pasted her mouth and resized it to 98%, as it felt slightly too full for the period avour I wanted. I then dropped both layers and saved as a RIFF uncompressed.

03 Create a reference study On a new layer set to 45% opacity and toned slightly brown, I began to draw in the rest of the gure, using a medium brown tapered artist chalk 10. I traced around the head and features lightly and did some early shading. After saving that layer as a new document, I worked side-by-side with the original to create the study on the right (its on the disc). It expresses some of the shading I will add to make the forms rounder.

The two starting elementsPhoto and sketchPhoto and sketch

Original photo

Jeff Johnson shows you how to

Starting sketch

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TutorialClone and glaze

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Soft light layer for modifying mid-tones and shadowsSay what? One day I was experimenting with the Soft Light layer and discovered that if I painted onto it with a dark colour, it would subtly darken the area painted. I felt pretty clever until I learned that a number of Corel Painter users have stumbled upon this useful application. It has become a staple in my bag of tricks, because it takes advantage of the operative term, namely soft. Using this layer combined with a fairly large soft-edged brush set to less than 100% opacity creates wonderfully luminous effects with very little modification of the edges needed.

Get that traditional lookMerge photos and sketch

04 Transferring the reference I then used the Lasso tool, copied and then pasted our doctored reference right over a copy of our study. Here I am in the process of erasing the unneeded parts. I have set her layer at roughly 70% opacity, so I can see where to erase. I have a plan! Once I cobble together the basic picture, I am going to transfer it to a prepared canvas via an oil cloning brush that will give me the opportunity to nesse every part of the painting.

Merge photos and sketch

05 Painting in the gure Next I painted out the hair. Using the Eyedropper tool I borrowed some of the references colours to roughly paint in the new hair, body, black dress and a very rough background. I used the largest Airbrushes possible for each part of this step, set to 60% opacity, in order to create fairly smooth transitions on the rst pass.

06 Finishing the blocking After attening the image, I created a new layer set to Darken and blocked in the basic tones for the whites of the eyes, hat and frills. This is a snap, as the elds bordering these areas are darker than the goal values. I set this layer at 80% opacity. I then spent about three minutes with a Soft Blender Stump enlarged to 60 smoothing out some rough edges.

07 Preparing a background Open another document, the same size ad before. Were going to do a re ned background. I have used the Eyedropper tool to match colour between the rough background and started by using the Paint Bucket tool to ll the canvas with the darkest value. Using a size 180 Digital Airbrush set to 60% opacity, I gradually worked from dark to light. The greenish hue compliments the esh tones nicely.

08 Creating a guide for cloning I had in mind all along that I would want to use an oil brush cloner directionally over forms to create a hand-painted feel. I needed a guide for my strokes, so I simply copied our latest version onto the enhanced backround and reduced its opacity to 25%.

09 Cloning the gure This step was a hoot. I felt like I had a magic paintbrush. Using File>Clone Source I selected our cobbled together version as the source. After a few experiments, I decided the Smeary Camel Cloner was the ticket and I began to clone directly onto the background. Note how my brush strokes follow the contours of the forms. I then zoomed in and using a Straight Cloner, brought back some of the details of the original. We now have our basic underpainting and will begin to modify it.


Soft light

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10 Add highlights, mid-tones and shadows The next three steps help de ne our light source coming from in front of and above her right eye. First, I created a new layer set to Soft Light and using a size 27 Digital Airbrush, made a pass of dark brown in areas away from our light source. I then selected a medium brownish-orange and added a few mid-tones to the nose and around the eyes. Finally, I increased the size to around 70 and selected a yellowish-white for passes over highlights.

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TutorialClone and glaze

So you just painted an apple. You painstakingly observed every colour you could see and mixed up a slew of separate hues and values. Then you meticulously applied them to your canvas, blending them seamlessly. You just employed the direct method of painting.

The indirect method takes a different approach. An indirect painter begins with an underpainting that is then modified by successive semi-transparent layers of paint that affect but dont completely cover the previous layer. In traditional oil technique, glazing usually involves very little pigment suspended in a thinning medium, usually some mix of varnish, thinner and oil. Put a piece of blue cellophane over a patch of yellow and you see immediately that you have a green that has optical properties that cant be achieved by mixing paint. That is indirect painting in a nutshell.

Corel Painter places a number of tools at ones disposal that can be used to paint indirectly. Simply reducing the opacity of a layer or a brush works. Composite layers like Gel and Multiply are particularly well suited for an indirect approach. I discover new methods all the time.

The shining light from the darkest shadowsUnderstand glazes

11 Broaden the value range I created a new layer and, using various Digital Airbrush brush sizes, reintroduced some hand-painted detail around the eyes and eyebrows. I also continued rounding out areas like the far cheek with mid-tones.

12 Add depth and nuance to shadows After creating a new layer set to Gel at 16%, I used the largest brushes that would t the various areas to paint a medium reddish-brown into selected mid-tones to add variation and depth to the areas not in direct light. This included the entire left side of her face.

13 Using a Multiply layer I added to the shadows and mid-tones around the nose, mouth, eyes, and cheeks on a Multiply layer set to 25% opacity, picking my colour from the lightest area in the forehead. I opened a default layer, corrected some areas and began to draw in details of the hair. The truly astute observer will notice that I nudged the entire mouth up a fraction. I offer this side-by-side for comparison.

Without glaze

With glaze

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On-line resourcesHere are a couple of websites that offer valuable insights: www.noteaccess.com/materials/indirectP.htm has a synopsis of Reed Kays excellent notes on indirect painting techniques. It is written for natural media, but most of it holds true for digital painting as well. The page also has links to other insightful articles on painting.http://forums.cgsociety.org has a thread devoted to Corel Painter and its art techniques forum has handy tutorials and top advice from some of the most skilled digital painters out there.

Going from good to greatLighting and colour tweaks

14 Adding in some details Working with a Soft Light and Darken layer open, I alternated between them and the painting itself to nalise some forms and modelling. I painted in selected details throughout the painting, focusing on creating rhythms of spot detail versus nishing everything completely.

Lighting and colour tweaks

15 Apply lighting 1 This step and the next will help create an atmosphere and put our subject into it. I copied and pasted our image on top of itself and via Effects> Apply Lighting, I chose warm globe. Note how I modi ed the sliders and placement of the source. I used the separate layer in case I wanted to dab a bit of the effect off in places, but it did the trick.

16 Apply lighting 2 After merging and saving, I repeated the procedure and chose Gradual Diagonal, altering only the direction and placement of the source. This time I changed the opacity of the affected layer to 50%. Using a 130 eraser set at 60% opacity, I gently dabbed back some highlights, merged and saved.

17 Colour correct layer I copied our image onto itself again and this time worked on the lower layer. Via Effects>Correct Colors I opened the Color Correction dialog box and chose Curve>Auto Set. Then, working on the top layer with my 130 sized eraser, I gently brought some of those cooler but lighter blues into the picture, focusing on the highlights and the clothing. The last two steps had, as is the case when glazing traditionally as well, made the picture a bit too dark and it brought in a little colour balance as well.

18 Flipping the picture It is good practice to ip the picture a few times, as imbalances tend to pop out. I saw several small areas that needed attention and created a Multiply layer for darkening, a Soft Light layer for some subtle highlights, and a Lighten layer to get rid of a few annoying marks along the frills.

19 Cleanup Now I zoomed to 200% and, with a Soft Blender Stump as large as I could t in each area, began to softly blend out marks that either didnt look man-made or detracted from the picture. I like to leave some dither and dash, so I didnt spend too much time smoothing.


On-line

Dont get paint on your noseI worked through this tutorial without zooming in to near 100% until the very last step. The majority of my work is done with the entire painting visible on the screen. Owing to the size of my digital canvas, that usually translates to roughly 25% magnification. This prevents me from losing track of the overall impact of a step on the painting. Indirect painting is a process of harmonising elements together, and one has to see the whole painting at one time to tell if any one step is working towards that end or not.

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36

ur next stop on the journey down the Effects menu is the Tonal Control group. As you can guess by the name,

the options in here allow you to edit the colours in an image.

To many people, Corel Painter is just a tool for creating digital art, but it also has an impressive set of tools for editing photos and the Tonal Controls effects play a major part in this. From here you can perform tasks such as adjusting brightness and contrast, editing selected colours and applying posterisation effects. Some of the edits will work as dynamic layers, allowing you to make changes without permanently affecting the original image. This is a great way of experimenting with different looks without having to worry about running out of Undos and ruining your original image. For more on dynamic layers, see the right side panel.

In addition to edits that improve the colour of an image, it is also possible to use some of the controls to create wild, outlandish results. These are great if you want a certain look and can be used to kickstart the colour scheme of a painting.

In fact, wed suggest that if you are painting from a photo that you always irst pay a visit to the Tonal Controls options. By boosting saturation or enhancing shadows, you can make a photo more painterly.

The Adjust Color command allows you to determine the hue, saturation and value of an image. Once selected, a dialog window will open. The Using drop-down menu allows you to control how the colour is adjusted; Uniform Color will tweak all pixels; Paper will take the current paper grain and use as the adjustment; Image Luminance will take the luminance in the image as the starting point for adjustment; Original Luminance uses the luminance in the clone source. Once youve set the Using menu, use the sliders to alter the hue, saturation or value.

Enjoy complete colour controlAdjust ColorAdjust Color

Overall colour editBrightness/ContrastBrightness/Contrast

The Brightness/Contrast option allows you to alter the, erm, brightness and contrast across an image, using RGB values. Unless you make a selection, the edit will be applied to the whole of the currently selected layer.

Making adjustments with this tool is intuitive and is based around sliders. Once you select the Brightness/Contrast command from the Tonal Control set, a window will appear with a Contrast slider (top) and a Brightness slider (bottom). Move the sliders right to increase the effect or left to decrease. If it goes wrong, hit Reset.

Primer Effects menu

Video Legal ColorsOne Tonal Control option is very useful to movie-makers and thats the Video Legal Colors command. This ensures your images colours are compatible with either the NTSC or PAL video colour. Open the dialog, choose your format and press OK to set.

Video Legal

PRIMER

Use this Effects group to make sure the colours in your image are loud and proud

EFFECTS MENUTonal Control

Before

After

DIFFERENT OPTIONSWhen you open up the Correct Colors command, you see a window with a big area for curves and then a drop-down menu below it. There are four options in the menu; Contrast and Brightness, Curve, Freehand and Advanced. The sliders change according to the option selected in the menu.

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Overall colour editBrightness/Contrast

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Experiment without any regret!Edit on a dynamic layer

01 Start the edit Open your photo or image and then call up the Layers palette. Go to the bottom of the palette and click the Dynamic Plugins icon (second in from the left). Pick the command you want from the list that appears. We decided to go for Posterize.

02 New layer, please As soon as you make a choice from the menu, a new layer will appear above your original one, with a little dynamic plugin icon just so you dont forget which one it is.

Primer

Edit on a dynamic layer

Tonal Control

For when you need precise contrast editsEqualizeEqualize

Dramatic effects with just one clickNegative and PosterizeNegative and Posterize

Equalizing an image allows you to improve contrast and brightness by setting black and white points. Once you have these set, Corel Painter will then use these two points to evenly distribute the values across the layer or selection. After going to Effects>Tonal Control>Equalize, the image will be adjusted so the lightest colour is white and the darkest is black. You make adjustments by moving the black and white markers values to the right of the white marker become white, and values to the left of the black marker become you guessed it black.

Two of the Tonal Control options are particularly good for dramatically altering a photo or image. The Negative setting will create a negative version of your layer or selection and is particularly effective in collages or backgrounds.

The Posterize option allows you to limit the amount of colours in an image. Go to Effects>Tonal Control>Posterize and enter a value of 8 or less for the number of levels. Your image will now have a more illustrated look to it and is a great starting point for vector or comic book-style images. You can also posterise using a color set.

03 Ready to edit Now the dynamic layer is all set up, you are free to make your edits. When it comes to posterising an image, it pays to stick to eight levels or less. However, this does change according to certain images but if we dont like the effect we can just delete the dynamic layer. No harm, no foul!

Dynamic layers are a fabulous way of trying out an effect without worrying about ruining your original image. By setting a dynamic layer, you work above the original and can set one for the Brightness/Contrast, Equalize and Posterize commands.

ONE COLOUR OR ALL?To the right of the drop-down menu is four coloured squares. The red, blue and green squares relate to the red, blue and green in an RGB image. Click one of these to edit that colour. The black square is the master curve and controls all colours equally.

SEE THE CHANGESOnce you have decided on the colour to edit (red, green, blue or all) you can move the sliders to adjust the curve. Youll see your edit appear in the main grid in the corresponding colour. If you edit the reds, for example, a red line will appear in the grid.

READING THE CURVEAs you move the sliders, a line will appear on the curve representing the changes youve made. Anything towards the top of the graph will be lighter than the starting point, while anything towards the bottom will be darker.

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Tutorial Paint perfect skin

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TutorialRealBristle brushes

f your primary goal in using Corel Painter is to produce images which are as close as possible to real world oil or acrylic paintings, in version X you have a new super-powerful creative weapon

right at your ingertips, namely the RealBristle painting system. In the following tutorial, were going to illustrate and prove to you just how incredible these brushes really are and produce a landscape painting which you would be hard pressed to tell apart from its real-world equivalent!

RealBristle brushes are the closest Corel Painter has ever come to actually putting a real, traditional artists brush in your hand! Essentially, these brushes very accurately mimic the shape and behaviour of traditional bristle brushes, with all of the same variability and vitality that artists have come to know and love in these brushes. The brush variants themselves range from short lats, through to lovely full-bodied round brushes and even include tapered varieties which mimic traditional ilberts.

As well as the selection of preset brush variants youll ind within the RealBristle categories, youre also able to customise and change every aspect of the particular brushs characteristic within the RealBristle section of the Brush Creator or the brush controls. You can change behaviour such as bristle length, bristle rigidity and the shape of the brush head, right the way through to the amount of friction between the brush and the surface and the wetness of the canvas.

Remember, this project is all about painting, so use the inished image as you guide, but dont be afraid to inject some of your own personality and vitality into your brush strokes as you work. Use these brushes with enthusiasm and the rewards will come!

RealBristle brushes are new to Corel Painter X and in this tutorial, we demonstrate just how easy it is to use them to create stunning paintings full of brush strokes!

Using the RealBristle brushes

Painter master

Time needed

Skill level

Tim Shelbourne

1 hour

Intermediate

Tutorial info

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Loading the Color SetWeve supplied a colour set which features all the colours used in this painting. Once youve downloaded it from www.paintermagazine.co.uk, in Corel Painter go to Window>Color Palettes>Show Color Sets. In the Color Sets palette, click the small right-pointing arrow and choose Open Color Set. Click Load and locate the downloaded colour set on your computer. Once the set is loaded, click the small right-pointing arrow again and choose Sort Order>LHS.

01 Open the sketch Download the starter sketch and colour swatch from www.paintermagazine.co.uk. Open it up and go to File>Save As and save the le under a new name and as a Corel Painter .riff le. Click the Papers swatch and choose Artist Canvas. Click the Brush tool and choose the RealBristle Brushes category. Choose the Real Round bristle variant. Choose a mid brown from the Colors palette.

Laying down the base colourFrom sketch to paintingFrom sketch to painting

02 Reinforce the sketch With this brush at around 10 pixel size, reinforce the distant shoreline and landscape simply by roughly painting over the sketch lines. You can leave the sketching in the sky as it is. Change to the Real Flat variant. Increase the brush size to around 60 pixels and in the Size category of the Brush Controls, change the Minimum Size to 65%.

03 Looking skyward Choose a mid blue colour and begin to paint in the blue areas of the sky. Use lots of short strokes here in random directions. Remember this brush loses its colour quickly and starts to blend after being in contact with the canvas for a while so regularly lift you stylus and then begin to paint again.

04 Paint some water As you paint the blue of the sky, periodically choose either a slightly lighter or darker shade of the colour to vary the blue here and there. Now choose a darker blue from the colour set and using the same brush at a smaller size, roughly paint in the water using energetic horizontal strokes.

05 The hills are alive! Choose the Real Oils Short variant. Set Blend to 21%, Feature to 4.4 and Grain to 72%. Choose a very dark blue/green from the swatch and reduce the size of the brush to around 29 pixels. Now begin to paint in the distant hills. Again, use short strokes here at various angles.

06 Landscaping Choose a very dark olive green. Reduce the Bleed of the brush to 12%. Now, using the brush at 19 pixels, paint in the hills below the most distant ones. Try and use fairly long sweeping strokes here. Choose a darker shade of the same colour and add some darker accents here and there.

Tutorial RealBristle brushes

Loading the

07 Darker features Choose the Real Flat Opaque variant. Set Bleed to 5%, Feature to 7.1 and Blend to 2%. In the Brush Creator (Window>Show Brush Creator), choose the Color Variabilty category. Set H slider to 10%. Choose a very dark blue/black from the Colors palette. Add a new layer (Ctrl/Cmd+ Shift+N). Now begin to paint in the foreground hills and land mass.

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08 Suggesting detail Use short, scribbling movements here, regularly removing your stylus from the tablet. Reduce the size of the brush as you start painting in the narrow areas along the shoreline. Add a few small vertical strokes to indicate trees and areas of interest.

09 Darker clouds Change to the Real Round Bristle variant. Set Bleed to 10%, Feature to 2.8 and Blend to 11%. In the Layers palette, return to Layer 1. Increase the size of the brush to 60 pixels. Now begin to add the darker areas to the clouds. Use nice, random movements here, reducing the size of the brush where necessary. Refer to the nished painting for placement of these areas.

10 More sky Reduce the size of the brush a little and paint the darker areas of the sky just above the horizon line. Again, use short, dabbing strokes, brushing over some areas repeatedly to blend those areas a little. Its a good idea as you go to choose a slightly warmer or cooler hue of a similar tone from the Colors palette.

Were still applying base colour!Continue with the colourContinue with the colour

The skys the limit thanks to Corel PainterOur pick of the RealBristle brushes

Real Flat Low BlendWith a low Blend setting, the same variant blends less and leaves much more distinct brush marks as you paint.

For the initial blue of the sky, we will use the Real Flat variant. This is a great RealBristle brush because it quickly enables you to cover large areas with colour that still maintains lots of visible brush strokes for interest and texture. These brush strokes become visible because of the fairly high Blend value featured in the brush.

For the darker cloud areas in the sky, were using the Real Round Bristle variant. The attributes we apply to the brush means it has a fairly high Feature setting, which allows the individual bristles within the brush to remain visible in the areas of paint it applies. The low Blend value means that the colour remains for

longer as you continue to paint. Its best to use this brush at a fairly large size and with a distinct scribbling motion.

For the lighter parts of the clouds we use the Impasto brush we created, which is a modified version of the Real Oils Short variant. The great thing about this brush is that it paints with impasto and is best used in short dabs in various directions.

For all of these brushes one of the most important values is that of Blend. At high values the brushes will create strokes and colours which blend together, at lower values your brush strokes will be more distinct.

Real Oils Short No ImpastoHere you can see the same variant without the Impasto value applied. You can easily achieve a mix between the two simply by using a very low Impasto value.

Real Oils Short ImpastoBecause weve modified the Impasto properties of the Real Oils Short variant, it paints with very realistic impasto, making it ideal for the bolder areas of the sky.

Real Round BristleThe Real Round Bristle variant leaves visible bristle marks within its stroke, making it ideal for soft areas such as the darker shades in the sky and clouds.

Real Flat High BlendWith a high Blend setting, the Real Flat variant blends readily and quickly with the canvas and other paint.

in the brush. longer as you continue to paint. Its best to use this brush at a fairly large size and with a distinct scribbling motion.

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Create the Impasto brushChoose the Real Oils Short variant and set Bleed to 37%, Grain to 72%, Feature to 1.2 and Blend to 26% in the Properties Bar. Now go to the Brush Creator and click the Impasto category. From Draw To choose Color and Depth, and set the Depth slider to 14%. Click the Artists Oils category and use these settings: Bristling 9%, Clumpiness 95%, Canvas Wetness 50%.In the General category, set Grain Expression to None, and in the Size category, set Feature Expression to None. Once youre back in Corel Painter, click the small arrow next to the variant selector and choose Save Variant, giving your new brush a name.

Its all in the brush work

Suggest detail with subtle shading

11 Mix some colours Using the Mixer pad, mix a range of very light pinks, yellows and blue/greys. Now choose the Impasto brush you made earlier (see Impasto Brush boxout to the left). In the Mixer pad, choose the Sample Multiple Colours Eyedropper and click anywhere within your mix of light shades in the Mixer pad.

Suggest detail with subtle shading

12 Painting the clouds with sunshine! Begin to paint in the lightest parts of the clouds. Remember, this brush paints with impasto, so the more you paint over one areas, the thicker and more three-dimensional the paint will become. Refer to the nished image for the placement of these highlight areas.

13 Paint and Blend Reserve the thickest areas of impasto for the absolute highlights in the sky. For where the lighter areas of the clouds meet the existing dark areas, increase the Blend value of the brush in the Properties Bar so that you get smoother transitions from one tone to another here.

14 Another brush Add a new layer. Choose the Real Flat Opaque variant and in the Brush Controls palette, set Minimum Size to 75%. Set Grain to 64%, Bleed to 5%, Feature to 1.5 and Blend to 17. Now, choosing lighter greens, ochres and yellows from the supplied swatches, begin to add some more colours to the hills.

15 Suggested detail Use long strokes that suggest the contours of the land and remember that the lightest areas will be on the tops of the hills. As you work further down the hills, use darker shades of greens, browns and blue/greys. In these areas, increase the Blend setting to around 40% so that the brushstrokes arent quite as distinct. There are really no de nite shapes to paint here, were simply adding texture.

16 Dark shades, broken colour Increase the size of the brush a little and begin to add some real darks to the large tree bank on the left of the painting. Its important to break up this area with stokes of slightly different dark colours from dark browns through to very dark dusky blues. A great range of these colours are in the supplied colour set.

Tutorial RealBristle brushes

Create the

17 Re ne the detail Use this same brush at a smaller size to add some small strokes to the top edge of the distant tree mass, to break up its outline and blend it slightly with the sky. Now continue adding dark areas of interest all along the shoreline, still varying the colours you use here and there. Small, random brushstrokes here will work well.

18 Suggested trees Small, upward strokes of the brush along the dark of the shoreline can easily give the impression of small trees and objects. Again, at this distance you really only need to be quite impressionistic, but its still useful to zoom close in to the image so you can still see the brush when youre using it at a small size.

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Controlling the impasto effectSometimes, by default, Corel Painter can slightly over-egg the pudding when it comes to showing the impasto effect in your paintings, but you can easily temper this via Canvas>Surface Lighting. Use the Amount slider to reduce the impasto effect in you image. Often, very small values applied via this slider can give a much better effect than more extreme ones. Just click OK to apply the change.

21 Let the brush do the work! The foreground boat is really quite easy to construct as were using a at brush which helps a lot with the shapes. First, set the Blend value to 7% so the paint from the brush does not blend too much. Set the brush size to 9 pixels. Choose a very light blue/grey and paint a long vertical stroke in front of the tree mass to serve as the mast of the boat.

22 Painting the sails Increase the brush size to around 22 pixels and paint in the two triangular shapes for the sails. Apply more pressure towards the bottom of the strokes to widen the brush there. You can always reduce the size of the brush to sharpen up the shape of the sails. Make sure to stroke in some thicker highlights, using the brush at a smaller size.

But still keep a loose style!Add some extra elementsAdd some extra elements

19 Distant boats Reduce the brush to a very small size (around 5 pixels) and choose a very light blue/grey from the swatches. Distant boats along the shoreline can be indicated very easily. Simply make upward strokes for the masts and sails and two or three horizontal strokes for the main body of the boats.

20 Water highlights At this stage, you can add a new layer to the image for the nal details, or continue working on the existing layer, whichever youd prefer. Continue to add horizontal strokes of this light colour along the distant waterline to serve as simple highlights on the water.

23 Boatbuilding! Choose a slightly darker neutral grey and use horizontal strokes to paint in the main body of the boat. Use short, deft strokes here, before reducing the size of the brush and adding a couple of small highlights here and there. By using the brush at a very small size, you can re ne the outline of the boat.

Controlling

25 Water shadows Increase the Feature setting to 6.3. Choose a deep petrol blue and set the brush size to 39 pixels. Now use this brush to add long horizontal strokes to the water. Also add some of this colour horizontally beneath the boat.

24 Darker details Choose a very dark colour and reduce the Blend and Bleed to very low values. Now use the brush at a very small size to add the dark details to the boat.

26 More re nements This step relies on your own preference. Using the techniques demonstrated throughout this tutorial, re ne the painting by adding more areas of indicated detail, such as more distant boats and sharp highlights on the water. Using a range of colours from the swatches, also take the time to add some ner details to the hills and sky.

Real Blender brushesThe Real Blender brush variants (Real Blender Flat, Round and Tapered), are very useful for refining your paintings. If there are areas of paint where tones and areas of paint dont blend together as much as you would like, use one of these brushes to brush over these areas with an approximate colour to subtly blend the areas together.

Real Blender

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MARK COROTAN TITLE Manji_The Blade of the Immortal WEBSITE www.sundang.com JOB TITLE CGI/FX artist, animation designer

Mark has produced some incredible work covering digital art, traditional mediums and also animation lms. His images are always vibrant and dynamic, demanding the viewers attention straight away. Also be sure to check out Marks The Kindredd Saga animation project.

showcase

044-045_OPM_02_mark Corotan.indd44 44 9/3/07 14:45:06

044-045_OPM_02_mark Corotan.indd45 45 9/3/07 14:45:32

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olour is one of the big boys when it comes to creating artwork. Selecting the perfect hue is vital to any artist and it comes as no

surprise to discover that Corel Painter has plenty of options for choosing, editing and saving colours.

The main colour selection takes place in the Colors palette. As youd expect from Corel Painter, this is entrenched in traditional art theory and is based around the concept of a colour wheel. This means that you can visually see which colours complement each other or which belong to the same group. Once you have selected your main colour, you can then adjust its saturation or colour value. If you havent got a clue what this means, well be explaining everything over these pages!

In addition to the Colors palette, there are various other methods of selecting colours. These include the Dropper tool, the Color squares and the Color Sets palette. Again, well be looking at how all of these work in more detail, including a walkthrough on how to create and save your own Color Sets.

When it comes to emulating traditional art techniques, though, the Mixer palette is phenomenal. You can use this to mix up paint as you would with a traditional paint palette and can also set the brush to pick up multiple colours. Weve got a special walkthrough just on this feature over the page, where youll ind out how to

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