-
PC and Mac
TEXTURES | STOCK PHOTOS | HUMAN REFERENCE FILESBrush primer
The best options for getting the most from Crayons
Draw horsesHelpful techniques for drawing and shading believable
horses
Realistic waterThe advice you need for painting and colouring
waterscapes
Issue thirteen Visit us online w
ww
.paintermagazine.com
Of cial Corel Painter TM M
agazine
ISSUE THIRTEENISSN 1753-3155
9 7 7 1 7 5 3 3 1 5 0 0 0
1 3
www.paintermagazine.com
6.00
Createdigital art today!
FREE CD INSIDE
Official Magazine
40pages oftutorials
Over
Artistic project
Pencil portraitsTurn photos into a
tonal drawing
Prime photosPrime photosEdit your images and create the
ultimate base for cloning
Inspirational walkthroughsCreative guides to art skills
Tools and options explainedQuick start PDF on the CD
brushesDiscover which brush options will give you the perfect
painting tool
Creative8-page practical guide
Paint like KlimtMake your own gilded masterpiece
001_OPM_13 COVER.indd 1 10/1/08 16:29:53
stuartdixonRectangle
-
5
Jo Cole, Editor in [email protected]
WelcomeIf you are using photos in your artwork, a bit of time
spent manipulating the start image will help you achieve far better
results. With just a few adjustments, you can create the perfect
base for
whatever style of art you like. Is watercolour your thing?
Reduce the brightness, apply some Blur and then get painting.
Prefer oils? Boost the shadows, enrich the colours and slap on your
digital paint. For more ideas on how to prime your photos, turn to
our great feature on page 20.
Klimt is a favourite artist for many, and this issue we show you
how to re-create his style, including some ideas for embellishing
the inal image in order to achieve the sumptuous gold inish of the
original. See whats involved on page 42. Other skills on the menu
this issue include monochrome pencil art (page 30), painting water
(page 52), drawing horses (page 66) and using the Brush Creator
(page 38).
Enjoy your painting!
This is THE magazine for anyone wanting to further their Corel
Painter skills or learn how to become a better artist
ISSUETHIRTEEN
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.com 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
Brush Controls: General
Pg 56
Get perfect brush tips with the powerful options in here
Paint like: Gustav Klimt
Pg 42
Drawing 101: Horses
Pg 66
The tips and tricks you need to get perfect equestrian
results
Luxuriate in the golden glory that is Klimt
005_OPM_13_welcome.indd 5 14/1/08 17:22:20
-
news even ts resources even ts resources even ts letters
websites websites websites letters websites lettersTutorial
xxxx
10
newly published graphic novel, from renowned illustrator Kyle T
Webster (www.kyletwebster.com) and
writer-creator Andy Horner, is already attracting many admirers.
Light Children, the irst part of a planned trilogy, is a haunting
story that combines solid storytelling with stunning artwork
created solely in Corel Painter. No other application comes close,
in my opinion, to replicating the feel of natural media, says
Webster. The degree of control available for each tool is
incredible.
The major undertaking is likely to consume several creative
years, so Corel Painter is the ideal tool for Webster to lay down
this widescreen epic. I am comfortable with drawing and inking on
paper, but with the added convenience of Undos, layers, multiple
versions of
PORTFOLIO
Dazzling new graphic novel showcases Corel Painter talent
There is a lightthe same image and the lack of an actual
physical mess, working digitally has become the only way for me to
go.
More used to single-image editorial illustration, the creation
of Light Children(www.lightchildren.com) has also set new
challenges for Webster. Not only must the art be a pleasure to
view, but it must also transport the reader successfully into
another world, help move the plot forward, remain consistent in
terms of character likenesses and behaviours, and the list goes
on.
As for the future, Webster is extremely optimistic and hopes
that eventually a much wider audience than comic-book fans will see
Light Children. We have big plans, a ilm adaptation for instance,
and I know that Andy has some other stories in the works. For now,
it is a thrill to get to work on something so fantastic.
Despite its sophistication, Light
Children is Websters first graphic novel,
in collaboration with Horner. A planned trilogy is expected
to take several years to create
Commun ityNEWS EVENTS RESOURCES LETTERS WEBSITES INFO FORUM
The graphic novel has an ever-growing cast of characters and an
ever-
evolving universe of plot twists, explains Webster
Webster is an illustrator living in North Carolina. His work has
appeared internationally on book covers, in magazines, posters and
packaging
010-011_OPM_13_news.indd 10 14/1/08 11:14:18
-
websites websites websites info news even ts resources even ts
resources even ts letters website letters website letters info news
even ts
11
Ecstatic about Etsy f you have ever wanted to sell your Corel
Painter creations without the fuss of setting up your own online
shop, then Etsy (www.etsy.com)
is for you. Founded in 2005, this online marketplace for buying
and selling all things handmade is a hive for creative talent. As
well as art, Etsy offers sellers a place to showcase just about
anything from clothes and accessories, books, toys and home
furnishings. Setting up your shop is free, although youll need a
credit card for Etsy security reasons and ideally a PayPal account
for receiving customers payments. Listing an item costs 20 cents
per item and theres a 3.5 per cent sales fee on any goods sold. For
buyers and those looking for inspiration, Etsy is an Aladdins cave
of wonderful creativity.
Website for handmade creations offers opportunity to sell your
Painter artwork
AiLmeART was created by Darren Di Lieto, the founder of the
wonderful illustration portal LCSV4. This collaborative project
involves drawn or painted submissions being sent on envelopes or
packages through the post. Designed to test your skills, make you
some money and give you the chance to have a bit of fun and win
prizes, MAiLmeART has so far received hundreds of submissions. I
needed
to have something tangible from the artists and illustrators
involved in order to be able to sell the product and make money
for the artist, explains Di Lieto, and in the early months of 2008,
MAiLmeART will be holding an exhibition. Artists will receive 70
per cent of any sales as well as some great exposure. View
submission details at www.mailmeart.com.
Its in the post
ne of the best ways to learn anything new is to watch others
showing you how they
work. Sclipo (www.sclipo.com) is a excellent free social utility
that allows people to share skills and knowledge through video and
webcam. If you wanted to learn a language or Corel Painter, you had
to ind a teacher or school in your neighbourhood. Sclipo changed
the rules of the learning game, by integrating an easy-to-use
webcam teaching system, enthuses Sclipo CEO Gregor Gimmy. The team
also offer SclipoLive, a webcam-based system for live teaching and
learning.
Broadcast your skills Show your skills and win at MAiLmeART
CONTEST
RESOURCES
With hundreds of wonderful
submissions so far, MAiLmeART
is planning a major group
exhibition for early 2008
Etsy is an online marketplace for buying and selling items,
including work created with Corel Painter
LEARNING
Sclipo is a video site that lets users post short instructional
videos relating to a number of topics
Watch and learn with Sclipo
FEB
In shortCreative happenings from around the world
Print and publish your own work with Lulu Lulu (www.lulu.com/uk)
is a cost-effective way of professionally self-publishing your own
artwork, calendars and books. With more than 4,000 new titles added
each week, its also a great marketplace to sell your work. Lulu
prints and dispatches each item as its ordered, and you collect 80
per cent of the creator revenue.
Worldwide free stock photo searchWoophy (www.woophy.com) is a
funky photo-sharing website where members can put their photos on a
world map. With around 30,000 cities so far covered, its a great
way to explore the world without leaving cyberspace. With an
excellent forum for sharing photos and tips, this is an online
community well worth joining.
28 Issue 14 of OPM on sale!Pay a trip to your local magazine
shop and pick up the latest issue to hit the shelves. In addition
to the usual inspirational tutorials, youll find a great feature on
garden art and will be able to discover how to turn your own garden
into a masterpiece.
Grunge is good Grunge Textures offers users over 600 atmospheric
textures for personal and non-profit projects, free of charge.
High-resolution, well-worn textures include aircraft aluminium,
asphalt, brick, concrete, graffiti, metal, paper, cardboard, wood
and tombstones. This is a great site if you want to add some
textures to your creations. Visit www.grungetextures.com.
010-011_OPM_13_news.indd 11 14/1/08 11:14:45
-
12
news even ts resources even ts resources even ts letters website
letters website letters info news even ts resources resources
resources even ts resources even ts
The power of panoramasLike a lot of people, I have come to Corel
Painter after time spent using traditional art materials. I never
got to the stage of making my own canvases, so would have to rely
on whatever was available in the shops. My daughter bought be a
copy of Painter a couple of years ago and I started dabbling in
different-shaped canvas sizes. One of my friends is a panoramic
photographer and I decided to try the format in my paintings. Now
its all I do! I ind it liberating to be able to capture the whole
of a landscape and make the
our Lettersviewer feel as though they are in there. Sometimes I
will curve the reference panoramic photo to suggest the bend of the
Earth. Its something I encourage everyone to try.
Frank Michaels
Thanks for your letter and we completely agree with you. The
panoramic format is a fantastic way of widening the scope of the
viewer. As you said, it works well on landscapes but is also good
for full-body portraits, sections of still lifes or just abstract
shapes. It does mean investing in a large-format printer,
though!
In the abstractIncredibly complex or photo-realistic images has
never been my forte, so you can imagine that I have been drawn
towards abstract art. I wanted to send you a couple of pieces that
I have done. Im particularly proud of the cloudscape, where Ive
relied on the texture and brushstrokes to hopefully stop it being
an image of some random shapes!
Sean Church
Good to see you flying the abstract flag, Sean. Its a style that
a lot of people overlook, mainly because they arent too sure of
where to start. I like that you have taken a thing in your cloud
image and then applied abstract principles on it. When you paint in
the abstract, you
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
John Boamwww.paintermagazine.co.uk/user/tazOur beautiful cover
this issue put us in the mood for some illustration. Johns gallery
helped satisfy that need and we wanted to showcase the images with
you. As you can see from these examples, John has a diverse
portfolio, but with a very strong sense of colour. Even in the more
traditional paintings, he injects strong saturation to catch the
eyes attention. Our favourite image is Ruby. After a couple of
attempts, John settled on this striking creation (see right). Visit
his gallery today!
John Boamwww.paintermagazine.co.uk/user/tazOur beautiful cover
this issue put us in the mood for some illustration. Johns gallery
helped satisfy that need and we wanted to showcase the images with
you. As you can see from these examples, John has a diverse
portfolio, but with a very strong sense of colour. Even in the more
traditional paintings, he injects strong saturation to catch the
eyes attention. Our favourite image is Ruby. After a couple of
attempts, John settled on this striking creation (see right). Visit
his gallery today!
Ofcial 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...
Experiment with different formats. Youd be amazed at what using
a different canvas size can achieve
Ruby
Readers tipReaders tipShare your Corel Painter wisdom
Squint and seeI teach watercolour techniques as a hobby, and one
problem that a lot of students encounter is being able to decide on
tonal range. The best thing to do (at least its what I nd easiest)
is to squint when looking at what you are painting. The colours
become simplied and its easier to nd the shadows, mid-tones and
highlights.
Audrey Taylor
Ruby
Our favourite readers gallery this month
John Boam
John Boam
John Boam
First flight
The golden tree
012-013_OPM_013_letters.indd 12 14/1/08 12:06:47
-
13
Come and join our forum and website
resources resources resources letters website letters website
letters info news even ts resources letters website letters website
letters info
are more free to explore colour and texture without worrying
about making something recognisable. Are there any other abstract
fans out there? We would love to see your work and can run a
tutorial if anyone is interested.
I want issue two!Is there ANY way I can beg, borrow or steal a
copy of issue two? I have managed to get my hands on all the other
back issues but that one eludes me! I have tried eBay, I keep
checking out your shop to make sure I dont miss it, but its always
out of my reach. Can you help?
Noel Murphy
This is going to look like a complete setup, but we are working
on archiving issues that have all sold out. It might be in place by
the time this
issue is on sale, but if not, keep checking on the website blog
as it will be announced there the instant we get it up.
Traditional skillsIve noticed that your Drawing 101 section
seems to be popular with people and so I thought Id let you know
about a website I found. Its called Art Graphica and has a decent
supply of free lessons that show how to paint and draw. I only
found the site myself a couple of weeks ago, but have already
downloaded some of the tutorials and have tried my own
interpretations of a couple of them.
Sadie Appleby
Thanks for the heads up, Sadie. We went along to Art Graphica
and were also impressed with the help on offer. If anyone else is
interested, the address is www.artgraphica.net. As an aside, the
site also sells some really nice journals. If anyone is feeling
generous, I like the compact sketchbook!
Shun the shackles of realism and start to explore abstract.
Thats exactly what Sean has done
www.paintermagazine.com
Not only do we deliver inspirational and practical tutorials on
your favourite program every month, we also have a dedicated Corel
Painter website that you can visit to get your artistic ix while
you wait for the next issue. From here, you can join up for a free
account and then create your own gallery for the world to see! You
can explain the process or inspiration behind each of your images,
and you can also comment on other members artwork, share your
wisdom and take part in regular challenges. Theres also an area to
download tutorial iles from previous issues in case your CD has
gone missing. If you feel like a bit of creative interaction, we
also have a forum for you to come and leave your thoughts on the
magazine, ask Corel Painter questions and also pass the time with
other digital artists. So what are you waiting for? Visit
www.paintermagazine.com today!
Make yourself known!www.paintermagazine.com
Dont be shy everyones welcome to enter! Go to
www.paintermagazine.co.uk/competitions
ENTER THE WEBSITE CHALLENGE
Shun the shackles of realism and start to explore abstract.
Thats exactly what Sean has done
Cant get enough of painting? Pick up some new skills at this
siteCant get enough of painting? Pick up some new skills at this
site
Gone but not forgotten soon you will be able to get your hands
on sold-out issues!Gone but not forgotten soon you will be able to
get your hands on sold-out issues!
012-013_OPM_013_letters.indd 13 14/1/08 12:07:08
-
Interview Jeremy Sutton
14
pending the afternoon in the company of Jeremy Sutton, visiting
London from his home in San Francisco to see family and
friends, is a heart-warming experience on a chilly winters day.
Although weve only just met, Im welcomed as an old friend and soon
become the subject of one his much-admired portraits. Suttons
enthusiasm for life, art and Corel Painter is so contagious, youll
quickly ind yourself eager to start drawing and painting. Artist,
author and educator, Jeremy has just produced a lavish tutorial
DVD-ROM, How to Paint from Photographs Using Corel Painter X:
Creative Techniques with Jeremy Sutton. Taking a different approach
from previous training
Among the impressive surroundings of Londons Tate Modern, Nick
Spence meets Corel Painter Master and all-round nice guy, Jeremy
Sutton
Jeremy Suttonresources, the new DVD-ROM covers real-life case
studies from beginning to end, sharing along the way Suttons
worklows, organisational systems, creative processes,
decision-making strategies, techniques and tools.
You started working with computers way back in 1991. How has
creating artwork changed digitally since then?The digital art tools
I started off with back in 91 were the following: a Macintosh IIfx
with 128MB RAM, 40MHz speed, 160MB hard drive space, which seemed
big at the time; a variety of painting programs that included
SuperMacs PixelPaint Pro, a very smooth painting program; ArtMixer,
a French program that did wild and
friends, is a heart-warming experience on a chilly winters day.
Although weve only just met, Im welcomed as an old friend and soon
become the subject
Among the impressive surroundings of Londons Tate Modern, Nick
Spence meets Corel Painter Master and all-round nice guy, Jeremy
Sutton
Jeremy SuttonAn interview with
friends, is a heart-warming experience on a chilly winters day.
Although weve only just met, Im welcomed as an old
Among the impressive surroundings of Londons Tate Modern, Nick
Spence meets Corel Painter Master and all-round nice guy, Jeremy
Sutton
Jeremy Sutton
WEBSITE www.jeremysutton.com and www.paintercreativity.comJOB
TITLE Artist, author and educatorCLIENTS Corel Corporation, Sir
Richard Branson, Barry Bonds, Apple and Sony
Below and below-rightNick Spence sits for a quick portrait at
the hand of Jeremy Sutton in Londons Tate Modern
Jeremy Suttonwonderful things; TimeArts Oasis that John Derry
helped create, and which had a great interface; Fractal Design
Painter, and a Wacom 12 x 12-inch tablet.
My average inal ile, often saved as PICT ile, was typically
about 600KB or 500 x 600 pixels. A complete project may have
included ive to 15 versions, adding up to a few megabytes. I backed
up my images in duplicate onto CD-ROM. My prints were typically
either Scitex Iris prints up to 24 inches on watercolour paper, or
large Vutek billboard prints on vinyl, some four by six feet. Most
of my early digital work was live portraiture, reminiscent of the
thousands of pastel portraits I had made over the years. When I
used photographs as reference, I painted them from sight, not using
cloning. My prints were the inished artwork; I didnt work onto them
with other media.
I now use Corel Painter X with a variety of computers, still all
Macs and mostly about ten times faster than my old IIfx, such as
the MacBook Pro. I use a range of different Wacom tablets, from the
Intuos3 6 x 8 to 12 x 19, and the Cintiq 12WX to 21UX. My work is a
mixture of live portraits and photograph-based paintings, in which
I use a variety of techniques including cloning, and collage
portraits. My average inal ile, usually a TIFF ile, is about 80MB,
or 4,500 x 6,500 pixels. A complete project now includes 30 to 70
versions, occupying about two
Pegg
y Gy
ulai
Pegg
y Gy
ulai
014-018_OPM_13_interview.indd 14 14/1/08 12:55:26
-
15
A portrait of Picasso from 1993. Drawing since a small child,
Sutton had his first
major one-man show in 1989 at the Gordon Biersch Restaurant
in
Palo Alto, CaliforniaAll o
rigi
nal a
rtw
ork
by J
erem
y Su
tton
014-018_OPM_13_interview.indd 15 14/1/08 12:55:44
-
Interview Jeremy Sutton
16
Antonio Stradivarius is a 2007 pigment ink and
acrylic on canvas mural. This striking, large format mural
was custom-designed to suit the Stradivarius Suite at Chenery
House, residence of
Robert C Pritikin
An early portrait, Glyn, from 1991. Born in London in 1961,
Sutton has lived and worked in San Francisco for many years,
returning home regularly to visit family and friends
Flamenco Jam is a 2007 mixed media on canvas creation, inspired
by seeing professional Flamenco instructor Virginia Inglesias
perform at the Thirsty Bear in San Francisco
014-018_OPM_13_interview.indd 16 14/1/08 12:56:05
-
17
to three gigabytes. I back up in duplicate onto DVD-ROM. I
output my work primarily on canvas, typically up to 40 x 60 inches,
and work onto my canvases with a variety of traditional media. So,
in summary, creating artwork has evolved technically to be faster,
more powerful and versatile, and yet at the same time the creative
process of painting remains much the same.
And how specically has the Corel Painter software changed?The
irst time I saw Fractal Design Painter 1 at a Macworld Be-In event
in January 1991, I wasnt that impressed. I didnt like the multiple
circles that seemed to follow each brushstroke. At that time,
PixelPaint Pro was much better. Now Painter is in a league of its
own that far surpasses anything else I have seen. The level of
control, the variety of brush looks and effects, the versatility,
etc, is breath-taking.
You have taught workshops and given presentations throughout the
world is there a typical Corel Painter user?I have taught Painter
to ages ranging from seven year-olds to people in their eighties,
to professional photographers, artists, lawyers, doctors,
policemen, retirees and a Major League baseball
player, to name but a few. The only thing typical is that every
Corel Painter user I have come across cant put their Wacom pens
down once they start using Painter.
Although you offer help, advice and inspiration via your DVDs
and books, whats the best bit of Corel Painter advice youve ever
been given or read?The eloquent words of Walter Murch, legendary
sound editor for ilms such as Apocalypse Now, in his fascinating
book In the Blink of an Eye (Silman-James Press): You may not
always succeed, but attempt to produce the greatest effect in the
viewers mind by the least number of things on screen. Why? Because
you want to do only what is necessary to engage the imagination of
the audience. Suggestion is always more effective than exposition.
Past a certain point, the more effort you put into wealth of
detail, the more you encourage the audience to be come spectators
rather than participants.
Several famous subjects have sat for you when painting
traditionally. Is it possible to do the same when working
digitally?All the more so. My live portrait subjects, who have sat
for me and been depicted using Painter, include Sir Richard
Branson, Barry Bonds, Graham Nash, Clarence Clemons, the list goes
on.
This striking painting is based on a photo Sutton took of
professional Tango dancer Christy Cot and her partner Darren Lees,
performing at Pachamama restaurant in San Francisco to the live
music of Trio Garufa
San Francisco Heart is a tribute to the adopted city Sutton now
calls home. Every image, including the fireworks and the central
heart, contained within this artwork is a scene from the city and
is based on photographs I have taken over the last few years
014-018_OPM_13_interview.indd 17 14/1/08 12:56:30
-
Interview Jeremy Sutton
18
You supply your own custom workspaces including your Corel
Painter preferences and settings with your DVDs and books. Do you
think everyone should customise their settings, and if so,
why?There are no right and wrong ways to do these things, just ways
that work more effectively and powerfully. My goal is to empower
myself creatively, to make the tools disappear so I can be totally
focused in the painting process. My settings help me achieve this
and have been found very useful by many other people. I always
encourage everyone to try things out and adapt them to their own
personal worklow and habits. The short answer to the question is
yes, I think everyone can gain a more ergonomically eficient and
creatively powerful way to work if they take the time to load my
customised workspaces which include my settings, extra brushes, art
materials and short-cut palettes or develop their own.
As someone who knows Corel Painter inside out, what are your
favourite tools and features?Thats like asking me to choose
favourites between children! I like to challenge
myself by purposely using brushes I dont usually use. Having
said that, I love the Sargent brush, Dens Oil Funky Chunky, Square
Chalk, Sherrons Blender Wood, modern art in a can, and Jeremys
MishMash Scumble. I also love the huge time-saving capacity of the
new workspace management system and the fun of seeing what the
Kaleidoscope plug-in layer reveals on any painting.
Finally, as a Corel Painter Master, what would you like to see
from the next version of Corel Painter?My wish list includes adding
an explanation to the Liquid Ink and Watercolor error messages that
helps people know how to proceed when they are told they cant paint
with a non-Liquid Ink or non-Watercolor brush on those layers;
making the Digital Watercolor and Impasto appear in the layers list
rather than act as mysterious virtual layers; the addition of a
Drop Impasto command, similar to the Dry Digital Watercolor command
that drops the Impasto texture into the background canvas and
allows you to paint over it, and having the Option/Alt short cut be
dedicated to the Dropper tool.
Chunky, Square Chalk, Sherrons Blender
fun of seeing what the Kaleidoscope plug-
are told they cant paint with a non-Liquid
layers; making the Digital Watercolor and A portrait of Albert
Einstein by Sutton,
who regularly offers training seminars
in Painter from beginner to advanced
My one greatest wish for the next version would be for Corel to
pick up the scripting and animation capability where it was left
off many versions ago, and remains to this day, and develop it so
it is truly integrated into the program and becomes a reliable and
easy way for users around the world to record, play back, animate
and share their complete painting processes, including those that
make use of multiple clone sources.
Sutton based this impressionistic scene on a visit to the
Great
Gatsby afternoon at Dunsmuir House in Oakland, organised
by the Art Deco Society of California
I love the huge time-saving capacity of the new workspace
management system
014-018_OPM_13_interview.indd 18 14/1/08 12:56:56
-
Feature Prep photos for painting
Editing photos before cloning can reap rewards. David Cole shows
you some techniquesEditing photos before cloning can reap rewards.
David Cole shows you some techniques
Prep photosfor pain tin g
20
020-27_OPM13_Photos.indd 20 14/1/08 16:34:29
Imagine Publishing Ltd No unauthorised copying or
distribution
-
21
n the Seventies, a high-end hi-i equipment manufacturer used the
expression Rubbish In, Rubbish Out to help sell its expensive
equipment. The message was that the music coming out of a hi-i
system could only be as good as the signal irst introduced into the
system. This pretty much
goes for photographic manipulation too; in general, bad photos
make bad paintings.
You can, of course, hope to salvage an unexciting photo in the
painting process, but it is much easier and much more fun to start
painting from a photograph that looks right and stimulates you. You
dont want the painting stage to feel like a chore.
While what stimulates us visually is a matter of individual
taste, there are a few ways in which photos created or retouched
for painting differ, or should differ, from photos made to be seen
primarily as photos.
First, and in general, paintings do not have the same level of
detail across the image that photos have. Painters use detail
creatively so when we manipulate photos for painting, we need to
get the best imitation of simpliication we can using Painters
selective blurring and sharpening tools. This is important because
in painting we also need simple areas where brushstrokes can
breathe and be read clearly. This is why Painter Xs Smart Blur is a
very useful development.
Second, we ought to chew away at the composition until its
right. Of course, photographers are just as concerned with
composition as painters, but in photos for painting we need to use
cropping in tandem with simpliication to get the base image
settled. There is no excuse for poor composition in painting where
the painter has control over what appears on the canvas.
Thirdly, dynamic range. Paintings have a very wide range of tone
and hue and this degree of subtlety is really only seen in HDR
(higher dynamic range) photographs. HDR is often produced by
combining three photos with different exposure ranges in a
composite that looks quite painterly. Painter does not yet have
native tools to do this, but you can approximate it using three
differently exposed but otherwise identical photos as clone sources
for a single painting. If you check out some HDR images, youll see
what can be done. HDR really helps getting a photo ready for
painting.
Finally, colour. This is, of course, also related to dynamic
range and hue intensity, but in colour cloning it is also about
producing colour harmony in the photo to be painted. In Painter,
this can be achieved by using two or three versions of the source
photo as clone sources, each with a different but harmonious hue.
These can then be brushed into the painting. Or you can use the
Adjust Selected Color tool to play around with individual colours
in your source photo to achieve a colour scheme you like.
So this article is about selecting and editing photos for
painting. It will suggest some preparatory steps that you are
probably familiar with, but should also give you some ideas you not
have tried before.
Prep photosfor pain tin g
020-27_OPM13_Photos.indd 21 14/1/08 16:38:37
Imagine Publishing Ltd No unauthorised copying or
distribution
Imagine Publishing Ltd No unauthorised copying or
distribution
-
Painter has many effects and tools that can be applied pretty
easily to help photos before you start to clone them. Broadly,
there are tools that change the anatomy and orientation of an
image, ones that
change the tonal values in an image, ones that change the images
focus and ones that change various aspects of the photos
colours.
When preparing a photo, its wise to start with the big things do
I like the image? Is the subject too close? Not close enough? Does
it need to be cropped? Is the horizon straight (if you want it
straight)? Is the subject too central (remember the rule of
thirds)? Do you need another tree to the right or some hills to the
left to make the composition right? If you do, source them from
another photo and paste them in before you start painting. We need
to get comfortable with the basic image before we start painting.
Take your time over this.
The main tools for changing the physical dimensions and view
angles are in the Menu bars Canvas and Effects drop-down menus.
Under Canvas, check out Resize and Canvas Size, under Effects see
Orientation and also the Crop tool in the Tools palette.
Having got the basics of the photo the way we want it, the next
thing to look at is whether it has the right tonal values. Are the
highlights blown? Not bright enough? Are the shadow areas
Feature Prep photos for painting
This photo of a duck is poorly framed. The duck is the subject,
but it is lost in the picture and the dark waterfall overwhelms it.
We need to decide on a better angle of view and the right, tighter
crop. Luckily, the image has sufficient resolution that we can
choose quite a tight crop if we wish.
Getting the composition rightOften, the problem lies within the
framing of a photograph
22
Basic editing
change the tonal values in an image, ones that change the
images
too dark, to the point where they are losing detail? Or are they
not dark enough? Is the overall arrangement of light and dark
pleasing? Once you have made your assessment of which changes are
needed, or if you just want to experiment, you can change darks and
lights and the relationship between them in a number of ways.
The easiest way is to change the values is with the
Brightness/Contrast function at Effects>Tonal
Control>Brightness/Contrast. Brightness determines how bright an
image is and Contrast adjusts the difference between light and dark
values. We can adjust these parameters to taste and try out a
number of different values. A rough rule of thumb is that we want
to avoid wherever possible blown-out highlights very light areas
that are so bright, no detail remains in them, and also shadow
areas that are so dark there is no detail in them. Broadly, blown
highlights and solid black shadows that are like this in the
original image cannot be salvaged, and we want to avoid blowing
highlights and losing shadow detail when we adjust Brightness and
Contrast.
Changing the brightness and contrast will, of course, affect
your colours. But we may also want to add colour intensity to the
image to make it come alive this is adding colour saturation.
Or
In this instance, we are going to crop the photograph just
enough to make it clear that the duck is the subject, and to get it
to fall on a third node (regarding the rule of thirds). To achieve
this, we used the Crop tool from the Tools palette.
Original Photo
Cropped Photo
Bring out detail in your shotsFixing the brightness and
contrastThe exposure is not bad on this photo but it is a little
overdone and the colour is rather bleached. We also need to add
some contrast to make it read better. Why not look at the original
photo on this issues disc and then download it to try out the
techniques covered for yourself?
01 Reducing the brightness This doesnt require a vast reduction
in brightness, enough to make the lighter tones more distinct. We
dont want to lose shadow detail.
02 Adding contrast Contrast can add sparkle and punch to an
image by making darks darker and lights lighter. Ideally, strong
contrast should be concentrated in the centre of the image but we
will add some contrast all over and if necessary, remove it
selectively later.
03 Dodging to lighten selectively We need to lighten the ducks
head, around the eyes particularly, using the Dodge tool found in
the Photo brush category. This should be done carefully at a very
low setting.
Control the size and angle of your canvas to get te best
composition
020-27_OPM13_Photos.indd 22 14/1/08 16:39:10
Imagine Publishing Ltd No unauthorised copying or
distribution
-
23
we may want to change the overall nature or hue of the colours,
for example, to cool or warm our picture. Painter allows you to
change all colours or just one colour, and in this article we will
look at the one you will probably use most often Adjust Colors.
This can be found in Painter on the path Effects>Tonal
Control>Adjust Colors.
Finally, it is worth mentioning some of the developments in
tools for photo preparation since Painter 9. Initially, Painter 9.5
introduced photo-painting palettes and then Painter X improved on
that by added an Underpainting palette that includes colour schemes
based on various media styles, such as Impressionist, classical,
modern, watercolour, sketchbook and chalk drawing. If it suits your
need, you can also choose a colour scheme that matches the colours
of any open image. These are very valuable tools when preparing a
photo to become a painting and are worth checking out.
Make your hues singEnhance the colour
01 Adding colour saturation We can add additional colour
saturation very easily. Go to Effects>Tonal Control>Adjust
Colors and choose Color Saturation . We dont want the colours to be
garish but we do want a little more intensity.
02 Changing a specied colour We want to desaturate the sky
reections in the water a little. Select the water so only it is
affected. Move the cursor over the second tool down on the left in
the Tools palette and select the right-hand tool that looks like a
key ring. Make a selection with this.
03 Completing the saturation reduction Now we go to Adjust
Selected Colors at Effects>Tonal Control>Adjust Selected
Colors. Move the cursor in the main picture on some skys blueish
water reection. The cursor becomes a dropper. Now click in the
reection area. In the Adjust Selected Colors box, change the value
of S Extents to 139 per cent and lower the bottom Saturation
control to -125 per cent. Thats it. Deselect the area and were
ready to paint.
Are we happy with the colours, or are they too intense? Not
intense enough? Do they fit the subject? In this case, increasing
the contrast has already given the colours a push but we can add
impact by increasing the colour saturation. We may also want to
adjust individual colours.
We want to avoid blowing highlights and losing shadow detail
when we adjust Brightness/Contrast
It may look odd, but Painter Xs automated schemes are great
020-27_OPM13_Photos.indd 23 14/1/08 16:39:57
Imagine Publishing Ltd No unauthorised copying or
distribution
-
24
Feature Prep photos for painting
In photography, particularly in portraiture and sports,
selective focus is used to isolate a subject and draw attention to
it. Adjustments in depth of ield can blur areas, such as the
foreground and the
background, of a photograph that the photographer feels are
distracting viewers from the main subject. By keeping only the
subject in focus sometimes just the eyes in a portrait and in full
detail, the photographer ensures that the viewer is not distracted
by what is happening beyond the subject. This selectivity operates
in the same way in painting, except that painters can choose either
to create the look of a blur, for example, with a large brush or a
palette knife, or actually simplify the detail in an area but keep
the boundaries and colours in that area distinct.
Real in-camera simpliication maintaining outlines but
simplifying colours and contours is impossible to achieve, but we
can get a good distance towards it in photo-retouching using
digital tools. Throughout its advancements, Corel Painter has
recognised that this is an important feature, the process enhanced
by its Selection tools and Blur effects. Simpliication of this sort
is rather different to the effect of blurring. Painters may use it
because they actually prefer to see their image broken up into
a
Changing focuspattern of shapes with just a few points of detail
and one focus of attention. There is just something satisfying to
the eye about reduced detail.
Simpliication can also help to create the illusion of distance.
So, crudely, things that are closer to us are more distinct in that
they have sharper outlines. Therefore objects that are miles away
in the distance are softer.
Blur can also be used to give the impression of speed in action
photos, with motor racing for example. This can be achieved in oils
with just a swipe of a palette knife and by photographers by
hand-tracking a moving object. It is also straightforward to
achieve this with digital tools like Painter where the single
movement of a palette knife can be easily simulated.
In Painter, the Focus tools are found at Effects>Focus. There
are a range of blurring and sharpening tools. The purpose of Camera
Motion Blur and Depth of Field are self-evident; Motion Blur
simulates camera shake moving your hand while taking a photo and
Depth of Field creates a blur similar to the distance from the
plane of camera focus in photography. Sharpening Focus heightens
contrast by intensifying highlights and shadows. This creates the
illusion of greater sharpness. Softening Focus blurs the
transition
Changing focusChanging focusChanging focus
Super softeningWe used the Super Softener tool to throw the
azaleas into relief. We used two versions of the photo to paint the
(slightly sharpened) original and the super-softened one (setting:
50). With both versions open and the original version active, we
brushed with the Straight Cloner, then used the softened version as
the clone source for the background around the flowers.
Using focus changes to set up a loose paintingIn this
walkthrough, we will use the Glass Distortion effect at
Effects>Focus>Glass Distortion to prepare a photo for some
loose brushwork and a vigorous treatment. Painter has plenty of
brushes to help simulate loose brushstrokes, but sometimes its hard
to know where to start. Using Glass Distortion will make the
process a little easier by getting the starting photo closer to a
loose-brushed treatment.
01 Poppies We duplicated our photo layer, set a Gel composite
mode with a value of 52 per cent. Drop the layer and select Adjust
Colors. Set Hue Shift to 0 per cent, Saturation to 11 per cent and
Value to seven per cent.
Keep the flowers in focus
Soften and blur the background
Put the two together for a stronger impact for your painting
Play with focus using Corel Painters dedicated tools and
options
Original photo
020-27_OPM13_Photos.indd 24 14/1/08 16:40:39
Imagine Publishing Ltd No unauthorised copying or
distribution
-
25
One of Painters hidden gemsThe Sharpening tool
We use sharpening subtly all the time to make an image more
distinct. Here we use the Sharpening tool flat out to create an
interesting variation of the contrast effect. The effect makes an
image suitable for use as a clone source for a pen-drawing
simulation. The settings in the Effects>Focus>Sharpen box are
Gaussian, maximum for Amount, Highlight and Shadow, and Red, Green
and Blue all checked. Load our start photo from the disc to
try.
from one element to another in an image and Super Soften just
does more of it. It takes time but gives you full control over the
result. Zoom Blur unsurprisingly creates the effect of zooming in
with a zoom lens, basically making a tunnel of blur with an area of
distinguishable image at the end. You will notice that a number of
these effects offer you different types of effects creation that
is, effects based on Gaussian or Circular Aperture options just
experiment with these.
Painter X has a ine new simpliication tool. Smart Blur is quite
successful in softening and generalising a subject while
maintaining its boundaries. It gets closer to real simpliication
than the other Blur tools and does not stray so far beyond the
boundaries of the area you are trying to simplify as the other
Painter blurring tools might.
Finally, there is Glass Distortion, which is one of the most
interesting focus effects and one used for the main worked-up
photograph. It rather unpromisingly offers the effect of images
seen through a range of glass between the image and the viewer like
a pebble bathroom window, for example. But in fact, this is a
surprisingly useful tool to get a loose painting effect started,
which we will explore in a moment.
25
02 Changing the paper texture We want a paper to interact with
Glass Distortion for a heavily textured treatment. Open the Papers
palette in the Tools palette and choose Hot Press (this is a smooth
paper for watercolour but it will not look like this at all in our
treatment).
03 Applying Glass Distortion Go to Glass Distortion and apply
the following: Using to Paper, Softness to 35.9 per cent, Map to
Refraction, Quality to Good, Amount to 1.44, Variance to 17.00 and
Direction to 49 degrees.
04 More colour We want this to have intense colours so we need
to add a little more colour saturation. Go to Effects>Tonal
Control>Adjust Colors and increase Saturation to 11 per
cent.
05 Nearly ready Apply Glass Distortion again to Poppies B . Use
the same settings as before, except change the Amount to 1.22. This
will remove some of the waviness of the previous treatment and you
are now ready to paint.
By keeping only the subject in focus, the photographer ensures
the viewer isnt distracted by what is happening behind
Altering the settings in a photograph can give the composition
an entirely
different effect
020-27_OPM13_Photos.indd 25 14/1/08 16:41:15
Imagine Publishing Ltd No unauthorised copying or
distribution
-
26
Feature Prep photos for painting
In this section, we will look at how to choose and enhance the
mood of a photograph for painting. There are, of course, all sorts
of moods that relect different emotions happiness, loneliness,
anger,
innocence, etc but we will go for a portrait of a young man with
the sort of quiet intensity and simpliied palette common in
Seventeenth Century portraits for example, see Rembrandts
self-portraits. We will not be using primarily earth colours as he
did though, we will allow ourselves a slightly larger range of
colours, but we will try to get something of his sense of dramatic
light and shade.
Moods are about emotions and it is dificult to create an
affecting image with a photo that is lifeless, banal or with very
lat lighting. As a starting point, there really needs to be a
subject with which we sympathise and to which we respond. So the
irst point is that the photographs subject is important. It doesnt
have to be a portrait look at some of Andrew Wyeths pictures of
objects and scenes to see what a brooding quality the everyday can
have but it has to create an atmosphere.
Once you have a photograph with a suitable subject, you can
enhance the mood it creates. Obviously what we do to it depends on
the emotion it invokes. The elements to consider are the
composition, colour palette, the intensity of the hues and the
values how dark, how light and the sharpness of focus. At the risk
of stating the obvious, bright saturated colours from a wide
palette will usually be associated with spontaneity, or childhood
and happy situations, while dark, mainly unsaturated colours from a
limited palette are likely to invoke a sense of brooding, mystery
or thoughtfulness. However, dark, warm colours could work well with
a positive or romantic subject, and a vibrant colour palette can be
associated with war and chaos. So there are no rules here!
The trick is to make sure that the elements of the photo, and
the painting derived from it, are consonant with its mood. That
way, the emotion carried by the image will be consistent and
congruous.
In the following walkthrough, we will use the tools available up
to Painter 9.5. However, we have to note here that within Painter
Xs Underpainting feature, there is a very useful tool for photo
preparation. Indeed, the inal result of the photo preparation we
will go through can be achieved easier and quicker using the
Underpainting tools; the photo colours we will be aiming for can be
approximated pretty closely simply by going for the Classical Color
Scheme. Such is progress!
Create a mood
Create a classical painting effectPortraits with impact
This photo is not a bad starting point for a painting
simulation, but it will need some help. There needs to be more
focus on the eyes and the background needs to be simplified so as
not to distract attention away from the face. To achieve this, we
will darken the area around the face, the side of the face not
facing the light and also simplify the colours.
01 Create a duplicate layer Open up the start photo from this
issues disc. Select All>Copy>Paste in Place. Make sure that
Pick Up Underlying Color is checked (near the top of the Layers
palette). Pick Up Underlying Color enables you to see the image
below where you erase on the image above.
02 Apply a composite method We need to intensify and slightly
darken the overall image, so we now need to set the composite
method to Gel . This is rather like the Multiply blending mode in
Photoshop. However, the resulting image is too dark and we should
reduce the Opacity of the layer down to 25 per cent, or
thereabouts.
03 Lighten the face Now we use the Eraser tool in the Tools
palette set to an Opacity of 15 per cent to return to the lighter
layer below and cover the right-hand of the face the upper cheek
and eye and just a little round the left eye. Be gentle and brush
evenly.
01Select All>Copy>Paste in Place. Make sure that Pick Up
Underlying Color is checked (near the top of the Layers palette).
Pick Up Underlying Color enables you to see the image below where
you
There really needs to be a subject with which we sympathise and
to which we respond
Create mood with the colour tools as well as Painter Xs
Underpainting tool
Original photo
020-27_OPM13_Photos.indd 26 14/1/08 16:42:22
Imagine Publishing Ltd No unauthorised copying or
distribution
-
27
04 Save this picture To reduce the two layers to one, use the
Drop All Layers command from Layers. Save this as a TIFF and call
it Tim1. Close the le and reopen it the image now has only one
layer.
06 Reduce the brown Next you will need to reduce the Opacity of
the brown layer until you can see the face below. Now use the
Eraser at 20 per cent to start removing the brown from over the
face. Set the composite method to Multiply and the Opacity to 19
per cent.
07 Reduce brightness We just need to reduce the brightness of
the picture a little this will give it a bit more atmosphere. First
reduce the image to a single layer with the Drop All command. Then
save it as a TIFF calling it Tim2. Close the le and reopen it.
Reduce the brightness by a smidgen.
we duplicate its only layer using Select 05 Tint the image
Having opened Tim1, All>Copy>Paste in Place. Double-check
that Pick Up Underlying Color is checked. Use the Fill tool from
the Tools palette to ll the new layer with a warm, dark brown
(R:94, G:60; B:30).
include a little sharpening to add a little 08 Sharpening Nearly
there. Well bite to the eyes in particular. You can also use a
touch more contrast but be careful not to overdo it dont lighten
the left side of the face too much. Save as Tim3.
020-27_OPM13_Photos.indd 27 14/1/08 16:42:56
Imagine Publishing Ltd No unauthorised copying or
distribution
-
28
h, crayons! Do you remember the days when you didnt worry about
what you were drawing or painting? You
just grabbed your crayons and started colouring! Perhaps even
writing on the walls as some young artists did; yes, the original
grafiti medium! We all fell in love at one time in our lives with
the waxy, paper-covered sticks in their multitude of colours, now
long put away for more sophisticated tools.
Well, check out the Crayons in Corel Painter and be a kid again.
There are more colours now than you could ever imagine,
and the paper never needs to be peeled back. We have a few
digital varieties to choose from today, not only thick or thin but
with all the texture and transparency you could ever dream of in a
crayon.
In this months Primer, were going to wax lyrical (sorry!)
about
the Crayon tools and reintroduce you to our coloured companions
from
the past. Youll rediscover that they are effective tools for
sketching out ideas, that theyll give you vibrant colours without
endless tweaking, as well as yielding fantastic results with
minimal effort. Youll only be regressing in your mind by revisiting
crayons, youll be adding another skill to your artistic repertoire.
So without further ado, switch on your computer, load up Painter,
then go forth and rejoice in the artistic tools of your youth!
Colour-mixing with crayons is more transparent in Painter than
the ones we used out of the box. You can achieve brilliant greens,
oranges and violets simply by using the primary colours. But be
careful, its so easy to make brown if you use too many colours, and
quicker from brown to black than you can imagine.
Crayons
Mixing coloursChoose and use them wisely Treat the stylus as if
it was a feather
Lightly does itLightly does it
When colouring in large areas, its best to use a large crayon
and a low Opacity, perhaps 20 per cent, and press lightly. The
colour builds fast and in order to achieve a light, washy look with
the crayons, youve got to have a delicate touch. Work on multiple
layers as you draw. This way, if you get carried away and get too
dark, you can always toss a layer away and try again.
Primer Crayons
BRUSH CATEGORY
PRIMER
SOFT TONESUnlike the boxed version, these crayons are able to
give you sweeping vistas of colour in just a few strokes. A large
Waxy Crayon at a low opacity can create beautiful, soft tones
ERASERSUse the Erasers to create highlights and open up areas
back to the white paper or ground. The size of the brush and
opacity will determine a soft vignette or a sharp line
Get back to basics with your childhood friends crayons!
FINE OUTLINESUse the Pointed Crayon to create sharp, uid lines.
This variant can add nice accents to any image as a strong outline
or the tiniest of details
028-29_OPM_13_brushes.indd 28 14/1/08 13:55:20
-
29
Primer
Crayons
Erase and experimentNo white crayons?No white crayons?
By the way, there are no white crayons! An easy way to get white
into your crayon art is with the Erasers. Something we couldnt do
as kids! After your drawing is done, or even in the middle of it,
use soft or sharp Erasers to add detail or soften clouds in the
sky. You must erase directly onto the crayon layer, so make a copy
if youre not sure of what the outcome may be. Experiment; these are
fun crayons after all!
Simple but effectiveSketching Sketching
Crayons are a great sketching tool. When you would like to
doodle or dont want the pressure of a big project, this medium can
be the perfect choice. Just remember how much fun crayons were when
we didnt worry so much about the end result.
Understand the different variantsCrayons
Basic Crayons
Basic Crayons 100 % Opacity
Dull Crayon
Dull Crayon 100% Opacity
Grainy Hard Crayon
Grainy Hard Crayon 100% Opacity
Med Dull Crayon
Med Dull Crayon 100% Opacity
Pointed Crayon
Pointed Crayon 100% Opacity
Waxy Crayons
Waxy Crayons 100% Opacity
Corel Painter offers the choice of six different variants of
Crayon brushes to choose from, each style yielding a different
effect. For instance, the Pointed Crayon is good for thin, precise
lines, whereas if you wanted to introduce some soft tones into your
scene, then you would be best off using the Waxy Crayons. To
supplement the Crayons, the Eraser can be used to introduce white
areas or highlights.
Basic Crayons Med Dull Crayon
Basic Crayons 100 % Med Dull Crayon 100%
Dull Crayon Pointed CrayonDull Crayon Pointed Crayon
BOLD SHAPESThe Basic Crayons work nicely for all-round drawing.
Let this be your steadfast companion in drawing fat, bold strokes.
Adjusting the Grain will give you more textural variety in the edge
of the stroke
Grainy Hard Crayon
Opacity
Grainy Hard Crayon 100%
Waxy Crayons
028-29_OPM_13_brushes.indd 29 14/1/08 13:57:56
-
Tutorial Pencil portraits
30
030-036_OPM_13.indd 30 14/1/08 12:44:33
-
ainter tools are extremely versatile and make creating a pencil
drawing simple and fun. We will show you how to create a pencil
portrait using primarily the Pencil and Conte tools. These
mimic
the natural grain of graphite on paper, and once you have
applied a paper surface texture to the whole thing, you can convey
a sense of traditional pencil drawings. But we also have a few
time-saving tricks up our sleeves
Artists have been divided over the question of to smudge or not
to smudge for some time now. There are pencil artists out there who
will swear by cross-hatching and would religiously refuse to smudge
a single line; they create all their subtle tonal changes by tiny
cross-hatchings with a sharp or a mechanical pencil. This achieves
amazing accuracy but is time-consuming and takes lots of
patience.
There are also others out there who smudge their lines to
achieve smooth tonal shading, using tissue paper, blending stumps
or cotton swabs.
There isnt a right or wrong way to create a pencil drawing,
especially in an environment as versatile as in Painter. Blender
tools are analogous to traditional blending tools, specially the
Soft Blender Stump. The problem with this tool is that it causes
loss of tonal values and loses pencil grain, thus making the area
look lat and too digital. There are, however, some good effective
alternatives.
This tutorial will lead you through all the things you need to
do to create realistic pencil drawings, including building up tone
through cross-hatching, smooth shading, creating highlights using
the Eraser and a useful little short cut for those of you with
perhaps not so much time on your hands.
In this tutorial, we will show you how to create a pencil
drawing in Painter X that merges traditional techniques with
digital tools
Pencil portraits
Artist
Time needed
Skill level
On the CD
Wen-Xi Chen
One to two hours
Intermediate
Start photo and final image
Tutorial info
In this tutorial, we will show you how to create a pencil
drawing in Painter X that merges traditional techniques with
digital tools
Pencil portraits
31
Roughly sketch out your subject, ready for transformationOutline
your intentions
rough sketch of your subject. We used 01 Sketch The rst step is
to start with a the grid and a sketching pencil to capture the
basic proportions of our reference image onto the blank canvas of
2,835 by 3,543px at 300dpi (A4). You can trace the photo on the
CD.
some more details; in the case of this portrait, the facial
features. We 02 Details Once you are happy with the rough sketch,
start to draw in did this part on a new layer so we could erase any
reference lines on the layer below once we were happy with the
placement of the features. Only a simple outline will sufce at this
stage of the drawing, as tonal detailing will come at a later
stage.
Tutorial
Outline your intentions
Pencil portraits
03 Choose your texture Clicking on the Paper Selector icon
brings up a drop-down box full of paper textures. These textures
show up when you start to draw and give the picture a really
authentic feel. In Painter, brushes that react with paper texture
have a grainy method. We used a basic paper texture.
030-036_OPM_13.indd 31 14/1/08 12:44:56
-
32
Use cross-hatching and smooth shading to get the right tonal
values A shady character
horizontally to check for mistakes in proportion) and had erased
04 Drop layer Once we were satised with the sketch (ip the image
the reference lines, we dropped the layer with the details so that
all our line sketches were on one layer.
A shady character
layer to work on for the following steps. 05 New layer We then
created a new Once you use a 2B pencil on this layer, change the
Layer composite method to Default and not Gel, which is the setting
Painter automatically sets a layers composite method to if you
paint on it with a brush that uses the Buildup method.
06 Dening dark areas The Conte tool was used to dene the darker
shadowed areas in the picture. In Painter, using Conte creates a
lovely grain, especially on rough paper textures, and helps to
really dene shadows. Use sweepingly along dark edges to create a
loose yet dramatic look.
07 Basic cross-hatching Cross-hatching is commonly used in pen
art as well as pencil drawings. Tonal effects are created by layers
of lines (hatching) at an angle to each other. We used a small
(size 3.6) 2B Pencil for this. For the face, careful cross-hatching
will allow you to create a realistic and accurate skin surface if
you have the patience.
08 Eyes Eyes are the windows to the soul, and a favourite of
many pencil-portrait artists to draw. For the eyes, we started
cross-hatching using a small 2B Pencil. It is important to get the
shape of the eyeball and surrounding muscle and skin correct in
order to retain realism.
09 Eyes highlights Next we picked out the highlights with the
Eraser tool, just as you would with traditional media. The Pencil
mainly denes the details of the iris, but more detail can be
created using the Eraser. It was also used for the eyelashes and
moisture effects.
Tutorial Pencil portraits
cross-hatching. Your traditional pencil artist, if the kind
inclined to 10 Smooth blending You may go on to do the whole
picture with smudge, would use a blending stump, tissue paper or
cotton swabs, etc, to create smooth shading. This sounds
sacrilegious, but the same effect can be achieved when using the 2B
Pencil like an airbrush; set the size of your pencil at a high
value and press lightly on the tablet. It avoids looking digital by
maintaining a grain and looks like smooth shading on paper.
030-036_OPM_13.indd 32 14/1/08 12:45:35
-
33
TutorialPencil portraits
Let your wrist flow with the brushstrokesHair we go again
13 The choice is yours We used a combination of smooth shading
and cross-hatching to achieve the tonal values on the face. Smooth
shading can be used as a base upon which cross-hatching can then be
used to dene more detail.
14 Hair basics Normally in traditional pencil art, unless youre
a whizz with an eraser, you wouldnt draw hair in layers from dark
to light as you might in paint. We used the Dull Conte at 50px to
mark out the vague shape of the hair, and then at 11px to mark out
more detailed sections.
Hair we go again
hard-edged Eraser tool is used to create 11 Highlights Same as
the eyes, a highlights for the lips to give them a glossy, lifelike
feel. We highlighted the top of the lips and the left edge where
the light hits it. Also, highlighting the bottom lip at the centre
gives it some plumpness.
12 More about shading skin Since skin is such a big part of
drawing portraits and pencils are such small tools, it may be
tempting for some to just leave it blank. To help get the
subtleties of skin, we desaturated our reference photo and turned
down the brightness of it so the tonal values showed up
clearly.
15 Long hair is subject to gravity As is short hair sometimes.
In this case, the ow of your strokes should follow the ow of the
hair. Start from the root to the tip and let your wrist movement
guide you.
Shading techniquesBasic shading techniques in use today are
linear-hatching, cross-hatching, scumbling and soft shading.
Scumbling involves the build-up of tonal value using small
scribbles. This method tends to give a different texture to an
image than the more conventional drawing techniques.
Shading
natural paper colour as you simply leave that area empty. This
is 16 Hair highlights One method is exclusion; the highlight is the
commonly used in traditional pencil drawing where achieving
highlights is quite difcult every other way.
17 Think of the hair in sections If you want to draw it strand
by strand, you will be there forever. Using the Dull Conte at 30px,
we drew in several strokes that followed the curve of hair and fans
out from the ends of the sections of hair, but fades out at the
middle of the sections.
Contour-hatchingContour-hatching is similar to linear-hatching
but the lines follow the contour of the object you are depicting
rather than being straight. It is sometimes easier to show a 3D
structure using contour shading than with the other techniques.
BackgroundsWhen drawing portraits in pencils (traditionally or
digitally), it is a good idea to keep the background simple; a
complex background is a big investment of time and weve lost track
of all the drawings we have lying around with half-finished
backgrounds. It can also make the picture look cluttered, as it
draws attention away from the main subject. Leaving the background
white, or with a faint wash of shading, is often much more
effective and focuses the attention of the viewer.
Backgrounds
030-036_OPM_13.indd 33 14/1/08 12:45:57
-
34
Use the Apply Surface Texture command to give the impression of
paperTextures and textilesTextures and textiles
pick out highlighted strands of yaway 19 Flyaway hair
Traditional pencil artists hair using a hard-edged eraser or by
scratching away at the paper. We used the Eraser at a very small
size of about one to two pixels. Loose hair at the sides of the
head was drawn with the Tapered Conte as the size of the tip is
pressure sensitive.
20 Zoom out, ip horizontally Hopefully by now, youve done this a
few times and since the end is nigh, this is about the last time to
check and overview the drawing.
used the Dull Conte to block in some black, and again the Dull
Conte, 21 Clothing We wanted to keep the clothes simple and sketchy
so we this time in white, to mark out the highlights in the folds
of cloth.
very low opacity, drew some dots over the lighter areas of the
skin to 22 Skin textures We zoomed right in and with a white Conte
set to add texture and a dewy look.
the drawing that have been drawn on 23 Paper texture So far, the
parts of should already show a paper texture, but the white,
untouched areas do not. To apply a Surface Texture, go to
Effects>Surface Control>Apply Surface Texture. You can view
the texture in a preview window. We turned down the Amount slider
to 20 per cent.
24 And last of all Since pencil drawings are normally more
grey-looking that what we have got here, go to Effects>Tonal
Control>Brightness and Contrast, then move the contrast slider
to the left. There, now it looks just like a real pencil
drawing!
Tutorial Pencil portraits
Desaturate the reference photographCreating a greyscale pencil
drawing from a full technicolour reference photo can be daunting
and difficult. One easy way around this is to simply turn your
photo into greyscale as well! Simply go to Effects>Tonal
Control>Adjust Colors and move the Saturation slider all the way
to the left.
appropriate for this part) at a much smaller size of two pixels
and did 18 Detail We then used the Dull Conte (although many tools
are the same as in the previous step.
Get your reference just rightIf you are taking your own
reference photo to draw a pencil portrait from, look for
interesting lighting such as from the sides or top and bottom. A
straight frontal light can seem like a quick and easy option, but
more tonal values, shadows and highlights should be achieved from
the start, often making it more fun to draw.
030-036_OPM_13.indd 34 14/1/08 12:46:23
-
35
TutorialPencil portraits
A bit about the tools available to youAchieving the pencil
effectWhile you might obviosuly plump for the Pencil brush category
when it comes to getting a pencil effect, there are other tools and
techniques that you need to consider. Using a pencil brush alone
wont deliver good results! Incorporate blenders and Conte brushes
and always use traditional mark-making for ultimate
authenticity.
The 2B Pencil can be used small for cross-hatching or sketching
and used big for an airbrush-like effect. The Sketching Pencil is
perfect for creating the initial line sketch. Any sort of Conte
tool, such as Dull Conte or Tapered Conte, is great for really
dramatic dark shadows at the beginning stages of the drawing, and
also for hair.
The Pencils belong to the Dry Media Brushes family alongside
others including Chalk, Pastels and Crayons. These work by
depositing pigment on the surface of whatever it is you are drawing
on, so its important to select the right surface texture. The Grain
slider controls how much colour penetrates into the paper texture.
Lower settings show more of the grain. If you are using the 2B
pencil primarily, grain is not very important but for the surface
texture to show through with Charcoal or Conte, set the Grain value
to about 10-20 per cent. at the beginning stages of the drawing,
and also for hair.
CROSS-HATCHINGCross-hatching is the fail-safe mark within
mark-making it covers all evils, flaws and errors. You can count on
it when you arent quite sure what mark to use. It can be very
effective for furry or fluffy objects.
DIRECTIONAL MARKSDirectional shading is a very expressive type
of mark-making, a representation of the way and length you feel the
mark should be made. It is great for fur and vegetation, such as
grassy tufts and tussocks.
TONAL RENDERINGTonal rendering is the epic means of creating
subtle tones and shadows on flat or smooth surfaces. Use the pencil
as above, but apply pressure for added depth and take the pressure
off to lighten it. Always shade at the same speed.
2B pen cil Con te BasicPaper
Artists,
Rough Paper
Cha rcoa lPaper
Thick hand-made Paper
030-036_OPM_13.indd 35 14/1/08 18:38:38
-
36
Painters Charcoal tools create a great alternative image Cloning
method
photograph black and white. Go to Effects>Tonal
Control>Adjust 01 Desaturate photo At this stage, we want to
make the Color and turn Saturation down as far as it will go. The
reference photo is now desaturated and ready for cloning!
Cloning method
02 Quick Clone Now follow the path File>Quick Clone. A new
window will open, at which point you should select the Pencil
Sketch Cloner as your Cloner tool of choice.
03 Draw along the edges Outline the main features of the photo.
This gives the nal picture a more authentic pencil-drawn look, as
well as giving the image denition early on.
05 Hair Whatever tool you use on the hair, do it in large chunks
as to not give the game away! We used the Charcoal cloner again.
This eliminates the ne detail contained in the original photo and
is extremely quick. Follow the natural ow of hair or else the
picture just doesnt look convincing.
Tutorial Pencil portraits
Although a lot of what has come so far is to do with making
marks and shading, you might feel as though it is above your
sketching abilities. In which case, bring on the cloners!In this
small walkthrough here, we show how the pencil and charcoal cloners
can achieve a decent pencil effect, only you are free from the
burden of having to be able to draw. Desaturate your photo and then
build up the detail bit-by-bit. The biggest trap you can fall into
is trying to get all the detail in the irst sweep of the brush.
Keep your movements light and dont be afraid of having areas of
white. Keep toggling with the Tracing Paper to see how its coming
along if the photo is always visible, your marks will look weaker
than they are.
over the darker areas lightly with a 04 Charcoal For the face,
we went large Charcoal cloner; as long as you dont press hard on
your tablet, this tool picks up the tonal values from the photo
while maintaining a convincing texture.
030-036_OPM_13.indd 36 14/1/08 12:49:35
-
38
ainter comes with such a varied palette of default brushes that
just about anyone could paint happily ever after with them,
using
only the General Brush Controls to tweak them as needed. But
weve also been given a wonderful tool for creating an ininite array
of new and specialised brush variants. Creating your own variants
can push your art to a new level, and because theres an element of
randomness about it, you also have some happy surprises in store
for you, which may in turn inspire you to try new painting styles
and techniques. Would you like a watercolour brush that paints
drier edges, a softer background brush for oils, a crayon that
looks greasier? Theyre all in there, just waiting for you to
discover them, give them a name and begin painting.
The irst time we open up the Brush Creator, it might be slightly
intimidating
with its sliders and rows of tabs and controls. We may click on
a few of them, decide to wait until later, and back quietly away,
but its an intuitive tool once you learn a few basics. So go ahead,
open Painter and follow along with this walkthrough. We wont
end
up with the same brush variants, but well end up with some new
variants
worth saving, and we also reckon that afterwards, you will have
the conidence
to pop it open at any time and create a new batch of variants to
enhance your current painting style. What more could you ask from
your favourite magazine!
If youve been shying away from this powerful Corel Painter tool,
get ready for some creative fun!
To transpose can mean to change to the opposite position, but it
also means to change into a different form or state. The Transposer
does just that by taking two of your brush variants and combining
them to create a new variant consisting of both their
characteristics. We explore the Randomizer on these pages, but
your results will be less random if you use the Transposer, and the
more you use it, the better you will become at choosing variants to
blend into new ones. Go to Window>Show Brush Creator or choose
Ctrl/Cmd+B to open the Brush Creator and select the middle tab. You
may choose variants that are closely related or vastly different as
you begin exploring the possibilities.
If youve been shying away from this powerful Corel Painter tool,
get ready for some creative fun!
A great place to beginThe Transposer tabThe Transposer tab
This is where the fun beginsLets transposeLets transpose
So weve chosen a couple of brushes that we want to experiment
with by combining their properties. For this one, were using two
similar brushes, an Acrylic brush and a Gouache brush. Click on
Transpose Current Selection (the gear icon) and select from the
list of variants displayed
between those two brushes and begin to make strokes in the
preview window. With the most promising brush from those selected,
continue to click on the gear icon and new lists will appear, and
so the process goes as you hone in on the characteristics you want
in this variant. If you would like to back up to a previous variant
then its no problem, you can find it in your Brush Tracker.
Feature focus Brush Creator
SWEEPING STOKESA mixture of the Sargent brush and F-X Hairspray
gave us the ideal shape for these bold and sweeping elements. The
Hairspray variant is a good one to use when you want something that
is softer at the edges.
that looks greasier? Theyre all in there, just waiting for you
to discover them, give them a name and begin painting.
The irst time we open up the Brush Creator, it might be slightly
intimidating
with its sliders and rows of tabs and
up with the same brush variants, but well end up with some new
variants
worth saving, and we also reckon that afterwards, you will have
the conidence
to pop it open at any time and create a new batch of variants to
enhance your current
FEATUREFOCUS
Brush Creator
038-41_OPM_13_featurefocus.indd 38 14/1/08 11:02:56
-
39
Feature focusBrush Creator
Each selection makes it more personally yoursNarrowing it
downNarrowing it down
As you paint strokes in the preview window, zoom in or out with
the slider at the bottom or change the size of your brush with the
top slider, and when your window is full of strokes, just click the
Clear button and youve got a new, white canvas. Move your Color
Wheel over beside the Brush Creator because some brushes
automatically paint as cloners, and for these, you will want to
click off the Cloner option and choose a bright colour that will
show the properties of your variants. The entire Brush Creator can
be enlarged by pulling down with your cursor on the lower-right
corner. This will allow for a longer variants list with each click
of the gear icon.
BACKGROUND BRUSHThe Leaky Pen variant isnt normally one applied
in great sweeps, but in this case we have utilised the Brush
Creator to make the perfect tool for depth and texture. The Stroke
Designer helped with this.
BEST OF BOTH WORLDSUsing the Brush Creator to merge the
properties of two different brushes can give interesting effects.
Do you like the thickness of oil but want the transparency of
watercolour? You can get just that in the Brush Creator!
MAGNOLIA PETALSThe Sumi-e category has lots to offer oral
painters and in this case we took the Thick Blossom variant as our
starting point. A blast in the Randomizer and Stroke Designer
created petal perfection.
How to save your new variantA star is born!A star is born!
Youre bound to discover new brush variants you would like to
save, and thats easy, too. Select Save Variant or Ctrl/Cmd+S, and a
new window will open up where you will type in a name for this new
brush. If the OK button
greys out, you will have to shorten the brush name. Click OK and
it will be saved in the first Brush Library, the one thats at the
top of the Brush Creator. Look in that library to see your brush.
It will be at the bottom. To put it in alphabetical order, choose
Window>Workspace>Customize Workspace>Brushes and click
Done when you are finished. And now youre all set either to begin
painting or to spend some more time creating brushes.
Feature focusBrush Creator
Let your magnolias blossom with the Brush CreatorPut Brush
Creator to work
01 Magnolia painting For our rst variant, we began with an
unlikely choice, the Leaky Pen brush. Even if you use it a lot, you
may have never thought of using it as a background brush. In
Randomizer, we chose a variant we liked, then moved to Stroke
Designer and added greater opacity and some depth.
Here is a fun exercise: create a painting and include some of
the brush variants you have created in Brush Creator. Lay aside
preconceived notions about which brush categories work and which
ones wont. Be adventurous and try some of those brush variants you
rarely open. Chances are, youll expand your thinking as well as
your Brush Library.
02 Sweeping strokes For this one, we began in Randomizer with
the Artists>Sargent Brush and randomised until it morphed into
something less graphic and lent itself to sweeping strokes. We then
took it into the Transposer and added F-X>Hair Spray to soften
the edges, then added depth in the Stroke Designer.
03 Magnolia petals To create a petal brush variant, we began
with the Thick Blossom Sumi-e brush in Randomizer and took our best
mutation to Stroke Designer and added depth, reducing the Plow to
about half and increasing Smoothing to 25 per cent. The new brush
variants worked well to paint these abstract magnolias.
038-41_OPM_13_featurefocus.indd 39 14/1/08 11:03:35
-
40
Depending upon your own workflow, you may begin this brush
creation process in the Randomizer and go on to the Transposer, or
do this in reverse order or utilise only one of those tabs.
Whatever you feel comfortable with, you may want to do some further
fine-tuning of your new variant, and for this, the Stroke Designer
is the logical next stop. You may already be familiar with most of
the controls because theyre in your General Brush Control palette
where you tweak your brush variants on the fly, but the Stroke
Designer gives us a room apart from our painting in which to work
with new variants, so use the Preview window to really explore the
results of your tweaking.
Where it all comes togetherStroke DesignerStroke Designer
Discovering more optionsWhats behind tab #3?Whats behind tab
#3?
One helpful element to take note of here is that whatever brush
variant you place in the top spot under the tabs, that same brush
will appear as you move back and forth among the tabs, making it
easy to create, refine and then finalise each of those sparkling
new variants you create. A large brushstroke and the shape of a
single touch of the brush are always displayed at the bottom of the
Stroke Designer screen to help us envision how changes will affect
the chosen variant, and will be displayed in either the current
colour or the colour you saved with your variant. Options in the
brush controls that are not available for your particular variant
will be greyed out.
Feature focus Brush Creator
01 Lets get started Select Ctrl/Cmd+B or go to Window>Show
Brush Creator and when it opens, choose the Randomizer tab. As the
name suggests, you are presented with random mutations of your
chosen brush variant. You may be like a kid in a sweet shop and end
up with dozens of exciting new variants. Keeping things orderly is
a key to enjoying Painter, so take time to grasp the process of
creating and saving your variants.
02 Choose a variant to randomise Underneath the Randomizer tab,
select a brush variant that you want to explore. Below the row of
brushstroke grid cells is a slider where you can control the
strength and range of the random variations. Set it between eight
and ten; you can lower it once you begin liking the direction your
mutations are going in.
The Randomizer tab is a favourite for many digital
artistsExploring the RandomizerExploring the Randomizer
The Randomizer delivers ever-evolving brush variants in such a
serendipitous manner, very well-suited to those of us who rely upon
the muse to inspire and guide us. The only problem here might be
deciding how many variants to save.
Get in the habit of namingWeve said it here a couple of times,
but it can never be said too much. Whenever you save your
newly-created brush, always give it a recognisable and descriptive
name. We find it best to pick something that explains the qualities
of the brush, such as soft oils, watery pastels anything that will
jog your memory as to what the brush looks like when you stumble
upon them months after youve created them!
04 Fine-tuning Here is another Randomization using the same
Broad Water Brush, but its evolving closer to the transparent,
backwash effect that we want, so we have changed the random
variation strength to eight to narrow down the choices.
FEATUREFOCUS
03 Begin the process For this example, we chose the Digital
Watercolor Broad Water Brush. Our aim was to nd a variant that was
soft and owing but with opacity and colour variations, and we slid
the random variation strength control all the way to ten to see
just how far we could go with this brush.
038-41_OPM_13_featurefocus.indd 40 14/1/08 11:04:18
-
41
Feature focusBrush Creator
Who says we cant mix oil with water? Greater versatilityGreater
versatility
Just one more step Time to saveTime to save
In the Thin Wet Oil Wash variant, we were happy with the
consistency of the paint it laid down, but we decided to play some
more with the Color Expression set to Direction, and we increased
the Color Variability in order to have a mingling of wet-looking
colours with each stroke, changing with its direction. At this
point, its looking more like
a Digital Watercolor brush than an Oil brush, but thats part of
the beauty of Corel Painters brush variants. In traditional
pigments, we could never combine oil and water media or substitute
one for the other. In fact, youll notice in the screenshot that
both the Digital Watercolor and Impasto controls are available.
clicking on the Randomize Current Selection button (the cog
icon). 05 Taking control We continued to choose variants to try by
Notice that your choice from each list of variants determines the
direction of the next set of variants. In this way, you are
controlling the mutations.
options, you can use the Save Variant command to keep it for 07
Name that variant After playing about and exploring your future
use. This works in the same way as in the Transposer walkthrough.
As always, descriptive names are best, otherwise you may be left
later wondering what you had in mind when you created it. If youre
really pleased with your creation, why not send it to us you never
know, artists around the world could be using your brush in the
future!
Short cutsIf youre using a mouse with a wheel, you can use this
to zoom in and out of the preview window or use a keyboard short
cut, Ctrl+0 (zero), to enlarge to screen size. Keep in mind that
your most-used short cuts will simplify your painting workflow and
leave you free to create. To find out more about Painter short cuts
and learn how to customise them, look under the Help menu.
in your Brush Library, you will want to restore the brush you
began 08 Restoring default After the new variant is saved and
appears with to its original state as its properties have been
altered. To do this, choose Restore Default Variant.
We DO want to give you that!Is that your final answer?
with the direction the randomisations have taken, go to the
Tracker 06 A backup plan If at some point you decide youre not
pleased and scroll back a few steps. Click on one and the
randomisation can begin again, taking a new direction.
Now that our variant is refined just the way we want it, all
thats left is either to save the enhanced version as a new variant
or decide to overwrite and declare this as the default variant by
going to Set Default Variant. In doing so, you will lose its
earlier variant that you saved. When you close the Brush Creator,
all your workspace palettes will go back into their assigned
places. Now youre familiar with the awesome controls in Painters
Brush Creator, personalise your brushes for your own use and even
share them with your Painter friends; the more you use it, the more
proficient youll become at creating brush variants. Go create
something amazing!
Brush Creator in greater detailIf youre not a member of one of
the larger digital art forums like Painter Talk or Paint Outside
the Frame, you might not know that John Derry posts his own segment
where he explains all the features of Corel Painter in detail and
answers questions from forum members. Be sure to look out for his
informative and interesting forum threads.
038-41_OPM_13_featurefocus.indd 41 14/1/08 11:04:45
-
Tutorial Paint like Klimt
42
ustav Klimt (18621918) was an Austrian Symbolist painter, and a
founding member and president of the Vienna
Secession movement. While working mainly in the style of Art
Nouveau himself, the group he headed welcomed