Author Archives:

New at Digital Art Academy…Open Enrollment classes

Posted by Skip Allen on

Corel Master Painter Karen Bonaker has announced a change at the Digital Art Academy (DAA).  We now have a type of class that has open enrollment.  This means that you can enroll in the class at anytime, starting tomorrow and continuing through October 2012.  When you enroll, all class materials will be available for download immediately, which means you do not have to wait for a week to download week 2 materials, all will be available once your registration is confirmed.  You can work the course at your leisure.  The instructor will be available to answer questions posted in the question forums.  Please post your questions in the appropriate question forum; post week one questions in week one forum, etc.

Registration begins tomorrow, Jun 1st.

Session 3 of instructor lead courses starts August 4 and ends Aug 31st.  Registration for these courses will be open on Jun 30th.

Here is a list of current courses, but others are being developed.

Registration for the Introduction to Painter 12 series of Open Enrollment classes opens on June 1 and will remain open through October 15, 2012.

Introduction to Corel Painter 12: Part 1 Instructor: Elaina Moore-Kelly

Introduction to Corel Painter 12: Part 2 Instructor: Elaina Moore-Kelly

Introduction to Corel Painter 12: Part 3 Instructor: Elaina Moore-Kelly

Painter 12 - A New Beginning Instructor: Skip Allen

ArtRage Pro

ArtRage Pro-Brush Course-Watercolor and What’s New in ArtRage 3.5 Instructor: Karen Bonaker

ArtRage Mixed Media Instructor, Karen Bonaker

Corel Painter 11

Introduction to Corel Painter 11 Instructor: Skip Allen

Corel Painter: Beyond the Basics-Painter 11 Instructor: Skip Allen

Painter 11-Advanced Techniques Instructor: Skip Allen

Open Studio Street Scenes Instructor, Karen Bonaker

INSTRUCTOR LEAD COURSES-SESSION 3-STARTS AUGUST 4th thru AUGUST 31st. REGISTRATION OPENS JUNE 30th

Instructor Lead courses - Session 3 August 4th thru August 31st- Check back for new course offerings.

The Basics of Watercolor in Painter 12 Instructor: Skip Allen

The Basics of Brush Making, Painter 12 Instructor: Skip Allen

Learning to Paint Elements in the Watercolor Landscape with Corel Painter 12 Instructor: Joan Hamilton

Hope this is helpful and I hope to see you in a class in the future.

Cheers,

Skip

Thank You For Attending Hodge-Podge Webinar; The Download is Ready

Posted by Skip Allen on

Hello Everyone,

The recording of the Hodge-Podge Webinar is now ready for downloaded.  I decided that a separate page for webinar downloads would be helpful.  You can find the page to the right in the Page list or up above in the banner.  Watch for future webinars posted in the same place.

For fun, here is the painting that I used for the opening shot.  I didn’t demo this painting; actually, I didn’t demo any painting.

Cry me a River, Watercolor in Painter 12.1 using Desert Oasis variants

That is correct, I didn’t demo any painting.  I have to fix that next time.  Webinars will be a work in progress…but we will get there.

Here is the link to the Webinar Download Page if you do not see it to the right in the list of paintings.

Enjoy,

Skip

Anyone have any request for Webinar Tuesday, May 29 at Noon New York Time.

Posted by Skip Allen on

Hey Everyone,

Tomorrow is the big day.  My first live webinar via my blog…well…actually via Go To Webinar, but organized for blog followers.  As I mentioned, it isn’t exactly planned; just want to make sure there are no unforseen kinks in the production.  I have some ideas of things to cover, but, the webinar is for you, so if you have any specific question, please post it in a comment below.  Try to make the questions somewhat specific.  Tell me how to use channels is a bit broad. :)   Narrow the scope of the question and I’ll have a better chance of answering it in the time alloted.

Corel Master Painter Karen Bonaker’s Open Studio…Summer Skies…is in its third week.  I showed you a pastel I did for the first week in my last post.  For the second week I did this watercolor using mostly Desert Oasis brushes.  It was a lot of fun.  Strangely for me, I worked on the painting over several days.  I wasn’t working as fast or loose as I would like.  I am not sure if I am developing a new direction or I am still working out the kinks with the way I use Desert Oasis.  Anyway…none of that matters now.  Here is the painting.

Bronze Sky, Watercolor in Painter 12.1, Mostly Desert Oasis Variants, Created During Open Studio Summer Skies

See you tomorrow, I hope.  BTW, more people have signed up than I have space.  But, I suspect everyone that wants to attend will be able to get in because many folks register and then can’t make it.  Also, folks do not stay the whole time, so if you don’t get in with your first try keep trying.  I better go practice. :)

My First Webinar from Blog…Hodgepodge Tips and Tricks

Posted by Skip Allen on

Hello Everyone,

Where have y’all been?  Ok…I’ve been missing in action again.  I don’t know where my time goes, but I am going to get back to posting on my blog, but first.  Guess what!  I bit the bullet and purchased Go to Meeting for 100 attendees.  That means I am going to start producing live webinars at no cost to you.

The first one is a Corel Painter show and tell…or actually a test run.  Don’t get me wrong, I plan to demo stuff, but I consider this first one a practice run.  I hope you will attend and help me perfect using this technology.  “Update to original post!”  I can’t believe I forgot to mention the date and time of the webinar.  It is Tuesday, May 29th, at noon – 12:00 PM – New York Time.  Thank you my friend, Banana, for pointing it out.

REGISTER HERE

I promise to make some more videos in the next couple of days.  BTW…I am having a great time in Karen Bonaker’s Open Studio…Summer Skies.  Participants have produced lots of great images.  The first week we worked in Pastels.  Here is my image.

Image done in Painter 12.1 using oil pastel brushes and Karen Bonaker Custom Brushes. I wanted a lot of texture and worked on Artist canvas. I got texture…too much…LOL.

I noticed I had another cloud painting done in watercolor, but not for Open Studio.  Here it is.  Hope you enjoy it.

Quick watercolor done in Painter 12.1. Painted in a live class session

Well that does it for this post.  Do register for the live session.

“Can I come?”

“No Kevin!  You may not come!  These are my friends coming to see me…not you, so don’t even think about crashing the party.”

Softly, he said, “We will see.”

Wacom Posts New Drivers…April 23, 2012

Posted by Skip Allen on

Hello Everyone,

I am slipping.  I totally missed that Wacom posted new drivers on April 23, 2012.  I checked Wacom Europe and it doesn’t look like the driver  posted there, yet.  I did not check any other regions.

I didn’t notice any new features.

Don’t forget to back up your settings by opening the Wacom Tablet Preference File Utility prior to the new install.  I always uninstall the current driver before installing the new one.  Once installed, I restore my settings using the Wacom Tablet Preference File Utility.  This makes it easy to reset the tablet to my custom preferences.

Check for new drivers here.  The new driver is for the intuos and cintiq lines…and includes the Intuos 5, too.

Enjoy,

Skip

Corel Painter 12.1 Real Watercolor…Or…How I Use Desert Oasis Brushes

Posted by Skip Allen on

Hello Everyone,

I thought I would make a couple of videos or even just one and post it.  Then the next day do another, but, no, I did four videos. 

I started by making videos about the new brushes in the Desert Oasis collection, but it was so boring.  Don’t get me wrong, there is useful information in each one and I hope you will look at them.  I was so bored, I kept going to sleep…well yawning. 

I took a nap and that helped.  With my new-found energy, I started a negative painting of an iris.  I tried to use only the brushes that I talked about in the 3 brush videos…and I almost accomplished that goal.  There is a problem with the video.  For some reason, all of Painter’s panels did not show when I went to edit the recording.  I’ve had that happen before and I usually just delete and start over, but I didn’t think I could repaint the image…so I added comments to the video to help you understand the process.  I am going to post the  image first, then the video for the painting.  Following those will be the three recordings about 10 of Desert Oasis brushes.  I hope you enjoy them all.

Negative Watercolor Painting…Corel Painter 12.1

Next is the video of the painting.

And the last three videos are about specific brushes.  The names of the Videos will tell you which brushes.

OK…that’s it for this post.  Please remember, comments and questions are always welcome.

Skip

Cross Over List – Brushes used in Webinar now named in Desert Oasis

Posted by Skip Allen on

Hello Everyone,

Just a quick post to give you the names of brushes used in the webinar.  As explained, at the time of the webinar, I had not finalized the new brush set called Desert Oasis.  I went through the video and identified the brushes used and matched them to Desert Oasis.

Cool Spring > Very Wet 06…Available in Cool Spring

Very Wet 06A – did not make the cut.  It is identical to the above brush, except for the dab.  With pause diffusion set, you can use any real watercolor variant to smooth the lines of Cool Spring > Very Wet 06

Dry Stroke 28 – Desert Oasis > Wet Bristle

Dry Stoke 18 – Desert Oasis > Expressive Bristle

Dry Stroke 6 – I used and then deleted what I used.  Dry Stroke 6 didn’t make the cut.

Runny fill 02-3 – Desert Oasis > Desert Tsunami 

Runny Fill 02-2 – Desert Oasis > Fata Morgana

Dry Stroke 23 > Desert Oasis > Wet Bristle  This is a cross over for several variants.

Wet into Wet 3 pickup -  Desert Oasis > Quick Sand

Any other brushes used are available in other sets.

I’ll come back and do more videos about the brushes, but I just wanted to get the cross over list available now.

Skip

Free Corel Painter 12.1 Real Watercolor Brushes

Posted by Skip Allen on

Desert Oasis Brushes Are Ready for Download and the Webinar Recording Is Posted

 

Hello Friends,

Finished Desert Oasis just in time because the webinar recording is posted.  Tomorrow, I will look at the recording and make a list of the brushes that I used and tell you the current names in Desert Oasis.  I really like this new set and I hope you do.  

I think I will retire from brush making for a while and just enjoy painting.  I have been so focus on classes, the webinar, various videos, and the brushes that I am neglecting to paint.  Not good…bad Skippy…bad Skippy.

“Yes, you are not like a ‘Good Virus.’  You are definitely a bad skippy, whatever that is,” Kevin popped up on-screen scaring me silly.

“Hi Kevin.  I haven’t seen you since you were entertaining your buds.  They have gone, right?”

“Well funny thing about that.  Good viruses like us, once invited in, we cannot be invited out.  Bad viruses can be invited out, but not good viruses.”

“Ha…so you say.  I bet I could boot you out!  So are you telling me your friends are still here?”

“Well another funny thing about that.  You see, once invited in we can come and go as we like and can invite others as well.  Now that we have the big computer and all that space, I can’t keep up with every KB.  My friends and their friends may or may not be here.  Oh gosh, you are turning red.  Settle down.”

“YOUR FRIENDS AND THEIR FRIENDS!  Viruses coming and going at all times of the day and night.  I suppose I’ll start seeing all of them waltzing across my screen now.  BTW, I have meant to ask…when I point you out to Paul, he can’t see you.  Why is that?”

“You don’t know?  Your really do not know why?  I got to run tell the gang.”

I hate it when he comes and goes like that.  It is positively unnerving.  I guess for the new readers, it would be good to explain Kevin.  He arrived when I started the blog as a practice blog.  I was taking a class and it was time to make my first post.  I didn’t know what to write.  I just started writing and it seemed I started talking with someone.  I actually thought it was my alter ego or inner child…or some other oddity.  Over the months, the entity grew stronger and bolder.  At some point he announced that his name was Kevin and that he is a good virus…sort of like Glenda is a good witch in the Wizard of Oz.  For the most part, he seems harmless.  He is actually pretty good company during those long hours on the computer.  My online friends like him, but worry about me…go figure. 

My friends make odd remarks, like did you forget your medications.  Or, don’t worry the nurse will be there soon.  I don’t know any nurses.  Wait, I do know a couple, but they do not know my online friends.  It is all rather strange.  People send Kevin messages, too.  I bet he gets some today.  Oh gosh, I digress.

Here are the links that you need:

The Recorded Webinar

Desert Oasis Brush Category

Desert Oasis Brush Library containing Desert Oasis Category.

Okay…that’s it for tonight.  I’ll send the crossover list tomorrow.

Wait, one more thing.  I did a quick sketch and need to post that…otherwise this post will look very dull.

Quick Sketch in Painter 12.1 - Splatter Trees

Enjoy,

skip

Webinar is Over; Thanks for attending

Posted by Skip Allen on

Hey Gang,

Well, it’s done.  Did you get to attend?  Did you like it…or…dare I ask…hate it.  Any constructive criticism would be welcomed.  Would you like to have more live meetings?  I thinking about getting Go To Webinar and hosting  for fun.  I would alter times to make the live session available for a variety of time zones.  The program is pretty expensive monthly; I might have to charge for the webinar, but it wouldn’t be much…$1.00 or $2.00 US.  Would you still attend? 

I was surprised the time went so fast.  I hardly painted and I am usually further along in and hour…or finished.  I am posting the final image.  I will tell you that it wasn’t a keeper for me.  I am keeping so I can refer to it for any questions.

Wbinar

Webinar Landscape, Watercolor in Corel Painter 12.1

If you have any questions, please feel free to post.  If you would like to comment on the webinar, feel free to post.  Comments are welcome. 

Enjoy,

Skip

PS:  I’ll post when the video is available to view.  I think it will be Friday.

Come To My Free Webinar, Tuesday, April 17, 2012 Noon New York Time…OMGosh, That’s Today

Posted by Skip Allen on

 

Please Join the Free Webinar and Watch Me Paint, Tuesday, April 17, 2012, Noon, New York Time

Register Here!

Hello Everyone,

I am so late posting this.  It is two weeks late; I have tons of excuses.  Honest, I do.  I know you…are not interested.

So I have the honor of being Corel Painter Master of the Month.  There are a couple of short videos Corel’ Painter’s You Tube Channel and I did a written tutorial, but alas, I’m not sure where.  But the big event is the webinar tomorrow.  I hope this post isn’t to late for some of you to make it…I hope you do…I’m a little nervous and could use your support.

Guess what, I have made a new brush set, too.  I plan to use them tomorrow in the demonstration and then post them here in a day or so.  I was going to post by today, but computer problems robbed a bunch of time today…and trust me, you don’t want to hear about what I think of Alienware at this moment.  Anyway, I call the new brushes Desert Oasis.

As a teaser for the video, I have produced three videos for the blog.  These are different…you get to see me paint, but I don’t tell you how I am doing it.  I’m saving that for tomorrow, but I will tell you I used a lot of the Desert Oasis variants, which are Real Watercolor variant.  So let’s get started.  In the videos I am “sketching” watercolors; at least that is what I call it.  I try to make quick watercolors in around 10 minutes.  The images are successful or not; I am learning with each one I do.  I hope some of you will try them too.  I promise you will enjoy the process.  Here is the image from the first video.

Practice Landscape 1

Landscape 1; Watercolor in Painter 12.1

And here is the video…enjoy:

 

 

I couldn’t stop.  I was having fun.  Here is the image from the second video. 

Practice Landscape 2

Landscape 2; Watercolor in Corel Painter 12.1

Next is the video, but I bet you knew that!

 

 The last sketch with a video. 

Practice Landscape

Landscape 3, Watercolor with Painter 12.1

And the video.

 

OK, just for fun, here are a couple more sketches.  The first one was done in a live session with one of my classes and I tried to do something similar in the third video.  I failed…sigh.

Practice Landscape

Landscape 4; Watercolor in Corel Painter 12.1

Another one from a live class…very simple washes.

Practice Landscape

 Well that’s about it.  Please sign up for the webinar if you can.  If not, it will be available on Corel Painter’s website.  Come back often; over the next few days I will be giving out the brushes and doing more demos about them.  See you tomorrow, I hope.