Hello,
I have a post talking about Eastern Water brushes, but a viewer asked for a link to a Webinar Karen Bonaker and myself did showing how to use these brushes. I decided it would be good idea to create a page for the brushes and this video.
With Painter 12.1 we can install a library with the brushes or a category which can be installed in the Library of our choice.
Enjoy,
Skip
Hi Skip — I’m having trouble with getting this installed. I did watch the video and unzipped the folder according to your instructions. The Eastern Water seems to extract fine — when I look at it in Windows Explorer, all the brushes are there. But when I try to import the library and navigate to exactly the place I saw it on Explorer, I click on the “Eastern Water” folder and get a message of “No items match your search” within the folder.
I’d really like to use these brushes — what am I doing wrong?
Hi,
You used the words import the library. Are you using Painter 12.1 Brushes > Import > Brush Library? If that is the case, you cannot do it that way because the download file hasn’t been fixed for the Painter 12.1. I plan on converting all the files, but I haven’t done so, yet. If you want to install Eastern Water in its own library I’ll be happy to tell you how to do that, but first, you need to tell me if you are using Painter 12 or Painter 12.1…or an earlier version. Are you using a MAC or a PC and what is your operating system.
Thanks,
Skip
Sorry, I forget to include those important details. Painter 12.1, PC Windows 7.
Hi…
I just sent you the library file that can be used in Painter 12.1 to install the Eastern Water category in its own library. I included instructions with the email. It seemed simpler for me to do that. I’ll get to the other Brush Categories soon.
Hope this helps,
Skip
Skip, Please Send the Eastern Water Brushes for Painter 12.1 and instructions also.
Hi Kathi,
I plan to set them all up as a Painter 12 import, but it will be a little while before I get to it. I have been working on a Brush Management Primer that is taking a very long time to do. I hope to post that soon and then I can set up the brushes.
Thanks,
Skip
Hi Skip, I was watching your tutorial of these brushes and I was trying to follow along on my own computer when I realized… my tablet doesn’t support tilt! I have a Wacom Bamboo Pen and since it doesn’t support the tilt function automatically, I was wondering of there was a way I can do it manually through Painter 12. You’re brushes are beautiful and it would be a shame if I couldn’t use them to their full potential. Is there anything I can do besides buy a new tablet?
Thanks,
Nikki
Hi Nikki,
I don’t think I can be much help. I have never used a Wacom Bamboo, so I don’t know how it feels or handles Painter brushes. Not all of the brushes use tilt, some use bearing, and some use direction. But I do not know if these functions are supported by the Bamboo or not.
I know the Intuos tablets are expensive, but they really are fantastic. Wacom just came out with the Intuos 5, which means there will be a lot of folks upgrading and might want to sell their Intuos 4 or 3 at a bargain price. IF at all possible, do try to get a 4, it is so much better than a 3.
That being said, I have had students take my classes using a Bamboo and I couldn’t tell the difference in their work and the work of others using a different model. I even had one student who did everything with her mouse and it looked great. How she did it, I do not know. I think what I am trying to say is that if you practice and play with making brush marks, you will be able to get the Bamboo to work for you.
Good luck and sorry I couldn’t give you better information,
Skip
I have just re-started using Painter after many years. Luckily I came across your tutorials quickly and am really very happy. Thanks Skip. I intend to be your student for a long time. I enjoyed the tuturial very much on Eastern brushes. You mentioned that we could down load your colour pallette. I appreciate you must have spent a lot of time building this but would be really glad if you could let me have access so that I can start quickly practicing. So, question is how do I access this or what principles should I think of in making my own pallettes?
Hi Rob,
I hardly use that palette any longer…I have way too many of them now. I am very glad to hear that the site is useful for you. I sent the palette to you via your email above.
Have fun,
Skip
Hi Rob,
I tried to send the mixer pad to the address listed, but it was returned. Sorry, but that is the only way to send to you. If you can provide a workable email address, I’ll be glad to try again.
Skip
Dear Skip,
Really love your Eastern Water brushes, I’m Chinese myself so I can see many of your brushes really captured the essence of Chinese Ink Wash painting, in my very uneducated eyes at least!
Is there any way to purchase your course material where you teach painting with your brushes? The digitalartacedemy website seems to be down now?
regards,
Jia ZHU
Hi Jia,
I’m glad you like the brushes. I just checked on Digital Art Academy’s website and it was working fine. I’m sorry it was down; I didn’t realize it. Please try again. My Brush making class is available, but I don’t have anything currently teaching the use of Eastern Water. I think I have a webinar on the blog that shows me using Eastern Water, but I couldn’t find it. I’ll check again later today and let you know.
Thanks for visiting and commenting,
Skip
Found it. The video I was thinking about is located on the Eastern Water download page. It was a webinar Karen and I did for an Open Studio Class in 2010. I do not believe that class is available any more.
Skip
Hi Skip,
many thanks for the prompt reply!
Yeah I have already watched your Webinar about Eastern Water and that’s what got me so hooked by your material! In that webinar I think Karen mentioned that there will be courses to paint bamboo etc., I suppose at the DAA, and hence my original question.
I checked again and DAA is still inaccessible for me, both from work and from home. Strangely enough, last Saturday when I first checked, it was working fine, but then stopped working on Sunday. I’m accessing it from Austria and I found that the domain name cannot be resolved, so it might be some problem with the domain name provider?
After so many years I finally decided to get serious learning Painter, and your place seems such a wonderful place to start, because it eliminates a lot of the beginning frustration and really put the fun back into learning, thank you so much!
By the way, last weekend I made my first two paintings ever using your Eastern Water brushes and posted at deviant art, I’m so proud because I didn’t have any drawing/painting background before, and just started recently to learn into the whole thing. http://xeethra.deviantart.com/
Thank you again for providing such wonderful resource to the world, so that even a layman like myself can start feeling “creative”:D
regards,
Jia ZHU
Hi…
Yes, the webinar was done during a class and the following week’s subject matter was painting bamboo. That particular class is not available.
There is some problem with the connection to DAA from Austria. I didn’t notice the Vienna address when you first posted. Someone had the same problem and found away around it, but now I don’t remember who. I’ll try to find it, but there are so many comments, it is hard to keep track.
I’m glad you are having fun learning Painter. It is great fun for me, too. I continue to learn new things with Painter.
Wow! I looked at your two paintings and am very impressed. I can understand why you are proud. I have seen a lot of first time paintings in this style. I would not have thought these were your first attempts. Did you learn how to write Chinese characters? The way I have seen people hold their brushes for writing would work well with a stylus and a digital tablet. Do search You Tube for demos of traditional Chinese Painting. It is a good way to learn, but you do have to adapt what you see to the digital world. I also researched Sumi-e Paintings.
You are well on your way…congratulations on those first paintings…outstanding,
Skip
Thanks a lot for your kind words!
Alright, I’ll try to find a way to access DAA, maybe by using a proxy. Would there be any possibilities to purchase past course materials?
Yeah I sure know how to hold the brush in Chinese caligraphy, but not really good at it, never tried to hold a stylus that way though, will try it out:D
Do you paint this way?
regards,
Jia ZHU
Yes, most of the time I do. But I haven’t had any training and just try to mimic the way I see it done on You Tube. It appears that the brush is held the same with Chinese calligraphy and Chinese paintings. I have never tried any of it traditionally…just digitally. Skip
Thanks for the link to this video, Skip. Great stuff and I’m becoming hooked on this style. I love the one stroke aspect of it and it feels a bit like the decorative/Folk Art painting I am used to compared to the more fine art approach of my recent classes.
Like Jia ZHU I would like to take that Sumi-E class at DAA. Give Karen a nudge, who cares if it was in Painter 11. I still have that version if necessary, lol.
Enjoy the rest of the weekend,
Debbie
Hi Skip 🙂
I downloaded quite a few of your brush libraries, and though they are all phenomenal, this set is my favorite. I’ve been having a great time trying them out and can’t wait to get to some more serious business! Thank you so much for providing these wonderful tools!
Also, I have a question on Painter 12 itself. I often have problems with lagging in the brushes. I’ve rebooted my laptop, thinking it may be due to overuse without rebooting. It helps for a short time, but then the lag eventually returns. Have you had or know of anyone who has had this issue?
Thanks again for everything! Looking forward to seeing more from you!
~kitsu
Hi Kitsu,
I’m delighted that you are enjoying the brushes. Lags especially with watercolor are common. Can you tell me what OS you are using. There are some things that can help, but they are specific to a Mac or PC.
Thanks,
Skip
Hi Skip,
Thanks so much for getting back to me. Oddly enough, I’ve been getting lags when using any of the tools/brushes. Currently I’m running Windows 7 64 bit, 4GB of RAM, 1.30GHz processor on an HP 2000 laptop. I’ve had other issues with this version of windows with my Wacom Bamboo tablet that took quite some time to solve (currently have the Intuos 5 and have had no issues), Perhaps it’s a windows conflict?
Thank you so much for getting back to me and I appreciate any advice you may have. 🙂
~Kitsu
Hi Kitsu,
Here are some a couple of things to try…
1. You can turn multicore function on or off in the general control panel. Some folks do see a difference, but I don’t.
2. More is not always best when it comes to your performance preferences. I’m not sure if you computer is multicore, but if it is, the default for performance is one less than your total number of cores and memory set to 80%. Go to Edit > Preferences > Performance and reduce you number of cores and memory usage. You will need to restart Painter for this to have an effect.
3. Make sure any watercolor variants are using delayed diffusion and when using real watercolor variants, use pause diffusion. Delaying or pausing will help with brush lag, but you will still need for the diffusion process to finish before continuing to paint.
4. Close and restart Painter once an hour.
5. Watercolor variants require a lot of computing power. The stronger the computer and the more RAM you have the better Painter will respond. Your computer is doing fine, but if it was a bit stronger, it would help. I don’t know about lap tops, but memory can be added relatively cheaply and easily in a desk top. That might help. If you are in the market for a new computer, don’t try to save…LOL…make a reasonable budget and then spend on the high side of the budget. I have a very powerful machine…so you will see the brushes dance across my screen. That is not the norm. I’m running Windows 7 64 bit, 16 GB of Ram, with a 12 Core i7 processor running at 3.9 GHz.
I hope this helps,
Skip
Hi Skip,
As you can see I am late to this party. I just bought Painter2016 and I am in love. Having watched your video, you mentioned you would share the mixer panel you used to demonstrate the Eastern Watercolor brushes. If it is compatible with the newest version of Painter, I would love to have a copy. I’ve been interested in Sumi-e art since I was in high school, but I have never painted a day in my life. Your videos have convinced me I have to learn how to do it. I am, by avocation, a photographer, and since I retired I am getting more interested in trying to figure out if you can teach an old dog new tricks.
Thanks for reading this, and I hope to hear from you.
Hi Kurt,
I have just searched the blog for that mixer pad and cannot find it. Apparently, I totally forgot that I was going to share the pad. I have looked on my computer and I do not find a copy. I’m sorry, but it isn’t in existence anymore.
I hope you have a great time in Painter. I came to painting late, too…after my retirement. It has been great fun.
skip
Ah well, I guess that means I am going to have to learn how to do it myself–just one more chore to add to the list. Is your Painter2016 class over on DAA a good place for a rank beginner to start?
Hi Kurt,
The class isn’t over. I’m not sure it is the best place for a “rank beginner” to start, but I will have a beginning painter class starting later this year. Not sure exactly when, but I will announce it on the blog. Thanks for your interest. Skip
Ｉ am a greener of Painter 2016, Do you have and brush setting recommendation or I could buy from you? I am a rendering guy for the Architecture drawing. Thank you
Hello,
I am not sure I understand the question. Are you looking for brushes that you could use with architectural rendering? I don’t have any for that purpose exactly, but I think there are many of my brushes that might give you the look you are after. Or, you may want to explore the digital watercolor category.
Enjoy,
Skip