Hello Friends,
My class is going strong, but I had to take a break and play with ParticleShop, Corel’s new plugin for Photoshop. I have to admit, I was pleasantly surprised. I don’t use Photoshop to paint, just adjust my photos. And, I better tell you straight up, I am not a photographer. So, painting in Photoshop is a big deal for me. But, if you want to see some very special videos of Particle shop in action take a look at the ones on ParticleShop’s web page.
OK…I opened one of my photographs in Photoshop. I took this image at St. George Island’s State Park, Florida. A lovely storm was rolling in, but it wasn’t rainy. I guess I am glad I couldn’t see any rain; I did not want to get my camera and myself wet. But, I did want to see soft rain falling from the clouds. I wanted to see if I could make it happen in ParticleShop.
Storm, St. George Island State Park, Skip Allen, Nikon D810
After working in ParticleShop for just a few minutes, I had my soft rain.
Storm Altered with ParticleShop, Skip Allen
I need a lot of practice to feel totally comfortable in ParticleShop, but it wasn’t hard to do what I did. Of course this is a greatly simplified demonstration of what is possible in ParticleShop. Do check out the images and videos on the web page.
I captured making the above image in a video. Hope you enjoy it.
OK, that is a quick look at ParticleShop. I am looking forward to playing some more in the program. I really liked what I saw in the videos on ParticleShop’s site; I want to see if I can do work like that.
My class, Corel Painter 2016 – New Horizons is going strong. There is still time to register if you like. My second live session is tonight at 9:00 PM EDT. I record all live sessions for download. Have fun with us. Registration is Here.
Enjoy,
Skip
Skip Allen Paints 
Thanks for the demo. Looks good for Ps users that don’t have Painter. But Painter users might find it barely useful.
Hi Doug,
Since I only use Photoshop for post processing my photos, I suspect I would do what I showed in Painter rather than in the ParticleShop plugin. But, there are a lot of Painter uses who switch back and forth between Photoshop and Painter. For those folks, I would imagine the ParticleShop Plugin is useful. And, of course, if someone doesn’t have Painter, then the plugin is the next best thing. Just an opinion on my part. This is new territory and we really don’t know who is going to be the user base. I am not sure who the target user base is. It is going to be fun to watch how this plays out.
Enjoy,
Skip
Hi Skip, I’m a long, long time follower of yours and got this in my email about your experience with Particle Shop. But I think that people need to be aware of something odd.
I bought the particle brushes within Painter 2016 – they auto download after payment. I spent around $400 all up as I wanted to be able to use them in Photoshop as well as I also bought the Photoshop Plugin.
This cannot happen as Painter brushes aren’t read by Photoshop as you would know – I would have to buy the brushes all over again and can’t afford that amount.
Having said that – that’s life and that’s the way it is – but I hope other people read my comment and don’t get caught like I did – I came out of lurking to share this. It’s a shockingly expensive error to make and there is no on site warning. Corel support tell me to point my plugins folder to my app data – roaming – but Photoshop will never read those files. I tried everything!
Photoshop plugin goes in beautifully – but people out there – they need to know not to buy with the idea in mind that once paid for in Corel does not mean they are able to be used in Photoshop.
Happy Painting – and thank you for all you share as always over the years!
Georgiana
Hi Georgiana,
I am so sorry about this issue. I am not sure what to tell you. I’ll see what I can find out.
In the meantime, I visited your sites. Your work is stunning. I thoroughly enjoyed visiting.
Enjoy,
Skip
While I am not really informed, I thought I read that if you bought the Photoshop plug-in and used it in Photoshop, that you could use those same brushes in Painter 2016.
If that were true, you would think the other way “might” be possible….tho brushes purchased for Painter certainly would not work in Photoshop because you still need the plugin program software….
but maybe the ‘brushes’ work in both once the appropriate code is installed (Painter and Photoshop) to accommodate these purchased extra brushes. That probably means buying at lest one brush set for Photoshop and one (different?) set for Painter.
Only Corel knows for sure.
Hi Skip; My name is Kathy in Riverside, CA. I would like to take lessons with you. Please email me at krdery@gmail.com and talk prices. Thanks much. Love your style!
Thank you Kathy, email is on the way. skip
I appreciate it, Skip! Please resend:+) I cannot find hid nor hare about it.
krdery@gmail.com – will look again!
I got it, sorry!
So is it a yes? I really would like watercolor experience. Thanks for your consideration.