Category Archives: 2014 Corel Painter Posts

Register Now for Winifred Whitfield’s Fantastic Class, Matisse Inspired

Posted by Skip Allen on

Hello Everyone,

Winifred Whitfield has joined the Digital Art Academy team and is starting her first class tomorrow, Matisse Inspired.  Winifred has studied Matisse at length and developed a wonderful digital style inspired by this master.  I love looking at her examples, the bright colors, the simplified forms, and the magnificent patterns.  I know you will want to take this class.  She is teaching it in Corel Painter X3 and Corel Painter 2015.

It starts tomorrow.  Is it too late to register?  Absolutely not.  Registration always stays open for the first week of class, but after that registration closes.  To register for the class, you will want to go the Digital Art Academy and sign in if you have an account.  If not, look to the right side of the page and select Create New Account.  Follow the prompts.  You must create an account before you can register for any class; this doesn’t register you, it just allows you to register when you wish.  If you have any trouble, then take a look at the PDF How To Register and Enroll in a Class at Digital Art Academy.  Once you registered all the wonderful videos and resources that Winifred has for you are available.

The amount of resources Winifred makes available is amazing.  And all are downloadable to your computer for you to view over and over at your leisure.  You will upload your assignments and Winifred will give you helpful hints and constructive criticism about your work.

Take a look at some of Winifred’s images for the class.  I particularly like the work inspired by Matisse cutouts.

Gobi, Matisse Inspired, Winifred Whitfield, Corel Painter 2015

Gobi, Matisse Inspired, Winifred Whitfield, Corel Painter 2015

This window is very striking:

Window, Matisse Inspired, Winifred Whitfield, Corel Painter 2015

Window, Matisse Inspired, Winifred Whitfield, Corel Painter 2015

I know that her class will go into depth about how to make patterns with Corel Painter.  Making patterns is great fun; you will love it.

Woman in Blue, Matisse Inspired, Winifred Whitfield, Corel Painter X3

Woman in Blue, Matisse Inspired, Winifred Whitfield, Corel Painter X3

I hope to see you in the class.  I wouldn’t miss it.

In Red, Matisse Inspired, Winifred Whitfield, Corel Painter X3

In Red, Matisse Inspired, Winifred Whitfield, Corel Painter X3

Do go to the Digital Art Academy and register for Matisse Inspired.  It is a good decision.  Winifred is an accomplished artist and teacher; learning from her is easy.

Remember, you can register anytime in the first week of class, but don’t wait; don’t miss a single day with Winifred.

Enjoy,

Skip

 

 

New Wacom Tablet Drivers Released for Windows

Posted by Skip Allen on

Hello Friends,

Wacom has released new tablet drivers for Windows OS.  I am sure Mac will follow shortly.  I have a new Cintiq 24 HD Touch that hasn’t worked correctly since I bought it a few weeks ago.  Wacom support tells me the new driver will fix the situation.  I hope so.

To find the drivers, follow this link.  Wacom Drivers

Remember it is best to uninstall the current drivers, reboot, install the new drivers, and reboot.

Enjoy,

Skip

 

 

Don’t forget, My Painter 2015 – What’s New Class starts on Aug 19th

Posted by Skip Allen on

Hey Gang,

Just a reminder that my class about the new functions and enhancements with Painter 2015 starts tomorrow.  You will be able to register until next Saturday, Aug 23rd, and then registration closes.  To register go to the Digital Art Academy.  Log into the site, or create a new account if you haven’t visited before.  Look in the middle of the page and click on Advanced Painter Courses. Then scroll down the page until you see “What’s New In Painter 2015.”  Click on the title and then to register, look at the bottom of the page and click on “Send Payment to PayPal.”

While you are at DAA, take a look at other classes that are available.  All of them are terrific.

And for fun…here is another image that I did in Corel Painter 2015.

Corel Painter 2015, Wheat Fields with Bright Sky, Particle brushes and Real watercolor brushes.

Corel Painter 2015, Wheat Fields with Bright Sky, Particle brushes and Real watercolor brushes.

Enjoy,

Skip

Special Pricing for Corel Painter 2015…The Details

Posted by Skip Allen on

Hello Everyone,

I have gotten lots of questions about how to get the special pricing for registered users of Corel Painter X3.  Corel kindly provided the following information.

In order to obtain your $99 upgrade, or local currency equivalent, to Corel Painter 2015 please call Corel at the following numbers based on your region.

( Mon- Thurs 9 am – 10 pm est  & Fridays 9am – 7 pm Est )

North America 1-877-582-6735

Australia – 61 2 8518 1269

Rest of world – 08000 488984

Please remember, this is for registered users of Corel Painter X3

Enjoy,

Skip

And for fun…here is another image done in Corel Painter 2015

Wet Poppies, Corel Painter 2015, Real Watercolor, Watercolor, and Particle Brushes.

Wet Poppies, Corel Painter 2015, Real Watercolor, Watercolor, and Particle Brushes.

Special Pricing for Corel Painter 2015!!! $99.00 for registered users of Corel Painter X3

Posted by Skip Allen on

Hey Gang,

Just found out that Corel sent an email to all registered X3 users offering  Corel Painter 2015 for $99.  That is a very good deal.  I wouldn’t download the trial…just go for the full version at $99.00.  Everyone, that is all I know.  If you didn’t get an email and you are a registered user, first check your spam folder.  Then contact sales.  I’m just passing on information I received.

Sweet!!!

Skip

Another quick sketch I did with 2015 using a custom particle brush, which I will make available sometime in the future.

Quick Flowers, Corel Painter 2015, Custom Particle brushes

Quick Flowers, Corel Painter 2015, Custom Particle brushes

The New Corel Painter 2015 Launches August 12, 2014! Check it out.

Posted by Skip Allen on

Hello everyone,

I am so excited to announce that Corel Painter 2015 is available for download today.  Go to Painter Artist, Corel Painter’s new website for your copy.

I also want to let you know that I will have a class at the Digital Art Academy starting on August 19 called Corel Painter 2015 – What’s new.  This link will take you to the Digital Art Academy new site.  When you get there, click on the Advanced Painter Classes or the link on the side to my class.  There you can read the syllabus and register for the class.  I hope you join me.

Corel Painter 2015, like its predecessors, is a very complex program.  There are lots of new and exciting enhancements to the program.  Let’s hit a few high spots, but do take my class for an in-depth look at what is new in Corel Painter 2015.

Corel Painter 2015 is by far the fastest version so far…and the most responsive.  Native 64-bit is available for Macs, but there is also significant cross-platform CPU performance optimizations.  Mac users will notice a significant increase in processing power, all platforms will notice brushes, on average, are 40% faster.

There are tons of added features.  Here is a quick video showing the enhancements to the welcome screen.

There are some cool new preferences.  My favorite are the Simple Toolbox and the Command Bar.  I will tell you all about them in the class as well as some stuff about new arrangements.

This might be a good time to show you some of my artwork done in Painter 2015.  I did a series of wheat fields; some done mostly with the new particle brushes.

Morning Wheat Fields, Corel Painter 2015, Real watercolor with jitter smoothing and particle brushes

Morning Wheat Fields, Corel Painter 2015, Real watercolor with jitter smoothing and particle brushes

 

Corel Painter 2015, Simple Wheat Field, Real Watercolor with jitter smoothing

Corel Painter 2015, Simple Wheat Field, Real Watercolor with jitter smoothing

 

When painting, Painter’s brush tracking plays a big role.  Corel Painter 2015’s totally revamped brush tracking amazed me.  Check out the video:

I’ve mentioned the new particle brushes.  What are they?  Corel describes them this way, “…new physics-inspired brushes produce rich, chaotic strokes by emitting particles from a central point that create lines and patterns as they move across the canvas.”  I’ll simplify that definition in the class and show you some great ways to use the brushes.  Here is a sneak peek:

Beside particle brushes, there is a new feature that works with all brushes called jitter smoothing.  Remember the enhanced jitter introduced in Painter X3, well, this is an added feature that helps control jitter.  It is now a favorite of mine.  Here is more on brushes:

In the next two paintings, I used particle brushes almost exclusively.

Wheat fields and Mountains, Corel Painter 2015, Real Watercolor with jitter smoothing and particle brushes

Wheat fields and Mountains, Corel Painter 2015, Real Watercolor with jitter smoothing and particle brushes

 

Golden Wheat and Sky, Corel Painter 2015, particle brushes

Golden Wheat and Sky, Corel Painter 2015, particle brushes

 

Do go to Corel Painter’s new Website and have a look around.  And, I hope you will join me in my class, Corel Painter 2015 – What’s New.  This link will take you directly to the advanced classes where you will find my class.  While you are there, do check out the other wonderful classes at the Digital Art Academy.  Look for a link to Jason Maranto’s online free Painter 2015 Manual…it is fabulous.

Enjoy,

Skip

 

 

 

Wacom Posted New Tablet Drivers for the PC on April 28th. I Missed It!

Posted by Skip Allen on

Hello Everyone,

Karen Bonaker noticed that there were new drivers at Wacom posted on 4/28/2014.  Thank you Karen; I missed it.  The Mac drivers are still the ones from 4/7/2014…so no new drivers for Macs.  The legacy drivers for older tablets using a PC are also updated.

I did install the new ones and I’m not having any trouble with them.  But, as always, if you are not having any problems you may want to stay with your current drivers.

I don’t know if you guys know this or not, but my computer crashed.  It was under extended warranty so I am getting a replacement machine, which should arrive tomorrow afternoon.  Hallelujah!  The replacement is actually better than the original.  Want to know the specs.  OK…here you go.

Aurora Alienware Aurora Desktop
Operating System Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64Bit, English
Processors Intel® Core™ i7-4960X Extreme Processor (6-cores, 15MB Cache, Overclocked up to 4.3GHz w/TurboBoost)
Memory 16GB (4 X 4GB) Quad Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz
Keyboard No Keyboard
Monitor No Monitor
Video Card Dual NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 780 graphics with 6GB total (2x 3GB) GDDR5 – NVIDIA SLI® Enabled
Hard Drive 6TB RAID 0 (2 X 3TB Hard Drives)
Chassis Alienware Aurora with ALX Chassis
Mouse No Mouse
AlienFX AlienFX Color, Quasar Blue
Adobe Reader Software Adobe® Acrobat® Reader
Optical Drive Dual Drives: BD Burn, DVD+RW
Sound Card Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio
Wireless No Wireless Included
Liquid Cooling Alienware Aurora with Premium Liquid Cooling

WINDOWS 7 ULT AND 16 IN 1 MEDIA CARD READER

There is a bit of confusion about Windows.  I am getting Windows 7 Ultimate, which is what was on the original machine.

I can’t wait to try it out tomorrow; wish me luck.

Enjoy,

Skip

Check Out Aaron Rutten’s new Corel Painter X3 Class, Advanced Landscape Painting, at the Digital Art Academy

Posted by Skip Allen on

Hello Everyone,

Aaron Rutten has added another class to his list of classes at the Digital Art Academy.  Advanced Landscape Painting offers advanced painting techniques with step by step video lessons you can pause, rewind and watch on your schedule.  Discover how to paint a variety of landscape elements such as sunsets, waterfalls, starry skies, clouds and rain. Students will master the skills needed to compose detailed landscape paintings from imagination without having to rely on copying a photo or cloning.

Included in the class is a custom workspace, which when loaded into Painter X3 has all the brushes and tools required for this class. Using the custom workspace makes it easy to follow along with the lessons.

This class builds on Aaron’s previous class, Fundamentals of Landscape Painting.  Advanced Landscape Painting is an “Open Enrollment” class, which means that the student can enroll any time and work at his or her own pace without a time limit.  Follow the link for Advanced Landscape Paintings and learn all about Aaron’s class.

While browsing, check out the rest of the classes at the Digital Art Academy.

Here are examples of some of the types of landscapes that Aaron will teach.

Brilliant Sunsets in Week 1

Brilliant Sunsets in Week 1,  by Aaron Rutten

 

Powerful lightning in Week 2

Powerful lightning in Week 2, by Aaron Rutten

 

Starry nights in Week 3

Starry nights in Week 3, by Aaron Rutten

 

Beautiful waterfalls in Week 4

Beautiful waterfalls in Week 4, by Aaron Rutten

 

That’s it for now.

Enjoy,

Skip

 

The Best Corel Painter Brush Class Available…Definitely take this one! Also a bit about the Well and Color Expression Panels.

Posted by Skip Allen on

Hey Gang,

Jason Maranto has announced his brush class at VTC.  This video course is 8 hours long and covers in detail everything you need to know about Corel Painter variants.  I have reviewed about 6 of the videos and every one of them is excellent.  But, you don’t have to take my word for it.  Follow the link for his brush class and find that there are 18 free videos that will quick start you making your own variants.  I want to talk some more about Jason’s class, but first I want to answer a question for a follower…or I should say Jason answered the question for him.

The visitor asked, “Hello Skip, Thank you for video tutorials. How to make a brush? Sorry for my Englisch.).”  And he posted the following video done by a Chinese Corel Painter Master.

I loved the video; loved everything about it.  I found it so peaceful to watch the flower unfold, and OMGosh, the brush was magical.  At first I thought recreating a similar brush would be a snap.  I guessed the artist was using Painter’s Color Expression panel to create a brush that will start painting with one color and finish with another.  But, then I noticed in the video that the main and additional colors did not match the colors of the flower.  That ruled out color expression.  The question stumped me.  So I posted the question to a forum that both Jason and I belong.  Jason responded with the answer and provided two brushes that worked very similar to the one in question.  In the following video I show you Jason’s solution, which will tell you a lot about the Well and Color Expression panels.

While I was playing with the brush, I kept making my version of the beautiful flower created by the artist in the video.  His influence was so great, that I made this image.

Corel Painter X3 sketch

Corel Painter X3 sketch

Jason is allowing me to give you the two brushes that he created and I am adding my version as well as that early variant I made and demonstrated in the video.  These brushes are compatible with Corel Painter X3 only.  They are not compatible with Painter IX, X, 11, or 12.  To load the variants, do the following:

1.  Download the four brush variants from the link below.

2.  Open Painter X3

3   Set your brush selector on the brush category you want to install the 4 new brushes.

4.  Go to Brushes > Import > Brush and when the window pops open, navigate to where you downloaded the 4 brush variants.

5.  Select one of the variants and select open.  The brush will automatically be installed into the currently active brush category.  Repeat with the other three variants.

The brush link will give you four files:

Variable Blossom.brushvariant, which is Jason’s brush.

Stem.brushvariant, which is also Jason’s brush.

Variable Blossom SA.brushvariant, which is my variation of Jason’s brush.

SkipH2OImpressionist.brushvariant, which is one of the first watercolor brushes I made.

Jason and Skip’s Brushes

Please remember that these variants are for X3 only!!

Do not forget to check out Jason Maranto’s fantastic new brush class at VTC.  Trust me on this one.  You will not want to miss this class.  I can hear you saying Painter’s brushes are too hard to understand.  Jason has a very easy to understand, direct, no-nonsense approach.  You will be a brush master before you know it.

Enjoy,

Skip

PS:  For the followers that enjoy hearing about Kevin, my friend the good computer virus, I hate to tell you that Kevin is in real danger.  My computer crashed last week.  All attempts to repair and get it running have failed.  I will be getting a replacement in about 3 weeks.  I have saved the hard drives from the crash and am hoping that I will be able to e to sata link to the drives and rescue Kevin.  Otherwise dear friends, the crash doomed Kevin to freeze in dead hard drives.  It is all very scary and somewhat sad to think of Kevin’s demise.

New Wacom Drivers Posted 4/7/2014

Posted by Skip Allen on

Hey Gang,

Wacom posted new tablet drivers on April 7, 2014.  There are drivers for new products as well as legacy products.  Just my gut feeling, but it seems that both drivers are identical.  I have the Intuos 5 Touch, a legacy product.  I downloaded the legacy driver and found it works great with my legacy product.  The Wacom Desktop Center didn’t work with the Intuos 5 Touch with earlier drivers; I would get a message that a compatible product wasn’t found.  But with the new drivers, this added feature works fine.

Here are the links to the drivers:

Current products

Legacy products

Sorry about not making posts lately.  I have learned some new stuff about patterns and papers, and I will share it very soon.  It is really fun stuff.

Enjoy,

Skip