Category Archives: Skip Allen & Painter 12

An Answer for Deb; Corel Painter Brushes and Installation

Posted by Skip Allen on

Hello Everyone,

I guess I am back.  I had planned to be back in a couple of days, but I got a note from Deb, which I felt needed answering via a video.  So here we are posting a little early.  You can read the exchange between Deb and me here.  Go to the bottom of the page; you will find her questions there.

Basically, Deb installed a couple of categories, but when she did, she couldn’t find her Painter 12 brushes anymore.  She did a shift start and that allowed her to see Painter brushes again, but not my brushes.

This is one of the most common questions I get.  Actually, I get the most questions about brushes in general.  I have decided that I am going to do a series of videos about Painter Brushes in general.  Not just installation, but everything I can think of that I might know about brushes.  I hope you enjoy them.

So, Deb, let’s start this thing off with answering your question via this video.

Enjoy,

Skip

Corel Painter Freestyle, Check It Out! I love it.

Posted by Skip Allen on

OMGosh Folks,

Painter Tutorials added a video showing Painter Freestyle using a Leap Motion controller.  The controller isn’t available yet, but google Leap Motion and you can pre-order.   It is very reasonable; I have pre-ordered.

Want to see a demo?  Check it out.

It is amazing.  I’ll be back with more posts later.  I’ve been hiding. 🙂

Enjoy,

Skip

More Performance for Macs, Corel Painter 12.2 Service Pack 1

Posted by Skip Allen on

Hey Everybody,

Yesterday, the Corel Painter team released Service Pack 1 (SP1).  It includes a number of documented bug fixes and performance optimization for the Mac and PC.  For complete information about SP1, do read the Corel Blog post by Andy Church.

Here are some of the highlights from Andy’s Post:

“The patch includes a specific performance optimization option for 64-bit Mac systems that have traditional SATA hard drives. Because Painter 12 for Mac is a 32-bit application, and the 64-bit version is still in progress, our team wanted to deliver this service pack as a sign of good faith and to let you know the Mac platform is equally important to us.”

“So what does the Mac performance optimization option deliver? The option, which is called the Mac Memory Manager, lets you take advantage of more your system’s available RAM. It also lets you control how much of your system’s RAM you want to designate to Painter. When you install the service pack, the Memory Manager is NOT enabled. For information about enabling the Memory Manager, please refer to the Read Me.”

I know this is great news for Mac users because it will definitely improve performance.  Be sure to read Andy’s blog for the rest of the information.  Painter notifies you of an update, if you have notify me of updates active.  Otherwise click here for the Service Pack.

Please, do not think this Service Pack 1 is only for Mac users; it is not.  There are bug fixes as well as the performance enhancement.  You do want to download Painter 12.2 SP1.

Enjoy,

Skip

 

Color Harmony, Corel Master Painter Karen Boniker’s Newest Painter Focus Class

Posted by Skip Allen on

Corel Master Painter Karen Boniker holds a series of classes called Painter Focus.  Each is wonderful.  I have loved each one.  Color Harmony starts on Saturday, Jan 19, 2013.  Registration closes tomorrow…I think at the end of the day, but I’m not sure…it is best to register right away.

You can register here: Painting with Color Harmony

Karen's Red Roses Painted in Corel Painter 12.2

Karen’s Red Roses Painted in Corel Painter 12.2

What it’s all about:

Where: Online working at your own Pace
Appropriate for: Beginners and Beyond
When: January 19th-26, 2013

Included in the Workshop:
  • Enjoy two live sessions with your Instructor Painter Master Karen Bonaker
  • Learn new tips on using color and picking colors from your source images
  • How to avoid common mistakes with color
  • How to mix colors for perfect color harmony
  • In depth exercises that will get you thinking about your color choices
  • Video demos, step by step downloadable files, tips and tricks
  • Support and feedback with Master 24/7
  • Final live Critique and Q&A Session, all live sessions are recorded if you cannot attend

Do join the class…you will be glad that you did.  Karen is wonderful and so helpful to everyone.

Enjoy,

Skip

2012 in Review and Wishing you a Very Happy New Year

Posted by Skip Allen on

Happy New Year Everyone,

It’s that time of year again.  WordPress provides an annual report for all the blogs.  Below you will see mine.  It is amazing to me.  Last year I got about 75,000 hits, but this year the numbers increased to around 260,000.  People in 169 countries have visited the blog.  Isn’t that incredible.  I don’t know the total number of countries in the world, but I think it is around 195.

When I started the blog, I had no idea that it would grow like it has.  I am so thankful for the blog followers.  I believe the blog has grown thanks to the followers spreading the word.  You folks are the best!  I want to send a special thanks to Corel Master Painter Karen Bonaker.  Her blog, The Art of Karen Bonaker, referred many folks to my blog.  As a matter of fact, of all the referrers, she ranks in second place.  Thank you so much Karen.

Take a look at the report.  The map is a little hard to read; the countries that are darkest blue generated the most hits.  Lighter blue indicates fewer.  There has been only one visitor for 10 or so countries and another 10 have two hits.  Those will be almost white.  Regardless of the color, the blog has had visitors from 169 countries.  I know I said that in the first paragraph.  Guess what?  I’m going to say it again.  Folks in 169 countries visited Skip Allen Paints.  I’m sorry, but that just blows my mind.

Thanks everyone for making my 2012 a fabulous year.  And thanks WordPress for preparing the year-end report.

Happy New Year,

Skip

“Hold on mister!  Are you going to mention me and tell everyone that I wish them a Happy New Year, too.?  I didn’t get a chance to wish anyone a Merry Christmas, nor did I get any presents from you.  I think that is just tacky!”

Those who are new to the blog may not have met Kevin, the resident “good” computer virus.  According to Kevin, a good virus is sort of like the good witch in the Wizard of Oz.  I’m not so sure.

“Hello Kevin, I was wondering when you were going to show up.  I don’t have much time today, so get it out of your system.  Wish everyone a Happy New Year.”

With a snort, he said, “No need now…you blurted it out already!”  And with that he turned and vanished.

I think I really hurt his feelings this time.  I’ll make up later.

Enjoy,

Skip

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

About 55,000 tourists visit Liechtenstein every year. This blog was viewed about 260,000 times in 2012. If it were Liechtenstein, it would take about 5 years for that many people to see it. Your blog had more visits than a small country in Europe!

Click here to see the complete report.

Impasto Painting in Corel Painter 12.2

Posted by Skip Allen on

Happy New Year!!!  I hope you all have the best New Year ever.

I enjoy making decorative paintings, and this impasto painting of roses is a good example.  To do the painting I had to make a few brushes.  I want to make a brush that works like a palette knife, and I think I am pretty close.  Here is the painting that I recently finished.

Impasto painting in Corel Painter 12.2

Impasto painting in Corel Painter 12.2

I like a lot about this painting, but I still need to tweak the brushes a bit more.  But, before we talk about the brushes, I want to demo something that folks have requested.  Notice the canvas texture in the painting; that is what I want to discuss first.  I have shown this technique before in the Tips and Tricks Webinar, but I do not think many saw it.  So, I am going to explain it again in this post.  Incidentally, I learned this technique from David Gell at Jitter Brush, his website.  To create the texture, we need to make a pattern from a paper.  David supplies a wonderful brush that aids in the process…Pattern Pens Plus > WYSIWYG Paper Extractor.  Do go to his site and get the Pattern Pens Brushes.

To start the process, we have to make a pattern from a paper.  Not just any pattern, but a seamless pattern.  Then the pattern can fill a layer.  We will add a layer mask, fill it with black so the pattern will not show.  Then with an opaque brush filled with white paint, we will reveal some of the pattern.  It seems so simple, and it is.  Here are four videos that will take you through the process.

I am unsure why the videos are not showing, but click the link takes you to You Tube to view the video.  I apologize for any inconvenience this causes.  I’ve tried to figure this out for a couple of hours.  Rather than continue, I am going to post as is.  Hopefully, they will show up correctly later.  UPDATE:  I figure it out.  For some reason the link was posting correctly to the visual tab of the blog, but not so in the Text part.  So I deleted the garbage in the Text part and recopied the links and presto…the videos appeared.

That’s it for creating paper from a pattern.  I hope you enjoyed them and learned something useful.But there is more.  I have made some new brushes that helped me accomplish the Rose painting.  I thought it might be interesting to show you the raw brushes and how I used them.  I show a few brushes that are available for download, now.  I hope you enjoy these videos.

That’s all folks.  I hope to see you in the New Year if not sooner.  I want to take this opportunity to thank you for all your support this year.  The number of subscribers to the blog is amazing; you folks are the best.  I sincerely wish you the health, happiness, and lots of money in the New Year.  OK, if you do not get the money, I wish you happiness and good health.Skip

Corel Master Painter, Karen Bonaker, Has Posted Fabulous New Brushes

Posted by Skip Allen on

Hello Everyone,

My dear friend, Corel Master Painter Karen Bonaker, has made and posted for free a new set of must have brushes.  Karen is a top-notch brush maker and you are going to love these.

Here is an image that she posted on her blog showing the variants at work.

Corel Master Painter Karen Bonaker's, Painted in Corel Painter 12.2

Corel Master Painter Karen Bonaker’s, Painted in Corel Painter 12.2

Do yourself a favor and follow the link.  Then you will want to sign up to follow her blog.  The link will bring you to the first post in  a series of 25 posts.  Each one will describe one of the brushes in the set via a video.  I love the brush described on the second day.

Ho Ho Ho! 25 Days of Christmas Tree Brushes for Painter 12.

You are going to love these brushes.  Check them out and enjoy painting with them.

Karen, thanks bunches for offering these wonderful brushes!

Enjoy everybody,

Skip

Brush Installation Tips and Don’t Forget, Holiday Open Studio Starts Tomorrow, Still Time To Register

Posted by Skip Allen on

Hello Everybody,

I have a couple of announcements before we get to the fun stuff, brush installation tips.

Today is my Birthday. 🙂  And look what I have been doing…working on this silly blog…LOL…actually it has been fun.

Holiday Open Studio starts at DAA tomorrow.  Registration is still open and will remain open through Saturday week, so you have plenty of time to register, but don’t wait.  Register now and start the class with the rest of us tomorrow.  You can start anytime tomorrow because the lessons are all downloadable.  There will be two live sessions; one during the first week and one during the third week.  Of course more are possible.  I like live meetings.

If you do register, one of the first things you will see is a warm-up forum.  Early registrants have been posting warm-up images using Buttery Oils, Karen’s Impressionist Sky, and a couple of other things that escape me at the moment.  I just got permission from my good friend, Kathy Pilgrim, to post her lovely Fall Excursion painting.  Isn’t it beautiful.

Kathy Pilgrim’s Fall Excursion, Painter 12.2 > Buttery Oils

To find out more and register go to Holiday Open Studio.  I hope to see y’all in class.

OK, lets talk about Corel Painter 12.1 and later brush installation.  I know, I have talked about it many times, but trust me, this is something new.  I am often asked how to install downloaded brush zip files and not in one of the new file types that Corel Painter uses to automatically install a library, category or variant.  The files in question, look like this; Name.brushlibrary, Name.brushcategory, and Name.brushvariant.  Name is the name of the library, category or variant.  But the file you have to install is Name.zip, which will not work using the new automatic installation.  What do you do?

Surprise, the two types of files are actually the same except for the extension.  That means that they are interchangeable.  Yep, that opens a whole new ballgame.  Check out the video for more information.

Well that’s it.  I hope you enjoyed the video.  Please join us in Holiday Open Studio.

Skip

New Wacom Tablet Drivers For PC

Posted by Skip Allen on

Hey Gang,

Wacom released a new driver today for the PC users, which will bring us up to the same version as the Macs: 6.3.4-3.  Here is the info provided by Wacom for this driver:

Driver supports Intuos5 (PTH), Intuos4 (PTK) and Intuos3 (PTZ) pen tablets and the Cintiq 24HD Touch, Cintiq 24HD, Cintiq22HD, Cintiq 21UX, Cintiq 12WX, Cintiq 20WSX, DTU-2231, DTU-1931 and DTU-1631 pen displays.

Save the file to your computer and then double-click on it to launch the installer.

Release Notes:

  • Added support for Windows 8
  • Added new Windows 8 1-finger “swipe” gestures
  • Implemented enhancements to the touch user interface
  • Other enhancements and bug fixes

Be sure to uninstall any current tablet driver installation before installing.

Note: If you are a left-handed pen user and use an Intuos5 or Cintiq 24HD touch, select your handedness in the “Options…” dialog box of the Wacom Tablet Properties control panel to enable proper functioning of palm rejection.

If you have any questions, please contact Wacom Technical Support at 800-922-6613.

Well that’s it folks.  I’ve downloaded mine and will install tomorrow.  Wacom Drivers, Americas.

Skip

PS:  I understand the Bamboo Drivers will be out Nov 16th.

Watch Me Prepare for Holiday Open Studio

Posted by Skip Allen on

Hi Gang,

In my last post, I admitted that I am just starting to prepare for Holiday Open Studio.  To prepare, I do a number of sketches of my subject.  I use a variety of photo references.  After I feel like I know my subject, then I paint the final image without references.  I will record the final image and that recording along with other tips becomes the lesson.

Woohoo, this is scary.  I have never published something like this.

I start by sketching the subject with a custom variant called Skip’s sharp pencil.  I don’t think I have ever posted it for download.  I follow the pencil sketch with a painted sketch…at least that is what I call them.  Some are OK, others are not.  Here is the image that you will see painted.  Cut me some slack; it is my first try.

Poinsettia, First Try

Here is the video.  I hope you enjoy my struggles.

UPDATE:  There appears to be something wrong with the video. I have deleted it and will repair it and post in the morning.  Sorry for the bad video.

UPDATE 2, 10/26/2012.  This morning I have tried to repair the video with no success.  I’m going to re-process and see if that will fix it.  Give me a couple of hours and I should have something.  So sorry about this problem. 

UPDATE 3, 10/26/2012:  I give up.  I have done everything I know to fix the video, but I’ve had no success.  I will be doing more of these paintings and I’ll record the next one and post.  I honestly do not know why the video flickered so violently.  There seemed to be a black frame between two good frames.  Again, I am so very sorry for the mess up.

Now I have to run and do some more stuff, so I’ll be ready for class.  Hope you join us for some Holiday fun.

Skip