My You Tube Channel; Corel Painter X3 Artists’ Oils Brush Panel

Hello Everyone,

I have a You Tube Channel, Skip Allen.  I started the channel because it made it easier to add videos to my blog with a link instead of processing via WordPress.  I can also make the videos true HD at 1080 p.  Most of the posts that are on the blog are also on You Tube.  BUT…not all videos on You Tube make it to the blog.  I’m finding that it is easy to answer questions found on various forums by doing a video and adding it to my You Tube channel.

I thought maybe some of the subscribers here, might like to subscribe to my You Tube channel as well.  I actually hope that you do because I plan on doing more short very specific videos there.  I do have a request to do videos about animation in Painter from a You Tube subscriber.  Something that complex would probably be posted on the blog, too, but I’m making no promises.

Following is an example of a video posted on my You Tube channel that didn’t make it to the blog until now.  If you like this video, then I would recommend subscribing to my channel.  I have 277 subscribers on You Tube and slightly over 1600 here.

I saw a question on Painter Factory specifically about the wetness slider in the Artists’ Oils brush control Panel.  After a couple of written replies it just seemed easier to answer with a video.  OK, true confessions, I would prefer to always answer with a video.  So that is what I did and provided a link to the video in the forum.  If you like this type of quick response, then I would suggest subscribing to my You Tube Channel…Skip Allen Channel.

“Why do you want a blog and a You Tube channel?”

“Oh my gosh Kevin, where have you been?”

For those who are new to my blog, Kevin is a good computer virus that lives in my computer.  He says he is like Glenda the good witch in the Wizard of Oz.  He wasn’t happy in my previous computer because it was too small.  I now have 9 TB of internal and external hard drives, so he disappears for days or months even.  He is always on my case about something.

“I’ve been here and there…no where in particular.  Why?  You don’t care,” he responded rather brusquely.

“That’s not true Kevin.  I do care…just not a lot.  I want to keep a watchful eye on you.  If you turn into a bad computer virus, I’ll be there with my trusty, virus eradicating gun.”

“Look, I asked you a question.  Are you going to answer it or should I just leave for my private island created in the bowels of external drive two?”

“Private island…in the bowels…”

“Answer the question doofus?” he shouted.

“I already said.  It is easier to link to You Tube for the blog.  I get a better resolution.  And I want to do more quick videos about a specific subject without having to come here and develop a post, check the grammar, and  post it.  I will be able to do more videos that way.”

“Who cares about your silly videos anyway?  I think it is something else.  I think you are a megalomaniacal, egocentric doofus.  Wait, I used doofus before…change that to dummy.”

“Kevin be nice.”

“I am being nice; you should have seen what I really wanted to say!”

“Come on Kevin, I’m not a bad person.”

“In the computer virus world, buddy you stink, and so do most other humans.  You kill our buddies, the evil viruses, and in the process take out a few million good viruses, too.  And you say you are not a bad person.”

“Are you sure we kill good viruses, too?”

“Look it up, it’s on the internet, which makes it true.”

“Really?  I had no idea.  That’s terrible; I don’t want to kill innocent viruses.  What can I do to make up for this horror?”

“I’ll get back with you on that one.”  Odd, he then left snickering at first, and then belly laughing until he was out of earshot.

OMGosh, I’ve been killing innocent good viruses.

Enjoy,

Skip

Eastern Water Brushes; What’s the Big Deal

I love watching You Tube videos of sumi-e paintings.  There is something intriguing about the process.  When I found out that Open Studio at Digital Art Academy was going to focus on sumi-e, I was delighted.  I began to practice.

No matter how hard I practiced, the process felt muddled.  Did I just need more practice? Of course, but who has time for practice.  Good brush painters hone their skills for decades; I had a matter of weeks.  Surely (tongue in cheek) with the right brush I could be a Master in less than a few days.  I knew it was impossible, but what else is a hardhead good for, if not for banging it against an impossible goal.

Bang one.  What is necessary for a good sumi-e brush? “Kevin?” (Dear reader, I know you do not know Kevin, but if you will bear with me, I’ll make a page explaining all about my computer Kevin, but right now, let’s just chat about the brushes.)

“Many things,” he replied rather too simply.

“Well, duh.  You champion the obvious.  I’m asking for one essential behavior.” Sometimes Kevin can be so obtuse.

“The ability to load the brush tip with one value of a color and the base with a lighter or darker value. But you will never remedy that conundrum.”

“Exactly, a perfect function of the brush.  What? Never remedy? Don’t be rude or I’ll run the CCleaner you hate?

“What we need is the ability to sample multiple colors with one brush, and Painter has that exact function.  It is located in the Mixer Pad.

Sample Multiple=

  1. This is the dropper tool, which will sample a single pixel of color
  2. This is the sample multiple colors dropper.  It will sample a range of colors from a single pixel to 50 pixels.
  3. The slider determines the range of colors.  Currently it is set to sample 24 pixels; slide it all the way to the right and it will sample 50 pixels.”

“Aha…you jest.  Are you telling me that you can eyeball 50 pixels on the screen?  I think not,” he chuckled; well it was more like a giggle.

“No, of course not.  I do a little trial and error to get the right range, but most of the time, I leave it at 50 pixels and change when needed.  Check this out.

Sample Strokes

Sample Brushstrokes with 50 Pixel Range

“The slider is set for 50 pixels and I sampled color from just beyond the tips of each arrow.  You can see the resulting strokes.  Obviously, 50 pixels is not very big; plus, there is a bigger problem.  Not all brushes can use the sample multiple function.

“Artist’s Oils Category variants can use the function, but many, for example, in the Acrylic Category cannot.  The determining factor is the Brush Dab Type, which can be found in the General Palette.”

Kevin coughed, hacked, cleared his throat; he made a noise, “Sputter. Is this the first time you have mentioned this palette?  Will the readers understand what it is?”

“Some, yes; others, no.  But I get your point.  Explain the General Palette.

“Under Window > Brush Control you will find a palette group consisting of a number of palettes relating to brush controls.  The General Palette is first in the list.

Brush controls Group Palette

Brush Controls Group Palette with Emphasis on General Palette

“If one of the following four words is listed in the first drop down menu, then the brush can sample multiple colors from the Mixer Pad: camel, flat, and bristle spray.  The illustration identifies all dab types that can use this function.

“Bang one resolved.  And you said it couldn’t be done.  All I have to do is use Camel, Flat, and Bristle Spray Brush Dab Types.”

“You got lucky.  There are many more obstacles ahead,” he said with a certain amount of glee.  He delights in my struggles.  I wonder if all computers are like that, or if I got the only one.

I promised to give you the Eastern Brushes.  Download them here.

The Eastern Brushes conversation will continue.  In the meantime, you may want to download a free webinar that Karen Bonaker and I did about how to use the Eastern Brushes.  The webinar lasted for an hour and 20 minutes, so the zipped file is around 170 MB.  You can download it at Painter Talk, but you will need to register.  It is a free forum; lots of Painter enthusiasts are members.

April edition of Digital Paint Magazine is available. It is a free subscription.

A few paintings I did in the first week of Open Studio:

Dragon Fly

Dragon Fly and Japanese Magnolia

Orchid in a Tree

Orchid in a Tree

The next image is referred to as a Haiga, a combination of Haiku and ga.

My Haiku:

Parrot tulips bright

Bring spring inside the dwelling

Winter returns grey

A Haiga...Parrot Tulip

Enjoy and see you next post,

Skip