Tag Archives: Brush Demo

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

Pressure Sensitivity with Cool Spring for Painter 12

Posted by Skip Allen on

Hello Everyone,

I have heard from some folks that they cannot get the same sort of marks with Cool Spring and Bristly Dab variants that I can get.  I think I know why.  Pressure sensitivity is the key.  A Wacom Intuos 4, fabulous machine, is able to use 2048 levels of pressure.  That’s a wow in anyone’s book.  But, are we using all 2048 levels; I’m not sure, but I surely want to try.  And if I want to get any kind of decent marks with these variants, I must apply paint very sensitively.

“Ha, you sensitive? Never going to happen!”

“Awe, Kevin, you promised you wouldn’t bother me any more while I am making posts.”

“And you promised to feed me better, but all I get is bugs!  I know you like a bug free machine, but making me eat them is plain mean,” he whimpered in his best hurt voice.

“I thought you liked bugs.  Aren’t they nutritious and tasty?”

“I would like to remind you that good viruses eat memory, not bugs.  Making a good virus eat bugs is comparable to your dog eating the neighbor cat’s pooh!”

“Alright, that is enough…get in the closet…NOW!”

Sorry about that, now where was I?  Oh yes, pressure sensitivity is the key to making good marks with Cool Spring.  I did a quick video while making the following sky.

Sky created in Painter 12 using Cool Spring variants. See Video

I hope the video shows pressure sensitivity when using Cool Spring as well as Bristly Dabs is crucial.  It is very important to play with your brush tracking settings.  But, more importantly, practice making strokes.  Practice, Practice, Practice is key.

Please feel free to comment, ask questions, or console Kevin.

Enjoy,

skip

Splashing water download

Posted by Skip Allen on

Hello Friends,

I am trying to do a bit more with this blogging and add another download of one of my watercolor brush sets for Corel Painter 11.  Actually, there are two downloads.  One is called PIX Splashing Water and the other is called P11 Splashing Water.  Why two downloads?  Well, when I make brushes in Painter 11, they are not backward compatible to earlier versions of Painter.  David Gell , an incredible brush master for Corel Painter, has a way of making the brushes backwardly compatible, and he generously makes them compatible for me.  However, this time, there were two brushes that were using the Hard Media brush engine, which is not backwardly compatible.  To alleviate the problem, David changed the two brushes in a way that it is impossible to tell the difference from the ones that I originally made and the ones that are backwardly compatible.

So what does this mean to you? When you click on the link below, if you are using Painter 11 select the P11 Splashing Water brushes for download.  If you are using Painter IX or X, then select the PIX Splashing Water Download.  If you have all three versions, then PIX Splashing Water will work for IX, X or 11.  Or shoot, if you like, just download both.

“Now you are confusing folks,” quipped Kevin.

“Oh hey, Kevin.  I was wondering if you were going to show up.”

“Present and here to help.”

“Oh good grief,” I sighed.  “Look it isn’t really hard.  If you are working in Painter 11 and would like the set as designed, then download P11 Splashing Water.  But, if you have all three versions, you can get by with just PIX Splashing Water and you will not really miss the original design because to be honest, I can’t tell the difference after David changed the variants.”

BTW, both zip files are compatible with StudioChris Brush Manager. Here is the link for the brush downloads:

Splashing Water

Now for the next surprise.  I am experimenting with videos added to the blog.  Here are a couple that are 10 minutes long and show a bit about how I envisioned the use of the brushes.  However, I find that folks use them in very different ways than I expect, which is great.  I love to see what folks do with the brushes.

Here is the second video and it is a little longer than 10 minutes.  I didn’t demo all the brushes, but if you have any problems or questions, please feel free to add a comment and I’ll try to help in any way I can.

Well that is it for this post.  I hope it is enjoyable and useful to you.

“I’m impressed.  You did good.”

“What? Kevin you are giving me a compliment,” I replied skeptically.

“Yes, you are learning about blogging and are picking up a few new tricks.  For an old dog, that is pretty impressive.”

I don’t think I’ll answer him.  I know there is a catch here, so it is best to just leave it alone.

I just noticed something.  The second video doesn’t seem to have the HD option in the upper right corner like the first video does.  Both were done in HD format and the video press upgrade is supposed to show the videos in HD.  I have deleted the video several times, reproduced it several times, but it always posts as if it isn’t HD.  Got to figure that one out.  Anybody having the same problem?

Enjoy!

Culling and Naming Brushes; Brutal

Posted by Skip Allen on

I am so excited.  Open Studio starts next Saturday at Digital Art Academy.  We are going to study sumi-e painting, which is one of my favorite art forms.

To get ready, I started researching sumi-e by watching You Tube “how to” videos and trying it myself in Painter 11.  Guess what?  It “ain’t” so easy, at least not digitally.  To make life simpler, I decided to create some brushes that I thought would make the process easier.  Did I just write that?  Anybody got any whiteout?

Simple, easy, and brush creation do not belong in the same paragraph.  Brush creation can be frustrating, and it can be satisfying.  In Painter 11, there are a seemingly infinite number of controls, yet the one tweak that I need to make the perfect brush is just out of reach, so frustrating.  However in the search for the ideal brush for sumi-e, many flawless brushes for different styles develop, which can be very satisfying.

Many does not describe the actual reproduction phenomenon.  Brushes ripen in numbers equal to the spore of a mushroom.  In case you don’t know, that’s a whole bunch.  So, I need to cull and name.  Have you ever tried to name a brush.  Think about it.  It has a stick and some bristles.  What do you name something like that? If you think about it, digital brushes have neither stick nor bristles, but are pretend brushes.  The difference between digital and traditional will have to wait until another day, besides, the function of the brush is most important.

I like the name of the brush to reflect its function, but that isn’t always so easy.  In this current set, I made a brush I called curly leaf because it made a curly leaf.  But then I proceeded to make 11 variations of that brush, each called curly leaf followed by a number; curly leaf 1, 2, 3, etc.  I know, it is not very original, but in the heat of tweaking, naming is not a high priority.

Tweaking is over; naming and culling are hot.  In my last set, I had descriptive names like rouge, powder, lipstick, and I have a mind to continue descriptive names with this set.  If I do, there will be names like Iris Blade, Carnation Splash, and Thistle Prickles.  I wonder if I have the first signs of dementia.   

Okay, so I am naming and culling; luckily, I have experience.  I used to raise fancy goldfish.  Some babies got named and some got eaten by the Red Oscars.  Naming and culling can be brutal.  Mistakes will be made.

Here is a sample page of the brushes that have made the first cut, but are yet to be named and still in danger of being culled. 

Masterpiece in the works

Brushes from the first cull

Notice how similar they look at first glance.  So, how do I decide who makes the grade.  For me it is through application.  Normally, I don’t start creating a set of brushes without some idea of their function.  In this case, I’m interested in sumi-e.  I need brushes that can help me create the essence of a form, without giving too many details.

Want to see some brushes in action.  Check out this video.

In another post, I’ll talk about tweaking brushes, but today, all I can think about is culling, naming and getting ready for Open Studio.