Hello Everyone,

I was looking through a folder where I save test or experimental images and noticed an image of a Rose that I cloned from a beautiful photograph by Melissa Gallo.…thank you Melissa for allowing me to use your photograph.  I didn’t mean to finish this image; it is just a test piece.  I was testing a cloner brush, and I discovered what I needed to know and stopped working on the image.

Test image created in Corel Painter X3, Custom Oil Cloner Brush

As you can see, the image is a bit rough, but interesting I think.  I wondered if I could do something to the image that would complete it.  I decided to video the process and share with you.

In the first video, I duplicated the canvas layer and changed the composite method to gel.  Gel composite method is transparent and over the canvas layer it tends to darken the image and add richness to the colors, but the values darken.  Using a layer mask, I show how to reclaim some of the lighter values.

The image after video 1

In video two I use Adjust Colors from the Effects Menu.  This function allows you to change hue, saturation, and value similar to the way the Underpainting Panel works.  But Adjust Colors has an extra powerful feature; it can use Uniform Color, Paper, Image Luminance, or Original Luminance as guides.  Using Image Luminance is my favorite way to use Adjust Colors.  Adjust colors is global, unless you use a selection and then only the area within the selection changes.

The image after video 2. Notice the subtle color changes?

Another great function under the Effects Menu is Adjust Selected Colors.  It is different from Adjust Colors because you can select a single color or range of colors to change…it isn’t global.  And, like Adjust Colors you can constrain the changes to within a selection, which I did not demonstrate.  Video 3 will show you how to use Adjust Selected Colors.

Adjust Selected Colors I believe is more powerful than Adjust Colors. This is the image after Video 3

In the last video, I use Stroke Attributes, which is a brushes function.  Not all brushes can use Stroke Attributes, but the most can.  It is like painting with composite methods constrained to the brush stroke instead of covering the layer.  It is a little difficult to explain verbally, but easy to explain in a video and very easy to use.  After doing this video, I believe Stroke Attributes is a technique that fits well into the cloning workflow.  Check out the last video.

The last painting after video 4

I think I said somewhere in one of the videos that when demonstrating I some of the time overwork an image or don’t notice a flaw.  As I was posting this image, I realized that I should have reduced the scale of the Artist Canvas paper.  It doesn’t look right at the present scale…so if you try these techniques…do check your scale setting on your paper to see if it looks correct with the size of your image.

OK, I guess that’s it for this post.  Thanks again to Melissa Gallo for allowing me to use her wonderful photograph.  Check out her site; you will be glad that you did.

I want to thank all you for visiting my blog this year.  I want to especially thank folks who have thought enough of the blog to donate; I appreciate you more than you know.  You encourage me to keep blogging.

I wish you all good health, good fun, prosperity, peace and happiness in the coming year.  Happy, Happy New Year!!!

Enjoy,

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