OK…this is your last chance. Registration for Holiday Open Studio 2014 at the Digital Art Academy is open until Saturday, November 15. After that it is too late. The class started this week and I am the first instructor. During my week, we learn about making calligraphy in Painter 2015 or Painter X3. I provide some special calligraphy brushes for Painter 2015 and Painter X3. Over the last couple of days, I have made 4 more variants to add to the set. The following video is a shameless promotional video for the class, but you do see me practicing calligraphy in Painter 2015.
It is that time of year again. Holiday Open Studio, a tradition at Digital Art Academy, starts day after tomorrow, Saturday, November 8, 2014. As usual, it will be a fun packed few weeks. Do join us and click the link above and register for this session.
A beautiful image created by Corel Master Painter, Karen Bonaker.
This year, I start the party with lessons on calligraphy. OK, I’m not a calligrapher or a scribe, but I created some cool brushes and show you the basics of calligraphy. I teach a type style called Foundational Hand, which Edward Johnson developed from a 10th century manuscript. Want to see a quick video of me starting the alphabet with Foundational Hand. Well, it is below, but fair warning…it is really a shameless advertisement for the class…but you do see me making part of the alphabet.
Elaina Moore-Kelly reserved the second week for an old-fashioned nostalgic look at Christmas. She explains how to create a Christmas card that looks like a chalkboard card. It is very cool and this type of image is very trendy in craft circles this year. Elaina provides written and video lessons.
Elaina Moore-Kelly’s Chalkboard Christmas
Next up is Aaron Rutten with something fascinating. Aaron demonstrates how to paint totem art in a traditional Native American style. Totemic art is found in cultures all around the world, which allows the student to draw inspiration from a variety of places. Aaron encourages each student to choose their own totem animal or symbol, and paint it abstracted instead of in a realistic way.
Totem Art by Aaron Rutten
Corel Master Painter Karen Bonaker takes the lead for the two final weeks. She developed a wonderful technique to create digital Japanese woodcuts. I have seen some of her images and they are stunning. She is very excited about the process and I can tell it will be a lot of fun.
What color is snow? Karen tells us in her second week. I can’t wait to find out. I thought snow was white. Didn’t you? Karen paints snow scenes in a glorious rainbow of colors; after the class, we can too.
Winter Road – Digital Woodcut by Corel Master Painter Karen Bonaker
It pleases me to announce several new Corel Painter X3 classes available for registration now. You will love them all!
Holiday Open Studio
It is time for the Digital Art Academy’s annual Holiday Open Studio. Corel Master Painter Karen Bonaker teaches two weeks with Elaina Moore-Kelly and myself each taking a week. Want four, fun-filled weeks full of painting Holiday Cheer? Then do join us for this special seasonal class. Holiday Open Studio starts November 9, 2013; closes for Thanksgiving week, and restarts on November 30, 2013. The dates are Open November 9 – November 22; Closed November 23 – November 29; Open again November 30 – December 13.
As a teaser, here is an image by Karen. She demonstrates how to create lovely images like this one.
Image by Corel Master Painter Karen Bonaker; Subject for Holiday Open Studio
Elaina Moore-Kelly is well-known for her “Intro Courses for Corel Painter.” Part 1 of her Introduction to Corel Painter X3 is open for registration.
I know, you have used Painter for a several years and you don’t need an introduction course to Painter. Or, maybe you are just starting with Painter and are utilizing all the videos you can find on You Tube or various blogs, and you don’t think you need an Introduction course. Phooey on that. Yes, I am telling you, the advanced user and beginner, that you are very wrong.
Corel Painter is a very complex piece of software, which means it is difficult to learn. Time and again, experienced users surprise me with their shallow knowledge of Corel Painter. Yes, you can get by with limited knowledge and create stunning works, but imagine what you could produce if you knew the program more intimately. Extra knowledge improves work flow, too. Trust me; a second look at Painter is a “win-win” situation. The benefits you gain will more than justify the small cost of this class. If you are a beginner, the class prepares you to properly use all the bells and whistles of Corel Painter X3.
Elaina’s classes are beautifully crafted. The class is open enrollment, which means you can register at any time and work the assignments at your own pace. You may download all materials and use them when needed. Register for Introduction to Corel Painter X3, Part 1 now.
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.
A student asked an interesting question in my class, Discover What’s New In Corel Painter X3. Registration for this session closed Friday evening, but the class will be offered again in a few weeks.
We know that with Corel Painter X3, we have enhanced clone features including a Clone Source Image. We can manipulate the image in multiple ways and then save it as a new clone source, or update the current clone source, or simply discard it. I thought you could do almost anything to the Source Image; you can. Just check out this video.
Tony from Australia asked if we could bring in a clone source that is smaller than the original source and place it in the source image perfectly aligned. I tried it and at first I thought it couldn’t be done, but as I played, I realized that it could be easily done. Check out the video.
I cloned the following image in Corel Painter X3.
Ginger Lily, cloned and painted in Corel Painter X3
Hope this video was interesting and it gives you some ideas for cloning in Corel Painter X3.
A question came from Paul via the Digital Art Gallery. He uses Elements to make a signature and recently saw someone make a signature brush in Photoshop. He wanted to know if you can make a signature in Painter 12.2.
Absolutely Paul, you can make a signature in Painter 12.2. Check out this video:
Well, wouldn’t you know it. I forgot to talk a bit about the Text Tool. I will save covering the Text Tool in-depth for another time.
Okay, that is how I would make a signature in Painter 12.2
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.
It is that time of year again. And I say Yahoo! That’s right Corel Painter Master Karen Bonaker’s annual Holiday Open Studio starts November 17, 2012 and ends December 14, 2012. You will want to register for Holiday Open Studio here.
Elaina Moore-Kelly and I will join Karen again this year. Karen will start the class off on Week 1, with Fall Landscapes. As usual, her demonstrations will be in Painter 12, but students can use any software they like. Folks use Photoshop, Art Rage, and earlier versions of 12. Both Karen and I will primarily use Buttery Oils. Check out this beautiful painting of Karen’s using combining watercolor brushes, Bristly Dabs, and Buttery Oils.
Fall is in the Air
I love fall colors. I am going to have fun.
Elaina has week two. She is a card maker extraordinaire. Elaina describes her class this way, “Wouldn’t it be great to send out your own hand-crafted cards this year? Join me this week as I demonstrate how to make and print your own unique cards while you learn how to do some crafty tricks using Painter 12.” I hope I send cards this year. I’ve been so bad about it for so long…sigh. Maybe with Elaina’s help, I’ll send some this year. Take a look at Elaina’s beautiful work.
Card from Holiday Open Studio
Week 3 and I’m up. OK, can I be honest? I haven’t prepared the class, yet. I’ve started but have a bunch to do. I know that I am going to work with Buttery Oils, as well, but no landscapes. I’m going floral. Still life or just floral, I’m not sure yet. I thought it might be fun to give you a little insight into the preparations I do for a class. I usually have to do a number of painting sketches to learn my subject. These studies are never posted…yuck…they are just trials. But, for fun, right after this post, I will post a video of my first practice with a poinsettia. I think you will find it interesting. So to see my example, check out my next post.
Karen brings Week 4 with snow scenes. It’s a toss-up which class I’m most excited about. I think all four will be terrific.
I know you will love Holiday Open Studio. Remember it is for anyone, beginner to advanced users. There is lots of sharing and we learn as much from each other as we do from the instructors. I know I learn tons from Elaina and Karen.
I finished preparing the recording of the second webinar, the one done at 9:00 PM Eastern time, and I provided a link below. A link to download the video is on the Webinar Download Page.
The video is in HD, but after you start the video, look in the icons in the bottom of the video screen and select the one that is for quality. Then select 720 HD.
I enjoyed the webinars and hope that you did too. I finished preparing the recording of the first one, the one done at noon Eastern time, and I provided a link below. A link to download the video is on the Webinar Download Page.
The video is in HD, but after you start the video, look in the icons in the bottom of the video screen and select the one that is for quality. Then select 720 HD.
