I am continuing to explore watercolor and rice paper in Painter 2023. I guess we can shorten the name to Painter 2023, since Corel no longer owns the product. Painter is owned by Alludo currently. Whatever…doesn’t affect us directly. Anyway, the watercolor. I struggled with this one, for some reason. I never print so I usually paint a a low resolution of 100 ppi. But I am thinking the images will look much better at a higer resolution. I’ll let you know when I do a few more paintings at a higher resolution.
I’m so sorry I haven’t been posting much of late. I spend most of my time managing my sister’s care. She had a stroke about six years ago, but was able to continue living at home with help until April of last year. She cannot walk any more and requires a lot more help. She is now in a nursing home. I live in Georgia, but she is in Mississippi. I spend most of my time in Mississippi these days. I do have my older computer here and can continue painting.
My Painter 2019 class is still available. A few folks in that class requested that I do another Painter brush making class. I did the last one in 2012. I started it last week and hope to have it available in a month or sooner.
Lately, thick paint interests me. I have mixed watercolor with thick paint and that has been fun. I want to perfect thick paint and be able to use it in a very thick way. I have made some new brushes that I really like. Some are palette knives but the ones I am liking the most are thick paint variants with very stiff bristles. Here are a couple of examples. The first one started as watercolor washes and then I added thick paint.
Corel Painter 2019, Watercolor and Thick Paint variants
In the next one, I am using only thick paint and the variants are palette knives.
Corel Painter 2019, Thick Paint Palette Knives
And the last one is also using Thick Paint, but the variants have very stiff bristles. I like this look a lot.
Corel Painter 2019, Thick Paint variants with stiff bristles
When I feel like the brushes are complete, I’ll post them. It has been a while since I have given out any variants on my site. I like how these are looking and hope you do too.
I am still tweaking my new watercolor variants, but I decided that I would share a few brushes with you and even a couple of watercolor papers. One of the brushes, Skip’s Real Water, actually flows almost like traditional watercolor, but unfortunately, it does require a lot of computer power to render in a timely fashion. I will explain more later in the Tutorials at the end of the post.
In the first example from the class, I made the chops in the upper right corner. I downloaded the calligraphy from one of the sites that will translate your name. I hope it is my name; I really don’t know. The square chop has my name placed in the four corners, but you cannot read it…sigh. Karen gives us a few pointers in the class and I made better chops later.
Lonely Pine, Corel Painter 2015 Watercolor, Skip Allen
My second image continued with the same theme.
Life, Watercolor in Corel Painter 2015, Skip Allen
The chops were my two again, but I added some chops provided by Karen that mean Yin Yang, Hope, and Learn from Nature.
Next, I tried my hand at creating a new chop. I do not believe I created one that is intensely personal or spiritual; I need to try again. Here are my two attempts.
Watercolor in Sumi-e style with my chop, Corel Painter 2015, Skip Allen
I like the soft feel of this painting, and the linear quality is very important to me. I made pots for nearly 3 decades and my surface decorations were always linear. The chop is also linear. I do have my name in English running up the right side. The S is at the bottom and the P is at the top. It is kind of strange, right? The second chop is identical, but I used my name in calligraphy.
Strong Bamboo, Watercolor in Corel Painter 2015 with my chop, Skip Allen
THE TUTORIALS:
OK, would you like to see how I did the above images? I hope so. In this first video, I mainly talk about the brushes used and paper and flow maps play an important part. Actually, the brushes are useless without proper manipulations of the paper and flow maps. The Expressions settings are also very important. For instance, I may use Pressure or Velocity as an Expression. If I do, then you need to have your brush tracking or brush calibration set properly for your hand. Otherwise, you will not get the same look and feel that I get. Also, I use a Wacom Art Pen almost exclusively. The Art Pen allows barrel rotation, meaning you can rotate the pen in your fingers and get the same look and feel of a traditional flat brush. If you are using a Grip Pen, then the brush will remain rigid…it will not twirl as you see mine do. For more information go to Art Pens.
Video 1: Tips and Tricks, Corel Painter 2015, Wet Watercolor
After the first video, I decided to paint a piece similar to the ones done in class and capture the experience for you. It wasn’t that easy. Some tutorials are easy, and then others are full of challenges. I actually made two complete sets of tutorials. I had so much difficulty with the first set that I remade the videos. There is a lot of stuff in the first set that might be useful, so I may post it anyway. I haven’t decided, yet.
OK…here is the painting that I created in the tutorials.
Isolation, Watercolor in Corel Painter 2015, Skip Allen
Before I actually start painting, I usually create a paper layer. I like seeing the paper texture; it makes me think I am actually painting on paper. Check out how I do it in this video.
After I created the paper texture, I started the painting. Using three layers, I painted the sky and mountains.
In the next video, I added another mountain and the isolated tree. Establishing the focal point was crucial. I did this as someone from the West. The Asian focal point is very different, I believe.
In the last video, I place a texture over the image. The texture came from Media Militia. This is an incredible free resource of textures. On their website they state: “All of our resources are free for personal and commercial use. We put a lot of time and energy into creating them. If you found something useful, help us out by making a donation. Even a donation of a buck helps pay for the crazy bandwidth costs. Thank you!” If you do go to their site and download materials, do donate. The service offered is well worth a donation and it is so helpful to get them. I seldom get donations, but when I do, it’s delightful. It is so rewarding and inspires me to produce more. Plus, it helps with expenses. When you donate to Media Militia, think about donating here, too.
That was the last video. I give the brushes, papers, and flow maps used, except those from Tim Shelbourne, in the following link.
PLEASE NOTE: I made the tools (brushes, flow maps, and papers) in Corel Painter 2015, and they are not compatible with other versions. Do not install in earlier versions. If I get many requests for an earlier version set , I’ll produce and post it.
I have decided not to post the other videos. I may change my mind later, but the image was pretty awful. In a week or two, I’ll check them again and see if the information is valid and would be helpful to you. If so, I’ll post them
I have made a new brush set called HOS 2013 Florals for Painter X3. PLEASE NOTE: These brushes are for Painter X3 only; do not try to install in any other version of Painter. I had planned to introduce the brushes to the blog first, but I was having so much fun with them, I decided to introduce them in the Holiday Open Studio class at the Digital Art Academy, which is why I named them, HOS 2013 Florals. HOS stands for Holiday Open Studio.
Anyway, I am making them available here, too, plus I have added 10 videos showing how I use some of the brushes to create this painting.
Painting created in Painter X3 using watercolors, specifically my new set called HOS 2013 Florals
I hope you enjoy the videos. I tried to make them around 5 minutes long, but toward the end, I did get a bit verbose. In the first video, I set up the paper layer and added a beautiful painting by Monet to the mixer pad, which allows me to use the color scheme of Monet’s painting.
I create a simple sketch in the second video.
Next, I create the background. Here is video 3.
In video 4, I am using two new brushes, Basic Watercolor and Basic Watercolor 2
In video 5 I show the use of a layer mask.
I create another layer mask in video 6. In both video 5 and 6 I use a new brush called Channel Painter.
In video 7 I use a new brush called Dark Edged Wash. I brought back several older favorite brushes and added them to this category. Thick and Thin 17 from Cool Springs is an example.
I use a layer command called Lift Canvas to Watercolor Layer in the eighth video. This command is a must for working in watercolor in Painter.
Finally, I bet you are tired of waiting, I use Flower Maker and Flower Painter; the two flower brushes included in HOS 2013 Florals. And, guess what? You find out that it was the paper making the flowers all along.
The tenth video shows finishing touches. I hope you enjoyed the series.
There are three downloads for this post; the brushes, the suminagashi papers, and a flow map library. I didn’t use a flow map in this demonstration, but several of the brushes can use flow maps. I would use the Paint Jam 2 Flow maps provided in a earlier post.
The suminagashi papers would not have been possible without David Gell’s wonderful Suminagashi 2 Brushes. David has a new site devoted to Painter X3 called Jitter Brush – X3 and Beyond. Thank you David for all that you do for the Painter Community. I have learned more about brushes from you than anyone else.
OK friends, I think that about covers it for this post. Enjoy and I hope each and every one of you have a Happy Holiday and a fabulous New Year.
A week or two ago, Marie left a comment about the Traditional Colors of Japan. She posted two links; The Traditional Colors of Japan from Wikipedia and from Ki Do Raku Japan – Traditional Colors of Japan. They are both terrific but the first one gave RGB equivalents for the colors. That meant that I could create the color in Painter and add it to a color set. Why would I want to, I hear you saying. Good question.
I’m fond of the art of Japan and China, well all of Asia. The color is a major part of the attraction for me. So, when I saw a site that had all the colors listed, I had to make a color set for myself. I cannot tell you that the set is accurate. Color management on the Web is non-existent, which doesn’t matter in this case, as long as the RGB numbers are correct. I have no way of knowing if they are.
The Traditional colors of Japan have an interesting history. Apparently they date back to 603…that’s quite a history. That is all I know. I haven’t taken the time to research the colors.
Once I made the set, I tried a simple watercolor with colors only from the set. I can’t say the painting was a rousing success, but I can say that I do love the color set. While painting, I used several new brushes that have not been published. Last time that disappointed many folks because they wanted to follow along. So this time I provided a brush category that has all the brushes used. Look for all the downloads at the end of the post.
Here is the image that I created. After finishing, I did use the default equalize and then faded it by 50%. I didn’t show that in the video. The flowers are forsythia.
Forsythia Flowers, Corel Painter 12.2, Watercolor
And for your viewing pleasure…or not…here is the video of painting process. Sorry it is so long; I hadn’t planned on it being over 25 or 30 minutes…oh well. I hope you enjoy it.
You can get the color set, the brushes used for the Forsythia Painting and the Airbrush Wet’s Paper category from the following links:
I am so excited. Corel released Painter 12.2 today; find the update here at product updates.
You are going to love this update; I especially love the flow maps for real watercolor and the new docking feature is fantastic. I’m not going to tell you much about flow maps now. Corel posted two video about the Flow maps and you can find the links to the videos at the link provided above. Do check it out.
The following is just a teaser. It shows the power of flow maps. In this example I am use one flow map, paused diffusion activated, brushed with several colors, and then pause diffusion released. The paint then flowed in and around the hills and valleys of the flow map. I can easily create a landscape from this image.
Flow Map Image using Corel Painter 12.2
And just for fun…here is another one. This one really translates into a landscape.
Another interesting image using Flow Maps in Corel Painter 12.2
Go get your download and begin having fun.
Don’t forget…this is an update to Painter 12.1 and if you haven’t already updated to 12.1, do that first. Then run the update for Painter 12.2. I’ll have lots more about flow maps soon. Stay tuned.
Several students and blog followers asked me to do a video tutorial on cloning in Painter 12. Cloning isn’t a simple subject. But before I get started, don’t forget that Holiday Open Studio starts Saturday 11/19/2011 at the Digital Art Academy. This is one of the most fun classes at DAA. You can use Painter X, 11 or 12. It is for beginners and experts alike. Please click on this link and check out Open Holiday Studio.
Cloning has many options and the results do not have to look photographic; the term creative cloning is alive and well, at least it is on this blog. 🙂 My plan is to do a series of cloned paintings, starting with this one of a cardinal that uses a very simple approach to cloning. How many will be in the series? I don’t know, but at least one more. Each will be a bit more complicated than the previous.
In this tutorial, I am going to use this photograph I snapped of a cardinal sitting outside a window in my computer room:
In the videos you will see me create this clone of the cardinal. You will see everything I do in about 50 minutes; I decided not to do any speed painting.
In the first video I create the background with clone color and very wet watercolor variants.
In the second video I begin to clone paint the subject.
As usually happens, I messed up stuff in the third video. I decided to leave it and show you how I fixed my problems.
The final video completes the image; I hope you like it.
Well, that is it. What do you think?
“I think it is pitiful.”
“I’m not asking you Kevin. Of course you think it is pitiful; you are so negative.”
“I’m far from negative. Don’t forget I am a good virus, and I am optimistic, too, except…. I better not say. I want to stay positive and upbeat.”
I can tell that he is baiting me. He wants me to argue, but not this time. “You are right. You are so positive and upbeat as all good viruses are. I am so lucky to have you staying on my computer.”
“Aha! You lie. You don’t believe what you said.” he was almost screaming.
“I do believe you are positive and upbeat all the time. I am glad that you are, too. I am in the market for a new computer, and when I buy it, I will retire this computer. How about that. I’ll plan a retirement party,” I tried not to chuckle.
“You are buying a new computer? Well, no problem, if you transfer anything from this computer to the new computer I’ll tag along.”
“Awe, I’m sorry. I have already downloaded what I need for the new computer. I guess you didn’t notice when I was doing it.”
“I thought you were doing a back up. Surely you will not leave me alone on this computer. After all I have done for you; surely you will take me with you.”
Well folks, that’s all I have today. I hope you enjoy the videos.
I was preparing class material and doing a watercolor made up primarily of washes. In the end, I cropped several paintings from the original. After class gets underway, I’ll post more videos about working with watercolor in Painter 12.
Landscape with washes in Painter 12
Got to run and get back to work getting the classes ready. Join Elaina or me for some fun in Painter 12.
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.
I finally got the Corel Painter 12 watercolor brushes finished and named them Cool Spring. I hope you like them. I would suggest installing these variants in their own library; like all watercolor brushes they are a bit slow, but putting them in their own library helps. Don’t forget that my Basic Watercolor with Painter 12 and Basic Brush Making with Painter 12 start on Oct 22. Come join the classes; I promise we will play a lot. 🙂
I produced two videos showing a bit about the variants. In Part 1, I did the following image using 2 very wet brushes and about 8 stokes. It is great fun to watch the paint bleed into the paper and create beautiful blends.
Beginning image created with 2 very wet variants and about 8 stokes. See Part 1 Cool Spring video.
Let me know what you think of the brushes. I’m always open to suggestions.
Skip Allen Paints 