Learn to paint digitally today!

Official Corel® Painter TM Magazine

Artistic advice
and inspiration
Official Magazine
Precise colour selection
Using the Airbrush options
Issue two

Creative tips and tricks

Take control of
b ush
brushes
Learn how to select, edit and use
the best brushes in Corel Painter

FEATURED
IN THIS ISSUE
Philip Straub
Discover how this Painter Master
creates his amazing artworks

RealBristle brushes
Achieve realistic brush strokes with
these phenomenal new brushes

The art of glaze

Quickly add definition and zing to
Visit us online – www.paintermagazine.co.uk

your work by applying a glaze

PC and Mac

www.paintermagazine.co.uk
Free CD inside
PHOTOS | GUIDES | FONTS | TRIALS
ISSUE TWO
ISSN 1753-3155 £6.00
Tonal control Composition Edward Hopper 02

The options available for Learn how to arrange objects We reveal how to paint in the style 9 771753 315000
correcting colour in images for maximum effect of this iconic American artist

OPM_02-Cover.indd 1 6/3/07 16:40:00

 Welcome
This is THE magazine for anyone wanting to further their
Corel Painter skills or learn how to become a better artist

No doubt a lot of you will have

ISSUE TWO
tried Corel Painter X by now
and no doubt you will have
Pg 30 been very excited by the new
Clone and glaze RealBristle brush category.
Build up a glaze effect by This makes Corel Painter act
manipulating the clone even more like traditional
command and produce a
glorious portrait media because it allows you to make the brush
behave as if it was a real brush. Our tutorial
on page 38 shows how it works using a rather
lovely seascape as an example.
Pg 64 And keeping with the brush theme, our
feature this issue explores some of the best
Brushes: brushes for creating certain artistic effects.
Airbrushes
Discover how these
While a mere feature could never hope to
brushes work and use capture the complete power of Corel Painter’s
them in your art brushes and controls, it’s enough to give you
some creative ideas! And for even more ideas,
turn to our Paint Like… tutorial (page 56)
and discover how to re-create one of the most
Pg 56 iconic modern paintings of our time – Edward
Paint like:
Hopper’s Nighthawks. Also learn about
Edward Hopper composition on page 66 and see how it can
Use Corel Painter to re- improve your artwork.
create this classic image
of America Happy painting!

Visit our website!

If you find that the magazine isn’t enough to satisfy your Corel
Painter appetite, you can always visit our website. Pop on over to
www.paintermagazine.co.uk and register as a user. Once this is
out of the way, explore the pages and enjoy great content such as…
• Downloadable resources
• Online galleries to share your work
• Special forum for meeting other Corel Painter users Jo Cole Editor
jo.cole@imagine-publishing.co.uk

003_OPM02_Welcome.indd 3 12/3/07 09:45:05

 Clone and glaze pg 30
ON THE FRONT COVER
P38 USING THE
REALBRISTLE BRUSHES
SPECIAL TUTORIAL ON USING THIS
FABULOUS NEW COLLECTION OF
BRUSHES IN COREL PAINTER X
Regulars in every issue
08 Subscriptions
Sign up to subscribe to the
magazine and save yourself up
to 40%!
10 Painter showcase
Look out for the special pages
presenting some of the best
work from Corel Painter artists
12 Letters
The newest addition to the mag
– this is where you can send
your art and comments
76 Art Class
A hotbed of solutions to
creative queries, as well as
specific software questions
94 Reader’s Gallery
Jennifer Miller shares some of
her exquisite work in the latest
Reader’s Gallery
006-7_OPM02_Contents.indd 6
P99 GET STARTED WITH
DIGITAL PAINTING
FREE CD-ROM PACKED WITH
ESSENTIAL RESOURCES FOR CREATING
DIGITAL ART
97 Reader’s Challenge
Load up the supplied
images and enter our
regular challenge
98 On the disc
All the content found
nestled on this issue’s
special CD-ROM
Pg 14
Interview
Philip Straub
Discover more about this artist and how
he creates his awe-inspiring
Pg 34 art
WIN! Reviews
YOUR 84 Fujifilm FinePix F31fd
We take a look at the Fujifilm
WORK FinePix F31fd and see whether its
PRINTED face-detection technology is pure
gadget or sheer genius
TO CANVAS 86 HP Photoshosmart Pro B9180
Pg 97
Big artistic ideas require a big printer
to let others see them. We try this
A3+ printer and see if it’s good
enough for your work
88 Books
Three more fantastic titles that
will inspire you and expand your
working knowledge of traditional
art techniques
90 The Big Print Company
Learn more about this professional
printing company and then see
how you can order an MDF block
mounted print
9/3/07 17:26:25
 RealBristle brushes
pg 40
Get started with brushes
pg 20

Feature
Special creative guides
Paint like Edward Hopper 20 Get started with Corel Painter brushes

pg 56
Read this guide to discover which brushes work best
for which style of artwork and guarantee
yourself great pictures every time
Visit our
website now!
www.
tutorials painter
magazine.
Create inspirational art
co.uk
30 Clone an image and get a
glaze effect Primers
Emulate the look of an old Get up and running…
master by cloning an image 36 Effects: Tonal Control
and applying glaze effects
Use this menu to unearth the
38 RealBristle brushes commands for colour correcting
Discover how this new brush your photos and artwork
category in Corel Painter X can 64 Brushes: Airbrushes
be used to produce art The best options for using these
52 Create your own gallery delicate and smooth collection of

Drawing 101
We reveal how to set up your brush effects
own gallery on the magazine

Traditional artistic techniques

website and also see what else
you can do there
56 Paint like: Edward Hopper
66 Learn about composition His paintings became cultural
Applying the tried and tested rules of composition is a good way of icons of America. Re-create his
ensuring that your work is as pleasing as possible to the eye. We look Nighthawks painting and learn
at the best and show how to use them more about his style
Feature focus
Get to know your tools
48 Select colour
You have a few choices when it
comes to setting a hue to work
with – we show you what they are

006-7_OPM02_Contents.indd 7 9/3/07 17:27:12

 showcase

010-11_OPM_02-artspread.indd 10 9/3/07 15:02:22

010-11_OPM_02-artspread.indd 11
KATARINA SOKOLOVA
TITLE Chio-Chio-San
WEBSITE www.katarinasokolova.com
JOB TITLE Professional artist and photographer
CLIENTS Corel Corporation, private collectors
Katarina comes from a batik and graphics background, which has helped
shape the beautiful fabric detail you see in each and every one of her
paintings. We couldn’t resist putting her Chio-Chio-San painting on our
cover, as it exemplifies the quality of finish achievable with Corel Painter.
You can see more of Katarina’s digital paintings in the Computer Graphics
section of her site and if you fall in love with one, you can contact her to
see if it’s possible to purchase a print of it!

9/3/07 15:03:03
 s eve n ts res our ces let ter s we bsi te info n ews eve n ts res our ces
n ew

ou r L e t t e r s
Welcome to the part of the magazine where you can com
e
and share your thoughts on anything you fancy!
Send your Buying artwork Hello Steve, thanks for getting in touch and

letters to...
Official Corel Painter
Magazine, Imagine
Publishing, Richmond
House, 33 Richmond
Hill, Bournemouth,
Dorset BH2 6EZ, UK
If you’d prefer to contact
us via email, send your
message to opm@
imagine-publishing.
co.uk
For some very reasonably-
priced artwork, make
your way over to the
deviantART store http://
shop.deviantart.com
I’ve wanted to get into digital art for a
while now and �inally have the time now
that I am retired. The thing is, I feel as
though I have missed the boat in terms of
�inding helpful online resources – I just
want somewhere that I can visit from
time to time to get some inspiration. Also,
can you give me the contact details of any
artists who sell prints of their work?
By the way, congratulations on a great
magazine. It’s already help me get the
hang of Quick Clone, so I am more than
pleased that it has come out. Please keep
up the good work!
Steve Marchent
for the praise! In fact, thank you to everyone
who has written in and said how much they
Reader’s tip
enjoy the magazine. It’s exciting to think about Share your Corel Painter wisdom…
how the title can develop – with your help, of Keep your impasto canvas wet
course! Now onto your question. for later edits
A lot of artists offer prints of their work from I always change my mind, so find it invaluable
their site, but by far the best way to shop for to save work in the RIFF format, because this
some digital art is to visit the deviantART site. It means I can keep my impasto layer editable,
might be that you’ve already found it but if you and open up to change surface texture or
play with depth.
haven’t, it is a bubbling cauldron of talent of
Sandra Choi
artists covering all disciplines. The shop allows
you to buy prints (canvas and paper) of your If you have a creative tip you’d like to share
favourite work, as well as calendars, puzzles with others, send it in to us and we’ll print it!
and various other novelty items. Find it all at
http://shop.deviantart.com.
Famous paintings
I’ve just bought issue one – great stuff! I
particularly liked the Van Gogh tutorial
and wondered if you’ll be doing more of the
same? I’ve always been fascinated with
copying masterpieces.
Dave Ridgely
It sounds like you could have a career in the art
forgery business, Dave! Just keep our names
out of it…
You will be delighted to hear that we’ll show
how to re-create a famous painting each and
every issue. We get a big kick out of deciding
who to decode and will be looking at classic
works as well as more contemporary artists.
This issue we look at Edward Hopper, p56.

Featured Gallery Garlic and Onions

A fine still life that would
do Cezanne proud
Our favourite reader’s gallery this month
Lynne Mitchell
www.paintermagazine.co.uk/
user/LynneMitchell t
Zoe Portrai ple of
Lynne impressed all of us A great exam work
with the images she posted ush
Lynne’s br
on the website, especially
the still life studies. She has
a flawless application of paint, and the
brush strokes are think and luxurious.
Her eye for lighting is also excellent
and manages to enhance the painterly
elements even further.
Visit the site to see Lynne’s work or pay
Formal Betty
a visit to her main website, found at
Check out how Lynne has applied
www.rabbitholeproductions.com textured strokes to all areas

12

012-13_OPM02 letters.indd 12 9/3/07 17:12:20

 s we bsi te info n ews eve n ts res our ces let ter s we bsi te info
es letter

www.paintermagazine.co.uk
The latest from our
forum and website
Website challenge
Some of the best so far…
There’s lots to do on the magazine website, but
don’t forget the website challenge. Every two
months or so we will post a new set of pictures. It
is then your task to take these and do something
with them! The winner will receive a subscription
to the magazine and worldwide adoration!
It’s early days yet, but here are our two favourite
entries so far. The top is by Stephen Salmon, while
the bottom is by Karen Bonaker.

Ata finds inspiration in the natural colours of Canada, which is clearly expressed in this beautifully serene image ENTER T
FORUMHE
Corel Painter portfolio colour correction. It took me 16 hours to CHALLE
Hello, I was wondering if you’d be complete it. Don’t b
NGE
interested in printing my images in Ata Alishahi e
still time shy – there’s
the magazine? They are titled Fall and www.pa to enter! Go to
My Love. Since I was a child, nature has Thanks for sending in those images, Ata. We int
inspired me more than anything else love seeing what readers are creating, so never co.uk/co ermagazine.
mpetitio
to create arts. Autumn in Canada is one be shy about sending stuff in. If you’d like to ns
of the most beautiful seasons. When see more of Ata’s work, get yourself over to
it comes to colours, nature is the best www.atadesigner.com.
inspiration. So in the Fall image, I was And on the subject of showing us your
trying to duplicate some of the colours work, make sure you pay a visit to our website
that nature offers and I did my very best at www.paintermagazine.co.uk. We’re
to get it right. going to keep plugging this because the
I always wanted to paint portraits and gallery feature makes it a perfect place to show
with My Love, I had some inspiration to off your portfolio. You have to sign up as a
paint the portrait of a lady that I love. This member to create your own gallery, but this
image was painted in Corel Painter IX and only takes a few moments. Once it’s done,
the Artists’ Oils brushes were used for the you’re free to upload your images for all to see.
medium. I used Adobe Photoshop for the For a full guide on how it works, turn to page
�inal touches like tonal and the odd bit of 52 for a tutorial.

Forum highlights
The best topic of conversation
User: cgntoonartist
Subject: Work in Progress section
A ‘Work in Progress’ section on this forum would be great! A place
where we can share and post images (step-by-step), how we create
our artwork or just to show what we have been creating with Corel
Painter and have image progressions on how we got there. What
do you folks think of this?

User: editorjo
Subject: Re: Work in Progress section
Great idea – consider it done!

Camellias and
Old Bo
A lovely still life x
Head over to the forum to see what’s
with
rich colours and
a texture you ca
the topic of conversation today!
n
almost feel Ata’s portrait of his love works because of the
strong colours and also the unusual pose. Of course,
www.paintermagazine.co.uk/forum
the brush strokes don’t hurt either!

13

012-13_OPM02 letters.indd 13 9/3/07 17:12:43

 Interview Philip Straub

website www.philipstraub.com
job title Art director for NCSoft, freelance digital artist
clients Corel, Disney, Warner Brothers, Universal Studios

Silent Morning
Using a mixture of Corel
Painter and Photoshop,
Phil has managed to
create a beautifully
evocative piece that
perfectly captures the
stillness of a new day

14

014-18_OPM02_Interview.indd 14 9/3/07 18:50:38

 An interview with…
Philip Straub We caught up with the phenomenally talented Philip Straub to find out more
about how he works and what inspires him
hilip Straub lives and breathes
creativity. Over his professional
life he has been creative
director at Electronic Arts, as
well as his work appearing in over 30
children’s books. His list of clients include
Corel, Disney, Mattel and Warner Brothers
and he also has a set up a licensing
business with his �iancé. In terms of style,
Philip covers a dazzling range of looks,
from bright and colourful children’s
illustrations, to intricate concept art and
fantasy landscapes. We recently spoke
with Philip to discover how he works and
to �ind out more about how he uses Corel
Painter to create his masterpieces.
014-18_OPM02_Interview.indd 15
How did you manage to become involved
with Ballistic Publishing’s Painter book?
Did you find it difficult to judge other
people’s work?
I’ve had a relationship with Ballistic for
many years now and they’ve always been
very generous in including me in such
products. I worked with them on the �irst
D’artiste book as one of the four authors,
I’ve judged two of their CGChallenges and
also teach a workshop annually through
the CGWorkshops brand.
I’ve judged a number of competitions
in my career and it’s always a challenge
to go through the thousands of entries
ultimately choosing a fraction of the
entries as �inalists. In my experience, the
top pieces usually just jump right out at
you for their excellence, it’s picking those
last few �inalists that becomes dif�icult.
Tell us a bit about the children’s books
you are currently working on. Do you plan
to release them worldwide or will it just
be limited distribution?
It’s based on the Secret Places brand
I’ve been working on for a few years.
Currently, a few images are available as
massive wall murals through Brewster
Wallcovering and I’ve been negotiating
with a few different companies to have
puzzles made as well as stationery. Once
15
9/3/07 14:01:25
 Interview Philip Straub

“I always try to bring my

personal touch to all the
professional work I produce”

[ABOVE] I �inish the book the goal is to distribute When working on a commissioned
The Hive it worldwide eventually. I have to �inish painting the process is usually a bit
“This was the first
painting I created using
two other book projects I’m working on more precise. First, I do some research
only the Artists’ Oils before I can complete this one though. on the subject matter by gathering all
in Painter IX. In this kinds of visual reference so I can have
situation, I worked on What is your proudest creative moment as complete an understanding of all the
only the canvas layer,
building up the texture,
so far? elements in the painting as possible.
color, and composition I don’t know… that’s a really tough one! Next, I usually begin sketching in black
as I worked” Probably winning a Silver Medal in the and white at a fairly low resolution so
Society of Illustrators annual illustration that memory limitations don’t sti�le the
competition. I really feel like I still have so creative process. During the sketch phase
much to contribute to the art �ield and am I’m primarily focused on basic shape
just getting started. construction, overall composition and
positive negative space. Once I’m happy
How do you start a digital painting? Do with the overall composition, I usually
you have a typical workflow process or begin re�ining down the technical aspects
does it differ according to the particular of the painting, focusing on perspective
piece you are doing? and/or anatomy. Once I’m feeling
The answer is yes and yes! I have a couple comfortable with the drawing, I’ll begin
of different work�lows I use depending on adding colour to the image.
my mood and the project.
For my more free-form personal How did you make the leap from digital
[MIDDLE PAGE]
Enchanted Evening concept illustrations the process is artist to home decor products?
This image won an usually quite chaotic. I just simply start I really like the idea of diversifying my
award at the Society of throwing down shapes and colours onto portfolio and the work that I produce.
Illustrators Los Angeles the canvas and see what happens. Usually When I began working with rep. she
2005, as well as being
featured in The New after a short while something takes shape suggested I begin tailoring some of my
Masters of Fantasy III and I re�ine down from there. work towards the licensed market. She

16

014-18_OPM02_Interview.indd 16 9/3/07 14:01:58


felt that my more whimsical children’s
book style could �ind success on licensed
products so I began to expand that out
into the �latter, more graphic style seen
in the scrapbooking, stationery and
wallpaper products I produce. I can’t take
all the credit though, my �iancé helps me
out with a lot of the brand development.
Did you find the move from traditional
painting to digital painting smooth or
was it a bit of a jolt?
I’d say it was a bit of jolt! I was trained
as a traditional oil painter and at the
time I thought that was how I would
produce paintings for the rest of my life.
It’s important to keep in mind computer
illustration was still in its infancy when
I was in school. There were a few classes
just being offered to the Graphic Design
and Interior Design majors but many
artists still hadn’t made the transition.
I was introduced to digital illustration
at my �irst real art job working for
children’s book illustrator Mercer Mayer.
I’d played around with computer-aided
design with a variety of programs
before but never thought of it as a ‘real’
illustration tool. I wasn’t alone, very
014-18_OPM02_Interview.indd 17
Afternoon Light (above)
“When I set up my files in bo
Painter and Photoshop I alway th
down the structure by placing s break
background, middle ground, an the
foreground objects on separate d
This ensures that they can easlayers.
be ed ited. Towards the end of ily
painting process, I’ll usually pla the
post layer at the top of the layce a
hierarchy and paint in atmosp er
perspective using either an airbrheric
or cover pencil.” ush
- Philip Straub
few illustrators were using it to ‘paint’
and much of the computer-generated
illustration at that time was �lat and
graphic. When I started at Mercer’s
studio I remember thinking how dif�icult [ABOVE] Nightmist
Photoshop 1.0 was – it’s kinda funny This image is part of
Philip’s Concept series,
looking back on those days. and shows how he
uses Corel Painter and
Are you thinking of expanding the Photoshop to create
products for sale on your website? intricate scenes
I’m currently not set up for e-commerce
simply because I’ve just not found the
time. As most illustrators will tell you,
depending on how much you want
to do with your site, maintaining an
online presence can become very time
consuming. I try to post regular updates
on my site as well as post as much of the
imagery I produce once it’s available or
I have clearance. Right now I currently
have some of my images available as
�ine art archive quality prints through
Imagekind but I may expand that down
the road.
What inspires you?
So many different things. Films, artists
contemporary and classic, television
17
9/3/07 14:02:51
 Interview Philip Straub
“I feel like I still have so much to contribute
to the art field and am just getting started”
shows, books, music, and every day life.
I �ind there’s inspiration to be found
everywhere you look!
Is your personal work different to your
professional art?
Absolutely. Although I try to always bring
my personal touch to all the professional
work I produce, after all that’s what my
clients expect! My personal work tends to
be almost therapeutic and an extension
of my subconscious. While some of
my paintings are simply exercises,
experiments trying out new techniques,
many are also for my fantasy projects.
Why did you start using Corel Painter and
when did you start?
I’ve been using Corel Painter almost as
long as Photoshop. I can’t even remember
18
014-18_OPM02_Interview.indd 18
Cohabitation (above)
“Originally sketched in Painter 8 using
the �irst version I used but I think it’s been
in my work�low for around ten years.
a variety of different brushes and
Corel Painter has always been really experimental techniques. During
amazing at reproducing traditional media
and it’s just a blast to experiment with.
the creation of this piece I made a
ton of new brushes in Painter and
What’s your favourite Corel Painter tool?
My absolute favourite is the Rotate
really learned a lot more about the
Canvas tool, it really allows you to re- flexibility and power of the brush
create the rotating of your canvas/paper
in traditional media. I’ve also used the
generation tool in Painter. As I
nozzle tools within Corel Painter quite regularly do, I bounced back and forth
extensively to quickly create different
types of foliage, leaves, and rocks. The
between Photoshop and Painter as I
cover pencil is a mainstay of my work�low, worked, using some of my favourite
especially in the early sketch stages.
brushes in both packages.”
If you’d like to see more of Philip’s work or
buy one of his posters or prints, pop over - Philip Straub
to www.philipstraub.com
9/3/07 17:48:52
 Feature Get started with Corel Painter brushes

Original artwork by Philip Straub

020-27_OPM02_feature.indd 20 9/3/07 15:48:53

 Get started with
Corel Painter
brushes
At a loss for what brush variant to use?
Here’s our guide to the most useful
magine being let loose in the biggest, most well-stocked
art shop in the world, with a unlimited amount of spending
money at your disposal – for any artist, a dream come true
indeed! Now multiply the excitement of that perfect scenario
by ten and you’ll come close to the experience of stepping
into the artists’ heaven that is Corel Painter!
Within Corel Painter, every painting and drawing tool and every
painting and drawing medium is at your �ingertips, with a mind-
boggling selection of brushes that no paint box could ever hold. It’s
true to say that this collection of tools is so vast that, for the novice
Corel Painter user, it can be quite overwhelming and that was the
inspiration for this feature, to lead you by the hand through this
mammoth collection. Of course, even if we hijacked the whole
magazine for this feature there still wouldn’t be enough space to
give you the full low-down on all the brushes. But we’ll give you the
basics so you can dive into the wonderful world of Corel Painter
brushes with more con�idence.
Corel Painter’s brushes are divided into categories which relate
to traditional painting and drawing media, so before you choose
an actual brush, you need to choose the category that relates to the
medium you want to simulate, such as Oils, Pastels, Watercolor,
Charcoal and so on. The actual brushes that relate to the chosen
medium reside inside the category, and there are many brush
variants to choose from. A brush variant is a particularly shaped
brush, with a number of preset settings applied to it. We’ll look at
these settings in more detail throughout this feature.
You can completely change the way a brush behaves, and the
marks it makes, by changing the settings applied to it via the Brush
Controls palette (Window>Brush Controls>Show General), or via
the Brush Creator (Window>Show Brush Creator). These brush
controls relate directly to every aspect of the brush, including its
size, the way it interacts with paint already applied to the canvas,
how much paint it carries and the kind of strokes it makes, among
a plethora of other characteristics. Of course, the way a brush
behaves also depends on the kind of surface you’re painting on, and
before you start to paint you need to choose this from the Papers
palette (Window>Library Palettes>Show Papers).

21

020-27_OPM02_feature.indd 21 9/3/07 15:50:23

 Feature Get started with Corel Painter brushes

Build up a painting full

GLOOPY, OPAQUE MEDIA BRUSHES
of texture and gloopy
goodness by using this
selection of brushes for
the wet and loaded look

o let’s get down to some

speci�ics about these
remarkable brushes! First,
we’re going to take a look at the
brushes within Corel Painter
which use opaque, gloopy mediums such as
Oils, Acrylics, and Gouache. These are the
category of brushes that you’ll use to create
paintings with rugged paint surfaces, body
and texture, where the marks made by
the brushes can either be wonderfully oily
and wet, or where thick, opaque areas of
paint can be laid on to the canvas, creating
stunningly realistic impasto effects.
As far as the speci�ic categories of these
brushes are concerned, they consist of:

ACRYLICS
ARTISTS OILS are rather dry, and tend to deposit paint types of brush are great for quick, gestural
OILS roughly over your painting surface,
catching just the high point of the paper
lines and large, painterly areas of colour.
Impasto Brushes: Here we’re dealing
grain and texture. with brushes which apply very thick paint
GOUACHE Wet Brushes: These brushes give the which stands proud of the painting surface
appearance of applying lots of very wet and create impasto. You will often see this
Within these separate categories are a paint, which can mix and blend with any effect used in many traditional oil and
huge number of Brush Variants which are paint already applied to the canvas. These acrylic paintings.
designed to apply the virtual paint in many
different ways. So, for instance, within
Artists’ Oils, you’ll �ind variants that range
from soft blender brushes, which apply
very wet paint in a very soft way, through
to dry and grainy brushes which react
strongly to your chosen painting surface.
You even get heavy impasto brushes which
apply lots of nice thick paint that holds
marks made by the brush and produce
impasto effects where the paint stands
proud of the painting surface.
On the whole, all of these brushes
paint with opaque colour, but each of
the variants within each category can
behave quite differently. It’s worth taking
some time to look at the individual Brush
Property settings that can signi�icantly
affect the way the variants work, how they
interact with paint already applied to the
canvas and how they react to your choice of
painting surface.
Broadly speaking, within each of the
above categories, you’ll �ind a selection of
brushes which can be divided into four
distinct types:
Dry Brushes: These brush variants, Most of the active dynamic categories for the brushes contain an Expression control section. This control
although they still apply opaque paint, determines how the particular characteristic of a brush responds to your graphics tablet stylus

Original artwork by Philip Straub

020-27_OPM02_feature.indd 22 9/3/07 15:51:00


Soft, blending brushes: This group of
brushes apply wet paint which readily
blends with paint already applied. Marks
made with these brushes blend together as
you paint, creating very subtle transitions
between different colours and tones.
As you can see from the painting
above, by choosing your brush variants
carefully from these categories, super-
realistic effects can be achieved. One
great way to get used to exactly what
these brushes can do is to use the Brush
Creator (Window>Show Brush Creator).
Within this panel, you can see and modify
In the detail, you can clearly see the dramatic difference between areas of smooth, wet paint and accents added using
impasto brushes. Brushes that use impasto can add a real three-dimensional quality to you opaque media paintings
020-27_OPM02_feature.indd 23
all of the attributes applied to the brush,
and test its appearance in the large white
scratchpad. Any brush characteristics Gloopy, opaque brushes
that are applied to the current brush are Layer the paint on nice and thickly
shown in black down the left hand side,
while any properties which don’t feature
in the brush are greyed out. For instance, if
you click on Impasto, which is often a very
important characteristic of these opaque
media brushes, you’ll be able to control the Acrylic – Thick Acrylic AO Clumpy Brush
extent of this Impasto effect via the Depth Bristle
slider. The same applies to changing any
other brush characteristics within the
Brush Creator.
For any of these brushes to work
properly, it’s vital that you �irst set your
Brush Tracking via Edit>Preferences> AO Dry Brush AO Impasto Oils
Brush Tracking, so that the Corel Painter
brushes know how to respond to the
unique way you use your stylus. Within
the Brush Tracking dialog, simply make a
few representative strokes on the scratch
pad as you would normally use your stylus
and Corel Painter will adjust the brushes AO Soft Blender Brush Gouache – Broad
responsiveness accordingly. Cover Brush
All of the usual brush shapes appear
within these categories, including round
and �lat brushes, pointed and �ine detail
brushes and rough bristles for real texture
and dynamism. To the right, you see a Gouache – Fine Bristle Gouache – Opaque
selection of brushes from these categories Smooth Brush
that create the range of techniques and
effects that you’d expect to see with
opaque media.
Remember, many of these brushes
create impasto effects and this can be
switched on and off via the small button Gouache – Wet Oils – Bristle Oils
at the top right of the document window. Gouache Round
You can also control the depth and shine
of the impasto effect via Canvas>Surface
Lighting. Within the dialog you can also
modify the direction and intensity of the
light that falls across the image and create
the highlights and shadows that describe Oils – Fine Feathering Oils – Smeary Round
the surface of the impasto. Oils
Oils – Thick Oil Flat Oils – Thick Wet Oils
Opaque Acrylic Thick Acrylic Flat
Wet Acrylic
23
9/3/07 15:51:32
 Feature Get started with Corel Painter brushes

When it comes to The Dry Media categories within Corel Although these categories are distinctly
DRY MEDIA BRUSHES
Painter consist of: different, they are all dependent on
traditional real media particular characteristics when it comes to
effects, the dry brushes controlling the marks the brushes within
are very hard to beat. CHALK the categories make and the effect you can
achieve with them.
Here’s a look at the best… PENCILS When you’re using any of the variants
within these categories, one of the most

hen it comes to dry media, CONTE vital setting you will come across is the
Grain slider. This setting determines how
such as Charcoal, Pencil, much effect the surface of your chosen
Chalk and Pastels, the PASTELS paper has on the strokes made with
drawing medium itself, the currently selected dry media brush
and the surface you draw on work hand- OIL PASTELS variant. At relatively low values, the marks
in-hand together and in terms of the made by the brush penetrate the paper
effects achieved. By their very nature, dry
mediums work by depositing themselves
COLORED PENCILS grain very little, so the paper texture
is very obvious within the strokes of
on, or within, the surface texture of the
drawing surface, unlike paint or ink, which
CRAYONS colour. At high grain values, the dry media
penetrates deeply into the paper grain, so
sticks to, and is absorbed by the painting
surface itself. Dry media depend on their
particles of pigment being shaved off and
held by the paper texture. If you were to try
and use charcoal on a completely smooth
surface, for instance, it would not make
a single visible mark. However, in a stark
contrast to this, if you were to use the
same piece of charcoal on a piece of rough
sandpaper, just the lightest strokes would
create a gloriously dense, black mark in
an instant.
The exact same rules apply within
Corel Painter when you are using
dry media brushes. However, a
slight difference is the fact that
the result of the marks you
make is governed not only
by the surface you choose
to work on, but also by the
unique settings you apply
to the particular brush
variant you are using
and we will look at these
variables here.

020-27_OPM02_feature.indd 24 9/3/07 15:52:27

 the surface texture itself will be much less
obvious in your �inished drawing.
The Resat slider controls the amount of
colour that replenishes within the stroke.
At 100% the colour will be at maximum
saturation all the way through the stroke,
this saturation within the stroke will
reduce at lower Resat values.
You’ll also see a Bleed slider when
using dry media variants, which is pretty
important in determining how your brush
behaves. Essentially, the Bleed value
“Dry mediums work by depositing
themselves on, or within, the surface texture”
determines how much a current stroke
of the brush blends with any other colour
already applied beneath it. At high values,
colour from your brush will blend readily
with any colour beneath it. At low Bleed
values it will blend very little. A practical
demonstration of this is that any dry
media brush variant that contains the
word ‘soft’ in its name will automatically
have a medium to high bleed value,
whereas for the brush variants labelled
‘hard’, the Bleed value will quite often be
set to zero.
Of course, the settings within the brush
is not the only thing that determines
the look of the strokes made with the
brush. The actual look of the brush is also
dependent on its footprint. You can easily
see the individual footprint of the brush,
simply by making a single click with the
brush on your canvas. You’ll see from
this footprint that some brushes contain
texture within their footprint, while
others have either hard or soft edges. Here
we come to another feature of dry media
brushes which should not be overlooked,
namely Jitter. By default, the stroke
of a brush will be made up of multiple
The surface you choose to draw on is vital with dry
media brushes. You can also adjust the scale of the
paper grain, its Brightness and Contrast
020-27_OPM02_feature.indd 25
footprints of the brush, placed closely
together and in line with each other. The
Jitter slider adjusts the placement of these Dry media brushes
footprints, scattering them either side of For brilliantly-textured papered effects
the central line of the brushstroke to a
lesser or greater extent dependent on the
value of the Jitter slider. This feature can
be very useful to avoid the edges of your
brushstroke being too uniform and is
worth experimenting with. Dull Grainy Chalk Variable Chalk
Remember that all of the variants
within the dry media categories here are
Square Chalk Sketching Pencil
Oily Variable Pencil Dull Conte
Charcoal Gritty Charcoal
Soft Charcoal Soft Vine Charcoal
Using the Square Hard Pastel variant, the
difference between a 10% Grain setting and a
100% setting is hugely dramatic
drawing media and as such, the kind of
marks you make with the brush variants is
key to replicating the effect of a traditional Artist Pastel Chalk Soft Pastel
drawing. It’s good to bear in mind that
drawing is an exercise that depends very
much on building up tones with lots of
linear shading and crosshatched strokes.
As well as this, many of these variants also
respond to the pressure you apply to your Square Hard Pastel Chunky Oil Pastel
drawing stylus, in regard to size, opacity
and grain, so it’s vital that you consider
this as you draw.
In the boxout to the right you’ll see
a selection of examples of some of the
best brush variants from each of the dry
media categories available within Corel Soft Oil Pastel Waxy Crayons
Painter. Try each of them and vary the
paper surface you use with them to see the
different effects that can be created.
One �inal point; remember that dry
media brushes often work very well on
a coloured ground, so experiment with
�irst �illing your canvas layer with a solid
colour rather than automatically choosing
a white canvas.
25
9/3/07 15:53:00
 Feature
WATERCOLOUR AND TRANSLUCENT MEDIA BRUSHES
Original artwork by Philip Straub
020-27_OPM02_feature.indd 26
Get started with Corel Painter brushes
When you need a bit of subtlety in your work or just the bearest hint
of colour, the watercolour and translucent options are well worth
investigating. Try these suggestions to start with…
atercolour painting is often
seen as synonymous with
the very best in British art.
There is a charm, delicacy
and directness associated
with water-based transparent media that
simply cannot be replicated by any other
techniques and this fact holds true within
the realms of Corel Painter. This is one area
where Corel Painter particularly excels,
and some of the most realistic results can
be achieved. Here are the categories which
can be regarded as transparent media:
SUMI-E
WATERCOLOR
DIGITAL WATERCOLOR
LIQUID INK
The Sumi-e category features variants
similar to those traditionally used in
Chinese brush painting techniques and can
create beautiful, effective watercolour- The brush variants in this category
like paintings. The variants within this include broad mop brushes, which apply
category vary from broad bristle brushes beautiful wet, broad washes of colour, dry
through to small detail Sumi-e brushes.
Each of them feature the Resat setting
mentioned in the previous section and
another brush property, namely the
Feature slider. This slider, common in many
of the brushes in the watercolour-like
categories control the density of the hairs,
or bristles within the brush. Low values
here create strokes where the individual
hairs are densely packed, producing more
solid strokes. High values produce strokes
where the bristles of the brush are more
sparsely packed, leaving unpainted gaps
between them.
The Digital Watercolor category
contains a wealth of brushes which
can be used on the Canvas layer, or
normal �loating layers to create effective
watercolour paintings. Although these
brushes are a less advanced version of the
Watercolor category brushes, they can still
When you use Watercolor variants, notice the
yield super results and are dependent on special Watercolor Layer that appears in the
very particular brush property settings. Layers palette
9/3/07 15:53:28
 Transparent brushes
Use for subtle washes and calm landscapes

Sumi-e Dry Ink Flat Wet Sumi-e

DW – Diffuse Water DW – Spatter Water

Watercolor – Diffuse Watercolor – Grainy

The Water section of the Brush Controls allows you to bend and twist the Watercolor brushes for exceptionally Camel Wash Bristle
realistic results. From soaking the paper to creating a drip effect, it has it all

brushes which will give the impression of
a fairly dry brush just brushing the surface
grain of your painting surface and even
brushes which appear to spatter colour
and water across your canvas. All of these
brush variants feature two very important
brush properties to create the feel of
watercolour. The �irst of these variables,
Diffusion, essentially controls how wet
the surface is that you’re painting on.
Traditionally, working with a watercolour,
if you apply paint to wet paper it spreads
and diffuses as soon as you make a mark.
This setting creates exactly the same
effect. Low Diffusion values mean that
is the Water section of the Brush Controls
palette. The settings in this category of
brush properties allow the colour you
apply with the brush to diffuse and �low
across the painting surface and in this
Watercolor – Runny Watercolor –
section you can control how wet the paint Wet Flat Sponge Wet
and paper is, how far it runs and diffuses
and even the direction in which colour
applied by the brush �lows.
There is a vast range of variants within
the Watercolor category of brushes and
all of them are directly comparable to Watercolor – Smooth Watercolor –
traditional techniques. The variants Runny Camel Wet Wash Flat
themselves include runny brushes which
apply pools of really wet paint that will

“There’s a charm associated with water-based

transparent media that cannot be replicated” Watercolor – Watery
Soft Bristle
Watercolor –
Spatter Water

the brush you use keeps its distinct edges,
but high values mean that the edges of
the colour you apply diffuse into the
surrounding area.
The Wet Fringe setting is great for
simulating the effect of watercolour
paint ‘pooling’ around the edges of a
brushstroke, the effect intensifying at
higher values applied to this slider.
The Watercolor category group of brush
variants deserve special attention, as
the stunningly realistic effects you can
achieve with these brushes equal those
of real-world watercolour effects. They
also rely on some very speci�ic settings.
These Watercolor brushes require a
special type of layer, which will be added
to your image as soon as you begin to use
one of the brushes. The feature of these
brushes which deserves special attention
�low over the paper; dry brushes which
can create areas of texture that take
advantage of the surface texture of the
paper; sponge effect brushes and wash Liquid Ink – Liquid Ink –
brushes that can be used to apply broad, Smooth Bristle Sparse Bristle
diffused washes of colour.
The Liquid Ink group of brush variants
imitate the effect of inks, which can range
from thick, gloopy ink to �ine, almost pen-
like calligraphic lines of ink. Again this
group of brush variants work on a special Liquid Ink – Velocity Liquid Ink –
layer, added as soon as your begin to use Sketcher Clumpy Ink
one of the brushes. This group of brushes
is fantastic for spontaneous sketches
and bold, graphic images. With these
variants, you’ll also �ind two new brush
property settings; Smoothness and
Liquid Ink –
Volume, which allow you to control
the amount of ink on the brush and the
Calligraphic Flat
smoothness of your strokes.

27

020-27_OPM02_feature.indd 27 9/3/07 15:54:19

 Tutorial Clone and glaze

Jeff Johnson shows you how to

Clone and glaze
In this tutorial, Jeff Johnson walks you through how he cloned a photo and applied
a glaze effect to create a digital masterpiece
Tutorial info eing a restless sort, I am given to
trying every way I can discover
Starting sketc h
Painter master to achieve my ends. I am even
Jeff Johnson likely to learn a few things in this
tutorial! Corel Painter is so versatile that
Time needed
effects can be achieved in many ways and I
2 hours
encourage everyone to approach painting
Skill level digitally with that in mind.
Intermediate The project at hand should leave us
with a very nice emulation of a character
On the CD painted in oil, using the technique of
Starter photo slowly building up light, shade and colour
and sketch harmonies with semi-transparent layers
of digital paint. Because I have spent so
much time gawking at masterworks from
the Renaissance, there will be a �lavour of
that look in the �inal piece.
We will begin by doing a few necessary
things to a photo reference, including
adding parts of the body. We will then
transfer the �igure to a background we
will prepare together. After establishing
a light source, we will build up the kind of
atmospheric effects that one associates
with oil painting. Because the process is a
gradual one, it is also forgiving. It is evenly
matched by the forgiving nature of digital
painting in general. If a muddle-head like
myself can do it, so can you! Or igin al photo
Photo and sketch
The two starting elements

01 Scaling the reference photo Wow,

what a nice thing to have to stare at for
the next few hours! I copied and pasted the photo
onto a new canvas (37cm high by 23cm wide).
Via Effects>Orientation>Scale I resized it. Using
Canvas>Compositions>Show Layout Grid I placed
the eyes on line with the upper third of the canvas,
a common practice in portraiture. If you haven’t
got Corel Painter X, do this by eye.
02 Altering and rotating the
photograph With the photo still
selected and on a separate layer, I rotated the head
two degrees via Effects>Orientation> Rotate. I
also pinched the left side on top and bottom via
Effects>Distort to fix some minor lens distortion.
Using the Lasso tool, I copied and pasted her
mouth and resized it to 98%, as it felt slightly too
full for the period flavour I wanted. I then dropped
both layers and saved as a RIFF uncompressed.
03 Create a reference study On a
new layer set to 45% opacity and toned
slightly brown, I began to draw in the rest of the
figure, using a medium brown tapered artist chalk
10. I traced around the head and features lightly
and did some early shading. After saving that layer
as a new document, I worked side-by-side with
the original to create the study on the right (it’s on
the disc). It expresses some of the shading I will
add to make the forms rounder.

30

030-034_OPM-02-glaze.indd 30 9/3/07 12:46:17

 Tutorial
Clone and glaze

31

030-034_OPM-02-glaze.indd 31 9/3/07 12:46:35

 Tutorial Clone and glaze

Merge photos and sketch

Get that traditional look

04 Transferring the reference

used the Lasso tool, copied and then
pasted our doctored reference right over a copy
I then

05 Painting in the figure Next

of our study. Here I am in the process of erasing
the unneeded parts. I have set her layer at roughly
70% opacity, so I can see where to erase. I have a
plan! Once I cobble together the basic picture, I am
going to transfer it to a prepared canvas via an oil
cloning brush that will give me the opportunity to
finesse every part of the painting.
I painted out the hair. Using the
Eyedropper tool I borrowed some of the
reference’s colours to roughly paint in the
new hair, body, black dress and a very rough
background. I used the largest Airbrushes possible
for each part of this step, set to 60% opacity, in
order to create fairly smooth transitions on the
first pass.
06 Finishing the blocking After
flattening the image, I created a new
layer set to Darken and blocked in the basic tones
for the whites of the eyes, hat and frills. This is
a snap, as the fields bordering these areas are
darker than the goal values. I set this layer at 80%
opacity. I then spent about three minutes with a
Soft Blender Stump enlarged to 60 smoothing out
some rough edges.

08 Creating
a guide
for cloning I had
in mind all along that
Soft light I would want to use
layer for
modifying
07 Preparing a background Open
another document, the same size ad
before. We’re going to do a refined background.
an oil brush cloner
directionally over
forms to create a hand-
I have used the Eyedropper tool to match colour painted feel. I needed
mid-tones between the rough background and started by a guide for my strokes,
and shadows using the Paint Bucket tool to fill the canvas with so I simply copied our
the darkest value. Using a size 180 Digital Airbrush latest version onto the
Say what? One day I
set to 60% opacity, I gradually worked from dark enhanced backround
was experimenting
with the Soft Light
to light. The greenish hue compliments the flesh and reduced its opacity
layer and discovered tones nicely. to 25%.
that if I painted onto
it with a dark colour,
it would subtly darken
the area painted. I felt
pretty clever until I
learned that a number
of Corel Painter
users have stumbled
upon this useful
application. It has
become a staple in my
bag of tricks, because
it takes advantage of
the operative term,
namely ‘soft’. Using
this layer combined
with a fairly large
soft-edged brush set
to less than 100%
opacity creates
09 Cloning the figure This step was a hoot. I felt like I had a magic
paintbrush. Using File>Clone Source I selected our cobbled together
version as the source. After a few experiments, I decided the Smeary Camel
wonderfully luminous Cloner was the ticket and I began to clone directly onto the background. Note
effects with very little how my brush strokes follow the contours of the forms. I then zoomed in and
modification of the using a Straight Cloner, brought back some of the details of the original. We
edges needed. now have our basic underpainting and will begin to modify it.

32

030-034_OPM-02-glaze.indd 32 9/3/07 12:46:54

 10 Add
highlights,
mid-tones and Understand glazes

Tutorial
shadows The next three The shining light from the darkest shadows
steps help define our light
source coming from in So you just painted an apple. You painstakingly observed every colour
front of and above her you could see and mixed up a slew of separate hues and values. Then you
right eye. First, I created a meticulously applied them to your canvas, blending them seamlessly. You
new layer set to Soft Light just employed the direct method of painting.
and using a size 27 Digital The indirect method takes a different approach. An indirect painter

Clone and glaze

Airbrush, made a pass of begins with an underpainting that is then modified by successive semi-
dark brown in areas away transparent layers of paint that affect but don’t completely cover the
from our light source. I previous layer. In traditional oil technique, glazing usually involves very
little pigment suspended in a thinning medium, usually some mix of
then selected a medium
varnish, thinner and oil. Put a piece of blue cellophane over a patch of
brownish-orange and yellow and you see immediately that you have a green that has optical
added a few mid-tones to properties that can’t be achieved by mixing paint. That is indirect painting
the nose and around the in a nutshell.
eyes. Finally, I increased Corel Painter places a number of tools at one’s disposal that can be used
the size to around 70 and to paint indirectly. Simply reducing the opacity of a layer or a brush works.
selected a yellowish-white Composite layers like Gel and Multiply are particularly well suited for an
for passes over highlights. indirect approach. I discover new methods all the time.

11 Broaden the value range I created

a new layer and, using various Digital
Airbrush brush sizes, reintroduced some hand-
painted detail around the eyes and eyebrows.
I also continued rounding out areas like the far
cheek with mid-tones.
12 Add depth and nuance to
shadows After creating a new layer
set to Gel at 16%, I used the largest brushes that
would fit the various areas to paint a medium
reddish-brown into selected mid-tones to add
variation and depth to the areas not in direct light.
This included the entire left side of her face. Without glaze

13
layer
Using a
Multiply
I added to
the shadows and
mid-tones around
the nose, mouth,
eyes, and cheeks on
a Multiply layer set to
25% opacity, picking
my colour from the
lightest area in the
forehead. I opened
a default layer,
corrected some areas
and began to draw in
details of the hair. The
truly astute observer
will notice that I
nudged the entire
mouth up a fraction. I
With glaze
offer this side-by-side
for comparison.

33

030-034_OPM-02-glaze.indd 33 9/3/07 12:47:15

 Tutorial Clone and glaze

Lighting and colour tweaks

Going from good to great

Don’t get
paint on your
nose 15
1
Apply
lighting
This step and the
I worked through next will help create
this tutorial without an atmosphere and
zooming in to near put our subject into it.
100% until the I copied and pasted
very last step. The our image on top of
majority of my work is itself and via Effects>
done with the entire
Apply Lighting, I chose
painting visible on
the screen. Owing to
warm globe. Note how
the size of my digital I modified the sliders
canvas, that usually and placement of
translates to roughly
25% magnification.
This prevents me from
14 Adding in some details Working with a Soft Light and Darken
layer open, I alternated between them and the painting itself to
finalise some forms and modelling. I painted in selected details throughout
the source. I used the
separate layer in case I
wanted to dab a bit of
losing track of the the painting, focusing on creating rhythms of spot detail versus finishing the effect off in places,
overall impact of a everything completely. but it did the trick.
step on the painting.
Indirect painting
is a process of
harmonising elements
together, and one
has to see the whole
painting at one time to
tell if any one step is
16
2
Apply
lighting
After merging and
working towards that saving, I repeated
end or not.
the procedure and
chose Gradual
Diagonal, altering
only the direction
and placement of the
source. This time I
changed the opacity

On-line
of the affected layer
to 50%. Using a 130
eraser set at 60%
17 Colour correct layer I copied our image onto itself again and this
time worked on the lower layer. Via Effects>Correct Colors I opened
the Color Correction dialog box and chose Curve>Auto Set. Then, working on
resources opacity, I gently the top layer with my 130 sized eraser, I gently brought some of those cooler
dabbed back some but lighter blues into the picture, focusing on the highlights and the clothing.
Here are a couple of
highlights, merged The last two steps had, as is the case when glazing traditionally as well, made
websites that offer
valuable insights: and saved. the picture a bit too dark and it brought in a little colour balance as well.
www.noteaccess.
com/materials/
indirectP.htm has
a synopsis of Reed
Kay’s excellent notes
on indirect painting
techniques. It is
written for natural
media, but most of it
holds true for digital
painting as well. The
page also has links
19 CleanupNow I zoomed
to 200% and, with a
to other insightful Soft Blender Stump
articles on painting. as large as I could fit
http://forums. in each area, began
cgsociety.org has to softly blend out
a thread devoted to
Corel Painter and its
art techniques forum
has handy tutorials
18 Flipping the picture It is good
practice to flip the picture a few times, as
imbalances tend to pop out. I saw several small
marks that either didn’t
look man-made or
detracted from the
and top advice from areas that needed attention and created a Multiply picture. I like to leave
some of the most layer for darkening, a Soft Light layer for some some dither and dash,
skilled digital painters subtle highlights, and a Lighten layer to get rid of a so I didn’t spend too
out there. few annoying marks along the frills. much time smoothing.

34

030-034_OPM-02-glaze.indd 34 9/3/07 12:47:38

 Primer Effects menu

PRIMER
EFFECTS MENU
Tonal Control
Use this Effects group to make sure the After
colours in your image are loud and proud
ur next stop on the journey
down the Effects menu is
the Tonal Control group. As
you can guess by the name,
the options in here allow you to edit the DIFFERENT OPTIONS
colours in an image. When you open up the Correct
To many people, Corel Painter is just Colors command, you see a
a tool for creating digital art, but it also window with a big area for
has an impressive set of tools for editing curves and then a drop-down
photos and the Tonal Controls effects menu below it. There are four
options in the menu; Contrast
play a major part in this. From here you
and Brightness, Curve, Freehand
can perform tasks such as adjusting and Advanced. The sliders change
brightness and contrast, editing selected according to the option selected
colours and applying posterisation in the menu.
effects. Some of the edits will work as
dynamic layers, allowing you to make
changes without permanently affecting
the original image. This is a great way
of experimenting with different looks
without having to worry about running
out of Undos and ruining your original
Video Legal image. For more on dynamic layers, see

Before
Colors the right side panel.
In addition to edits that improve the
One Tonal Control colour of an image, it is also possible to
option is very useful
use some of the controls to create wild,
to movie-makers and
that’s the Video Legal outlandish results. These are great if you
Colors command. want a certain look and can be used to
This ensures your kickstart the colour scheme of a painting.
image’s colours are In fact, we’d suggest that if you are
compatible with either painting from a photo that you always
the NTSC or PAL video
colour. Open the
�irst pay a visit to the Tonal Controls
dialog, choose your options. By boosting saturation or
format and press OK enhancing shadows, you can make a
to set. photo more ‘painterly’.

Adjust Color Brightness/Contrast

Enjoy complete colour control
The Adjust Color command allows you to
determine the hue, saturation and value of an
image. Once selected, a dialog window will open.
The Using drop-down menu allows you to control
how the colour is adjusted; Uniform Color will
tweak all pixels; Paper will take the current
paper grain and use as the adjustment; Image
Luminance will take the luminance in the image
as the starting point for adjustment; Original
Luminance uses the luminance in the clone
source. Once you’ve set the Using menu, use the
sliders to alter the hue, saturation or value.
Overall colour edit
The Brightness/Contrast option allows you to
alter the, erm, brightness and contrast across
an image, using RGB values. Unless you make a
selection, the edit will be applied to the whole of
the currently selected layer.
Making adjustments with this tool is intuitive
and is based around sliders. Once you select the
Brightness/Contrast command from the Tonal
Control set, a window will appear with a Contrast
slider (top) and a Brightness slider (bottom).
Move the sliders right to increase the effect or
left to decrease. If it goes wrong, hit Reset.

36

036-37_OPM02_effects.indd 1 9/3/07 15:09:02

 READING THE CURVE
As you move the sliders, a line will appear
on the curve representing the changes
you’ve made. Anything towards the
top of the graph will be lighter than the
starting point, while anything towards
the bottom will be darker.
ONE COLOUR OR ALL?
To the right of the drop-down menu
is four coloured squares. The red, blue
and green squares relate to the red,
blue and green in an RGB image. Click
one of these to edit that colour. The
SEE THE CHANGES black square is the ‘master’ curve and
Once you have decided on the colour
to edit (red, green, blue or all) you can
controls all colours equally.
move the sliders to adjust the curve.
You’ll see your edit appear in the main
grid in the corresponding colour. If you
edit the reds, for example, a red line will
appear in the grid.
Equalize
For when you need precise contrast edits
Equalizing an image allows you to improve
contrast and brightness by setting black and
white points. Once you have these set, Corel
Painter will then use these two points to evenly
distribute the values across the layer or selection.
After going to Effects>Tonal Control>Equalize,
the image will be adjusted so the lightest colour
is white and the darkest is black. You make
adjustments by moving the black and white
markers – values to the right of the white marker
become white, and values to the left of the black
marker become – you guessed it – black.
036-37_OPM02_effects.indd 2
Edit on a dynamic layer
Experiment without any regret!
Primer
Dynamic layers are a fabulous way of trying out an effect without
worrying about ruining your original image. By setting a dynamic
layer, you work above the original and can set one for the Brightness/
Contrast, Equalize and Posterize commands.
Tonal Control
01 Start the edit Open
your photo or image and
then call up the Layers palette.
Go to the bottom of the palette
and click the Dynamic Plugins icon
(second in from the left). Pick the
command you want from the list
that appears. We decided to go
for Posterize.
02 New layer, please As soon
as you make a choice from the
menu, a new layer will appear above
your original one, with a little dynamic
plugin icon just so you don’t forget
which one it is.
03 Ready to edit Now the dynamic layer is all set up, you are free to
make your edits. When it comes to posterising an image, it pays to
stick to eight levels or less. However, this does change according to certain
images but if we don’t like the effect we can just delete the dynamic layer. No
harm, no foul!
Negative and Posterize
Dramatic effects with just one click
Two of the Tonal Control options are particularly
good for dramatically altering a photo or image.
The Negative setting will create a negative version
of your layer or selection and is particularly
effective in collages or backgrounds.
The Posterize option allows you to limit
the amount of colours in an image. Go to
Effects>Tonal Control>Posterize and enter a value
of 8 or less for the number of levels. Your image
will now have a more illustrated look to it and is a
great starting point for vector or comic book-style
images. You can also posterise using a color set.
37
9/3/07 15:10:12
 Tutorial Paint perfect skin

38

038-043-OPM-02-bristle.indd 38 9/3/07 13:07:56

 Tutorial
Using the
RealBristle

RealBristle brushes
brushes
Tutorial info RealBristle brushes are new to Corel
Painter master
Tim Shelbourne Painter X and in this tutorial, we
Time needed demonstrate just how easy it is to use
1 hour
them to create stunning paintings full
Skill level
Intermediate of brush strokes!
f your primary goal in using Corel Painter is to
produce images which are as close as possible to
real world oil or acrylic paintings, in version X
you have a new super-powerful creative weapon
right at your �ingertips, namely the RealBristle
painting system. In the following tutorial, we’re going
to illustrate and prove to you just how incredible these
brushes really are and produce a landscape painting
which you would be hard pressed to tell apart from its
real-world equivalent!
RealBristle brushes are the closest Corel Painter
has ever come to actually putting a real, traditional
artists brush in your hand! Essentially, these brushes
very accurately mimic the shape and behaviour
of traditional bristle brushes, with all of the same
variability and vitality that artists have come to
know and love in these brushes. The brush variants
themselves range from short �lats, through to lovely
full-bodied round brushes and even include tapered
varieties which mimic traditional �ilberts.
As well as the selection of preset brush variants
you’ll �ind within the RealBristle categories, you’re
also able to customise and change every aspect
of the particular brush’s characteristic within the
RealBristle section of the Brush Creator or the brush
controls. You can change behaviour such as bristle
length, bristle rigidity and the shape of the brush
head, right the way through to the amount of friction
between the brush and the surface and the wetness of
the canvas.
Remember, this project is all about painting, so use
the �inished image as you guide, but don’t be afraid to
inject some of your own personality and vitality into
your brush strokes as you work. Use these brushes
with enthusiasm and the rewards will come!

39

038-043-OPM-02-bristle.indd 39 9/3/07 13:42:38

 Tutorial RealBristle brushes

From sketch to painting

Laying down the base colour

02 Reinforce the sketch With this

brush at around 10 pixel size, reinforce
03 Looking skyward Choose a mid blue

01 Open the sketch Download the starter sketch and colour swatch
from www.paintermagazine.co.uk. Open it up and go to File>Save
As and save the file under a new name and as a Corel Painter .riff file. Click the
Papers swatch and choose Artist Canvas. Click the Brush tool and choose the
RealBristle Brushes category. Choose the Real Round bristle variant. Choose a
mid brown from the Colors palette.
the distant shoreline and landscape simply by
roughly painting over the sketch lines. You can
leave the sketching in the sky as it is. Change to the
Real Flat variant. Increase the brush size to around
60 pixels and in the Size category of the Brush
Controls, change the Minimum Size to 65%.
colour and begin to paint in the blue
areas of the sky. Use lots of short strokes here in
random directions. Remember this brush loses its
colour quickly and starts to blend after being in
contact with the canvas for a while so regularly lift
you stylus and then begin to paint again.

04
water
Paint
some
As you paint
the blue of the sky,
periodically choose
either a slightly lighter
or darker shade of the
colour to vary the blue
here and there. Now
choose a darker blue
from the colour set
and using the same
05 The hills are alive! Choose the Real
Oils Short variant. Set Blend to 21%,
Feature to 4.4 and Grain to 72%. Choose a very
brush at a smaller size, dark blue/green from the swatch and reduce the
Loading the roughly paint in the size of the brush to around 29 pixels. Now begin
water using energetic to paint in the distant hills. Again, use short strokes
Color Set horizontal strokes. here at various angles.
We’ve supplied a
colour set which
features all the
colours used in
this painting. Once
you’ve downloaded
it from www.
paintermagazine.
07 Darker
features
Choose the Real Flat
co.uk, in Corel Painter Opaque variant. Set
go to Window>Color Bleed to 5%, Feature
Palettes>Show Color to 7.1 and Blend to 2%.
Sets. In the Color In the Brush Creator
Sets palette, click the (Window>Show
small right-pointing Brush Creator), choose
arrow and choose the Color Variabilty
Open Color Set. Click
category. Set H slider
Load and locate the
downloaded colour
set on your computer.
Once the set is loaded,
06 Landscaping Choose a very dark
olive green. Reduce the Bleed of the
brush to 12%. Now, using the brush at 19 pixels,
to 10%. Choose a very
dark blue/black from
the Colors palette. Add
click the small right- paint in the hills below the most distant ones. Try a new layer (Ctrl/Cmd+
pointing arrow again and use fairly long sweeping strokes here. Choose Shift+N). Now begin to
and choose Sort a darker shade of the same colour and add some paint in the foreground
Order>LHS. darker accents here and there. hills and land mass.

40

038-043-OPM-02-bristle.indd 40 9/3/07 13:43:05

 Our pick of the RealBristle brushes The sky’s the limit thanks to Corel Painter

For the initial blue of the sky, we will use the Real Flat
variant. This is a great RealBristle brush because it
quickly enables you to cover large areas with colour
that still maintains lots of visible brush strokes for
interest and texture. These brush strokes become
visible because of the fairly high Blend value featured
For the darker cloud areas in the sky, we’re using
the Real Round Bristle variant. The attributes we apply
to the brush means it has a fairly high Feature setting,
which allows the individual bristles within the brush
to remain visible in the areas of paint it applies. The
low Blend value means that the colour remains for
Tutorial
For the lighter parts of the clouds we use the
Impasto brush we created, which is a modified version
of the Real Oils Short variant. The great thing about
this brush is that it paints with impasto and is best
used in short dabs in various directions.
For all of these brushes one of the most important

RealBristle brushes
in the brush. longer as you continue to paint. It’s best to use values is that of Blend. At high values the brushes will
this brush at a fairly large size and with a distinct create strokes and colours which blend together, at
scribbling motion. lower values your brush strokes will be more distinct.

Real Flat – High Blend Real Flat – Low Blend

With a high Blend setting, the Real Flat With a low Blend setting, the same variant
variant blends readily and quickly with the blends less and leaves much more distinct
canvas and other paint. brush marks as you paint.

Real Round Bristle
The Real Round Bristle variant leaves visible
bristle marks within its stroke, making it ideal
for soft areas such as the darker shades in the
sky and clouds.
Real Oils Short – Impasto
Because we’ve modified the Impasto
properties of the Real Oils Short variant, it
paints with very realistic impasto, making it
ideal for the bolder areas of the sky.
Real Oils Short – No Impasto
Here you can see the same variant without the
Impasto value applied. You can easily achieve
a mix between the two simply by using a very
low Impasto value.

Continue with the colour

We’re still applying base colour!

09 Darker clouds Change to the Real

Round Bristle variant. Set Bleed to

08 Suggesting detail Use short,

scribbling movements here, regularly
removing your stylus from the tablet. Reduce
the size of the brush as you start painting in the
narrow areas along the shoreline. Add a few
small vertical strokes to indicate trees and areas
of interest.
10%, Feature to 2.8 and Blend to 11%. In the
Layers palette, return to Layer 1. Increase the
size of the brush to 60 pixels. Now begin to add
the darker areas to the clouds. Use nice, random
movements here, reducing the size of the brush
10 More sky Reduce the size of the brush a little and paint the darker
areas of the sky just above the horizon line. Again, use short, dabbing
strokes, brushing over some areas repeatedly to blend those areas a little. It’s
where necessary. Refer to the finished painting for a good idea as you go to choose a slightly warmer or cooler hue of a similar
placement of these areas. tone from the Colors palette.

41

038-043-OPM-02-bristle.indd 41 9/3/07 18:52:29

 Tutorial RealBristle brushes

Suggest detail with subtle shading

It’s all in the brush work

Create the
Impasto
brush
Choose the Real Oils
Short variant and set
Bleed to 37%, Grain
to 72%, Feature to 1.2
and Blend to 26% in
the Properties Bar.
Now go to the Brush
Creator and click the
Impasto category.
From Draw To choose
Color and Depth, and
set the Depth slider
11 Mix some colours Using the Mixer pad,
mix a range of very light pinks, yellows and
blue/greys. Now choose the Impasto brush you
12 Painting the clouds with sunshine! 13 Paint and Blend
Begin to paint in the lightest parts of
the clouds. Remember, this brush paints with
Reserve the thickest
areas of impasto for the absolute
highlights in the sky. For where the lighter areas of
to 14%. Click the made earlier (see Impasto Brush boxout to the impasto, so the more you paint over one areas, the clouds meet the existing dark areas, increase
Artists Oils category
left). In the Mixer pad, choose the Sample Multiple the thicker and more three-dimensional the paint the Blend value of the brush in the Properties Bar
and use these
settings: Bristling Colours Eyedropper and click anywhere within will become. Refer to the finished image for the so that you get smoother transitions from one
9%, Clumpiness 95%, your mix of light shades in the Mixer pad. placement of these highlight areas. tone to another here.
Canvas Wetness 50%.
In the General
category, set Grain
Expression to None,
and in the Size
category, set Feature
Expression to None.
Once you’re back in
Corel Painter, click the
small arrow next to
14 Another
brush Add
a new layer. Choose
the variant selector the Real Flat Opaque
and choose Save variant and in the Brush
Variant, giving your Controls palette, set
new brush a name. Minimum Size to 75%.
Set Grain to 64%, Bleed
to 5%, Feature to 1.5
and Blend to 17. Now,
15 Suggested detail Use long strokes
that suggest the contours of the land
and remember that the lightest areas will be on
choosing lighter greens, the tops of the hills. As you work further down
ochres and yellows the hills, use darker shades of greens, browns
from the supplied and blue/greys. In these areas, increase the Blend
swatches, begin to add setting to around 40% so that the brushstrokes
some more colours to aren’t quite as distinct. There are really no definite
the hills. shapes to paint here, we’re simply adding texture.

18 Suggested
trees
upward strokes of the
Small,

brush along the dark of

the shoreline can easily
give the impression
of small trees and
objects. Again, at this

16 Dark shades, broken colour

Increase the size of the brush a little and
begin to add some real darks to the large tree bank
17 Refine the detail Use this same brush
at a smaller size to add some small strokes
to the top edge of the distant tree mass, to break
distance you really
only need to be quite
impressionistic, but
on the left of the painting. It’s important to break up its outline and blend it slightly with the sky. it’s still useful to zoom
up this area with stokes of slightly different dark Now continue adding dark areas of interest all close in to the image
colours from dark browns through to very dark along the shoreline, still varying the colours you so you can still see the
dusky blues. A great range of these colours are in use here and there. Small, random brushstrokes brush when you’re
the supplied colour set. here will work well. using it at a small size.

42

038-043-OPM-02-bristle.indd 42 9/3/07 13:44:24

 Add some extra elements Controlling
But still keep a loose style!

Tutorial
the impasto
effect
Sometimes, by
default, Corel Painter
can slightly over-egg
the pudding when it

RealBristle brushes
comes to showing the
impasto effect in your
paintings, but you
can easily temper this
via Canvas>Surface
Lighting. Use the
Amount slider to
reduce the impasto

21 Let the brush do the work! The effect in you image.

foreground boat is really quite easy to Often, very small

19 Distant boats 20 Water highlights

Reduce the brush to
a very small size (around 5 pixels) and
choose a very light blue/grey from the swatches.
Distant boats along the shoreline can be indicated
very easily. Simply make upward strokes for the
masts and sails and two or three horizontal strokes
for the main body of the boats.
At this stage, you construct as we’re using a flat brush which helps values applied via this
can add a new layer to the image for the slider can give a much
a lot with the shapes. First, set the Blend value to
better effect than
final details, or continue working on the existing 7% so the paint from the brush does not blend more extreme ones.
layer, whichever you’d prefer. Continue to add too much. Set the brush size to 9 pixels. Choose a Just click OK to apply
horizontal strokes of this light colour along the very light blue/grey and paint a long vertical stroke the change.
distant waterline to serve as simple highlights on in front of the tree mass to serve as the mast of
the water. the boat.

22 Painting
the sails
Increase the brush size
to around 22 pixels
and paint in the two
triangular shapes for
the sails. Apply more
pressure towards the
bottom of the strokes
to widen the brush
there. You can always
reduce the size of
the brush to sharpen
up the shape of the
sails. Make sure to
stroke in some thicker
23 Boatbuilding! Choose a slightly darker neutral grey and use
horizontal strokes to paint in the main body of the boat. Use short,
deft strokes here, before reducing the size of the brush and adding a couple of
highlights, using the small highlights here and there. By using the brush at a very small size, you can
brush at a smaller size. refine the outline of the boat.

26 More refinements
on your own preference. Using the
Real Blender
brushes
The Real Blender
brush variants (Real
Blender Flat, Round
and Tapered), are very
useful for refining
your paintings. If
there are areas of
paint where tones
and areas of paint
This step relies
don’t blend together
as much as you would

25 Water shadows Increase the Feature

setting to 6.3. Choose a deep petrol blue
techniques demonstrated throughout this
tutorial, refine the painting by adding more areas
like, use one of these
brushes to brush over

24 Darker details Choose a very dark

colour and reduce the Blend and Bleed
to very low values. Now use the brush at a very
small size to add the dark details to the boat.
and set the brush size to 39 pixels. Now use this
brush to add long horizontal strokes to the water.
Also add some of this colour horizontally beneath
the boat.
of indicated detail, such as more distant boats and
sharp highlights on the water. Using a range of
colours from the swatches, also take the time to
these areas with an
approximate colour
to subtly blend the
add some finer details to the hills and sky. areas together.

43

038-043-OPM-02-bristle.indd 43 9/3/07 13:47:32

 showcase

MARK COROTAN
TITLE Manji_The Blade of the Immortal
WEBSITE www.sundang.com
JOB TITLE CGI/FX artist, animation designer
Mark has produced some incredible work covering digital art, traditional
mediums and also animation films. His images are always vibrant and
dynamic, demanding the viewer’s attention straight away. Also be sure
to check out Mark’s The Kindredd Saga animation project.

044-045_OPM_02_mark Corotan.indd44 44 9/3/07 14:45:06

044-045_OPM_02_mark Corotan.indd45 45 9/3/07 14:45:32
 Feature focus Selecting colour
FEATURE
FOCUS

Selecting
colour
Colour is at the heart of any painting, so
it’s worth mastering how to select it!
olour is one of the big boys when
it comes to creating artwork.
Selecting the perfect hue is vital
to any artist and it comes as no
surprise to discover that Corel Painter has
plenty of options for choosing, editing and
saving colours.
The main colour selection takes place
in the Colors palette. As you’d expect
from Corel Painter, this is entrenched
in traditional art theory and is based
around the concept of a colour wheel. This
means that you can visually see which
MAIN AND ADDITIONAL COLOUR
colours complement each other or which The front square here sets the main
colour being used. The back square is
belong to the same ‘group’. Once you have
the additional colour and comes into
selected your main colour, you can then play when you use dual colour control
adjust its saturation or colour value. If you on your brush.
haven’t got a clue what this means, we’ll be
explaining everything over these pages!
In addition to the Colors palette, there
Work with are various other methods of selecting
colours. These include the Dropper tool,
RGB values the Color squares and the Color Sets
If you are creating a palette. Again, we’ll be looking at how all
piece of art that you of these work in more detail, including a
know has to have walkthrough on how to create and save
certain RGB colour
values, you might
your own Color Sets.
think that the little When it comes to emulating traditional
readout box in the art techniques, though, the Mixer palette
Colors palette is is phenomenal. You can use this to mix up
useless, since it shows paint as you would with a traditional paint
HSV values instead. palette and can also set the brush to pick
Well, if you click on
this readout it will up multiple colours. We’ve got a special
turn into RGB, so you walkthrough just on this feature over the
can see how things are page, where you’ll �ind out how to use it
shaping up! and what options are available.

Select using squares The main man (plus additional)

Quick and easy colour selection
The quickest way to select a colour and the
most intuitive if you’re used to using an image
editing program, is to click the front coloured
square in the toolbox. This will call up a Colors
window, with a colour wheel and a slider to
the right. Click inside the wheel to select a
colour and adjust how bright or dark it is
by moving the slider up (brighter) or down
(darker). There are also icons at the top of the
window that allow you to set a different way
of selecting a colour. These range from colour
spectrums through to web-safe colours.
Two squares are better than one
One thing that confuses most people when they
move from a program such as Photoshop over
to Corel Painter is the two coloured squares in
the toolbox. In Photoshop these would be the
foreground and background colours, but in Corel
Painter they are the main (front) and additional
(back). The main colour is the one currently
selected. The additional colour only comes into
play when you have multicoloured brush strokes,
two-point gradients or whenever more than one
colour is applied. To set the additional colour,
double-click on it and pick a colour as normal.

48

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 COLORS PALETTE
The hub of choosing
Create color sets

Feature focus
colours, this palette Group colours for easy location
allows you to set a hue
and also control the Color Sets are a fabulous way of grouping colours and creating
bespoke colour palettes. Corel Painter ships with several color sets,
value and saturation
but it’s worth creating your own. You might make some for portrait
of that hue. painting, landscapes, clothes… it’s completely up to you.

Selecting colour
MIXER PALETTE
This palette is one of the most exciting
features of Corel Painter and allows
you to blend colours just as you would
with a traditional paint palette.
COLOR SETS
These sets are a handy
way of keeping colours
of similar values or uses
together. You can use the
ones that ship with Corel
Painter, or create your own
01 Open up the sets
Start by going to
Window>Color Palettes>Show
for the perfect control. Color Sets. Once the palette
appears, click the small right-
pointing arrow and then select
New Empty Color Set.

02 Pick your colours

Now it’s time to fill your nice,
clean color set. Start by picking a colour
COLOR INFO from the Colors palette and then click
If you have to adhere to certain colour rules the Add Color to Color Set button
– maybe you are designing for the web – you (second from right).
can see the colour values for RGB, HSV and
Web RGB from here.
03 Repeat and save
Continue until you have all the colours you want and then click the
right-pointing arrow again. Choose Save Color Set from the menu and give
your set a name in the Save As box. Pick a location to save to and click Save.

Hue’s this then? The value of saturation

Using the Color palette’s Hue ring to set colour
The best way to select colour is the Colors palette.
By default this will display as a ring of colour with
a triangle in the middle (although you can make it
smaller). This is based around hue, saturation and
value colour model. Typically, this model begins
with you picking a hue, which is represented by
the circle. Hue indicates a colour’s position on a
colour wheel, hence why it’s presented in a ring.
To select your hue, simply click and drag the small
black circle. As you move it around the wheel, the
triangle and main/additional colour squares will
update accordingly.
Use the triangle for tints and shade
The triangle in the middle of the ring controls the
saturation and value of a colour. Saturation is
basically how intense a colour is. By moving the
triangle’s circle to the left, you reduce saturation.
A move to the right will increase it for a very
strong colour.
Value refers to how light or dark a colour is and
lets you pick tints or shades of colours. By moving
the circle to the top of the triangle, you lighten
the colour and create a tint. Moving the circle to
the bottom of the triangle will darken the colour
and therefore make a shade.

49

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 Feature focus Selecting colour
FEATURE
FOCUS
Mix colours with the Mixer palette
Enjoy a true real media effect
Users with version
IX or above of Corel
Painter will be
able to enjoy the
Mixer palette. This
allows you to mix
and merge paint
just as you would
a traditional paint
canvas, but it can
take a bit of getting
used to. Here’s how
it works…

02 A new background By default, the

Mixer pad is on a white background.
If you’d rather change this, click on the palette

01 Open up the palette If it isn’t

already open, go to Window>Color
Palettes>Show Mixer to open up the Mixer palette.
For the shortcut fans, just press Cmd+2 (Mac) or
Ctrl+2 (Windows).
menu arrow and then choose Change Mixer
Background. A Colors dialog box will appear,
so pick the new colour you want. This is good
practice if you are painting onto a coloured
background as you’ll see how the colours will
appear once mixed.
03 Apply colour To get started with the
Mixer pad, click on the Apply Color tool at
the bottom of the Mixer palette. Go up to the row of
colours at the top of the palette and click on one you
like. Return to the Mixer pad and paint. Your chosen
colour will appear.

Save your
creations
Just as you might
save a color set for
work in the future,
you can also save
your creations in the
Mixer palette. Maybe
you have created the
perfect concoction for
underwater scenes.

04 Second helping 06 All in the brush

Simply go to the palette The Mixer pad was With Corel Painter
menu arrow and click
not meant for just one colour, so return X, you can use certain brushes to mix
Save Mixer Pad. Give
the pad a name, choose
where to save it and
then click Save. Load
to the colour swatches and click on a different
colour. Paint in the Mixer pad as before. If you paint
over the original colour you added, you’ll see the
05 Use the colour When you are happy
with the blended colour, you need
to apply it to the canvas. Do this by clicking the
colour directly on the Mixer pad and then move
over to the canvas to start painting straight
away. The variants that support this are ones
it up by picking Open hues start to blend together. To really work them Sample Color tool at the bottom of the Mixer that use these dab types: Camel Hair, Flat, Bristle
Mixer Pad from the in, use the Mix Color tool. Swap between the two palette – it will become the main colour. Now Spray, Watercolor Camel, Watercolor Flat and
palette menu. by holding down Cmd (Mac) or Ctrl (Windows). paint with the new colour. Watercolor Bristle.

The Dropper tool Clone colour from images

Sample colour from images
Even though the Colors palette is an extremely
accurate way of selecting colour, you might find
that you can’t get the hue that you need. Maybe
you are trying to add text to a painting but can’t
get a colour that matches a hue in the image. For
times like these, pay a visit to the Dropper tool.
Found in the toolbox (or by hitting ‘D’ on your
keyboard), it allows you to select a colour from an
image. Click the main or additional colour square,
pick the Dropper tool and then click the colour
you want to sample in your image. As long as it’s a
visible colour, it will appear in your square.
Go for preset colours
Another way of using colours from an existing
image is to use the Clone Color option. This
works by letting a brush pick up dabs of colour
from the clone source. If you’re using a brush
that has dab-based dab types, the colour will be
an approximation of the clone source’s colour.
Rendered dab types sample various colours,
giving very realistic results.
Open an image and go to File>Clone. Now go
to Select>All and press delete/backspace. Pick a
brush and open the Colors palette. Click the Clone
Color button and start painting!

50

048-51_OPM02_featurefocus.indd 50 9/3/07 12:42:32

 Know your Mixer
palette tools

Feature focus
08 Multiple
fun On
a traditional paint
Ensure perfect control
Travel down to the bottom of the Mixer palette
palette, you are able and you will find a range of tools that allow you to
to load more than one control how you mix the colours. These are all you
colour on a brush. need in order to create your own special colour
You can do exactly mixes for whatever the job at hand is. In addition to
the same in the Mixer the tools, don’t forget about the settings available
palette thanks to the from the palette options arrow. It is from here that
you can save your Mixer pad workspace.
Sample Multiple Color

Selecting colour
tool. Select this and
move the Change Dirty Brush Mode tool
Enable this in order to apply colours
07 Mix and apply Making sure you have
a brush selected that supports direct
mixing, move the paint around in the window to
Brush Size slider to
decide how big the
sample area is. Click
mixed in the pad to your canvas

get the mix you want. Check that the Dirty Brush in the pad to pick up
Mode tool is selected and then move over to your colour and then paint Apply Color tool
canvas. The colour you just mixed will be applied. on your canvas. Use this to click on the top swatches and
apply a colour to the pad

Further afield Mix Color tool

Mixes colours on the pad and unlike the
Customise your colours Apply Color tool, does not add any more

Sample Color tool

Use this to sample a colour from the pad
and set it as the main colour

Sample Multiple Colors tool

When you have a pleasing blend, use
this to load up multiple hues

Zoom tool
Quickly zoom in and out of areas on the
Mixer pad

Pan tool

09 Other swatches The Mixer palette

will open with a default set of colours,
but you can change these to suit your work. Pick a
colour from the Colors palette and then Cmd-click
(Mac) or Ctrl-click (Windows) on the swatch you
want to change in the Mixer palette. The square
will change to your selected colour.
If your pad expands beyond the realms
of the palette, use this to move about
10 Save the colours When you have created your new selection
of colours, go to the palette menu arrow and click Save Mixer
Colors. Give it a name, a save location and then save! You can load Mixer Clear and Reset Canvas tool
colours by clicking the palette menu arrow and picking Load Mixer Colors. Get rid of any marks on the pad and
Navigate to the one you want and the job’s a goodun’! reset the zoom level to 100%

Annotate colours Get colour information

Pass the information on
If you share your work with others or are
collaborating on a project, the ability to annotate
colours means everything will always match up.
It’s very easy to do as well, although you have to
be working from a color set that included names.
Paint as normal, picking your colour from the color
set with names. Now go to Canvas>Annotations>
Annotate. Put your cursor over the colour you want
to annotate and then drag out to just beyond the
boundaries of the colour. As soon as you let go of
the mouse, the name of the colour will appear.
Save as a RIFF file to keep the annotations.
For when things gets technical
You can call up the Color Info palette and discover
the HSV or standard RGB values of the colour you
are currently using. If it isn’t already open, go to
Window>Color Palettes>Show Color Info. You’ll
see some sliders, which you can use to adjust the
values, or simply type a new number in the box.
Click the right-pointing arrow to swap between
RGB or HSV colour values. Any alterations you
make can be previewed in the colour squares.
Also, if you Shift-click on the HSV/RGB square in
the Colors palette, you can see hexadecimal RGB
values for when creating for the web.

51

048-51_OPM02_featurefocus.indd 51 9/3/07 12:43:09

 Tutorial Create your own gallery

Create your own gallery

Share your Corel Painter artwork with other users and become part of a
thriving community
Tutorial info n addition to offering users
a delicious array of tools and
Painter master commands for creating outstanding
Jo Cole digital artwork, Corel Painter also
comes with a ready-made community of
Time needed
10 minutes loyal users who are only too willing to
pass on their advice to others.
Skill level This sense of community is an
Beginner important part of this magazine. In
addition to bringing you great tutorials
for creating modern masterpieces, we
also want to provide a place for you to
come and get a healthy Corel Painter
�ix while you wait for the next issue to
arrive! So when we created our website,
we wanted to make sure that there was a
place for readers to come and post their
Corel Painter artwork. As a result, once
you sign up to the site you can create
a special gallery to display your work.
Other members can then comment on
your images, plus you can also link to
other members’ galleries and support an
artist who you particularly admire.
One thing that we want to make clear
from the outset is that this isn’t a site
just for Corel Painter professionals or
talented artists. We welcome all users of
all abilities and styles, so don’t feel shy if
you’ve just started using the program.
Over these pages we are going to show
you how to create a gallery, upload an
image and set an avatar for your pro�ile. Newest Member
At the end, we will also highlight a couple
of other features that you may have
Markie
missed on the site.

52

052-054_OPM_02-web.indd 52 9/3/07 15:42:24

 Tutorial
Create your own gallery
Top Rated Gallery
painter_fan_75

Picture of the Week

Featured Gallery ‘An Homage to Van Gogh’
Jo Cole

Register at the site to access the galleries

Inputting profile information and uploading images

01 Register Pop along to www.

paintermagazine.co.uk. You’ll be taken
to the homepage of the website. Go up to the
Sign-up link and click on it. Fill in the form and
make sure you enter the correct email address.
Once completed, click Create User and wait for an
email. Click the link and you’re now a member!
02 Your profile There’s a default avatar,
but you might prefer to add your own
image. This is easily done. Make sure you are
logged in and then click on Edit Profile. Go down
03 Set the file Navigate to where the
image is you want to use and select it.
For ease of use, make sure it is relatively small, but
to the avatar bit and click Remove This Image. the image will be automatically shrunk to fit the
Now click Choose File. space. Make sure it is a square format to start with.

53

052-054_OPM_02-web.indd 53 9/3/07 15:43:11

 Tutorial Create your own gallery

The approval
process
There will be a slight
delay between you
uploading an image
and it appearing on
the website as all
images go through
an approval process.
This is just to make
sure no one posts
anything offensive.
We approve images as
quickly as we can, but
bear in mind that we
are based in the UK,
04 Finish up Make any other changes
you want to your profile and then click
Update. Now it’s time to add some images! Go
05 More information With the image
selected, use the Description area to give
a bit of background about why you created it and
06 Look at other galleries Click the
Gallery Home link in the left-hand side
panel to see all the galleries. Click Search but leave
and so are tucked up down to the Gallery Images area and click Add what brushes you used, or mention if anything in the field blank. Click on a user to see their work.
in bed while some of New Image. Read through all the rules for the particular inspired you. Click Submit Image and If they have posted lots of images, use the top
you have just started size/format the image has to be and then click once the file is approved, it will magically appear arrows to navigate through them. Click the small
your day! Choose File to select your picture. in your gallery. image to open a larger one in a separate window.

08 Words
wisdom
of
Use the Comment
box to leave a, um…
comment! Type in
your thoughts or
suggestions and then

07 Make a comment As you look at

other people’s work, feel free to leave a
comment. This is an ideal way of praising artists
hit Post Comment.
Remember that this
is a place for people
or making helpful suggestions. It’s easy to do – as to learn and share,
you click on an image, scroll down to Comment so any derogatory or
and Rate. If you’d like to give a score, pick one offensive posts will
from the drop-down menu and click Rate. be deleted.

Other site features

Extra content for members

09 For all
your
downloads
In addition to the
gallery feature, you
can also download
tutorial files from past
issues. This is useful
if you have lost your
disc, or can’t wait to
get your issue and
want to follow one
of the PDF tutorials.
Just click the Tutorial
Files link and then the
10 Regular challenge Members can also enter our regular website
challenge. Click the Competition link and then click Download
images. Use one or all of these to construct your art and then email them to us
relevant tutorial. by hitting the Click here to email your entry link.

54

052-054_OPM_02-web.indd 54 9/3/07 15:44:01

 Tutorial Paint like Edward Hopper

Paint like:Edward Hopper

Discover how to re-create one of America’s most famous paintings

56

056-063_OPM_02-Hopper.indd 56 9/3/07 12:24:18

 Tutorial
Paint like Edward Hopper

57

056-063_OPM_02-Hopper.indd 57 9/3/07 12:24:51

 Tutorial Paint like Edward Hopper

ighthawks was based on a

Greenwich village spot that
attracted Hopper’s native
eye. The artist was known for
roaming the streets of New York, where he
lived for 54 years, to �ind spots of interest.
He would make a few sketches on location
but continue to do the great bulk of work
in his studio.
Like many truly great works of art,
Nighthawks is a timeless piece. The locality
of the all night diner is interesting to note
but the place could in fact be anywhere. Its
strength is in the strong sense of place and
atmosphere. The three silent customers
are eerily captivating. They are lost in
their own thoughts and inevitably make
us wonder of their personal circumstance.
Also, �luorescent lights were new in the
early 1940s and here they create a unique
glow and the place stands out on the dark
street corner.
At the time of Nighthawks’ �irst
exhibition, Hopper was already a well- This oil painting is full of shades and tones. The dark black areas are in fact made of black and dark green.
known artist. He made his name painting Consider this when applying paint for a more sensitive piece
houses and other buildings, barns and
farmhouses, often lonely in a sea of
landscape. Be it a rural or urban setting, “His style was a success from the start of his career
Nighthawks has
found its way
Hopper’s paintings were of an outsider
looking in.
In 1920 Hopper had his �irst solo show
and his acclaim continued to grow during his lifetime”
into many culture
references, at the Whitney Studio Club in Greenwich He was fascinated by light and its mixed the original sketches with extensive
including this Village. His style was a success from the changing nature at different times. Hopper studio oil paintings, often using Josephine
season promo very start of his career and his acclaim is reported to have said of himself: “I guess as a model.
for the popular continued to grow during his lifetime. I’m not very human. All I really want to do To produce our own work in the style
CSI television He remained a private person who spent is paint light on the side of a house.” of Hopper, we will create a sketch of this
programme
(www.cbs.com/
much of his life in his house on Cape Cod, According to the artist’s wife and muse, piece as a guide. In the spirit of imitating
primetime/csi/ where many of his most famous works Josephine, Hopper had a very clear idea real life, we will use the simple 2B Pencil.
diner/) were created. of a piece before he started the work. He Hopper’s preferred painting medium was
oil and it is usually applied quite smoothly,
with strokes being highly visible at times.
We will also end up with an oil painting but
instead of applying impasto directly onto
the guiding sketch, we will explore Corel
Painter’s tools and array of paint media.

In the Brush Creator you can access, adjust and

test the results before applying

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056-063_OPM_02-Hopper.indd 58 9/3/07 12:25:34

 Tutorial
Paint like Edward Hopper
Airbrush is used here to smooth out the painting in preparation for
application of the mighty Impasto

We will start with �illing in the sketch

and move on to the Airbrush. This is used [TOP RIGHT] Under
to smooth the surface in preparation for oil the Impasto
paint application. The last painting stage category in the
is the Impasto brush, providing the oil Brush Creator, we
painting look. We will adjust the Impasto control the Draw
settings as we progress using different To option. Once the
piece is covered in
Draw To options in the Brush Creator. The smooth Airbrush,
�inal piece of the puzzle will be to adjust choose Depth for an
the tone and texture. We will apply Image oil painting look
Luminance to the oil paint to see its effect
on the paint stroke itself.
As expected in such a comprehensive
application, there is more than one way
to achieve different effects. A black-and-
white sketch, for example, can be created
[RIGHT] If you’d
by drawing using a pencil or you could take prefer to not draw
the Effects automatic route. You can apply an outline, you
canvas texture to the �inished piece or can always use the
start off with a textured canvas and so on. Sketch effect

Set up the document

Establish the basic sketch
Tutorial info
Painter master
Hannah Gal
Time needed
3 hours
Skill level
Intermediate
On the CD
Final file and
sketch guide

02 Layout We’ve also provided a quick

sketch, but if you’d rather create your
own, open a new layer. Go to Window>Show 03 Pencil drawing In the Brush Selector
choose Pencils and the 2B pencil. Use the

01 Setting up Open a new file size 30.7cm

high by 40cm wide. You might want to
open the final painting from the disc. This is useful
for selecting colours or to make sure you are
progressing nicely. Name this layer ‘reference’.
Grid to open the Layout Grid box. Create a grid
to help create an accurate guide. Set Vertical and
Horizontal divisions, Size and Display colours. If
you haven’t got Corel Painter X, you will have to
make your own lines.
new grid to guide you as you draw background
and characters. Set Opacity to 30-40 to begin
with. For the option to step back when needed,
to Preferences in the main menu and set a high
number of Undo levels.

59

056-063_OPM_02-Hopper.indd 59 9/3/07 12:26:20

 Tutorial Paint like Edward Hopper

Laying down base colours

Set up your palette

05 Start
paint
to
Create a new layer to
apply paint and name
it Background. Go to
the Brush Selector
and choose the Oils
brush category. Now
select Smeary Bristle

04 Colour Set Design a palette

dedicated to the making of this piece.
This will include the many different shades within
Spray and set Opacity
to 3-5%. Choose
the Cover Method
the original. Use the Eyedropper to sample a and the Subcategory
colour. Double-click on the Main colour square
to open the main Colors palette. Now select
Color Palette (third from right)>New. Drag the
Soft Cover from the
General Brush Control
palette. You can work
06 Painting Observe our finished image and start applying paint.
Keep the General and Size palettes open and adjust controls as you
paint. Brush size for the vast spaces can be large but it needs to be reduced
sampled colour down to the newly created over the drawing at for smaller ones. We’re only laying in some base colour, so don’t cover every
colour palette, continue with different colours to full opacity or reduce it bit of white with this colour. Opacity can be adjusted to when it needs to be
build up your set. in the Layers palette. changed. Set Expression to None at this stage.

07 Keep on
building
Continue to cover
the drawing while
observing the finished
one. You can open
that in a separate file
altogether or turn the
Reference layer on and
off as needed. Vary
08 The first character In the Layers
palette, open a new layer and name it
Man on Left. We are ready to start colouring in the
Opacity between 2 four characters. A separate layer for each will allow
and 10% as you apply greater control as you progress. With the same
layers of paint. We are brush as before, observe the final image, zoom in
filling in the drawing on the man and apply paint. Start with the blocks
with guide colour. of dark areas and move to light.

Layers
To organise the
Layers palette more
efficiently, consider
grouping. This means
placing relevant layers
in a group, saving
10 Remaining
two Create
a new layer for both
both space and time. the woman and bus
A good example here
boy. Use the reference
would be the man
on the left, woman,
bus boy and man in
the centre. To group
09 Central figure Open a new layer
for the man in the centre of the image
and name it accordingly. Follow the previous step
layer as well as the
guide drawing to see
where colours change
layers, Shift-select to loosely cover the man with paint. Observe the and how tones vary.
them in the Layers original as you use your own colour palette. If you This can be quite loose
palette and then feel a shade is missing, sample and add to the set as we will apply fresh
choose Group. to complete it. paint later on.

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056-063_OPM_02-Hopper.indd 60 9/3/07 12:26:59

 Impasto

Tutorial
Any brush can be
adjusted to paint in
Impasto style. To do
this, choose the brush.
Open Brush Creator
and in Stroke Designer
adjust settings. Set

Paint like Edward Hopper

Draw To to Depth
or Color and Depth.
The Bristle Oil brush
we used here, for

11 Zoom out As you apply paint on

zoomed in areas, it is easy to lose sight of
the whole picture. When you feel you are nearly
12 Brush Creator The original painting
is oil on canvas so you can now select
an Impasto brush and apply straight to surface.
13 Build things up Choose Cover Method
and Soft Cover subcategory. Start with a
low 5-10% Opacity and zoom in on the top-left
example, will also
benefit from adjusting
Smoothing and other
aspects. Once you
at the end of the ‘guide paint’ stage, zoom out Smoothing out the layer underneath the thick oil corner of the canvas. Observe the original, choose
reached Impasto
and assess progress so far. Painters do this in real paint, however, does wonders to the overall look. the relevant colour from your colour set and start heaven, be sure to
life by taking a few steps back. This helps to spot Go to Window>Show Brush Creator and select covering the area. Set Expression to None and save it.
problem areas and ones in need of enhancement. the Airbrush category and Digital Airbrush. brush size to 30-40.

Smoothing and enhancing the colour

Use the Airbrush category to deepen the painting

15 More paint!
Use the Digital
Airbrush to continue
applying paint to the
canvas. Once you finish
covering the top-left
corner move to another
section and repeat. You

14 Save! With all layers in place, it would

be wise to save the file as a layered RIFF.
Now flatten it by going to the Layers palette and
need to cover the entire
piece before moving on
to the Impasto paints.
choosing Drop All. Save the flat version as a TIFF Remember to vary brush
file. This flat file will be easier and considerably size and apply paint in
faster to work on from this point onwards. low opacity layers.

16 Deepen the colours When you have

finished applying the Airbrush to the
canvas, sample the dark green and black colours
for the Main and Additional colours. You can now
toggle between the two as you deepen the black
and green walls behind the characters.
17 All in the details The seats, cups and
other small items add a great deal of
interest to the composition. Choose white as your
colour and cover these with small 10-12 brush.
Again, set Opacity to 5-10 and reapply one layer
over the other to create depth.
18 Final Airbrush Go back to the
black and green Main and Additional
colours and start refining edges and shadowed
areas throughout. Tidy up the composition by
straightening lines, filling in areas and smoothing
edges everywhere. Add missing details, for
example highlights on seats.

61

056-063_OPM_02-Hopper.indd 61 9/3/07 12:27:28

 Tutorial Paint like Edward Hopper

The Brush Creator Lay it on thick

Build up paint with Impasto
For the ultimate touch of realism
The reason why Corel Painter is so good at emulating real media
effects is because it has such amazing brushes. An important part
of understanding how the program works involves getting to grips
with the Brush Creator. Here we take a closer look at how to build up
realistic paint texture and depth.
19 Impasto 1
In the Brush
Selector choose Artists’
Oil. Set Opacity to
55-65% and Grain to
13%. Zoom in on an
area and start applying
paint to the layer
underneath. If you
wish your strokes to
be similar throughout,
set Draw To to Depth
only and Expression to
None. For this option,
you need to have
a smooth Airbrush
layer underneath, any
possible imperfections
will show through the
deep strokes.

01 Draw To
Although the
Stroke Designer is the
area used the most,
you will benefit greatly
from understanding
Transporter and
Randomizer. While
using the Impasto
brush, use the

20 Impasto 2 21 Canvas
category within Go to the Brush Creator This painting has a very clear
the Brush Creator and click on the Impasto category. canvas look. To achieve that we will apply
to choose the Set Expression to Pressure. Start working with a canvas texture to the painted piece. To save time,
appropriate Draw 70-80% Depth. You can adjust this setting at any use a selection tool to create a small area in the
To option but also to time to what looks and feels best as you work. image. At the bottom of the toolbox, click on the
adjust both Depth Try your brush out on the Brush Creator pad Paper Selector to open it. Now select the Artists
and Expression. before continuing. Canvas option.

02 Modify behaviour Use the Artists’ Oils category within

the Brush Creator to control the way paint is applied. The best
options are Paint Amount, Viscosity and Paint as well as Brush Look and
Canvas Wetness. These are all crucial factors in what the brush looks like
and how it ‘behaves’.

03 Express
yourself
While applying Oils
you can decide to
apply identical strokes
throughout the
22 Adjust
Colours
Go to Effects>Tonal
painting, in which Control>Adjust Colors.
case you will set your Increase Saturation to
Expression to None. 30% and click OK. If
Choosing any of the you feel that Saturation
other Expression level is too high, go
options brings in your back and adjust it.
own personal style to We want to boost the
the piece. colours a bit to match
that of the original.

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056-063_OPM_02-Hopper.indd 62 9/3/07 12:27:46

 More

Tutorial
Impasto
The Impasto brush
look is determined
by its lighting and
depth. Under Canvas>
Surface Lighting, you
can adjust level of

Paint like Edward Hopper

Shine for more gloss,
Amount and more.
The Impasto Lighting
box is a time saver
allowing application
of the Impasto look

23 Texture Go to Effects>Apply Surface Texture and under Using,

choose Paper. The Preview window will now show you your selected
24 Surface effects Go to Effects>Surface Control>Apply Surface
Texture. Under Using, select Image Luminance. Set Amount to 55-
60%, Picture to 100% Shine to 70% and reflection to 10-12%. See the effect
to the entire image. It
is memory hungry so
be sure to clear any
Impasto effect you
texture in action. Leave softness at 0 and set Amount between 50-60%, change in the preview window and adjust according to personal reference.
do not wish to keep.
Picture to 90%, Shine to 90% and Reflection to 10-15%. Apply to see on the painting itself. Experiment with Light
Controls to see what
effect they have on
Continue to edit colour the final brush look.

Perfect the colour texture for a great look

26 Fade Go
to Edit>Fade
and move the slider
to 40-50%. This will
tone down the effect
you have just applied.
Again, use the preview

25 Luminous quality Zoom to 100%

to see the effect in full. The Image
Luminance has added texture to the stroke itself,
window to see it in
action but be sure to
apply and view at full
giving it a 3D look. To properly assess the effect, magnification on the
view at full magnification and even print out. painting itself.

28 Adjust
Tone Once
you have applied the
new experimental
texture to the painting,
go to Effects>Tonal
Control>Adjust Colors.
Choose the Uniform
Color setting and move
sliders to see the effect.

27 New paper In the Paper selector choose different paper textures

and experiment. Even though the original is painted on canvas, you
might prefer the look of one of the many textured papers on the list. When
Apply and compare
the effect to that of
the previously applied
ready to try any texture out, go to Effects>Apply Surface Texture. canvas texture.

63

056-063_OPM_02-Hopper.indd 63 9/3/07 12:28:16

 Primer Airbrushes
SKETCHING
You can actually draw with
airbrushes too! Here, the
sketching was achieved

BRUSH CATEGORY
using the Detail Airbrush.
Airbrushes are great to

Airbrush
sketch with as they allow
you to build up your drawing
gradually, slowly reinforcing
the tone of the lines.

If your prefer your paint sprayed rather

than plastered, you should experience the
flawless finish of Corel Painter’s airbrushes!
he humble airbrush has
been one of the most trusted
illustrator’s tools for many
years, its use dating back to
pre-digital times when photographers
used it for retouching photographs. The
airbrush is synonymous with very �ine,
polished illustrations with beautifully soft
gradations of tones and highlights. Corel
Painter has a huge selection of airbrushes
and you never have to breathe in any
fumes from sprayed paint!
The Corel Painter Airbrushes feature
variants that spray a very �ine mist of
colour, with which you can build up super-
smooth tones and gradients, tiny versions
that can be used to create super-�ine
details and even really coarse, spatter
airbrushes that feature almost tactile
grain and grit.
And what’s more, Corel Painter
Airbrushes work just like the real
thing, even responding to the tilt of
your pressure-sensitive stylus so

PRIMER
that they spray colour across your
image, rather than just perfectly
PEPPER AND SALT
circular footprints of the airbrush!
Here the Pepper Spray variant was used
The art of using these super-
to create yeast speckles and surface
sensitive variants is to build up tones interest on the grapes. The Pepper
gradually, by very gently working over Spray variant sprays a very coarse
particular areas again and again rather pattern of colour, which is ideally suited
than trying to lay down colour in one hit. to creating interesting texture and grain
See the samples opposite for the cream of in your illustrations.
the crop of Airbrushes!

Brush Size Soft centres

Control the speckler
The Feature slider is critical when
you’re using the Airbrushes,
because it determines the size
of the individual grains or
speckles within the airbrush
stroke. At high values these
grains are large and packed
closely together. When set at
lower values, the airbrushes that
use the Feature control produce
strokes where the grain is very
fine indeed.
Setting smooth or hard lines
It’s vital to remember that by their very nature,
airbrushes produce strokes with very soft edges,
so if you want hard edges around objects in your
paintings, you need to paint inside selections.
Use the Lasso tool to draw over the object you’re
painting and then paint inside the shape with the
selection still active. Alternatively, paint the shape
onto a separate layer with one of the smooth pen
variants and then check Preserve Transparency in
the Layers palette. You can now paint inside the
shape without any colour marking the transparent
areas of the layer!

64

064-065_OPM02_brushes.indd 64 9/3/07 12:02:14

 Choosing your brush

Primer
Get the perfect effect each time
The Airbrushes in Corel Painter offer users an excellent way of
gradually building up effects in their paintings. There’s a healthy
amount of variants to choose from, which can be used to create an
BRUSH PALETTE airbrush effect or just smooth colours.
Selecting a brush requires

Airbrushes
nothing more than clicking the
brush variant menu and then
clicking on the brush you want
from the menu.

Broad Wheel Graffiti

SELECTION BOX
Initially, each grape Coarse Spray Pepper Spray
was painted inside a
selection. With the
selection active, each
grape was then filled
in with the base colour
with one of the Soft
Airbrush variants. Detail Airbrush Pixel Spray
Once the initial colour
was filled in, the same
airbrush was used with
Preserve Transparency
checked in the Layers
palette to add the dark
and lighter modelling. Digital Airbrush Soft Airbrush

CATCHING THE LIGHT

The highlights here were Fine Air Detail Tapered Detail Air
added with one of the
Fine Tip Soft Air variants,
allowing the highlights
to be built up very slowly
and subtly, gradually
increasing in intensity into Fine Spray Tiny Soft Air
pure white catchlights.

Fine Tip Soft Air Tiny Spattery Airbrush

Control yourself
Dictate every stroke
The Brush Controls palette has a
complete panel dedicated solely to Fine Wheel Airbrush Variable Splatter
airbrushes, where you can control how
much colour flows from the airbrush as
you paint with it and also control the
spread of the strokes it makes. You can
choose for these characteristic to be
controlled in a number of ways, such as
being affected by the tilt of your stylus Finer Spray
or by the pressure you apply as you
paint. Set this option via the Expression
option in this section of the palette.

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 Drawing 101 Composition

Understand the rules of

Composition
The core of a successful painting is good composition and there are lots of theories and
rules that can help you set up the dream arrangement. We take a look at the best here

our painting can be set to
succeed or fail before you
have even applied any colour
or form onto the canvas and
it’s all because of composition. A truly
successful image is one that plays with
a viewer’s eye, moving them around
the different areas in the most pleasing
manner. In essence, composition is a
jigsaw puzzle. For it to work properly
you’ll need to work out exactly where to
place objects for the maximum effect.
While this may sound quite lofty and
annoyingly vague, the good news is
that a lot of composition theory is based
around instinctive behaviour. Our eyes
travel in certain directions and it is such
an ingrained action you probably haven’t
even noticed it. For example, when you
read your eyes go in a certain direction
and most people tend to look at the top
third section of an image. When an image
feels wrong, it is most likely because it
is forcing the viewer’s eye to move in
an unnatural or awkward way. Try it
for yourself – look at an image and try
and remember where your eyes land
�irst. Also feel how your eyes ‘wander’
about the scene. It is this behaviour that
can be controlled by what composition
techniques the artist has employed.
Now, we know that this sounds like a
very wispy concept and to be honest, it
is. Everyone is obviously different and
you’ll never be able to come up with a full-
proof way of ensuring that every single

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x
To keep the viewer’s interest, go for a meandering path that leads into an image. This forces the eye to look around
the painting. A straight path to the centre leaves little room for exploring
person who looks at your painting will
respond to its composition in the same
way. Well, you could just have one thing
�illing the entire frame, but even that
technique can be improved by applying
composition techniques. Thankfully there
have been many studies on what makes
for an aesthetic arrangement and these
studies, plus centuries of artists trying
new techniques, have resulted in a set of
guidelines that will help you get a good
composition. Although some of them
have come to be known as ‘rules’, never
ever feel as though you have to rigidly
stick to them. Not all of them will work in
all situations and sometimes an image’s
colour or structure or texture will
override any composition factors.
While it’s easy to think of composition
rules only in relation to where objects
are placed, it’s important to remember
that every single element in an image
contributes to the success or failure of the
composition. For example, having an even
balance of light and dark areas will give
This is a great example of leading a viewer’s eye around a picture. The textured brush strokes and subtle direction
lines allow you to discover the two figures and other detail
066-073-OPM02_Drawing.indd 67
Drawing 101
Composition
a more balanced image. Have an image
with too much dark area and you can
drag everything down – go for too much
light and you have a �loaty result.
The fact is that composition covers
everything you put in your image,
whether you are actually conscious of it
or not. But by familiarising yourself with
some good composition practice, you
will be more in control when it comes to
painting a scene and will be able to make
informed decisions about how something
should be arranged.
We’ll be looking at some of the most
common composition rules over the
following pages, demonstrating how
they can help your images become A triangular composition is very handy for portrait paintings and sits well in the
frame. In the above example, the two figures actually make two triangles
stronger. From the scienti�ic principles
of the golden section, the rule of thirds
and divine proportion, to general advice
for arranging elements so they have Arrange your objects
maximum impact. Corel Painter also Bigger is not always better
has some inbuilt tools for handling
Try not to fill a frame with your main object being used really large. Use a
composition, so we’ll also look at what
x
smaller size so there’s room for other elements to give a sense of setting
these are and how they work.
67
9/3/07 11:38:01
 Drawing 101 Composition

Pick a format
Your first decision
n image’s format is an important travel from bottom to the top, making the
part of the composition process, experience interactive and interesting.
because certain formats give A square format isn’t as popular as
you certain bene�its. It’s then up to you portrait or landscape, but that doesn’t
to pick the best one for the type of image mean it’s any less effective. If you have
you want to create. By choosing the a scene with lots of detail at the edges, a
perfect format, you can help ensure that square format will help frame this and
the viewer’s attention is on the part of force the eye to look into the picture.
the image that you want. You can use any If you have an image that you’re not
shaped format that you like, but the main happy with, try cropping it in a different
three are landscape, portrait and square. format. You may �ind that it’s the best
Landscape formats are good for when solution for getting maximum impact. Here we’ve taken the same scene and applied a landscape, portrait and
square format. The landscape one works the best, with its feeling of space
you have lots going on in the foreground,
because it allows the eye room to explore
what’s there. It’s also a good format to use
for, unsurprisingly, landscape paintings
because you can have a meandering
river or path that leads the viewer’s eye
towards a focal point. Plus, if you have a
moving subject in a painting such as an
animal or bird, the landscape format gives
more room around the subject and can
help heighten the feeling of movement.
The portrait format works well when
you have a stationary subject that you
want to emphasise. It is also good for
landscape subjects, especially those that
have a directional device for leading the
eye upwards. Because a portrait format is
taller, it means that the eye has farther to

The golden ratio/divine proportion

What happens when maths meets art
ronically, a lot of artistic composition
theory is based around mathematical
equations. When looking at the
history of composition theory, many
people will cite the ancient Greeks as
playing a pivotal role. As artists and
architects, the ancient Greeks were
fanatical about perfection and this
fanaticism drove them to create objects
that are still lauded as true works of art.
They decided that there had to be a reason
why a certain arrangement or balance
was pleasing to the eye and why another
one wasn’t.
Their studies led them to a certain
ratio. By constructing a canvas into eight
parts horizontally and vertically, and
Scholars believe that the divine ratio can be seen in architecture. One of the then counting �ive stops in horizontally
theories is that the Parthenon conforms to the ratio and if the roof was complete,
it would fit into the ratio grid perfectly. There are also those who think it was more from the left and right, and then �ive
of a case of the Greeks having a good eye for proportion! stops in from the top and bottom, they
created a grid that has come to be
known as the golden section. Well it’s
actually been called all sorts of things,
from golden section, golden number, and
divine proportion. The intersecting lines
created by this grid became the hotspots
on a canvas and marked the spots where
the viewer’s attention would fall. This
gave artists a guide as to where to put
the subject(s) for maximum impact and
interest. For maths fans, the technical
de�inition of the golden ratio is that the
sum of two quantities is to the larger
quantity and the larger is to the smaller.
You also have something called a
golden rectangle. This, not surprisingly,
is a rectangle whose side lengths are the
golden ratio. You can make one by �irst
making a square. Now draw a line from
the midpoint of one side over the opposite

68

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 corner. Use this to make an arc, which will
then give you the height of the rectangle.
You can now complete it. Divine Proportion tool

Drawing 101
The golden ratio has been discussed
for over 2,400 years, with the Greeks Heavenly composition for everyone
attributing the ratio to Pythagoras. But With Corel Painter X, you can apply guides to help you make your
it wasn’t until the Renaissance period creations adhere to divine proportion. This gives you a greater sense
that any literature on how the golden of where the areas of interest are and where to place elements to help
move the viewer’s eye around the canvas.
ratio can help aesthetics was developed. Just as with the Layout Grid, you can edit and customise the tool
The �irst was De Divina Proportione by and alter the size, angle, colour and opacity of the guide and also edit
Luca Pacioli in 1509. Pacioli applied the how many levels there are, which will affect how many times an area
mathematics behind the ratio to explain

01
divides into itself. You can also choose to just see parts of the guide.

Composition
how it produces harmonious proportions.
The three-volume edition was also
illustrated by Leonardo da Vinci, who
was convinced that the human body had
proportions that �itted with the golden
ratio. It has been said that he constructed
some of his most recognisable artwork
using divine proportion, including the
infamous Mona Lisa. Mr da Vinci was
notoriously private about his artwork,
but given his love of maths and codes, it’s Many believe that Leonardo da Vinci used divine
completely believable. proportion when he created the Mona Lisa

The Golden Section rule

is similar to the rule of
thirds, but with a thinner
middle section STEP 01 Go to Window>Show Divine Proportion to call up
the palette. Click the Enable Divine Proportion checkbox. Use the
Orientation area to set which direction you want the guide to appear.

STEP 02
Chances are you will
need to resize the
guide to make it work
with your canvas or
existing artwork. This

02
is easily done; simply
move the Size slider
to the right to make
it bigger or go left to
make it smaller.

Classical division
Divide and conquer
Pacioli’s De Divina Proportione text
03
also boasted lots of illustrations
by Leonardo da Vinci. These
demonstrated how different forms
could be split up according to the
golden ratio, thus ensuring the most
aesthetically pleasing arrangement.
This allowed artists to ‘see’ the
human form as measurements and
break down parts into their relevant
length and width.

STEP 03 If you have the Divine Proportion tool selected in the

Obviously you don’t have to
adhere to these rules, but they are
useful for life drawing, especially the toolbox, you can move the resized grid wherever you like on your
face. We’ll look at the measurements canvas. You can also turn off some of the guides to just be left with the
in more detail in a future issue. spiral, grid or axis. Save and delete presets as with the Layout Grid.

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 Drawing 101 Composition

TOOLBOX

Rule of thirds CONTROLS

Meet the main event
he grandam of composition
theory has to be the rule of
thirds. Employed by artists and
photographers, this follows a similar grid
system to the golden ratio, except the
scene is split into nine equal parts. These
lines and the points they intersect are the
‘hotspots’ and represent the optimum
position for your objects.
It is thought that the rule works
because the human eye is naturally
drawn to a point that’s two-thirds up a
page. Because it also positions subjects
away from the centre, it makes for a more
balanced arrangements, since everything
isn’t clumped in the middle.
When it comes to creating landscape
shots, the rule of thirds is a great guide
You can access the
Layout Grid here
and control some
of the options. By
clicking the tool in the
toolbox, you can then
for getting the most from your foreground
move the grid about
or background. By placing your horizon on your canvas.
line on the highest horizontal line, you
give yourself a nice amount of space for
foreground interest. If you use the rule of
thirds to a portrait format, you have even
more room for the foreground elements.
Alternatively, get the most from skyscapes
by placing your horizon line on the lower
horizontal line. Now you have two thirds
of the image to dedicate to a dramatic
skyline. Even though you have committed
to having the top area as the main point
of interest, the lower third provides an
important ‘rest area’ before the main
event. This avoids bombarding the viewer
with the main point of interest and will
actually enhance the focal point.

x
By playing with the horizon line, you
are playing with the point of interest.
A lower line forces the viewer to
concentrate on the top two thirds, and
vice versa for a high horizon.

Having the horizon line directly in the middle of your frame lessens the impact. It’s better to use the rule of thirds
and place it in the top or lower third

The Layout Grid

Divide up your canvas
01 02
We’ve already seen how the rule of thirds has
been used in photography and art to improve
composition and this grid-based system is at
the heart of the Layout Grid. Once enabled,
you will see a non-printing grid appear on
your canvas. This divides your canvas up into
sections and you get three default options
straight out of the box. These are the rule of
thirds, 3x5 and 5x5. You also have the option
to modify these grids by altering the number
of divisions, angle, colour, opacity or size. Any
alterations you make can be saved for future
use or to give to other people. Here’s how to set
the grid up and also use the options.

STEP 02 Horizontal and vertical lines will appear

on your canvas. If you’d rather these were different

STEP 01 With your canvas open, go to Window>Show Layout Grid.

Once the palette opens, click the Enable Grid check box to see the grid.
Use the drop-down menu to apply one of the presets – we picked Rule
of Thirds.
colours, simply click the arrow next to the colour
square and then pick a colour from the picker. To
change how strong the grid lines are, alter the Opacity
slider. By having a low opacity, you can get on with your
composing and not get bogged down in guidelines.

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 Go off-centre
SETTING THE A quick way to boost interest
GRID TYPE By using the rule of thirds when constructing your composition, you can make sure you
You have a choice have maximum impact from the objects. Don’t go centre – near the side is better.

Drawing 101
of three preset grids
– the Rule of Thirds, a
3x5 or a 5x5 grid. You
can also create your
own presets or delete
ones that are of no
use to you.

Composition
x
CONTRASTING
GRID COLOURS
The default grid
colours are a dark blue
and green. You may
find these get lost on
your image, in which
case click the colour
square and choose a
contrasting shade.

03 04 05

STEP 05 If you want to move a grid, click the

STEP 03 It might be that you’d rather use the grid at
a different size to how it appears. This is easily done. Go to
the Size area and move the Vertical and Horizontal slider. If
you want to resize the grid proportionally, simply click the
Synchronize box.
STEP 04 You might want to make up your own
compositional guide, in which case you need to make
a trip to the Divisions area. In here, set the number
of horizontal or vertical lines you want. To link these
values, select the Synchronize the Divisions check box.
Layout Grid icon in the toolbox and drag the grid into
your new position. To save a grid as a preset, click the
Add Preset button (looks like a plus sign). Give it a
name and then click OK. To delete a preset, choose it
and then click the Delete Preset button.

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 Drawing 101 Composition
Other rules
General guides for getting the best composition
s artists have developed and
started to experiment, various
other rules of composition have
sprung up. While they may not be as
iconic as the ones we’ve looked at so far,
they are still good techniques to employ
in your work.
The diagonal rule splits one half of a
picture into two and then each half is
divided into three separate parts. The
adjacent side is then divided so the lines
connecting the points make a diagonal
frame. The most important elements of
a picture should then be placed along
these diagonals.
Diagonal lines in a painting are
preferable to horizontal or vertical, since
they do not run parallel with the frame
of the picture. You can merge all lines,
but make one noticeably longer. When
using a diagonal composition, try to have
elements in both sections. A straight
strong diagonal line with objects just on
one side won’t look that good. Keeping
a diagonal line in mind when it comes
to adding a second object of interest is
also helpful. Keep one larger than the
other, and place them diagonally across
from each other. This will be far more
attractive than right on top of each other!
In fact, on the subject of multiple points
of interest, it’s worth saying that multiple
subjects should be grouped within the
centre of interest. Do not scatter them
The paint can bonus
Limited edition tools
72
066-073-OPM02_Drawing.indd 72
Lines of interest
Make the viewer’s eye travel around the canvas
all over the image otherwise they will
compete for the eye’s attention. Also,
if you can, try to stay away from even
numbers or rigidly symmetrical images.
Things always seem to work better with
odd numbers.
Triangular composition is an
interesting one and is very good for
painting portraits. It works best if the
background is simple and plain and
then the �igure is placed to the side in a
triangular format. The space around the
�igure will actually make it more powerful
and the clean geometry will enhance it
even further.
It may sound like a bit of a weird
thing to say, but when thinking about
composition, you need to make sure that
you don’t push a viewer out of the picture
frame. If you have a road or river or any
other such element, don’t have it leaving
the frame. It needs to go into the horizon,
rather than out of the frame. If you have
an animal or person in your painting, have
them facing straight out or facing and
looking inwards.
When it comes to the actual objects
in your image, try and mix up forms and
shapes. If you have lots of mountains or
vertical elements, �luffy round clouds will
act as a good balance. In a similar vein, if
Mix and match lines
your scene has lots of horizontal planes, When there are no objects, use lines to add
try mixing things up by adding vertical interest to the scene
detail such as trees.
There doesn’t have to be an object in a scene for it to be interesting.
In the example below, the trees and sun look lost because there is so
much nothingness. Even though the example on the right had no real
excitement in terms of form, the fact it has horizontal, vertical and
diagonal lines makes it dynamic and appealing to the viewer.
If you have bought the limited edition paint
can, or if you end up being one of the lucky
30 to win one in the competition set in last
issue, you will benefit from the special
composition guide tool. With this, you can
physically place a grid over the scene in
front of you and then use it to transfer what
you see onto the canvas.
There are five different grids in this
tool, covering the rule of thirds, divine
proportion (both grid and spiral), 5x5
grid and the diagonal rule. To use it,
simply pull out the one you want and
then hold up in front of you. You can
then call up the corresponding tool from
the Corel Painter X software and use the
guides to paint your picture. This tool is
perfect for if you are out and about, maybe
using a laptop to do some digital painting
on the fly.
9/3/07 11:50:27
 Keep it odd
Stay away from symmetry

Drawing 101
When you are dealing with landscape paintings, think A symmetrical
about where your lines are directing the viewer. As composition may look
general good practice, you should add a bit of excitement nice and neat, but if you
for the viewer and avoid straight lines. Even though the go for one with angles
image on the left goes towards a central horizon, the and odd bits you’ll end
fact that the path leading there is curvy makes things far up with a much more
more interesting. In the example below, the path goes interesting effect
past the house and off the canvas. Always try and keep
the viewer in the canvas – trips off the side means the eye

Composition
misses whatever has been painted!

Diagonal compositions
Good advice for working on a slope
Diagonal compositions
are really effective, but
they work best when
it’s a subtle suggestion.
Don’t divide your image
into stark light/dark, or
space/detail. Have things
on both sides of the line

73

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 showcase

JOERG WARDA
TITLE Waiting part 2
WEBSITE www.warda-art.com
CLIENTS Samsung, Nokia and Sony

Joerg’s career started as a young airbrush artist, where seven years

were spent applying the effect and teaching airbrush classes. Since then
Joerg has worked for many different clients, both as a designer on user
interfaces and an award-winning digital artist.

074-075_OPM_02_Joerg.indd 74 9/3/07 14:41:56

074-075_OPM_02_Joerg.indd 75 9/3/07 14:42:15
 Your
Your experts
Stewart McKissick
Stewart is a long-time user
of Corel Painter and is a
big fan of the airbrush and
illustration potential offered
by the program. Here he
answers your questions on creating cartoons
and character design.
Wen-Xi Chen
We saw in issue one how
talented Wen-Xi was when
it came to painting. So this
issue we have called upon her
services to answer the general
art questions, revealing the
best Corel Painter tools to use.
What you’ll find in this section
Software Don’t get bogged
down in a Corel Painter black hole
– write to us and we’ll help you
work harmoniously
Fine art When it comes
to creating art, you often find
little niggles that ruin your
masterpiece. We sort them out
Illustration Make sure
your illustrations are in top form
by following our advice
Send in your queries to…
Official Painter Magazine Q&A, Imagine
Publishing Ltd, Richmond House, 33 Richmond
Hill, Bournemouth, Dorset BH2 6EZ.
Alternatively you can email us at
opm@imagine-publishing.co.uk.
SHARE
YOUR
PROBLEMS!
Send in your questions
for our experts to answer
at opm@imagine-
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76
076-80_OPM_02_artclass.indd 76
questions answered
Make light work of it
Is there such a thing as an ultimate
light source direction that looks
good no matter what?
B�� P�������
It’d be great to say something like
‘top left’ but this question cannot be
answered (at least we think…) in one
go. Think about what sort of scene you are
painting and what kind of atmosphere you
are trying to create. It’s good to go for light
sources that will cast interesting shadows and
pick out fascinating highlights that will add
intrigue to the overall painting. So if you’re
painting scenery, strong scattered sunlight
from a sun partially hidden behind clouds will
create beautiful variation over your landscape
and add depth in a way even bright sunlight
will not.
For portraiture, a soft global light can
work well, but to make it more dramatic, low
key backlit scenes are perfect as many old
Masters have discovered. Fantasy art seems to
often call for mysterious and oddly coloured
ambient light and many different light
sources radiating from various glowing orbs Leafy environments create
green-tinged ambient ligh
skin look green and casts t, which makes the characte
and creatures. shadows on her arm. A seco r’s
lantern throws warm hued
light and puts emphasis on
nd light source from the
the main character
Behind glass
I’m trying to do a painting of a
friend who wears glasses, but I
just can’t seem to get the ‘look’ of
glasses. Any tips?
A����� M���������
We sympathise with you Adrian
because we also find that glasses
are indeed rather tricky to paint
effectively. One thing to remember is that
the lens of glasses will distort whatever it’s
placed upon. So if the wearer is short-sighted,
things behind the lens will appear smaller
and vice versa if the person is long-sighted.
Modern anti-reflective lenses also mean that
there isn’t much in the way of highlights to
paint except for around the edges where
the glass is actually cut. Assuming you are
not painting the subject under very dramatic
lighting you can generally ignore the shadows
cast by the frame.
If it so happens that the eyes happen to be
in shadow while the lens is catching the light,
then there will be reflections on the lens. The
of the lenses are outlined best advice is to observe the way it looks and
In light and shadow. Notice how the edges
take a few photos for reference.
with white
9/3/07 14:31:11
 Eye concern
How can I paint realistic eyes?
I’m �ine with the shape and the

Q&A
shading, but always seem to go
wrong when it comes to the iris.
T��� T�������

The iris is far more complicated

Art Class
structurally than you might think.
To paint a realistic eye is, however,
simpler than the anatomy of the eye. Once
you have mastered creating the 3D look of
the eyes then painting the pupil is a simple
process in Corel Painter. It is a good idea to
have a photoreference or to look at your
own eyes in the mirror if you are trying to
achieve perfect realism or if you are unsure
what to do.

03 Texturing Using your favourite Corel Painter painting tool,

I chose a basic Digital Airbrush here, paint short strokes that

02 Shading Things are obviously looking

a little grim at the moment, but it doesn’t
take much to alter this flat and lifeless application
‘radiate’ out from the centre of the iris, keeping lighter colours towards
the bottom half. This can be many different colours but primarily those
that match your desired colour. Paint a dab of white to simulate light
of colour and turn it into a realistic eye that holds reflection, it can be a circle but for a more realistic look take into account the
interest. To start with, you need to apply some surroundings, eg the reflection of eyelashes.
shading to the top half and the outer ring of the
iris. Use a darker colour than the base colour, but
don’t go for pure black. If needs be, pick up a
lighter colour and shade the bottom half with the
lighter colour.

01 Base colours If you find it hard to

paint a circle, use the Oval Selection
to create the shapes you need. Fill in the outer
circle with the colour you want the eye to be,
and the smaller circle should be black.

A touch of evil
I want to show that a character
is evil and menacing. I have the
basic form sorted, but am having
problems with the shadow – what’s the
easiest way of creating dramatic shadows?
E���� D������

The two things to keep in mind here

are having a very long, strong and
interestingly shaped cast shadow and
the lighting on the character itself.
You should design your composition so
that it can show the cast shadow clearly and
perhaps place your light source in an unusual
way. A classic ‘scary’ lighting scheme is to light Using unusual
a person from underneath – this is not often colours and a
seen in normal conditions when the light is strong low light
usually from above. source can create
a menacing
Here we have a scary guy positioned at shadow effect!
the bottom of a tall composition so the cast
shadow can be used as a long and dramatic

77

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 Q&A Art Class

Gradually building up your painting from the

bottom layer up creates depth and makes
the fur look soft

element. The red is a rough plan of where

the light will fall. A green light was eventually
chosen to add to the sense of drama.
If your character’s shape is closed off you can
use the Magic Wand tool to select the white
space around it. Then Select>Invert to turn the
selection into the shape of the character and
the Select>Transform Selection option to drag
the selection up and widen it.
Shadows are often soft-edged and variable.
Use the Select>Feather command to soften the
selection edge before filling. It’s a good idea
to create a new layer just for the shadow and
fill it with a neutral grey. Then just paint your
character on layers above it. Lastly, add a light
to dark gradient.

Furry critter
Any good advice for getting the look
of fur? I seem to either not have
enough or too much.
S����� C�����

Unless you’re thinking of very short

bristly fur, painting fur is rather like
painting hair. Try layering your strokes
to create the elusion of fluffiness and depth.
Work with a tool that you find easy to control
the opacity of – a good choice is a basic Loaded
variety of
Creating a colour set helps you to see the
colours other artists are using
Palette Knife, and paint with short decisive
strokes from the root of the fur to the tips. The
pressure of your pen should fall most heavily at
the start and fade towards the tips; this creates
soft looking fur. Your base colour should be
relatively dark as upper layers will create a
shadow on the lower layers and the layers of
fur should get gradually lighter as you reach
the surface layer. Using a smaller brush size,
pick out some highlights and single hairs.

Colour concerns
Are there any special rules when
it comes to choosing colours for a
painting? Should it be limited to a
certain number?
P��� A����

Unless you really do know what you

are doing, too many colours in a
painting can sometimes make it
look crowded, confused and often downright
silly. It is normally a good idea to use your
colours very subtly and rely more on different
tonal values.
A strong painting has an underlying ‘colour
theme’ to it. However, saying this may lead to
counter-productivity, as in some cases many
different colours go to make what you might
conceive to be just one colour variant and

78

076-80_OPM_02_artclass.indd 78 9/3/07 14:33:07

 Sketching an outline
What are the best
brushes for making a

Q&A
sketch outline?
D���� S����

There are a huge

Art Class
number of brushes
in Corel Painter that
will do line sketching, so
a lot comes down to your
personal preference. One
02 Finish the composition Now to establish the rest of the
background. For a stylised effect, switch the brush to Straight Line
Strokes (keyboard shortcut ‘V’) for the big trees in the far distance. This allows you
of my favourite sketching
to make straight lines but you have to hit the ‘V’ key every time you want to make
brushes is one you might not
a new line that doesn’t connect to the last one. To go back to the regular Freehand
immediately think of for this:
Stroke, just hit the ‘B’ key. You can also use the buttons in the Property Bar.
the Pastel variant Square Hard
Pastel. This is a captured dab
brush that really looks like
its namesake.
This brush works well with
03 Final Details
finish, thicken the
brush to make ‘shading’ strokes
To

the paper textures and has a
very nice ‘organic’ feel to it,
lending a loose look to the
sketch. As with all brushes
in Corel Painter, you can modify
it with the Brush Controls to
further customise its features
and looks to how you wish it
to appear. Similar brushes can
also be found in the Chalk and
Charcoal categories.
– they’re still just lines to suggest
shadows and volume. A final
trick is to raise the Jitter setting to
4 and raise the Spacing setting in
01 Rough in the main shapes Start with
a Square Hard Pastel 10. You can use the
default settings except for the size, which should
the Brush Controls palette from
its default to around 120%. This
creates a spattery brush that we
be smaller (2.4) for a more linear look. The opacity used for the leaves on the little
should also be lowered to 33% for more light and tree. Switch the colour to white
dark variety. Just use black for the colour at this stage; in the end to give the leaves
the grey comes from varying the pressure. some depth.

often contrasting colours make the painting tell

a story.
Open up some of your favourite paintings
and go to Windows>Color Palettes> Show
Color Sets and create a new colour set from the
image. It’ll give you some indication as to how
many colours the pros are using.

A bit of a do
I’m illustrating my �irst character
and am having trouble with the
hair. Have you any advice for 01 02 03
creating hair that has a bit of de�inition but
that doesn’t involve loads and loads
of shading?
S����� W�����

In a way Steven, your question

actually answers itself. Indeed, a
common mistake in drawing is
making things far more complicated than
they actually should be. Many artists of all
different kinds and styles become much more
simple and direct as they mature throughout
their careers.
When you draw and then shade in hair, you
should think of it as an overall shape or group Here are six simple character heads. In each We all know hair is thousands of individual Here we’ve simplified and treated each
of shapes, instead of individual strands. Then case we started with the head shape and strands, but that’s not what we see. Here hairstyle as a few basic forms and also
then drew the hair on as masses that sit on we drew many small lines, but the result is applied definite highlights. These actually
treat it as you would any other shape and think the head. This is important as it determines ‘busy’ and even though they followed the feel more dimensional than the more
of how the light hits. how the overall character will look. face contours, it looks flat. complicated versions.

79

076-80_OPM_02_artclass.indd 79 9/3/07 14:33:58

 Q&A Art Class

Lip service
What’s a fool-proof method of shading lips? I can’t get the
rounded look – my lips are always �lat!
A����� M�L�������

As long as you have a basic grasp of the shape and contour of

lips then the same principles apply to lips as to any other 3D
object. Projecting a shadow under the lower lip helps to create
the illusion of roundness and strategically placed highlights will also
achieve this effect. The most important part to get right is the shape
of the lower lip and most of that comes down to placing highlights in
the right places.

02 Colour and shadow Depending on the direction of the light source, the lips will cast
shadows and colours of the lips will vary accordingly. The upper lip normally looks a little
darker than the lower lip due to the way the curve of it interacts with light. The lower lip will cast a
shadow on the chin in many light conditions.

03 Highlight
Adding some
white highlights to the
middle of the lower lip
and a little also to the
upper lip makes those
areas ‘pop’ and appear
closer to the viewer than
01 Shape Think about the structure of lips; the upper lip curves
inwards slightly towards where the upper and lower lips part and
the lower lips curve out and then in again.
the rest and this again
helps to create that
rounded look.

Painting fabric
What’s a good way to get an Different fabrics have very different
authentic look of fabric? properties, in the way they fold, the
P���� T���� way they reflect light, their opacity
and surface texture. Satin, for example is
reflective and will often form quite dramatic
highlighted areas along folded edges. Cotton
on the other hand has a matte surface and has
a more even tonal distribution.
There is a whole myriad of fabrics out there,
and the best way to nail each one is to work
from observation; take out some clothes and
drape them over furniture to see the sort of
shapes the folding create and how shadows are
formed in these folds. Experiment a little and
see how your results vary. Common mistakes
White highlights along a in painting fabric are ignoring gravity and
folded edge create voluminous tension, or to paint too many folds so it
looking fabric
looks unnatural.

80

076-80_OPM_02_artclass.indd 80 9/3/07 14:34:52

 showcase
MARK BANNERMAN
TITLE Gothic Drive
WEBSITE www.markbannerman.com
JOB TITLE Professional digital artist
CLIENTS Madonna, Time Warner, Sony and EMI
During his professional career, Mark has been involved in the entire
spectrum of design, from creating illustrations for advertising and
editorial, to producing images for BBC TV. He now works entirely within
the digital realm, merging 3D and other techniques.

081_OPM_02.indd 44 9/3/07 17:36:22

 Using the
Use this section to discover what products
creative products can boost your use We used a photo
taken with the Fujif
of Corel Painter, learn about the best camera and then
ilm
printed it out with th
artistic books and discover ideas for HP printer!
e
outputting artwork

The creative products on test this issue…

FUJIFILM FINEPIX
F31FD
This camera promises sharp
colour rendition and crisp, clear
photos. Does this make it an
ideal compact?
HP PHOTOSMART
PRO B9180
We tried this A3+ printer to see
if it offered home users the
opportunity to get professional-
looking prints
BOOK REVIEWS
Start to explore traditional art
books and see how they can help
improve your artwork. You’d
be amazed at what tips and
techniques you pick up
Reviews
OUTPUT
This is our regular look at
companies or products for
printing out your work. This issue
we look at MDF block mounts
from The Big Print Company

83

083_OPM02_reviews.indd 83 9/3/07 17:04:08

 Reviews Fujifilm FinePix F31fd
Fujifilm FinePix F31fd
£249 | Face Detection and low-light capabilities for a modest price
t �irst glance, the Fuji�ilm FinePix
F31fd looks pretty ordinary. With
6.3 megapixels, 3x optical zoom and
2.5-inch LCD screen, on the surface it
seems the camera is nothing particularly special.
In order to discover the true beauty of this latest
offering from Fuji�ilm, we must delve a little
deeper beneath the F31fd’s matte silver body.
This offering takes after its older sibling: this
camera is an upgraded version of the much-
revered F30. Its predecessor was praised for
its performance in low light, something which
the F31fd certainly upholds: the AF-Illuminator
– a bulb that helps the camera to �ind a point of
focus by shedding some light on shady situations
– does a great job, helping the AF system to focus
quickly. Users can choose to either activate the
Intelligent Flash system, let the camera pick the
ISO sensitivity automatically, or set the shooting
mode to Manual and select the ISO themselves.
Navigating
your on-screen With a comprehensive range of ISO settings
options available (100-3200) the F31fd really does let
Get to know the camera’s the photographer take control of their creative
menu system decisions. But that’s not the only trick the camera
has up its sleeve.
Within the sleek, stylish, yet solid shell, lies
the technology that gives the camera the new
credentials at the end of its name: Face Detection.
This is one of the latest and most exciting pieces of
technology to be developed in some time and the
F31fd demonstrates the possibilities it holds for
Set-up menu
Playback menu
74.5mm
Colour menu
LCD
F-mode menu 105.5mm
84
084-85_OPM02_camerareview.indd 84
the future of photography very well indeed. With
the touch of one button on the back of the camera,
you can activate the Face Detection feature in
Auto, Anti Blur or scene modes, but curiously not
Connections
AV, DC and USB sockets are all
in Shutter Speed Priority, Aperture Priority or present. The F31fd can also be
Manual modes. connected directly to PictBridge-
The Face Detection system works by seeking compatible printers for fast printing
without the need for a computer
out eyes, noses and mouths, and adjusting the
camera’s settings to a best-�it exposure for all the
faces in the frame. However, it can only locate
faces when they are facing the camera. The
system is fooled by glasses and it won’t recognise
a face that’s in pro�ile, or tilted to one side. The
manual also states that the FD system will not
work if the subject is not human, if the camera is
not held correctly, or if the subject is standing on
their head! That aside, what we had anticipated as
being a fantastic little feature seems to be a little
sensitive in reality.
In practice, once a target has been acquired, a Batteries
The camera comes with a
green box surrounds the subject’s face and you hardwearing, long-lasting lithium-
can �ire the shutter. However, unless the subject ion battery and a power adapter for
remains perfectly still, they may move outside recharging, so there’s no need to
of the FD frame, so you’ll end up with a part of keep buying disposables!
the background beautifully in focus, but not your
intended subject! When you do everything right
however, the Face Detection is a great tool that
will come in very handy for family gatherings and
nights out.
The Face Detection button doubles as an
Exposure button, allowing users to quickly alter
Wide angle
and zoom
button
Memory card
The F31fd takes xD Picture
Cards, which you will need to buy
separately, although the camera
does have 26MB of internal storage
to get you started
Playback button
Photo Mode
button
OK button
Intelligent
face detection
button Maximum zoom
Display/Back This shows the F31fd’s capabilities
button when it comes to reproducing vivid
and accurate colours. The leaf is
crisp and detailed, even when at
full zoom
9/3/07 17:02:45
 Flash
Fujifilm FinePix F31fd

Camera specs
Price Exposure modes
£249 P, AP, SP, 15 scene
Megapixels (effective) modes
6.3 Flash modes
Max resolution A, RE, FF, SF, SS,
3,024 x 2,016 SRE&S, Foff
Lens data Connectivity
f/2.8-5 (36-108mm) USB, AV
Zoom Weight
3x opt, 6.2x dig 155g (excl. batteries)
Focus/Macro Dimensions
60cm-Inf/5cm 92.7 x 56.7 x 27.8mm
Shutter speeds Batteries
3-1/2000sec (1-15 Lithium-ion
secs in Night mode) Storage
Ergonomic ISO sensitivity xD Picture Card,
grip A, 100, 200, 400, 26MB int
800, 1600, 3200 LCD
Metering options 2.5”
MS, S, A

Build design Mode dial Built-in flash

on the front
Ergonomic grips make the F31fd easy
to keep hold of and it has just enough
weight behind it to make it feel robust
and ready for any shooting situation Lens

“The Face Detection is a great tool that will come in handy for
family gatherings and nights out” Ergonomic grip
Microphone

the shutter speed or aperture without having to
hunt through the main menu – a de�inite plus for
users who like to make their own decisions when
shooting. Another excellent feature is the Infra-
Red Communicator, which sends and receives
images to and from another Fuji�ilm camera or
other devices with IR capability.
Overall though, the F31fd manages to feel as
good as it looks – this stylish little number even
has specially designed �inger grips that make it
really comfortable to hold and easy to use with Power
button
just one hand. An extremely quick start-up time,
great low-light performance, Intelligent Flash
and Face Detection are just a few of the fabulous

Although Fuji�ilm has got it right when
it comes to accessing important functions
like Macro mode, Self-timer mode and LCD
brightness – all of which can be accessed with
one touch of the d-pad – things have gone a bit
on the top
features that make the F31fd a recommended
buy. A huge range of preset shooting modes as Shutter button
well as more advanced settings make this an Mode dial
excellent introductory camera, especially if
you’re looking for something light and reliable
What we like What we don’t like

we say
awry elsewhere. The F-button can get confusing, enough to slip into your pocket and forget about
as the functions it accesses change every time until it’s eventually needed. This camera has it Quick startup Noisy at high ISOs
you switch to a different shooting mode. It would all: good looks, functionality, excellent image Intelligent Face F-button is confusing
be useful if users could program this button to quality and some really innovative technology
Detection Confusing menu/
access the functions they use on a regular basis. to boot. IR capability shooting mode
system

Wide angle
Capturing a scene is The occasional features
verdict

easy using the camera confusing design 9.3

at a wide angle setting.
All of the detail is picked
feature aside, the ease of use
up too, thanks to its F31fd has some 9.0
high quality lens great features
and produces quality of results
decent images, 8.7
particularly value for money
low light 8.9

Overall
9.0
Colour capture
The F31fd’s ability to capture pin-

score
sharp shots full of colour means that
it is perfectly-suited to snapping
resource shots for turning into lovely
works of art

85

084-85_OPM02_camerareview.indd 85 9/3/07 19:02:30

 Reviews HP Photosmart Pro B9180
HP Photosmart Pro B9180
£499 | When it comes to printing out artwork, bigger is always better. We
discover what results this A3 printer will give the home artist
On-screen instruction
There is a small pad for controls,
which although basic, still gives you
the information you may need
Avoid damaging any of
your work
There’s an output tray extension built
into the unit which can be pulled out
to catch larger prints as they come
out of the printer
Display
Ink cartridge
compartment
86
086-87_OPM02_printer review.indd86 86
t can be expensive to have your images
printed professionally at a large size, so
this month we’re testing a printer from
HP which enables you to print at A3+ size.
It goes without saying that the B9180 is
more expensive than the usual inkjet printer
you’ll �ind on the shelves of your local appliance
store, but we thought it was worth trying out,
considering that it was voted the best A3 photo
printer in Europe by the Technical Image Press
Association, quite an accolade.
The setting up process is a lot more
complicated than other printers we’ve come
across. After shaking each ink cartridge
a precise number of times at a 25 degree
angle and wiping each print head nozzle
with individual foam swabs, the printer then
needed to be left for a further 30 to 60 minutes
while the initialisation process ran its course.
However, it has to be said that although this
part was time-consuming, the software
installation was quick and simple.
In terms of appearance the printer is
obviously large and quite dominating, so you
Speciality
Media tray
will need a considerable amount of desk space
available, but the unit is robustly built inside
and out. It really is an ideal purchase for those
of you who work in a busy studio, but it’s also
just as viable for home users who are serious
about printing.
While the printer is obviously tailored for
large format prints, it’s also possible to print on
No need to rush
smaller sizes than A3 by placing them into the This isn’t a machine that’s
main tray of the unit. If you want to print onto ready for printing as soon
large specialist media such as canvas sheets or as you take it out of the
watercolour paper, all you have to do is load it box. Set aside enough
time for quite a fiddly
into the speciality media tray, which is easily setup process
located on the front of the unit and is simply
�lipped open.
Loading paper into the speciality media tray
is simple – it must be fed into the front of the
tray until the edge nearest you lines up with
the dotted line on the tray and the other edge
of the paper is poking out of the back of the
printer. Once you commit your image to print,
the B9180 then impressively feeds the paper Paper textures
HP sells special textures
out and then back into the printer and begins papers, such as canvas,
to print. photo and watercolour
9/3/07 16:59:51
 HP Photosmart Pro B9180

Printer specs
Price Mac Requirements
£499 Mac OS X 10.2.8 or
Website later (the printer
www.hp.com driver for Mac OS
Operating systems X 10.2.8 must be
PC and Mac downloaded from
The printer uses eight individual
PC Requirements
www.hp.com)
Vivera ink cartridges so you can
change each one as and when
Windows 2000
it runs out
Professional, XP
Home, XP
Professional

As expected, the B9180 works at its best
when printing onto HP sheets of paper. We
printed out images onto a variety of different
paper types from HP. When printing onto
matte canvas paper we found the image was
improved, especially if the colours are �irst
given a bit of a boost. However, even though
the result is subtle it’s very effective, appearing
to have actually been painted onto the canvas
sheet. We also tested printing a photo onto
outstanding prints. It also has the added bonus
of featuring eight individual ink cartridges, so if
one runs out you don’t have to replace the whole
set. The cost of each HP Vivera ink cartridge is
£22, which can be expensive if replacing all at Versatile printing
once. However, if this is compared to the price The B9180 produced beautiful A3+ prints of a high quality
on all types of paper we tested it on, from glossy photo
of getting a collection of your images printed at paper to canvas sheets
A3+ size professionally, it really is great value
for money. It wouldn’t be unheard of to pay £70
or more for an A3 printed canvas, and with What we like What we don’t like

we say
the HP A3+ Hahnemuhle Watercolour paper the B9180, you can get the same quality but in Produces beautiful Consumes a lot of
and found the results amazing – the image the comfort of your own home. Artwork looks prints on a variety desk space, but this
wouldn’t have looked out of place hung in a �ine divine and the quality of the photos means they of materials is expected
look as though they could be hung in a gallery.
“It’s an ideal purchase for those
Prints rich, vibrant and Fiddly and lengthy
De�initely one to save up for! crisp colours setup process

of you who work in a busy

Easy to load paper,
which is then fed

studio, but it’s also just as

back into the printer
automatically

viable for home users who are

Reasonable output
time for A3+ prints

serious about printing” Pretty bulky, but Features

verdict

art gallery. We certainly weren’t disappointed worth it for the 8.0

when printing onto HP Advanced Photo Paper. exquisite quality
The results were crisp, clear and displayed
Ease of use
excellent tone, thanks in no small part to the
of prints 7.0
four HP 70 dual-colour print heads and 8448 Quality of results
nozzles which the printer features. 9.0
Not only were we pleased with the quality Value for money
of the prints, the time taken to output each 8.0
was fast – with an A3+ sheet of canvas taking
around �ive minutes. Even though the setup

9.0
process was lengthier than normal, this more
than paid off in the quality and speed of the
Output prints of different sizes Overall
�inished printed pieces. If you buy the B9180
it really is worth investing in the specialist
types of paper that HP offers for some really
You don’t have to stick to prints of A3 size or greater. Other
smaller sizes of paper can be loaded into the main tray quickly
and conveniently
score

87

086-87_OPM02_printer review.indd87 87 9/3/07 17:00:07

 Reviews Books

Painter
$45.00 | A glossy collection of inspirational art
sually, any subtitle in a book
is taken for show. It’s a clever
marketing ploy and the reader
generally takes it with a pinch
of salt – it’s PR’s way of adding a bit of
excitement and zing to the book. This
offering from Ballistic Publishing has
one of these subtitles – The World’s
Finest Painter Art – but if anything, this
undersells the extraordinary content
found within the 190-odd pages. What
you have here is a collection of jaw-
dropping, envy-inducing Corel Painter
artwork. Divided into 12 sections, the
artists here have been chosen by a special
board of noted Corel Painter evangelists
and represent some of the best work being
produced with the software. The sections
cover a speci�ic style and deal with
Character in Repose, Character in Motion,
“Just by flicking through the book you will see
everything from traditional-style portraits to fantastical
The fact that there are so many styles Authors
represented in the book means that there Daniel Wade and
Paul Hellard
is something that will strike a chord with Price
you, no matter what your favoured look $45.00
is. It also makes for an incredibly lush feel Publisher
– just by �licking through the book you Ballistic Publishing
will see everything from traditional-style ISBN
1-921002-18-2
portraits to fantastical scenes and furry
critters. What’s also good is that there is
nothing to get in the way of the artwork
– the pages are glossy and the colours
are beautifully rendered. If an artwork
doesn’t happen to take up an entire page,
it is placed on a black background. This
means that everything is shown off to its
very best advantage.
Put simply, this book really is an
essential buy. It has obviously been put
together by people who love Corel Painter
and who are passionate about using it
to its full potential. The quality of work
created by the featured artists is truly
breathtaking and highly inspirational.
If ever the term ‘feast for the eyes’ was

scenes and furry critters”

applicable, it’s here!

Portraits, Concept Art, Fantasy, Editorial

Multiple choice
The pages are a mixture of full pieces of artwork and
smaller pieces. Even if something isn’t printed as a full
page, you still have no trouble seeing all of the detail
Illustration, Humorous, Environment,
Wildlife, Sill Life, Transport and Abstract
& Surreal, and each section starts with
the artists who were awarded the title
of Master and Excellence. They then
deftly move on to the other works in that
particular style.

Different strokes The judges

The 12 sections of the book
represent 12 completely different
artistic styles, resulting in a glorious
mixture of styles, moods, colours
and finishes
Before you get into the artwork, you
can find out about who the judges
and advisory board were – the
people responsible for picking who
went into the book

Colourful stuff Artistic indulgence

The print quality of the book is
absolutely perfect, so all of the
tones are represented faithfully.
Images are crisp and clear and
you won’t find any washed-out
colours here!
Some of the artwork is spread over
two pages, giving a luxurious feel
to the book. This also gives you a
great chance to examine the brush
strokes and techniques in much
finer detail

88

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 Acrylics Workshop:
Simple Steps to Success
£9.99 | Learn more about this flexible art medium
crylics are a fabulous medium Inspiration
to paint in because they give for all
Author The Gallery pages dotted
Phyllis McDowell you the depth and look of oils,
throughout the book can
Price yet you can also dilute them to give you some good ideas
£9.99 get more of a watercolour feel. The Acrylics for using the acrylic brushes
Publisher brush category in Corel Painter is very in a variety of ways
Dorling Kindersley
true-to-life, making this book a worthwhile
ISBN
1-4053-1578-4 read to understand how the brushes work.
In addition to the acrylic-speci�ic focus,
this book also has some excellent guidance
to art techniques such as composition,
perspective, light and colour. You can also
stretch your legs on the walkthroughs
for various paintings, and use the guide
to brush strokes to set up your own
specialised acrylic variants.
This is a very interesting book that has
plenty to teach whether you’re working in
Colour mixing Watch and learn
the digital or traditional format. There’s These pages on what happened when you mix certain The walkthroughs in the book are a great way of seeing
tons of information and interesting ideas colours together are handy for when you’re using the how ‘real’ acrylics work and then transferring that to your
on offer. Mixer palette to paint from scratch Corel Painter space

Giovanni Civardi’s Complete

Guide to Drawing
£19.99 | In-depth guide to improving
your drawing skills
Author his is a hefty tome, coming in Basic techniques
Giovanni Civardi at just under 400 pages, and is There’s plenty of advice for
the complete beginner in the
Price packed to the gills with techniques book – we particularly liked the
£19.99 for improving your drawing skills.
Publisher guide to different effects using
Search Press Starting with basic techniques and a different mediums
ISBN fabulous display of what pencil marks give
1-84448-206-5 what kind of effect, the book then moves
onto types of drawing as well as types
of medium.
Every concept is accompanied by
detailed instructions of how it works and
there are plenty of ‘in progress’ shots for
understanding how to get from A to B. The
book’s author gives a constant narrative of
information, pointing out what’s going on
in an example and why it’s happening.
There’s plenty to learn from this title,
whether you want to get started in In progress Essential considerations
Perhaps the most interesting pages are the ones where The pages dedicated to specific techniques will help you
drawing or you’re just looking to improve you can see how a drawing was built up. Seeing the create realistic sketches and ensure that everything is
your skills. progression from start to finish is a valuable learning tool in order

89

088-89_OPM02_books.indd 89 9/3/07 16:53:39

 Reviews Output
Mount your
images to MDF
The Big Print Company offers customers professional printing options at affordable
prices. We see how the site works
emember the days when
Tutorial info the only option for printing
Painter master photos was 4x6-inch prints,
Jo Cole with a choice of gloss or matte
�inish (but only if you were lucky)? If you
Time needed
wanted a larger print you had to try and
10 minutes
scout out professional printers and pay a
Skill level hefty amount of money to get the result
Beginner you wanted.
Now you can get digital �iles printed on
loads of different media, in a seemingly
endless number of different sizes. One
retailer offering such a service is The Big
Print Company. Based in Manchester,
this is an online haven for artists and
photographers who want to show off
their work in the best possible way. You
can have images printed on high-quality
paper, canvas, MDF board or plastic, get
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them laminated and even framed so they
can take pride of place on your wall. The
company can work with digital �iles, or
you can send in your prints, negatives
or transparencies to be scanned in. And
don’t worry if your image is a bit on the
small side – The Big Print Company can
scale an image up to 1600% without a
discernable loss of quality, so there’s hope
for those old negatives yet! Before any
order is started, the customer is sent a
section of the image at print size to check
that the resolution meets their standards.
“The Big Print Company can scale an image up to
1600% without a discernable loss of quality, so there’s
hope for those old negatives yet!”
All blocks have impeccably neat
finishes to the edges
The MDF board offers a very
interesting texture
You’ll get everything you need to hang
your board
If it doesn’t, the order can be cancelled at
no cost.
Over these three pages we’re going
to take you step-by-step through the
process of uploading an image to the site
and ordering a print. We’re choosing the
example of an MDF board here, which
gives a very robust solution to displaying
your artwork. Plus we’re all fans of
Changing Rooms so if MDF’s good enough
for building a bedroom, it’s certainly good
enough for us! See how it all works and
then try it for yourself.
9/3/07 16:45:52
 Pick your product File formats
It’s easy to place your order A wide variety of
formats is accepted
by the Big Print
Company, but there
are guidelines worth
following if you’re
uploading the image
to the site. Pick an
RGB image because
this allows the site
to provide an online
thumbnail and actual
size image of your file.
It’s also preferred to
save the file in .jpg,
.tiff, .eps or .pict
format. If you pick

02 The perfect size The first job is to 03 Make your choice You’ll now
see a page with all the different print
.jpg, make sure it is
saved at the highest

01 And you’re off Load up www.

thebigprintcompany.com and click the
Print your Images link on the side panel of the main
select the size of your print. You can
either pick a preset size form the drop-down
menu, or enter your own dimensions. You also
products. Each option has a good description of
what the product offers, so there’s no guesswork
required. Click the small square on the right to
quality setting.

page. You’ll see a screen which explains how the have the option to constrain proportions to keep make the selection. We went for the Block Mount
process works and what you can order. Click the within standard frame proportions. Click Continue Wrapped Edge option, and picked the 18mm
Continue link at the bottom to get going. when you’re finished. thickness option from the drop-down menu.

05 Antouchartistic
Depending on the
image you’re thinking
of using, the next page
offers various options
including the chance
to have your print
turned into a piece of
art by the company’s

04 In the frame If you want to add a

frame to the equation, the next page is
where you get to do this. There are three types of
designers. If you have
an old photo you want
printed, it’s worth
frames to choose from along with the type of finish. choosing the Photo
Also notice that a price has appeared in the Your Enhancement option,
Cart box at the top of the window. This will keep but if you’re happy
you informed as to how much your order is coming with your image, just
to. If you don’t want a frame, just click Continue. click Continue.

06 Edit
size
the
next page gives
The

information about
how to get your image
to the company. If you
go the upload route
you may need to do
some tinkering in your
image editor. Open
the file up and go to
Image>Image Size.
The Big Print Company
recommends that
07 Save and send Once you have your file
at the correct dimensions and resolution
settings, it’s time to head to the Save dialog. We’re
your file is no larger saving as a .jpg, so make sure that the Quality slider
than 150ppi at the is up to the max and there’s no compression. Once
print size, so adjust that’s all done, click OK and return to where you left
the numbers. off at The Big Print Company.

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 Reviews Output

Getting your Upload and pay

file there The final order steps
We’ve shown you how
to upload a file to
the company simply
because this is the
quickest option.
Obviously this isn’t
suited to everyone
– you may have a slow
internet connection
or have a hard copy
of an image – so there
are other ways of
getting your image
printed. If it’s a large
digital file, burn it to
disc and post to the
company. Photos,
08 UploadingNow the file
is in the correct format
transparencies or and dimensions, tick

09 Pick and choose

negatives can also the square to select A dialog window
be posted and will be the Upload option and will zip down that allows you to
returned with the
then click the Choose navigate to your file. Once you’ve found the file
final product.
File button to get to destined for printing greatness, simply click on the
your image. Choose button to add it to the site.

10 There
is
it
A little
thumbnail will appear
in the Upload box
which should be
the image you’ve
just selected. Press
Continue to upload the
11 Order summary Once uploaded you’ll
see a summary of your order, including
postage rates and final total. If you want to order
image. This may take more products, click the Continue Shopping
a while depending on button. If you want to order more than one copy,
the size of the image enter the number you want in the Quantity box
or the speed of your and click Update. When all is as you want it to be,
internet connection. click the Proceed to Checkout button.

12 Details,
details
With the order out
of the way, it’s time
to add your details.
The first step is to
add your name and
address, and then the
country you live in.
The Big Print Company
delivers worldwide, so
13 World on a stick You will be taken to
the secure WorldPay server where you
can enter your payment details and finish up your
don’t worry if you’re order. You will receive an email confirmation and
outside the UK. Click also be forwarded a print size portion of your
the Proceed to Secure image to make sure it’s the resolution you want it
Server button to enter to be. Then just sit back and wait about a week for
your card details. your print to arrive!

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 readers’ gallery issue two
Time to indulge yourself in more
inspirational art from a fellow Corel
Painter user. This month, we feast our
eyes on the work of Jennifer Miller
f you’ve already had a look on this
Gallery
issue’s disc you will have seen Jennifer
Miller’s art inside the Gallery section.
We were blown away by her painting
skills, especially the detail and realism she
brings to light and cloudscapes, so couldn’t
resist including her in the magazine.
Currently living on the East coast of
America with her husband, four parrots
and dozens of tropical �ish, Jennifer has
drawn all her life, but says it has only been
the past eight years that she has been
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094-097_OPM02_gallery.indd 94
serious about it. Starting out on Corel
Painter Classic back in 2001, she applies
traditional art practices to her work, citing
the oil pastel brushes as her favourite.
This love of the traditional also means she
prefers to leave a rough and organic feel,
avoiding the smooth/airbrushed look of
some digital art.
To see more of Jennifer’s work, head over
to http://featherdust.critter.net. While
you’re here, check out the print service and
order some of her work!
01
Title: December Sunrise
“Often the best way to touch a viewer is to paint things
that evoke a memory or emotion and when painting
this piece, I was reminded of silent snowy mornings I’ve
spend in the wooded areas of my home.”
9/3/07 16:48:13
 02
Title: Barn Owl – Five of Hearts
(far left)
“This piece was actually painted to be
included in an animal-themed deck of
cards (can you see the five hearts?). It was
completed mostly with the Oil Pastel tools
and the rough graphic lines were hashed
in with the Scratchboard pen tool.”

03
Title: These Velvet Skies
“A commissioned piece; this was a joy to
paint and experiment with lots of dark
colours. I started with a black canvas and
built up the colours with the Oil Pastel
tools. The stars were created using the
Pixel Spray Airbrush.”

04
Title: Sunrise Ritual
Part commission and part personal piece, this painting started
life as a scenic ocean view, but the client wanted to have a one-
of-a-kind piece of artwork so I worked a deal with her and used
the background for a different idea I had.

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 readers’ gallery issue two
Gallery

05
Title: Corvid Triptych
“This was a piece a long time in the making, and
as the title suggests is actually three separate
paintings. They were done both as a gift for a
friend and as personal pieces, each with their own
meaning and a combined meaning when viewed
as a triptych. They were completed almost entirely
with the Chunky Oil Pastel tools, with a touch of
the Splattery Airbrush.”

06
Title: Likeshine Portrait
“Here is a piece that has more tools used, as
an experiment. The sketch was done with
the Pencil tools in a layer set to Multiply, then
the rest was done on the canvas. There is a
mixture of Oil Pastels (character) with Palette
Knife and Digital Watercolor tools used in
the background.”

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 Challenge
ith another issue comes another your own resources but all we ask is that you use at
Readers’ Challenge. If you missed least one �ile. There will then be a winner from the
out on the �irst issue, let us explain entries we receive in that month who will get their
what the devil this page is all about. work printed onto canvas, courtesy of the excellent THE WINNER
Basically, each issue we will provide a collection of PhotoArtistry (www.photoartistry.co.uk) site.
random �iles that you have to create a piece of art There are no deadlines and you can �ind the images
WILL GET
with. You can use all of the �iles or mix some with on this issues’ disc. THEIR PAINTING
PROFESSIONALLY
PRINTED ONTO
This challenge’s materials CANVAS!

How to enter the challenge…

To share your work with others, send your pictures in to
us and you could be featured on these pages. Just pop
your images onto a CD and send it to:
Creative Challenge, Official Corel Painter Magazine,
Imagine Publishing, Richmond House, 33 Richmond Hill,
Bournemouth, Dorset BH2 6EZ, UK
Alas, we can’t return any CDs.
If your entry is under 2MB, you can email it to
opm@imagine-publishing.co.uk

Remember! You can email your entries to opm@imagine-publishing.co.uk

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