CorelPainCorel Painter - 09 - Magazine, Art, Digital Painting, Drawing, Draw, 2d

Ofcial Corel Painter TM Magazine
Create
digital art
today!
Official Magazine
Inspirational tutorials
Practical drawing guides
Quick start guide on the CD
Issue nine
USE THE
CLONE TOOLS
ART STUDY
How to
paint hair
Easy methods for painting
realistic hair without
getting in a tangle
26
CREATE
CONCEPT ART
Share your work!

Create a gallery on our website
and let the world see your art
www.paintermagazine.com
Master
digital art
Over
40
48
DRAW MOTION
pages of
tutorials
techniques
6
P6
ac
nd M
PC a
Visit us online www.paintermagazine.co.uk
Become a better digital artist with our guides

to Corel Painters brushes and commands
FREE CD
INSIDE
TEXTURES | TUTORIAL REFERENCE FILES | STOCK PHOTOS

Matisse
Re-create one of Matisses
colourful and expressive works
001_OPM_9 COVERFINAL.indd 1
Edit photos
Unearth the tools to edit and
correct photos in Corel Painter
Colour theory
The hows and whys of using
colour in your artwork
ISSUE NINE
ISSN 1753-3155
6.00
09
771753 315000
19/9/07 17:46:24
Welcome
This is THE magazine for anyone wanting to further their
Corel Painter skills or learn how to become a better artist
Inject movement and

action into your artwork
with our guide
Have fun!
Pg 44
Edit photos
See what tools and
commands can help you
perfect your photos
Pg 26
Impressionist
landscapes
Use cloners to turn
photos into amazing art
Pg 66
ISSUE NINE
Drawing 101:
Capture motion
If I was given to making gross

understatements, I might
say something like colour is
quite important in artwork.
The fact is, colour is one of
the deining ways to control a
piece of art and make it say
what you want it to say. Colour gives you the
power to manipulate the mood of the image and
elicit a response from the viewer. You can use it
to draw attention to some objects, while make
others recede into the background. In short,
paying attention to colour and how you use it
is vital in perfecting your artwork. Turn to our
feature on page 20, where we have put together
some quality advice on what you need to keep
in mind.
One artist who wasnt afraid of colour was
Henri Matisse and you can discover how to recreate one of his paintings on page 38. Theres
also an exquisite tutorial on painting with the
Sumi-e brushes (page 60) and an invaluable
look at painting hair (page 56).
Visit our website!

If you find that the magazine isnt 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 in Chief

jo.cole@imagine-publishing.co.uk
005_OPM_09_welcome.indd 3
21/9/07 16:01:57
ON THE FRONT COVER
Sumi-e
pg 60
Create ice-cool
Pg 56 PAINT HAIR
DISCOVER SOME QUICK AND EASY

WAYS OF PAINTING STRAIGHT OR
CURLY HAIR IN A VARIETY OF
ARTISTIC MEDIUMS
Pg 48 CONCEPT ART
SEE HOW ONE ARTIST COLLECTS IDEAS

TOGETHER TO CREATE A CONCEPT
SPACE SCENE WITH A NOD TO
INFLUENTIAL ARTISTS
Regulars in every issue

08 Subscriptions
Take out a subscription to

the magazine and save money!
For non-US subs, see page 88
10 Corel Painter community

The best sites, services and
resources for creatives
14 Interview
See how professionals are using

Corel Painter. This issue we look
at Rebecca Parker
25 Painter showcase
The rst of our special pages

dedicated to outstanding art
74 Art class
Another merry gaggle of artistic

problems sorted out
92 Readers gallery
Discover more about what a
fellow reader is getting up to
96 Readers challenge
Havent entered one of

our challenges yet? Turn
to this page now!
98 On the disc
A full breakdown of the

content on this issues
free CD
Original artwork by
Jan David
portraits
pg 32
WIN!
YOUR
WORK
PRINTED
TO CANVAS
pg 96
Use cool colours to paint a

striking portrait
Reviews
82 Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2
Looking for an affordable imageediting program? We test out the
latest version of Corels popular
product to see what it offers to the
Corel Painter user
84 Casio EXILIM Zoom EX-Z1200

It may be a teeny compact, but this
model packs in 12 megapixels of
power. See what else this camera
has to offer and what kind of
pictures it takes
86 Book reviews
To be the best artist you can, you
need to immerse yourself in a world
of creativity and load your brain
with ideas and techniques. Each
issue we look at the best books to
instruct, inform and inspire you. See
the latest ones here
006-007_OPM_09_contents.indd 6
21/9/07 15:53:22
Colour theory
pg 20
pg 48
Concept art
Feature
pg 56
Art study:
Paint hair
Practical art advice

20 Colour theory
Colour is a vital part of any image, so knowing how to
use it is essential. Follow our feature on good colour
practice and working with Painter
tutorials
Create inspirational art

26 Impressionist cloner
Turn photos into beautiful
Impressionist landscapes
32 Create ice-cool portraits

Use colour to paint a cool and
serene image
38 Paint like: Matisse

Re-create the colourful and
expressive world of Matisse
Drawing 101
Traditional artistic techniques
66 Drawing motion
Movement in art is a very tricky subject to approach, but weve
put together some helpful techniques and ideas to inject some
dynamism into your artwork
48 Concept art
Join one artists journey into
the world of concept art
56 How to paint hair

Use Corel Painters tools to
create realistic hair
60 Sumi-e brushes
Take quiet and measured
steps with these brushes
Visit our
website now!
www.
painter
magazine.
co.uk
Primers
Get up and running

30 Brushes: Charcoal
Create classic black-and-white
art with the Charcoal brushes
Feature focus
Get to know your tools

44 Photo-editing tools
Its possible to make all your
photo corrections from within
the Corel Painter interface see
what the best tools are and how
they work here
006-007_OPM_09_contents.indd 7
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NEWS EVENTS
RESOURCES
LETTERS WEBSITES
INFO FORUM
Meet Corel Paint

Shop Pro Photo X2
The new, dark-themed graphite

interface is perfect for showing your
images to their best advantages
Latest version of image editor promises professional results at an affordable price

SOFTWARE
The Smart Photo Fix

command sorts out
photos quickly
nthusiastic photographers
looking for an editing program
with professional features in
an easy interface will love Corel
Paint Shop Pro Photo X2. With this new
version, Corel has taken suggestions
directly from the users and produced
a program that is packed full of
creative functions.
The new Express Lab allows you to edit

and view a myriad of photos in doublequick time. This is basically a one-stop
editing resource with its own interface
illed with essential editing tools. From
here you can quickly perform functions
such as adjusting colour, rotating and
cropping images or removing red-eye,
plus you can view multiple images at once.
All ile formats are supported including
camera RAW iles.
Retouching photos is a common
procedure for most people. The new
Thinify tool will erase pounds with just
one click and the Eye Drop tool whitens
redness in bloodshot eyes. If you want to
get more creative, the new Layer Styles
allow you to add bevels, shadows, glows
and relections to text and images.
For photographers who are starting to
experiment with their cameras settings,
the new HDR Photo Merge is excellent. In
situations with high contrast, you can take
photos at different exposures and then use

HDR Photo Merge to layer the photos over
each other, resulting in a perfect image.
The Clarify slider can also be used to
automatically dodge and burn the photo,
bringing out hidden detail.
Anyone who regularly scans images will
enjoy the new Crop as New Image function.
Lets say youve scanned a few photos in
one go. With this, you can automatically
select one of the photos and have it open
as a new document, ready to be edited. A
valuable time-saver, you will call upon this
tool time and time again.
Beginners will love the automatic
options, but theres plenty of manual
control for more advanced users. This
functionality, coupled with the sleek, new
graphite interface, means that Corel Paint
Shop Pro Photo X2 is a leading contender
among other image editors. And with
a suggested retail price of 79, you can
experiment without breaking the bank!
10
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ts
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RESOURCES
The ultimate resource

High-quality DVD packed with image assets for artists
allistic Publishing is a name
synonymous with quality in the
digital art world and the company
has taken its irst foray into the image
resource world. Artists can now purchase
its Klara Medkova Ultimate DVD Set a
dual-DVD that boasts 300 high-quality
photos of character reference images.
The royalty-free photos are produced
in collaboration with 3D.SK, a company
with a strong name in human reference
resources. Buyers get to enjoy clothed
and semi-clothed photos of bodies, heads,
weapons and action. Each image comes in
TIFF and RAW format, so you can edit and
tweak to your hearts content.
The Klara Medkova Ultimate DVD
Set costs $65 and can be yours from
www.ballisticpublishing.com.
HARDWARE
New consumer
Wacom tablets
Bamboo range brings tablets to
the masses
sing a graphics tablet with Corel

Painter is the most intuitive
way of working, and Wacoms
new Bamboo tablets are a great starting
point.
For those taking their irst steps in
the world of tablets, the Bamboo One is
ideal. This brushed silver model comes
with a cordless, battery-free pen that
has 512 levels of pressure sensitivity.
For a bit more functionality, the
Bamboo Fun is a white tablet available
in small or medium wide formats. Also
with a 512-level pressure sensitive
pen, this has four ExpressKeys that can
be set to commonly used commands
in addition to a Touch Ring for quick
zooming and scrolling. The small model
costs 69.99 and the large version is
139.99. For more information and
dimensions, see www.wacom.co.uk.
In short
Creative happenings from
around the world
The 16-megapixel
pictures are perfect
for anyone wanting
to improve their lifedrawing skills
Dead good
For quality, free photos, you would
have to go a long way to beat
the choice on morgueFile (www.
morguefile.com). This is a massive
online depository of photos that are
free for personal or commercial use. It
is embraced by creatives as a place to
find and share useful photos.
Pick of textures
Theres more to YouTube

than talking cats!
TUTORIALS
The results
will display
educational
videos and
artists works
Popular website has plenty for

Corel Painter users
hile the majority of people log onto
YouTube to see what outrageous
videos have been uploaded, the
next time you are on there, do a search for Corel
Painter. Youll be whisked away to a plethora of
tempting videos showing artwork being created
in the program.
Some of the videos set out to teach a specic
toolset or skill, while others are recordings of
how a particular piece of art was made. All
sorts of styles can be found here, and someone
has even uploaded a whole series of videos on
getting used to the program, which weighs in
at over 100 les! We really recommend that you
have a look at whats there you can literally see
a painting take shape and its a wonderful way
of seeing how other artists work. Visit www.
youtube.com and discover what you can learn.
Texture can be used in digital art in

many ways. To make sure you have the
perfect one for the job, take advantage
of some of the free texture sites online.
One of the best is CG Textures (www.
cgtextures.com). There are over
15,000 texture files for personal or
commercial use and you can search
according to different categories.
Harvest free fonts

You may not use text much in your
day-to-day artwork, but having a good
stock of fonts is useful for when you
want to title your work. One of the
best sites weve found is Font Garden
(www.fontgarden.com). As well as
free Mac and PC fonts, you can find
a splendid array of handwriting fonts
perfect for creative pursuits.
NOV
10 of
OPM on sale!
08 Issue
The Bamboo Fun starts at 69.99 and offers good

functionality at a better price!
Mark this date in your diary as it

heralds the release of the latest issue!
Learn how to create quick and easy
landscapes, loosen up your art style,
see how cloning can create great
artwork and get tips from the best
Corel Painter artists in the business.
11
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Welcome to the part of the magazine where you can com
and share your thoughts on anything you fancy!
Send your
letters to...
Readers tip
Share your Corel Painter wisdom
Ofcial Corel Painter

Magazine, Imagine
Publishing, Richmond
House, 33 Richmond
Hill, Bournemouth,
Dorset BH2 6EZ, UK
Feeling dynamic
I have been using Corel Painter for quite
some time, but it was only recently that I
started to take advantage of dynamic layers.
I cant recommend them enough. They
allow you to make changes and apply effects
without harming the original image. Lots of
commands can be used as a dynamic layer, so
I really do urge you to try them.
If youd prefer to contact

us via email, send your
message to opm@
imagine-publishing.
co.uk
Simon Mallard
We completely agree the dynamic layers

give a great deal of freedom.
Riding the waves
Above: Dees nautical

number deservedly
scooped a place at this
years Southampton Boat
Show
Hello painters! I wanted to thank you

for the awesome article Paint Dramatic
Seascapes in issue seven. I personally ind
the water rendering to be quite dificult
because waves combine two opposing
features; they are very strong and deined
forms, but they also change quickly. And
that includes their colours as well!
So I found the article to be very useful and

full of interesting tips. Will there be more
workshops regarding the nautical theme?
Please ind included my contribution
to the marine theme Iron Seahorse. By
the way, I was happy to learn that this
piece was selected to be displayed at the
Southampton Boat Show 2007.
Featured gallery
Dee Slavinskas
Thanks for sending your artwork in Dee, and

obviously thanks for the kind words, theyre
enough to make us blush! We had a great
time arranging the seascapes feature and its
fantastic to hear that you enjoyed it too. Weve
passed your letter onto Jeff Johnson the man
who wrote the feature and no doubt hell be
pleased to hear hes appreciated! Any kind of
water brings so much potential to the artist,
and you can rest assured that we will return
again to marine landscapes in the not-toodistant future. Congratulations on getting your
image displayed as well, especially at an event
as big as it was. It must have been quite a thrill
and, after seeing your picture, we think it was
definitely well-deserved.
Patty Nice
Patty Nice
Our favourite readers gallery this month
Patty Nice
www.paintermagazine.co.uk/
user/majikat
user/majika
Patty is one of the most recent members
to the Featured Galleries set on our
website and got her place thanks
to her incredible use of patterns.
Its a technique that a lot of people
forget about, but Patty shows that they
can be used to create great artwork.
As her username suggests, Patty
is a fan of the felines, and her gallery
comprises of a combination of animals
and a variety of patterns and textures to
create striking images.
The middle image, entitled

Triller, was voted the
Editors Pick of the week
and has been praised by
fellow artists for its texture
and visualisation
Patty Nice
12
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21/9/07 12:01:24
Natalies cloud image makes perfect use of the Impressionist cloner and its recognisable effect
Making an impression
I realise this is jumping the gun a bit, but

I saw your Next Month page in issue eight
and was intrigued by the Impressionist
brush. I hadnt used it before, but its the
kind of style I would normally favour.
Anyway, I tried the brush out and cant
stop using it! It used to take me ages to
individually paint on small strokes and
now I can quickly see if something is
going to work. I love the effect it gives
and how everything is so soft. I thought
you might like to see this image of some
clouds I did. I like the abstract quality and
plan to create a larger version using oils
and canvas.
Natalie Moore
Youre preaching to the converted when you

sing the praises of the Impressionist cloner,
Natalie! Like you, we are big fans of the soft
effect it gives and love how you can adjust the

angle to build up interesting effects. If youre
after some more tips on using the brush,
head over to page 26 and you can see the
very tutorial that was mentioned on the Next
Month page!
So many questions, yet so

little time
Ive only bought the past two issues of

your magazine but wanted to say how
much I like the Q&A section. Its good to
see so many problems and Ive learnt a
lot from them. But it got me thinking. I
was wondering if it might be more useful
to just have a series of tips for different
aspects of Corel Painter and artwork in
general? Maybe it could also have some
quick tutorials?
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The latest from our

forum and website
Website challenge
Some of the best so far
Those of you who regularly visit our website will
know that we have a regular challenge that runs
over a couple of months. Challenge number three is
now closed and we wanted to show you the winner
and close contenders. It really was dificult to pick
between the entries this time, as they all showed
different skills and styles.
Grace Kelsos entry caught our eye (top) due
to the clever way she used most of the photos.
Mikhael Markanson (middle) impressed us with
his use of the butterly photo, especially all the
lovely marks on the background. But Ken Small
(bottom) stole our hearts with his lobster-pot
robots. The whole feeling of the piece is excellent,
with good use of tone and composition. If youd
like to take part in the latest challenge, head over
to www.paintermagazine.com and click the
competition link. Good luck!
ENTER T
WEBSITHE
CHALLE E
NGE
Dont be
shy
welcome everyones
www.pa to enter! Go to
co.uk/co intermagazine.
mpetitio
ns.php
Irve Seacrest
Thanks for your email Irve, and also thanks for

the suggestions. We set the Q&A pages up to
be almost like a collection of tips, and they are
there to answer your specific questions. With a
lot of Corel Painter problems, its very difficult
to give advice in just a few words, so the Q&A
format is staying! However the idea of quick
and easy tutorials is an interesting one and may
appear sometime soon.
Patty Nice
Do you agree with Irve? Are you after the Q&As as
they are, or would you prefer a barrage of tips?
13
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Interview Rebecca Parker
WEBSITE
JOB TITLE
CLIENTS
www.rebecca-parker.co.uk and http://rebecca-parker.deviantart.com

Digital artist, photo restoration artist and image retouching artist
Greenways Pembrey, CK Introductions and get Confident.com
An interview with
Rebecca Parker
Self-taught digital artist Rebecca Parker has created a

distinctive evocative style in a short time with support
from online communities. Nick Spence meets her
[RIGHT]
Together
Parker created this
stunning image for
a competition
ow residing in Wales, Rebecca

Parker has been many
things in recent years, from
self-employed retailer to
professional lookalike. Originally from
Birmingham, Parker developed a passion
for digital art with the help of online
communities like deviantART. Recently,
her work has received deviantART Daily
Deviation and National Association of
Photoshop Professionals (NAPP) Image of
the Week awards.
As someone self-taught, how easy was it
to get to grips with Corel Painter?
I must admit that I found Corel Painter
A Ray Of Light
This image was created
with source images from
friends and admirers.
Some images I work
with have been given
to me to use by very
generous photographers
who have approached me
or vice versa
really daunting to start with; I had never

seen Painter in action before I bought it.
The huge amount of brushes it contains
is incredible. At irst I didnt know where
to start, but after some persistence the
Cloner tools had me hooked.
Before the launch of the Corel Painter
Magazine, I found the video tutorials
at Lynda.com (www.lynda.com) a
particularly valuable place to learn, but
nothing beats actually playing with it
yourself. Its slightly surreal to paint in
oils when you have never actually painted
with the real thing. Although I am not
trained as an artist, the way that Painter
allows for mistakes by using lots of layers
makes things less daunting. Painting
digitally allows room for errors and this is
what the appeal of digital art is for me.
Painter is a pleasure to use. I would
recommend it to anyone, even those
teaching themselves with a limited art
background like me.
You work with both Corel Painter
and Adobe Photoshop. How do they
complement each other?
The two programs both have enough
of their own distinct merits for me to
switch between the two. I basically
prepare my image in Photoshop by
manipulating features such as enlarging
eyes, extracting the main igure and
also retouching any unsightly areas. I
then take it to Painter. Here I will draw
more hair, blend skin and draw whatever
I see it really. The brush quality is by
far superior, leaving you with more
options and effects, and they are more

realistic in appearance. I can then use
the Cloner tools to stylise backgrounds
and edges rather than use lots of
textures in Photoshop. I always end up
going back into Photoshop to do any
inal adjustments, such as colourising,
resizing and sharpening my image. I
feel Photoshop is great for restoration,
adjusting or adding colour, clarity and
distortion. There are certain effects I like
that can only be produced in Painter, such
as the Impasto brushes. I use the Depth
Lofter carefully for painting hair and I
love the amazing Pattern Emboss tool.
I dont think I could work at all without
the help of Corel Painter, the method of
working I have evolved is now dependent
on using the two applications side by side.
14
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20/9/07 18:14:32
All original artwork by Rebecca Parker
Seascape
Parker used model
Fritha for this portrait.
I take my own photos
from time to time.
But this is sometimes
fraught with difficulties,
for example living in a
remote area, finding the
right model and getting
model releases
15
20/9/07 18:14:51
The long, cold walk home

Another image Parker built up
from friends and stock images,
including a background from
Christophe Libert and birds from
Roberto Segate
Sunset
Parker used a stock image
from Sitara-LeotaStock,
part of the deviantART
community, as the basis
for this portrait
[ABOVE]
Tangled
Parker sells prints like
this via the deviantART
shop. When you are
doing something in
Photoshop, or whatever
application you use,
take the time to hop on
over to Corel Painter
and see how it tackles
the job there
What does Corel Painter offer that Adobe

Photoshop doesnt?
Corel Painter allows the artistically
minded, who do not necessarily have any
training, to achieve true artistic effects.
Everyone talks about how fantastic the
Oils and Acrylics are, but while I agree,
Im also particularly keen on the Digital
Watercolor brushes. The Airbrushes are
superb and I use the Fine Detail Airbrush
constantly. The Smeary Round brush is
good for the distortion of backgrounds,

however at the moment, the style and
look I prefer for my own work involves a
more subtle and delicate use of the tools
available. Currently, I use Painter for
making my characters blend properly
into the manipulation.
What would you say are your favourite
Corel Painter tools?
Ive mentioned cloning as a love of mine.
The tools I use the most are the Detail

Airbrush, the Soft Airbrush 50, the Just
Add Water blender and using paper in
the Apply Surface Texture method. As
my work changes and evolves, I ind
more and more tools in Painter that are
invaluable. I really love the way Painter
can create subtle artistic borders and
frames to an image. Some effects such
as rotating the layer by increments to
make painting easier and adding surface
textures are speciic to Painter, as is
creating real depth with the Impasto
painting tools and image warp. The
ability to save your workspace between
sessions with all the carefully mixed
colour on your palette is a real help too.
Do you have a typical workow?
Honestly, I never really have a speciic
end goal in mind unless a client spells out
exactly what they want. I get a feel for a
particular image and take it from there.
My images seem to evolve independently.
Its so great that Painter opens up easily
and can be saved as a PSD ile with all
the layers. This means that I can lip back
and forth between them very easily while
working on a piece, usually when I start
tidying up and blending features like hair,
skin and clothing.
16
20/9/07 18:15:15
Hope
Parker again used stock
images for this digital image.
I always use stock images
of the same quality together.
They all have to have the
same sort of size and
resolution. You eventually
find the confidence to put
across what you hope is an
original concept
The method of working I have

evolved is now dependent on using
Photoshop and Painter side by side
17
20/9/07 18:15:32
[BELOW]
Dont look back
Another great use of light and
textures, once again drawn from
stock photos found from searching
and spending time in online
creative communities
You use some stock images in your work.

How do you avoid them looking clichd?
I can and do take my own photos from
time to time. But this is sometimes
fraught with dificulties. I use stock
images from many different sources.
Some I purchase from Crestock (www.
crestock.com) and some I download for
free from Stock.XCHNG (www.sxc.hu).
However, I mainly use the very generous
stock artists at deviantART (www.
deviantart.com).
Your work features some beautiful and
ornate textures. Do you scan these in and
whats the best way to create your own?
I have used a lot of textures from the
talented people at deviantART. Its very
easy to ind them online but really the
best way is to create your own. You can

go out with a digital camera anywhere
at all and ind a dozen totally original
textures in ten minutes. Recently, I went
to my local art shop and purchased lots
of different handmade papers and heavy
watercolour papers and scanned them
into my Mac. I wish I had started doing
this a long time ago, as its so easy and far
more rewarding.
As youve mentioned, youre a member
of the increasingly popular deviantART.
What do you like about it?
DeviantART was one of the irst online
communities I joined. It has something
for everyone and is not elitist or ageist.
A total amateur can display their work
alongside some of the great names. The
galleries contain styles of art from every

media imaginable and its enlightening
to ind artists that you admire. On the
whole I ind it very useful for feedback. I
have very few real-life friends who share
my enthusiasm for digitally created
art, so some of my earlier work had its
irst outing on deviantArt. I have some
very supportive watchers who make
me feel good about my work. Without
the positivity and support from this
community, I doubt I would have achieved
my current learning curve.
[ABOVE]
Summer Belle
The model Eveliina
formed the central
figure of this wonderful
summery portrait
And nally, what tips and words of advice

would you give when using Corel Painter?
Play with it as much as you can and dont
give up. Also remember that there are
thousands of people out there to help!
18
20/9/07 18:15:52
Feature Creating from the colour wheel
Creating from the
colour wheel
Having a basic understanding of how
colour works will help you create better
art. Cat Bounds gets you started
ussian abstract artist Wassily Kandinsky once declared
that, colour is the keyboard, the eyes are the harmonies,
the soul is the piano with many strings. The artist is the
hand that plays, touching one key or another, to cause
vibrations in the soul.
We think in colour, communicate in colour and many of us
dream in colour. We have preconceived ideas about colour. What
colour are the leaves on the tree outside your window? Green,
you say? But if you decide to paint that tree and dip one of your
leafy digital brushes into green, or even several shades of green, it
may not look like your tree at all. So one morning you walk outside
and more closely study the leaves and realise that in addition to
green, there are yellows, blues, browns and so on. If you decide to
go back in the evening and check on your trees colours once more,
they may be quite different. This is a discovery the Impressionists
were quite keen on. Oftentimes a painter would go out into a ield
to paint a landscape or stack of hay in the morning and only get to
work on it for a short time, pick up a new canvas and begin again
because the colours had all changed. The painter would move to
a new canvas at intervals throughout the day, as the sun moved
across the sky. The next day, he or she would take the canvases
back to the same spot and begin to paint again on them in order.
How lucky we are that our forefathers created a set of logical
and universally accepted instruments, like the colour wheel, for
describing and working with this fabulous, elusive by-product of
spectral light called colour. Although, studying colour schemes is
a bit like when we learned to write in grammar school; day after
day, we studied the elaborate cursive letters upon the chalkboard
and painstakingly practised drawing them on our notebooks,
and then we all grew up, went off and developed our own unique
handwriting styles. The same goes for colour. By all means,
become familiar with the rules, but never be afraid to try your own
combinations or experiments.
Colour is energy. Studies have shown that blind people are
able to identify colours easily with their ingertips. We only have
11 basic colour words in the English language, and yet literally
20
020-024_OPM_09_feature.indd 20
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Create your own palettes

Take your own photos and then transform them into a
collection of sparkling colour palettes
Colour is absolutely everywhere, but sometimes
we paint as if the world around us is set apart from
our art. This is crazy! Look around you. The colours
you surround yourself with are surely the colours
you enjoy. The flowers youve planted, the shells
youve gathered, the paintings youve bought, the
clothing you wear, all of these you chose to be a
part of your life. Therefore it makes sense for you
to try and incorporate these into your artwork.
Scan items in, take photographs of them and get
them into your computer. Bring them into Corel
Painter to create new and very personal colour
palettes for your art. Save these palettes in a
separate folder as unique colour maps of your life.
In our examples here, we have created
paintings using colour sets taken from photos.
This has given us the essential hues to use as the
paintings, and taken away the decision of deciding
which colours to use. Try the techniques for
yourself we promise you wont be disappointed.
Nautilus colours
We loved the shimmering colours inside

this nautilus. The resulting colour palette is
monochromatic and calming, like looking across
the ocean. We tried it on a quick abstract, but it
whispers of a world of possibilities.
Rock colours
We spent a few minutes gathering coloured stones

from rock borders, threw in a spring of wild clover
and a wood chip, and our new colour palette was
ready to happen.
Late summer colours
We gathered these plants from our gardens and

scanned them in. Some were dried and some were
fresh. We did a quick watercolour to show how the
colours might work out. Bulky items scan better if
a co-ordinating cloth is laid over them instead of
closing the lid.
millions of colours exist; computers give us 16 million colours, and

the human eye can possibly distinguish more than that. After the
11 basic colours (red, blue, yellow, green, violet, orange, pink, grey,
black, white and brown), we borrow words like grape, avocado and
slate in an attempt to describe the myriad of shades, tones and tints.
Colours affect us in a number of ways, mentally and physically. A
strong red colour has been shown to raise the blood pressure, while
blue or certain shades of pink have a calming effect. Its claimed that
certain rooms in prisons or jails are painted pink for precisely that
reason. We are consciously or subconsciously mindful of societal
and global preferences, symbolism, myths and ideals concerning
the colours we choose. Being able to create colour palettes
harmoniously and with intent can help us produce spectacular
results. The colour wheel is our basic tool for combining colours.
The first circular colour diagram was designed by Sir Isaac Newton
in 1666. Over the years, many variations of the basic design have
evolved, but the most common version is a wheel of 12 colours based
on the RYB (or artistic) colour model.
Traditionally, there are a number of colour combinations that

have been agreed upon and are considered especially pleasing.
These are called colour schemes or harmonies, and they consist
of two or more colours with a fixed relation in the colour wheel,
going by names like achromatic, monochromatic, analogous,
complementary, split complementary, triadic, tetradic, etc. But
these are merely starting points to get our creative juices flowing.
Complementary colours, for example, are the Yin and Yang of
colour schemes; colours painted next to their complementary
counterparts set off a visual excitement, but its use can either be
in your face or subtle, depending on our intent. Analogous colour
schemes use shades that are adjacent to each other on the colour
wheel. They give more variation than monochrome images, but
still work well together. Triadic colour systems are particularly
good for strong effects. These use colours that have equal distance
from each other on the colour wheel, and they contrast well with
each other. But dont stick with tried and tested methods effective
use of colour comes with lots of experience and a good eye.
21
21/9/07 15:58:18
Feature Creating from the colour wheel
Using opposing
colours in
your work
Pick strong complementary
colours and youll have a
vibrant painting
This painting is all about colour, patches of vibrant
hues that intermingle and flit across the canvas
like a butterfly in afternoon sunlight and shadows.
When you paint abstracts, start out with a colour
palette, possibly one image element and little else.
A painting works out best when you let the brushes
take the lead. This often calls up images with no
intrinsic relationship and allows the viewer to
create their own connections and their own story.
BUILDING UP TEXTURE
The background here is made up of lots
of tones but with similar hues. This is a
very good way of making interesting
backgrounds that help add depth to the
overall image. A plain colour would
have made the image less interesting and
more clinical.
COLOR SET
This colour palette is vibrantly
complementary, using teals and aquae
with shades of orange and burnt sienna.
A great place to begin choosing colours
is the annotated Color Set, which if
you havent discovered it, lives in your
Resources folder. We nd having the
colour names very helpful.
In addition to these set relationships, the colour wheel is often

divided into halves, one side with three distinct and rigidly drawn
segments of warm colours, also known as active (red, yellow and
orange) and the other with three equally static segments of cool
colours, sometimes referred to as passive (blue, violet and green).
But it will serve our purpose better to envision a more dynamic,
gradient colour wheel, where the primaries transform and mutate
into tertiary colours and hues, combining and mingling, relating
with their nearest neighbours. If youll notice the painting of
the colour wheel on page 24, you will see that it is made up of 18
colours on the centre ring while the outer ring is reversed and
consists of each hues complementary colours. This is a painterly
version of the wheel that possibly best satisies our needs. How is
your colour wheel arranged?
Colour temperature relationships are relative both in the way
each of us perceives them and in their interrelations with other
colours. In a nutshell, the closer a colour is to red/orange, the
warmer it is perceived to be; the closer it is to blue/green, the
COOL VS WARM
The interplay of warm blues and cool
aquas in the buttery give it life, but do
we still have colour perspective? Yes,
because the reds in the background
lean toward cool, receding shades, and
the red seal that suggested itself to us
advances, describing layers of depth.
THINKING IN BLACK AND WHITE

The viewers eye always goes rst to
areas of white, and we need shades of
black and grey for depth and shadow.
As mentioned before, dont use pure
black, but instead a deep navy, purple
or blue that reads black is indispensable.
The white splashes on the wings say,
start here.
SHADOWS FOR DEPTH

Squint while looking at the Color
Set theres a good balance among
the light and dark shades. Without this
contrast there wouldnt be any depth
to the piece. The dark areas in the
background give the buttery dimension;
this is echoed by the brushstrokes.
cooler it is, but it all depends on which direction we are going. If we

begin at red/orange and move toward blue/green, then colours
are always getting cooler. When we go the other way, they are
getting warmer. Colour temperatures affect us perceptually as well
as psychologically. They help in determining how objects appear
positioned in space. Warm colours advance, appear closer to the
observer, while cool colours recede or appear further from us. One
red, for example, can be warmer or cooler than another red, so we
can paint an entire painting using shades of red (that would be
monochromatic) and still have receding and advancing shades and
tints. Once we see this happening on the colour wheel, we begin
to discern between cool and warm colours all around us and to
envision them on the wheel.
Understanding how the colour wheel works is particularly handy
when it comes to picking colours in Corel Painter. The Colors palette
is arranged like a colour wheel, so you can easily pick similar tones,
complementary hues or go for other relationships. Use the wheel to
set the main colour and then work the triangle to pick out shades
22
21/9/07 15:58:44
Use Color
Sets for
atmosphere
Warm Glow
This palette only

just makes it as a
complementary
scheme because
we brought in the
lavenders to offset
the gold warmth
of an early autumn
afternoon. The many
shades of yellow and
gold give it a soft glow,
like the sun warming
old bones before the
cold sets in.
Here we show how colour

temperature can affect the
mood of an image
Using a photo taken by photographer Dave Finley,
we painted three versions to illustrate how
changing the colour temperatures can completely
alter the atmosphere of a painting. This rusty
old truck sitting in the woods can take on many
personae, depending on the colours chosen.
You can see how the relationships in the colour
wheel affect an image and gives different effects.
Also notice how some areas recede or advance,
depending on the colours. This is a very good
exercise and is the best way of understanding how
colour works.
Analogous
Cool Shades
A Neutral, Complementary
colour Scheme
Wanting to keep the rusty, aging metal

atmosphere, we chose neutral shades but
included splashes of orange and blue for contrast
and to indicate traces of a past life and a sense of
melancholy. The warmer shades on and around
the door advance while the cool, neutral blues in
the trees recede.
This scheme pushes

the limits a bit as it
covers nearly half
the colour wheel,
but all the colours
live side-by-side,
and we were trying
for the atmosphere
and temperature
of a winter night
with the moon
glinting off the
metal. The relatively
warmer shades
down front still
manage to advance
in the frame.
of that colour. Its very intuitive once you get the hang of what
goes where, meaning your colours always shine through in your
paintings, thanks to a little thought.
The Color Sets are also useful for picking your hues, and as we
demonstrate in the examples above, creating your own is a great
way of capturing the perfect mood of a painting. To see how to
create your own set, check out the PDF guide on this issues disc.
Over these pages we will show how different colours affect
an image, but if you want to find out more about colour theory
and delve into different rules and systems, there are lots of
great websites. One interesting site that allows you to play with
colour schemes can be found at http://poynterextra.org/cp/
colorproject/color.html. To generate colour schemes from
colours you choose, pay a visit to www.wellstyled.com/tools/
colorscheme2/index-en.html. And for a community feel, head
over to www.colourlovers.com/blog/2007/06/20/colorinspiration-from-the-masters-of-painting, where members
create colour palettes in a forum setting.
The various Color Set libraries

Explore the default options for maximum creativity
You have probably acquired a nice
collection of your own colour sets,
but have you browsed through the
ones that came with Corel Painter?
Simply open up the Color Sets library
and click the small arrow. Click Load
Set and youll find all the hidden
gems. These sets can be another
great source of colour scheme
inspiration. Use them as they are or
as a starting point for mixing a new
colour palette in the Mixer where you
can save them. Then consider the
painting you have in mind and how
these colours will carry forward that
idea and in which colour schemes.
23
21/9/07 15:59:01
Feature
Creating from the colour wheel
e
ok at thnd
o
l
a
e
k
a
Ta r wheel
coloue to picking
guid ur in Corel !
colo r on the CD
Painte
COMPLEMENTARY COLOURS
USING THE WHEEL
WARM AND COLD
This colour wheel here shows the

primary shades in the inner ring,
with the complementary tones on
the outside. Using opposite colours
is a safe way of creating strong, yet
harmonious colour schemes.
Have a look at this colour wheel

and then look at the Colors palette
in Corel Painter. Youll see that it
uses the same principles. Adapting
tones from these colours gives you
unlimited possibilities.
As the colour wheel works its way

round, the hues shift from warm to
cold. If you want to warm up a cold
colour, add a bit of a warm shade
to it, such as a touch of red in a cool
blue for example.
The colour wheel

It can be a liberating experience to take a colour
wheel, whichever one its you best, and paint it
with brushes in a style that expresses your own.
We chose one, as mentioned earlier, with 18
colour segments and an outer ring of reversed,
complementary colours. The blues, violets, reds,
oranges, yellows and greens low from warm in
one direction to cool on the other. We painted it in

a loose, splashy style that relates to our paintings
better than one with hard, distinct lines.
However, you can create a colour wheel to suit
your own style. Maybe you want one created solely
of reds or greens, maybe one just with clashing
colours. What does your own colour wheel look
like? Does neat and orderly work best for you?

Whatever your style, the traditional colour schemes
work as a good starting point an ideal upon which
weve all agreed so that from here we can create
our own versions of those colour schemes. So open
up Painter, pull up the PDF from this issues disc,
and get creative!
24
21/9/07 16:41:43
025_OPM_09.indd 25
21/9/07 12:09:54
showcase
TITLE
WEBSITE
JOB TITLE
Sues gentle and evocative image

won us over and we had to
include it in the magazine. Visit
her site for more great work,
which will no doubt inspire you
to get creating yourself!
Boy At Beach
www.steamtree.net
Digital artist
SUE EVANS ROSS
Tutorial Impressionist landscapes
Using the Impressionist Cloner, we can trace the brushstrokes of Monet and friends
Tutorial info
Artist
Cat Bounds
Time needed
40 minutes
Skill level
Beginner
On the CD
Source photo
s digital artists, we may

sometimes feel the need to
explain to our critics, those
rooted in traditional art media,
that what we do is legitimate art. In that
regard, we may feel a kinship with the
father of Impressionism, Claude Monet.
When he and his friends began painting
much of their art en plein air and without
the realism that was in vogue, they met
with harsh criticism that their art was
merely an impression of a landscape
or scene. What an immeasurable loss it
would have been if they had given up their
inspired vision in order to conform.
In this tutorial, we wont spend a
great deal of time on Monets colours, but
we know he rarely used pure white or
black. Avoiding black was so inherent in
Monets art that at his death, his friend
Georges Clemenceau saw the black sheet
draping his cofin and exclaimed, No! No

black for Monet! and replaced it with a
lowered cloth.
Even more recognisable are the
brushstrokes we know as Impressionistic,
and the Impressionist Cloner does a
great job of producing them. Like all the
Corel Painter brushes, it has an array of
sliders and tweaks to create enough
brush variants to dazzle even Monet. He
would probably feel honoured to know
that with all our advancements we are,
decades later, still attempting to replicate
his techniques.
So, without any delusions of grandeur
that our work will ever approach the
ranks of the Impressionists, we press
forward, grateful for their guidance
and inspiration and begin our painting
directly upon a photo which lends itself to
a style that whispers of a bygone era.
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Tutorial
27
21/9/07 12:22:14
Tutorial Impressionist landscapes
Land and sea

Start creating the bare bones of your landscape
01 Letsbegin!
Open the source photo from

this issues disc. We want to get a bit
closer to those posts and rock formations in the
water for added interest, so crop the bottom and
right side, also losing some of the beach to bring
the horizon downward slightly. Be careful not to
move the cliff formation to the centre.
02 Enhance detail
The photo is full

of detail that we want to make more
apparent, so we pull up the contrast and sharpen
slightly. These are steps that wont really show
in the nished painting, but they help us decide
which elements we will bring out with smaller
brush strokes.
03 Create an underpainting
The local colour lends itself well to

this photo, though we will probably paint over the lime green in the
foreground grasses. Begin by selecting two colours from the image. Set the
Impressionist Cloner to paint instead of clone, and the Expression to Direction,
so that depending on the brush stroke, it will paint in both colours.
05 Grass strokes
Loosen up!
Painters often say
they want to loosen
up, to paint more
freely. Spending time
with the Impressionist
Cloner is an excellent
way to connect with
your inner free spirit.
It might help to know
that Monet, too,
was a perfectionist
and was known to
burn his canvases,
but he sought to
capture the essence
of what was between
him and the object
he was painting,
the instantaneity
of nature. Toward
the end of his life,
the objects in his
paintings almost
disappeared, giving
way to light, shadow,
shapes and colour,
and we all learned a
lesson in seeing.
04 Find an outline
Use the Soft Cloner,

set to 20 per cent, just to locate the
outer edges of your images. Having done this, you
wont really need to turn on the Tracing Paper to
see the photo below the painting.
07 Water
Heres the real beauty

of the Impressionist Cloner. By changing
the Angle setting to Direction, the strokes will
follow the direction of our pen strokes, and for
these grasses we want the strokes to be thin
and owing, so slide the Squeeze slider to the
left, change the Color setting to Clone, and then
colour is picked up from the image.
To make watery, horizontal brush strokes, slide the

Squeeze setting back to 99% and drop the Opacity to 46%, leaving
patches of the light underpainting as you go to read as white caps or sparkles
on the water. Were still using cloned colours, adding a bit of lavender here
and there.
06 Clouds and sky
Brushstroke
directions in the sky are a matter of
preference, but for us vertical or slanted strokes
work best. Sometimes we get carried away with
the lines and swirls, and our skies take on more of
a Van Gogh look, but its all fun. Because of our
underpainting, we dont have to ll every pixel
with strokes.
08 On land
Now were going to nd and create land features.

Decrease the size of your brush and raise the Opacity. Still working
with Angle set to Direction and Color set to Clone, your brush should be
sensitive to each shape in the stones.
28
21/9/07 12:22:29
Tutorial
A prominent
part of this painting is the grass, and
weve gone back, adding teal strokes over the lime
green and off-white and pale yellow highlights
overall. It has enough shadow of its own. Weve
also added additional highlights using the Glow
brush set to an Opacity of about 2%.
10
Keeping soft detail At this point, it is very tempting to give in and
recover realistic detail, but you must resist. Its far more interesting
to paint an indication of something going on. Is that a building up there?
Perhaps. That curving bit of white, is it a meandering road? It could be. Leave
something to the viewers imagination, and youll both be richer for it.
The controls What you need
09 Back to the grasses
11 Monet sun
The Impressionist sky keeps

asking for something else, so mix up some
oranges and yellows, which complement the
blues and lavenders weve been using. Softly paint
in a large sun, still using the same brush but set to
apply colour.
ANGLE BRUSH SETTINGS AND PAPERS

The Angle Squeeze setting allows us to control
the width of our Impressionist Cloner strokes, and
choosing Direction from the Angle Expression dropdown list ensures that the strokes will follow the
direction of the pen. Youd be hard-pressed to imagine
a more true to life brush painting experience.
12 Add a boat
What bay is complete

without a boat? Monet might have
favoured a darker silhouette of a boat, but this one
works for us. Our objective is not to have wide
expansions with nothing going on. Theres no
limit to the number of tweaks and additions we
might add to our Impressionist masterpiece.
13 Strokes without colour
As you
near the end, look at your painting
without colour. This allows you to see the shapes
youve made and the movement of paint strokes
better. Despite the elements youve added,
the grass and sky are still the focal points in the
painting. An interesting website showing Monets
work without colour is http://webexhibits.
org/colorart/monet.html.
IMPASTO AND COLOR EXPRESSION
In order for your brush strokes to have depth and texture, choose Color and
Depth from the drop-down list under Impasto and Artists Canvas in the
Papers palette. Choosing Direction under Color Expression lets you alternate
between two colours, depending on the direction of your stroke.
29
21/9/07 12:22:54
EDGES AND OUTLINES
Primer Charcoal brushes
Before you get shading, its a good idea to

dene a few outlines and boundaries. The
Hard Charcoal Pencil is perfect for this, as
youll get a strong crisp line that will quickly
help your composition take shape
BRUSH CATEGORY
Charcoal
Put the colours away grey is in with
our brush category feature this month!
PRIMER
ow dont get us wrong,

colours all well and good, but
theres something uniquely
captivating about the way in
which a black-and-white image (be it a
photograph or a drawing) can strike you.
Maybe its because when all you have to
concentrate on is the range between light
and shadow, and the composition of the
piece, it somehow seems purer. Or at least,
without colour to distract you, your brain
can just focus on how convincingly the
subject is rendered tonally.
For the same reasons, working in
black and white is also great training
for the artist. And while the humble
pencil is what we all started with,
when youve got some strong
lighting to capture, charcoal is the
ideal choice. Working with digital
charcoal in Corel Painter is even
better, because youve just got that
extra lexibility with it. Whether you
want to reduce the Opacity of a layer, or
even use the Eraser to introduce a white
highlight, you can easily create something
with striking contrast that incorporates
more subtle details too. Its always
tempting to paint that beautiful blue sky,
but for once, a grey sky can actually be a
good thing.
SOFTLY SOFTLY
We found that the Charcoal Pencil
was perfect for rendering both
some of the softer shading on
the face (with a large brush size
and low Opacity) and some of the
tighter areas too (with a smaller
brush and higher Opacity)
THICK AND THIN STROKES

We love using the Sharp Charcoal Pencil
for anything that requires a sweeping
stroke, be it hair or creases in clothing.
Its easy to control the width of the
stroke by varying the pressure, so
smooth arcs will come naturally
Essential papers
Opacity controls
You cant draw without paper
Dont just stick to the defaults
Using a textured paper can have

a big effect on how your charcoal
drawings look, so it is worth getting
this right in the first instance. Go to
Window>Library Palettes>Show Papers
to browse all the different types,
and then go to Effects>Apply Surface
Texture to add it to your canvas, once
youve adjusted the lighting and depth
to your liking. You can always go back
and change it if you dont like the effect
you have initially chosen.
Most of the Charcoal brushes make a fairly

strong line at their default settings and, of course,
this makes them ideal for images with a high
level of contrast. But its almost certainly worth
reducing the Opacity so that you can build up
your images with a wider range of tones. For an
additional level of control, working on different
layers means that you can adjust the Opacity of the
layers themselves, making it easier to experiment.
Youll have greater depth in your shading as a result,
without worrying about working over a detail that
youre pleased with.
30
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HIGHLIGHTS
Charcoal in the real world is messy stuff, and rather than erasing,
its best to leave gaps where you want the paper to show
through. In the digital realm though, you can easily erase in the
later stages, adding bright highlights that bring everything to life
Primer
The Charcoal brushes

At-a-glance guide to the choices on offer
Hard Charcoal Stick
Charcoal Pencil
Sharp Charcoal Pencil
Dull Charcoal Pencil
Soft Charcoal
Gritty Charcoal
Soft Charcoal Pencil
Hard Charcoal Pencil
Soft Vine Charcoal
Charcoal
Charcoal
CHARCOAL OPTIONS
Here is a full list of all the
Charcoal options that you
have open to you, some of
which are illustrated in the box
to the right. Experiment with
the tools to nd the right one
This months highlights
Brush size control
Add some shimmer and shine
Because size matters
One of the real joys of working with charcoal

is deciding what parts of the paper to leave
showing through. This is true of real charcoal,
but when working digitally in Corel Painter
you can use it to your advantage even more,
literally erasing the charcoal towards the end
of the process, leaving shimmering bright
spots that really enhance everything. Of
course, you could also literally paint in white
on a layer above, or use a layer mask to hide
the charcoal without actually deleting any of
your brush strokes.
Because charcoal leaves such strong

marks, theres less potential to build up
your pieces little by little. A good charcoal
image needs to have strong contrast,
otherwise you may as well use a pencil.
And even if it might sound obvious, using
the right size of brush becomes just that
little bit more important. It can all end up
looking a bit streaky if youre not careful,
as every time you overlap, the contrast will
be more noticeable. Make the brush size as
big as you dare for each area.
31
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Tutorial Create ice-cool images
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Tutorial
Gracjana Zielin ska shows you how to...
Create ice-cool images

Learn how to paint a winter-themed portrait from scratch
Tutorial info
Artist
Gracjana Zielinska
Time needed
2 hours
Skill level
Intermediate
On the CD
Start sketch
rom the mood, the snow and

the colours, I have always loved
everything about winter. And the
Snow Queen, as an archetype, is a
theme I have always had fun with.
For the purposes of this tutorial, I have
aimed to portray a winter lady shown
while travelling through her distant,
cold domain. To begin with, I sought out
winter landscapes on the internet for
inspiration, to see how the colours looked
and what could be a general setting for
the picture. I also browsed through many
illustrated childrens books to remind
myself how I felt about the Snow Queen

when I was younger. At irst, I wanted
to go for a more scary look so she
would seem almost inhuman, but then
I thought a pretty, yet distant, winter
lady is a concept I would much prefer
and understand as a child. Hence, I
aimed for a portrait that would be
interesting for both kids and adults.
I also had to learn a lot about using
colours from similar palettes, while
achieving some variety with them so
the whole picture wouldnt seem dull.
I decided that I wouldnt go for the all-
white look, as I saw too many pictures

using only this and light shades of blue.
Therefore, I went for an evening scene
in an undecided place, which adds to
the mysterious atmosphere.
I took some time to design her dress,
as I ind this process most enjoyable. I
didnt want her to be wearing a typical
dress, boring and almost medieval, so
I mixed various clothes styles from a
few different periods in time to create
something new. All of that was quite a
challenge, but hopefully youll ind it as
enjoyable to paint as I did!
The crisp and cool colour palette

Use this palette to apply to your own Snow Queen masterpiece
Back ground
C: 95%
M: 77%
Y: 45%
K: 41%
Lips and jeweller y gems

C: 91%
M: 65%
Y: 39%
K: 22%
C: 70%
M: 37%
Y: 31%
K: 2%
C: 56%
M: 24%
Y: 25%
K: 0%
C: 60%
M: 72%
Y: 57%
K: 54%
C: 2%
M: 58%
Y: 29%
K: 0%
Coat and hair

C: 84%
M: 74%
Y: 58%
K: 76%
C: 33%
M: 99%
Y: 65%
K: 34%
C: 36%
M: 93%
Y: 71%
K: 47%
C: 81%
M: 65%
Y: 41%
K: 24%
C: 53%
M: 24%
Y: 15%
K: 0%
C: 23%
M: 4%
Y: 1%
K: 0%
C: 50%
M: 35%
Y: 30%
K: 1%
C: 31%
M: 37%
Y: 36%
K: 1%
C: 54%
M: 62%
Y: 56%
K: 31%
C: 88%
M: 69%
Y: 53%
K: 53%
Brushes
Corset and blouse

C: 19%
M: 7%
Y: 11%
K: 0%
SCRATCHBOARD TOOL
AIRBRUSH
LEAKY PEN
Blenders
Skin tones
C: 4%
M: 11%
Y: 8%
K: 0%
TINTING
C: 64%
M:75%
Y: 58%
K: 68%
GRAINY WATER
JUST ADD WATER
BLUR
33
21/9/07 15:13:26
Start with the basics

Begin with a sketch
01 Initial concept sketch
Im not a typical CG illustrator, hence

most of my illustrations have their start in a pencil sketch. I did a few
rough sketches before I chose one on which I decided to paint. Dont overdo
your sketch. It can look very messy, but youll be only using it as a guideline. Of
course, it doesnt matter if youre doing a sketch in pencil or directly in Corel
Painter, this is just how I usually work. The quality of it isnt important, as it
wont be visible in the nal picture. Load the start sketch off the CD.
Rotating the
canvas
a marvellous
little feature
One of the best
features in Corel
Painter is the
ability to simulate
rotating the canvas.
I dont know about
you, but when Im
drawing something
traditionally I rotate
a piece of paper very
often to draw at the
angle I feel most
comfortable with.
In Painter, when
you hold together
Space+Alt, you can
rotate the canvas and
paint at any angle
you like without
changing the actual
picture. Holding
Space+Alt+Shift will
rotate the canvas 90
degrees, so its quick
and easy to go back to
the initial state.
Preparing
02
your
workspace to start
I placed the sketch on a
new layer and changed
its composite method
to Multiply so all the
white parts become
transparent. I created a
custom-made palette
by dragging a brush
into the main area. Add
more brushes to this by
dragging them into it.
I used my general set,
adding Pens, Blenders,
Tinting, Airbrushes,
Palette Knives and
Photo. Then I lled the
background layer with
some dark blue to get
the general tone of
the picture.
03 Laying down some general colours
We already have a
background colour, so use any brush with low Opacity; try other
ones to see how they blend with the whole picture. I tested various shades of
blue for her clothes and some beige, orange and pink for the skin, although all
of them will eventually have a slightly blue tint, otherwise theyll be in contrast
with the rest. This is why I created a colour palette with half transparent
brushes, so the colours can take over a bit of the blue from the background.
04 Using the sketch as a guideline
With the sketch layer on, I

sketched general guidelines and a basic shape of the girl onto the
layer below, then I turned the sketch layer off. You only need to go back to it to
check if youre still following the general concept. Also, dont create too many
layers. I worked with three; one each for the background, girl and the pencil
sketch. Use the Basic Round Tinting brush to apply some of the shadows to the
dark areas on the face. This is just rough and ready at the moment.
Adding
06
details to
the face
05 The general shape of the face
I laid down colours for the face with

the Scratchboard tool, found under the Pens
menu, set to 13 per cent Opacity. I blocked in the
general shadows, taking the light source into
consideration, and some red on the lips and dark
brown on the eyes. Nows a good time to block in
general lights and shadows on the whole picture.
I usually use
Airbrushes for this as
theyre really precise.
I work with them like
I would with a pencil,
drawing lots of lines,
crossing them and
blending colours.
I used one of the
Blenders afterwards,
but only to touch
things up. The colour
mixing happens here
with the Airbrushes. I
also outlined a bit more
of the lips and eyes.
34
21/9/07 15:13:50
Getting
08
started
with the hair
Its easy
to get carried away with the Blenders
and to make everything look at and smudged, so
beware. I always use more than one, constantly
changing their Opacity to get more texture. The
two I used most here were Just Add Water and
Grainy Water. After that I added some more
details, including highlights, using an airbrush.
Take your time applying the details

Theres snow rush
Blur, a tool hidden in

the Photo category,
is a very useful thing
I discovered not so
long ago. When you
look at some photos
or paintings, youll
see that the further
something is, the
more blurred it seems,
which is a nice thing
to remember while
drawing. Very often,
blurring some details
is the final touch
needed to add more
depth and make other
things stand out more.
Of course, you have to
be careful because its
very easy to overdo it,
but carefully used, it
can really add a lot to
the picture.
07 Final touches to the face
For the
hair, I used the Basic
Round brush from
the Tinting category.
It mixes colours really
well, a bit similar to
traditional pastels. To
begin, I blocked in the
shape using dark blue
not black and then
marked a general shape
of how the strokes will
ow outwards.
Tutorial
Blur great
for achieving
good realism
10 Detailing
the hair
Work from darker to lighter colours,

as you can achieve more depth in the hair this way. Dont worry
about painting each individual strand, as they look blurred in photos but you
just know its all there. I still worked with Tinting brushes, detailing the strokes
more. A trick is to use the Blur tool, under the Photo category, to soften the
parts of the hair that are further away, so the ones at the front stand out more.
To
nish the hair, I used
various blenders to
make them look more
uffy. A nice idea is
to add some single
strokes in various
directions at the end.
It will give the whole
haircut more depth
and it will seem more
realistic. Very often
in photos, you can
see that the hair as a
whole seems blurred,
yet there are just some
single strokes visible.
11 Getting started with the clothes
12 Working on folds
09 General shape of the hair
Now its time to work on her

dress. I lifted colours from the colour palette at the beginning of the
tutorial, and mixed them while marking the folds. A nice tool to use for that
is Mixer, but I got used to mixing them on a layer with colours so I can see at
the same time how they mix with the background. As before, I blocked in the
general shape with the Scratchboard tool.
Working on folds can be fun and irritating at

the same time. Remember each material folds in its own way. Usually
I just repaint it until Im quite satised with the result, while here I mostly
used Tinting with the help of many blenders. Also try to remember that not
everything has to be shiny. In this case the dress is rather matted, so no strong
highlights are needed.
35
21/9/07 15:14:10
Ice Queen or nice queen?

The icing on the cake
14 Queens
fur coat
13 Working on the corset
For getting a general shape of the corset,

I used the same methods as described before. Remember you can
work diagonally on it by rotating the canvas once you get used to it, you
wont imagine you couldve lived without it! Also, now is a good time to clean
up the mess a bit before starting the fur collar, so you can see how the general
proportions and shapes are turning out.
Color
Correction
lends a hand
Corel Painter offers a
wide variety of tools
under Effects>Tonal
Control. Whenever
you feel something
goes wrong with the
colours, you dont
necessary have to
repaint it. Sometimes
using the tools there
will fix everything
thats wrong with the
tones in a second.
Remember, you
can also always use
the Selection tools to
choose exactly which
parts on any layer
youd like to change,
if the piece that needs
to be adjusted is
merged with some
other you want to
remain untouched.
15 Avoiding a winter chill
I thought that
it was a bit illogical that shes in winter
scenery wearing a dress with an opened bust, so
I added a white blouse. Since its made of a lighter
material, I painted many folds on it as it crumples
easily. I also wanted it to be shinier, therefore I
added many highlights to the more convex parts.
Working on the fur is

very similar to the way I
painted everything else.
Although, as theyre
less blurry than hair, the
shape of the strokes
matter more. To add
patterns to the dress, I
painted some owery
shapes, then began
copying and pasting
them to create a pattern.
After that I changed
this layers settings to
Overlay, so it blended
with the dress in a more
realistic way.
16 Corsets pattern
In this picture I
wanted her corset to have quite a delicate
pattern. I invented my own patterns, later drawing
something similar on the picture and copying and
pasting it to get the whole design. When nished,
I erased it where needed and lowered the Opacity
to blend more with the corset.
17 Jewellery and details
Using the
Airbrush tool, I added some more strokes
of fur, using some Blenders and Blur to give it a
softer effect. I also painted icicles pointing out
from her fur collar to emphasise her role as Snow
Queen. As for jewellery, I sketched some ideas out
before applying them with the Airbrushes.
19
Background
18 Finishing the clothes
To add some
shadows underneath the jewellery, I
copied the layer with it in, checked this new layers
Preserve Transparency option and lled it with a
dark blue colour. After that I changed its blending
mode to Multiply and lowered the Opacity.
While holding Ctrl/Cmd, I moved the shadow
below the jewellery and unchecked the Preserve
Transparency box.
The
background not a
key feature here, as
the focus is on the
character, therefore
I left it in a more
painterly way, using
Tinting and Blenders
mostly. After nishing,
I thought it looked
too desaturated, so
I used Effects>Tonal
Control>Adjust Colors
to saturate it a bit
more, so the whole
picture looks unied
with regard to tones.
36
21/9/07 15:14:27
Tutorial
Here I
decided human eyes would suit her
better than demonic ones. I started with blocking
in the white part; the best place to pick up the
colour for it is the brightest spot on the face, as it
wont ever be just pure white, it all depends on the
general lighting. I blocked in the eyeballs shape
with a dark colour and worked on it with Tinting
brushes, nishing up the details using an Airbrush.
21 Adding the snow
Time now to set up the Snow Queen in a proper

winter landscape. I chose the Scratchboard tool and used an Airbrush
on a new layer to paint some bright dots for the snow, painting them using
a very light blue while having my brush set to low Opacity. Dont paint all the
dots in the same size, it never looks like that in real life as some are closer,
some are further. After youre done with the general shape, add some life to it.
Use Effects>Focus>Motion Blur and change the angle to create an impression
of movement among the snowakes.
20 Painting realistic eyes
22 Last step the check ups
After
nishing the picture, its always good
to check it. One of most useful is converting the
image to greyscale to see if the tones are properly
saturated. Flipping it horizontally often uncovers
aws in anatomy not usually visible while viewing
the picture normally. Add some additional details
and if everything looks okay, youre done!
Brush selection The tools used to create our Snow Queen
GRAINY WATER
SCRATCHBOARD TOOL
One of my favourite tools for,
well, everything. It doesnt
blend by itself as well as other
brushes, but because of that,
it lets me control the lights
and shades Im drawing.
Used almost everywhere,
especially when beginning
painting and dening the
general shape of the picture.
I use many blenders while working in

Corel Painter, but this one is my favourite
because it leaves a really nice texture and
never seems too at. I usually blend the
skin with it.
LEAKY PEN
TINTING
Tinting is another of my favourite tools
to paint with in Corel Painter. It gives
you the often sought-for painterly look,
while still allowing you to mix colours
in a really smooth way without using
additional blenders.
Whenever I need some brocade like

structure or to create a foggy, textured
impression, this one always comes in
handy. It leaves many random dots
and with a bit of practice, can become
much more useful to imitate depth in
picture than some textures made out
of photos.
37
21/9/07 15:17:55
Tutorial Paint like Henri Matisse
38
038-043_OPM_09_matisse.indd 38
21/9/07 09:22:27
Tutorial
Paint like: Henri Matisse
Tutorial info
Artist
Hannah Gal
Time needed
3 hours
Skill level
Intermediate
On the CD
Final piece
enri Matisse is one of the

best-known artists of the
20th century. Noted for his
innovative use of colour, his
mastery is undisputed, spanning over a
particularly proliic career.
The artist grew up in Bohain-enVermandois, France, and started painting
in 1889. Art became his life and he often
referred to it as a kind of paradise.
A signiicant turning point in his life
came upon meeting the painter John
Peter Russell who introduced him to
Impressionism and the expressive Van
Gogh. This exposure had a major impact
on Matisse whose style changed to make
colour the centre of his creation, with
inluences by Czanne, Gauguin, Van
Gogh and Signac.
His irst solo exhibition was in 1904,
but a more signiicant show came a year
later when he showed work at the Salon
dAutomne alongside fellow artists Andr
Derain, Georges Braque, Raoul Dufy and
Maurice Vlaminck.
The colours on show were so vivid
they were called by one critic as fauves,
French for wild beasts. A new movement
was formed, carrying the Fauve name.
Matisse was widely accepted as one of its
prominent leaders.
Pressure
From the initial drawing to the final Impasto layer, the use of the Pressure setting is
a major plus. Adjust the tablet or stylus settings as you go along. Take advantage of
the Pressure option and move the stylus along the canvas with sensitivity
This movements prime objective was

to liberate colour. They saw themselves
as portrayers of colour, not imitators of
nature painting pictures and not objects.
The piece Open Window was painted
in Collioure, a small town on the
Mediterranean coast of France and was
exhibited at the Salon dAutomne in 1905.
It is regarded by many as an icon of early
modernism, certainly celebrated as one of
the most important paintings of the Fauve
group. The painting features a startling
display of saturated, vivid colours.
The subject is an open window
overlooking the sea. The piece is made of
a multitude of strokes that at irst glance
might look like they were quickly and
loosely applied, but this is far from the
truth. There is a careful consideration of
colour scheme and placement of strokes
that complete and complement each other.
The composition is worth mentioning,
as it is a unique series of frames within
frames. In the wall is the window, in the
window are frames and at the centre is
the balcony, which crops the landscape.
Paint like Henri Matisse
Matisses art is an exploration of colour. Seek the strongest colour effect

possible, he said. The content is of no importance. Try his style for yourself
The interior wall surrounding the window
is equally divided into broad areas of
blue-green and fuchsia, a contrast that
stems from the complementary green and
red on the colour wheel. This contrast also
features in the lowerpots at the bottom
of the picture.
Open Window contains a dazzling
variety of brushstrokes, from long and
blended to short light touches. Many of the
brushstrokes in this painting are broad
too. Some areas like the glass on right and
left are covered with a softer brush where
strokes at the centre of the window are
brisk and loaded with paint.
You will use Acrylics and Oils to
re-create Matisses style. Charcoal
will help create the gritty look of some
strokes, while Impasto will add a 3D
effect. A shiny layer will be applied using
an acrylics glaze.
We used a variety of brushes,
brushstrokes, paints and techniques
to achieve the inal result. This process
really is a celebration of the vibrant
colours available to artists.
The colours on show were so vivid they were

called by one critic as fauves, or wild beasts
Soft Brush
The paint in the first
colour layer is very soft.
Use Airbrush or any low
Opacity paint. This is a
reference layer that is
fully covered later on.
Apply this even if you
feel it can be skipped
Grainy Flat Cover

The Acrylics brushes offer a wide variety of brush looks and texture. It is a highly
versatile brush and we used it here extensively. The Grainy Flat Cover Subcategory
perfectly imitates real-life tools with realistic grain and feel
39
21/9/07 09:22:46
Getting started
Observe the original and create your own masterpiece
01
Layers Open Corel Painter and
download the nished image from the

disc. This will be your reference. This layer can be
turned on and off when needed or just kept at
30-40 per cent Opacity.
02 Drawing
Go to the main menu and

open Brush Creator or the Brush Selector
bar. Choose Pencils and the Sketching Pencil tool.
This is a very a very simple composition made of
semi-straight lines. Create a new layer and sketch
the lines of the nished image.
03 Airbrush
In the Brush Selector or Brush Creator, select

Airbrush>Soft Airbrush 20. In this step we are covering the drawing
with a layer of faint paint. This will be fully covered later and is more of a
preparation for the nal colour application.
05 Acrylics
once more
04 Acrylics
Delve deeper
Go to www.
mystudios.com/art/
modern/matisse/
matisse-joy.html.
Here you will access
the National Gallery of
Art collection.
There is a great
insight into Matisse
in general and this
piece in particular.
Most importantly
though, it includes an
excellent rendition
of the painting. Click
on the Detail Images
option for a detailed
look at this piece. You
can clearly see the
paint, brushstrokes
and texture. This is
particularly helpful
when trying to work in
the style of the artist.
Choose Acrylics>Wet Acrylic

30. Under Method, choose Cover
and make Soft Cover your Subcategory. With
a 16-20 per cent Opacity and Size set to 25-30,
start covering the areas previously painted by
Airbrush. Sample colour from the previous layer or
the reference layer. Alternatively, use the Mixer to
achieve the perfect shade.
06 Darker shade
Use medium to long

strokes to loosely
apply the paint. It is
a bristly brush and
you should see the
bristles clearly as you
go along. Stay with a
maximum 20 per cent
Opacity and adjust
the Size according to
need. Add new layers
whenever you like to
keep bits safe.
Stay with the Wet Acrylics brush, and change

Subcategory to Grainy Flat Cover. Set Grain Expression to Pressure
and Grain to 14 per cent. Follow the colours applied earlier to add a layer of
strong, darker colour to the painting.
07 Pre-centre strokes
Increase Opacity to 40-45 per cent. Observe

the original piece and set the Size to suit your need of the area you
are working on. Expression can be left on Pressure or set on None at this
point. Let the drawing and previous layers guide you as you work.
40
21/9/07 09:23:05
It is time to paint the little strokes at the centre of

the piece. Choose Oils>Opaque Flat, set Opacity to 70-75 per cent.
Under Draw To, choose Color and Depth and set Depth to 15 per cent. Apply
short, brisk strokes in the direction and shape of the original.
09 Filling in
The entire inside of the window has a light brown/beige

background, acting as a bonding agent between colours. Sample
this or use the Mixer to create it. Use the same brush as in the previous step at
a 16-18 per cent Opacity to cover areas between strokes with this shade.
Show your true colours

Its as Mat-easy as one, two, three!
An often-overlooked
Painter option is the
ability to record your
work. To record a
stroke, open the Brush
Selector bar. Click on
the little triangle on
the right to display it.
Choose Record Stroke.
The next brushstroke
you apply will be
saved for you.
To play it back,
click on the little
triangle on right of
Brush Selector bar
and select Playback
Stroke. Each time you
click on the image,
the stroke will now
be replicated to your
precise specifications.
From the same
location on the Brush
Selector bar, you
can activate Auto
Playback to apply the
same stroke randomly
until you stop it.
08 Centre strokes
Tutorial
Record
your work
10 Filling
more in
Increase brush Opacity

to 30-35 per cent and
ll in any white with the
brown/beige colour. Use
light horizontal strokes
and adjust the Size of the
brush according to the
areas you need to cover.
11 Camel hair
Create a new layer and

name it Thick Oils. Using new layers
for different stages is optional. It is a way of
protecting yourself from having to go back in case
a mistake is made. Simply drop the layer once you
are happy with your work within it.
13 Missing gaps
12 Thick oils
Choose Impasto>Round Camel Hair. Open Brush Creator

and under Impasto, set Draw To to Color and Depth. Set Depth to
15 per cent, Opacity to 35-40 per cent and apply 3D strokes over the ones
applied earlier. Go with the ow of the original strokes and use their direction
and feel as a guide.
Continue
with Round Camel
Brush until the inside
of the windows is
painted. Short brisk
strokes that are full of
life and character. In
Brush Creator choose
Acrylics>Wet Acrylic
30. Use this brush to go
over the entire image
and ll in any areas that
were missed or left
incomplete. Use a 40-45
per cent Opacity.
41
21/9/07 09:23:27
Nearing completion
Will this be your fauve-rite piece of art yet?
Use light for

3D effects
One of the most
common aims for
Corel Painter users is
being able to achieve
a realistic look of
thick paint. This is
particularly important
when re-creating the
old masters, as they
often used thick layers
of oils. Dont be afriad
to use many layers
Impasto Create a new layer and name it Impasto. We are going to
of the same colour,
apply even more oil to add a 3D painterly effect to the painting. Zoom
to help build up this
in
at
50-75
per cent and observe the original while moving from one part of
feeling of depth, and
the image to the next. Use the Impasto>Thick Wet Flat 20 brush at 60-65 per
also use the lighting
cent Opacity.
controls as we have
done here (see over
the page).
14
16
Zoom out Use the Hand Grabber tool to move from one area of the
image to the next. The stroke is deeper with any repeat application so
use cautiously to the degree you see t. To judge the effect properly, zoom out
when you have nished. Admire your work so far by observing the painting at
25 per cent for an overall impression.
15 Get closer
Zoom in further to a 90-100 per cent magnication

level and open Brush Creator. Under Impasto, set Draw To to Depth.
Observe the original for feel and stroke direction and cover areas where paint
is deep and brush loaded with thick paint. Keep the stylus/mouse pressed as
you go over an area several times for this effect.
17 Impasto
Go to the Layers palette and click on the top right triangle.

Choose Drop All to atten the image. Alternatively, drop each layer
you are happy with individually. The Impasto applied now gives the painting
its unique atmosphere. Go to Impasto>Soft Cover, using one per cent and ve
per cent Depth. Apply the brush in the heavily loaded brush areas, stroke by
stroke in straight lines. The lines are thick, deep and loaded with oil paint.
19 Depth
18 Repeat stroke
Increase the Opacity to 30 per cent and repeat the

exercise of the previous step. As you go over previous lines, you will
notice a blending effect. The strokes interact with each other, imitating the
real-life painting process beautifully.
Go
back to the
one per cent Opacity
setting and under
Impasto, set Draw To
to Depth only and the
Depth to ve per cent.
Find strokes in the
original image where
there is an impression
of an empty brush
swiped over a loaded
stroke. The effect
is of a dent in the
paint rather than the
paint being swiped.
We chose Depth
but you might want
to experiment with
Negative Depth (found
under Impasto).
42
21/9/07 09:23:48
Tutorial
21 Gritty
Charcoal
The strokes by now should be deep and heavy with paint.

There should be a convincing 3D look already. The lighting effect
applied now is not to create this impression but to enhance the effect. Go to
Effect>Surface Control>Apply Surface Texture. Set Amount to nought per
cent and drag the Light to the top centre of the globe.
Brush power
20 Lighting
The edges of the

doors have a gritty dry
effect. It looks like the
edge of the loaded
brush was dragged
along the canvas.
There are several
ways to recreate this
effect. Choose the
Charcoal brush and
set Subcategory to
Grainy Hard Cover.
Sample the paint of
the dark red left door
for example, and with
a 14 per cent Grain
and 30-42 per cent
Opacity, run the stylus
lightly in a straight line.
Essential tools and techniques

HEAVILY LOADED
AND STRAIGHT
The strokes here are
applied in straight
lines that follow the
window frame. The
brush is loaded with
paint, meaning each
layer of paint interacts
with and affects the
one underneath
LOOSEN YOUR STYLE

Re-creating a Matisse is a
very liberating technique,
simply because his style
allowed for such expression
in the brushstrokes. Dont be
too perfect when creating
this image!
LONG AND GRITTY

The Charcoal tool was used
here to apply a gritty and dry
brush look to the nished
piece. The strokes are long
and light
DEPTH
Over the heavy oil brushstrokes, we
briskly ran a dry brush. This used the
Depth option only, without colour,
to create a dent in the paint. The
Depth option under Impasto creates a
particularly realistic effect
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21/9/07 09:24:20
Feature focus Photo-editing tools
Photoediting tools
PICK THE EFFECTS

The Effects menu houses
the best photo-editing
options. From here you can
control colours, brightness,
contrast and focus. The
Photo brushes are also
good for painting on colour
and other effects
Dont run to Photoshop each time you

need to edit your photos Corel Painter
has plenty of options
orel Painter is obviously known
primarily as a digital-painting
program, so its easy to overlook
its photo-editing capabilities. A
lot of people instantly think that to edit
a photo, even if its just making minor
adjustments before painting over it, a trip
is needed into a dedicated image editor.
However, for most tasks the program
actually has all you need to correct and
perfect your photos, and some of the
tools were created especially for
photographers. You just have to
search them out!
The good news is that you
dont have to do an extensive
search. Most of the imageediting gems can be found
under the Effects menu. From
here you can alter the colour of
a photo, adjust its brightness,
correct exposure and edit the
focus. You also have a special
brush category to call upon. The
Photo brushes allow you to paint on
effects such as Saturation and Blur, as well
as the classic Dodge and Burn.
Were going to look at the most helpful
tools and techniques here. These are the
ones that are most useful to common
photo-editing functions and might save
you swapping between two programs!
FEATURE
FOCUS
Equalize
IMPROVE PHOTOS
Corel Painter has many
options for improving
and editing your photos.
You can go for something
as simple as converting
to black and white, to
achieving more complex
tasks such as removing
scratches, sharpening blurred
images or tweaking colours
Brightness/Contrast
Correct your tonal range

Anyone familiar with Photoshops Levels will
feel at home with the Equalize function. Found
under Effects>Tonal Control>Equalize, the
command opens a window and automatically
equalises your photo. You can adjust the
effect by moving the Black or White sliders.
You can also use an Equalize dynamic layer to
retain the original image. Open your photo,
then click the Dynamic Plug-ins icon at the
bottom of the Layers palette. The window will
open on a copy of your image, allowing you to
make changes without affecting the original.
Target the colours

Adjusting the brightness and contrast in an image
alters the colours without affecting the tonal
transitions. Go to Effects>Tonal Control>Brightness/
Contrast to open the dialog window. The top slider
adjusts the contrast. Moving the slider right will
increase it, giving a more vibrant image, while to
the left will flatten the tones. The bottom slider
moves the colours towards a brighter or darker tone.
Moving the slider right will lighten the colours, while
going left will darken them. If youre not sure of what
look youre after, preserve the original by using a
Brightness/Contrast dynamic layer.
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044-046_OPM_09_featurefocus.indd44 44
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Feature focus
Photo brushes
Edit at the tip of a brush
In addition to the menu commands, the Photos brush category can help
you edit photos. There are lots of options here, from sharpening and
softening to adding grain, but here are three of the most useful.
Photo-editing tools
BOOSTING COLOUR
Enhancing the colour in photos is a
common editing task and the Adjust
Color command is just the tool for the
job. From here you can change the hue,
saturation and value of the colours in your
photo, based on a variety of references.
Give it a try you wont be disappointed!
01 Scratch Remover
Scanning in old photos can often reveal

hairs or scratches. One easy way of erasing these is to use the
Scratch Remover variant. Pick a small Size and low Opacity, zoom into
the image and gently blend the scratch in with the surrounding pixels.
DYNAMIC LAYERS
A few photo-editing tasks can be carried
out on a dynamic layer. The advantage
of this is that the original image will be
preserved, so any changes you make
wont damage it. To access the layers,
click on this icon in the Layers palette and
then make your choice.
02 Saturation Add
To draw attention to a specic part of

a photo, use the Saturation Add brush. Paint over an area
and the colour saturation will increase. You can control the effect by
lowering or increasing the Opacity.
Adjust Color
Playing about with hue
To give your photo a boost, pay a visit to
Effects>Tonal Controls>Adjust Color. From
here, you can strip colour away completely by
moving the Saturation slider to the left. When
the dialog window opens, a drop-down menu
lets you set what source to use for the colour
change. Wed say to stick with the default of
Uniform Color. There are sliders to adjust the
hue, saturation and value of the photo. The
changes can be seen in the Preview window
and you can move this around to see the
different areas.
03 Dodge and Burn
These two are the most famous of

photo-editing tools Dodge will lighten a photos pixels, while
Burn darkens them. Use a large brush at low Opacity to subtly edit an
area or increase the Opacity for a more dened approach.
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Feature focus Photo-editing tools
FEATURE
FOCUS
Correcting colours
Apply the techniques youve just read about
You dont have
to jump into
Photoshop every
time you want to
edit a photo Corel
Painter has plenty
of options
01 Even things out
A good place to start

your photo corrections is in the Equalize
area. This will automatically even out tones,
although you may still need an extra push.
02 Moving points
Although the photos

colours have gone a bit mad, the black
and white points in the Equalize dialog box are
perfect for tweaking tones. Move these outwards
to dampen down the effect and also move the
Brightness slider to the right.
03 Brightness/Contrast
05 Seeing red
06 Feeling green
The
Brightness/Contrast command is also
good for adjusting photos. Here we reduced the
brightness and boosted the contrast to bring out
the reds and greens in the photo. Its made the
photo very rich in colour.
Fade away
When you make any
colour or editing
adjustments, dont
forget about the
Edit>Fade command.
As the name suggests,
it allows you to
reduce the effect of
something. The further
you move the slider to
the right, the less the
change will fade.
04
Color Correction But we want even
more! The Color Correction command

will let you target specic hues and make them
behave how you want. Go to Effects>Tonal
Control>Correct Colors and then select Curve
from the drop-down menu.
The default setting is on

Master, which means edits will apply
to the whole image. To target specic hues, click
the appropriate colour. We have clicked the red
square. Youll see a red dot appear on the curve;
drag downwards to decrease the hue or upwards
to increase.
We decreased the
red slightly to make what was there
stronger. Now its a case of clicking the green
square and decreasing that as well. By decreasing
a colour, you can sometimes make it stronger. In
this case, dampening the green has made the reds
become resplendent!
Correct Colors
Soften and Sharpen
Riding the curve
Alter your focus

Effects>Tonal Control>Correct Colors
will open the Color Correction window.
This follows a grid formation, much like
Photoshops Curves. In Corel Painter
though, you can use this format to
adjust the brightness and contrast,
using sliders or specific colour channels,
as well as altering the colours using a
curve, freehand or an advanced option
of manually setting the colour values.
This is a powerful and intuitive way of
tinkering with colours.
Perfecting the focus of a photo is an essential skill to

have, and it doesnt necessarily all have to be done incamera. For example, a trip to the Effects>Focus menu
will reveal two commands that can help improve your
photos. The Soften command is great for simulating
a shallow depth of field, or enhancing one that is
already there. Select where you want to soften, go to
Select>Feather to soften the selection and then go to
Effects>Focus>Soften. The Gaussian setting is fine. The
Sharpen command will tidy up the edges of objects. You
can also use the Sharpen or Blur variants in the Photo
brush category for precise control.
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20/9/07 18:07:14
Tutorial Create a concept piece of art
Create a concept
piece of art
Daniel Cox talks you through creating a
concept piece of art that references famous
illustrators from the Sixties and Seventies
hen I was asked if I would

be interested in writing
a tutorial on how I would
go about creating a retro
science iction concept, I immediately
jumped at the chance. Anybody familiar
with my work would probably notice that
Im a huge fan of the great illustrators
like Robert McGinnis, Robert T McCarthy,
and Gil Elvgren. So I was very excited
to begin and also saw it as a chance
to maybe introduce readers to a few
artists whose work they might have
seen in a movie poster or on a paperback
cover, but werent aware who the artist
was. So I narrowed down the list to
two artists whose work I admired and
would try to channel in my painting (see
the sidebars to see who those artists
were) and hopefully create an authentic
looking science-iction painting. I also
wanted to use bold brush strokes, yet

also have enough detail so the scene
would feel believable. And lastly, I wanted
to approximate the look of traditional
gouache or acrylics, which obviously
helped deine which brushes I would
be best using. I began looking at a lot of
reference, both of other artists of that
era, and also the technology at the time
(so satellites, ICBM missiles, Sky lab). I
then hit on the idea of combining the retro
style painting with the Strategic Defense
Initiative that Reagan championed during
the cold war. I had my hook, so was ready
to begin. So lets get on with it!
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048-054_OPM_09_space.indd 48
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Tutorial
Create a concept piece of art
49
21/9/07 13:15:00
Tutorial info
Artist
Daniel Cox
Planning out the planets

Before creating for real, plan out your angle
Time needed
3 hours
Skill level
Intermediate
On the CD
Visit our website

for final piece
01 Reference
Finding reference is obviously the rst step, and it was

such a thrill to study the work of these famous artists. I already had a
large digital collection of their work, so it didnt take me long to realise that I
was in for a huge challenge. But I was up for the task so went straight to work!
02 Thumbnails
Its always good to experiment with thumbnail

drawings before starting on something properly. I knew that I
certainly wanted to base the painting near the earth, so did a few rough
sketches just in black and white to begin to loosen up.
03 More
reference
It then struck me that

while I had a great deal
of inspiration from
other artists, I needed
to nd my angle for
what this image would
actually be about!
What was my hook?
Thats when I began
researching words
like satellites,
missiles, orbit etc,
and I eventually found
the concept.
04 Tell a story
Ive always found that the best illustrators nd

a way to tell a story in their image, and I had just found mine. I
remembered SDI (Strategic Defense Initiative) from the cold war, and thought
this would be a great topic for a retro painting. I actually couldnt nd many
illustrations on that topic, so it was perfect.
The works of Robert T McCall

Certain top illustrators have become identified with
a specific genre they illustrated extensively. The first
illustrator that Im going to spotlight is Robert T McCall,
an artist who was known for his jets and spaceships.
He started his illustration career working for LIFE
magazines memorable series on the future of space
travel. At that time, he became one of a few select artists
to be chosen for NASA, documenting the progress of
American space history, and has been present at nearly
every NASA event since. McCalls heroic artwork is on
permanent exhibit at many prestigious institutions
including the National Gallery of Art, and he has done
murals for the National Air & Space Museum, the
Pentagon, EPCOT, and Johnson Space Center.
His work for movies includes The Black Hole, Tora! Tora!
Tora!, and Star Trek: The Motion Picture, but it was his
memorable poster for the landmark film 2001:A Space
Odyssey that he is most known for. Bobs work has been
featured in virtually every popular magazine in the past

30 years.
Go to www.mccallstudios.com to find out more about
the life and work of this influential artist and get inspired
for this tutorial!
05 Try out a few techniques
This is
still the planning stage. Here I wanted to
see if I get the thick, bold brushstrokes of Berkey
and the scientically accurate rendering of McCall.
I used the Acrylic brush to lay in my paint and
immediately pushed and pulled it with the Dry
Palette Knife set at very low opacity. I also focused
on the planet, trying to capture the inferred detail.
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21/9/07 13:15:58
more playing about, I decided to use it

as a concept piece and sent it to the editor, who
gave me the thumbs up to proceed (although the
dimensions were tweaked).
07
new dimensions for the nal print le

(30cm high by 48cm wide), I dive right in. I do six
thumbnails and decide to combine aspects I like
of two of them and begin to develop it. Ive just
painted these on off-white canvas, using just the
Acrylic brush at high opacity to lay in the shapes.
08 Setting it up
When I thumbnail I nd
it easier to work in a rough way and just
approximate the nal canvas. That way, I dont
feel constricted painting inside a box. So I make
a new le and then paste my thumbnail into it. I
move it around till it feels right, and then make a
few quick modications like shrinking the moon
and rene the composition.
Get things off the ground

With the planning stage done, its all systems go
09
New layers I dont paint directly onto
my thumbnail, and instead just use it

as a guide. Theres no point in restricting myself,
right? So I make a new layer and begin to lay in
the shapes, starting with the space and then the
earth. I mostly just use gradients and do this in
Photoshop because I just nd it quicker. I also add
a glow from the sun top left, which is my main
light source.
11 A great photo
Blocking
10
in the big
shapes
Next, its just a

case of blocking in the
big shapes. I keep
referring to my rough,
and make changes
accordingly, always
keeping an eye on the
balance of the painting.
While looking for space station reference, I found a

really great photo of the Mir space station and decided to use that as
my main spacecraft. It made sense with the SDI concept that MIR would be
involved, and was a good mix of the past and the present.
Johns work has

appeared on over
200 novels (most of
them science fiction),
and many major
publications, including
National Geographic,
Popular Mechanics,
TV Guide, Life, Sports
Afield, Newsweek,
Time, Omni Discover
and even Good
Housekeeping.
His work falls into
three categories:
Advertising,
Publishing and
the field of Prints,
Posters, and
Calendars. What
remains constant
throughout his
body of work is the
portrayal of subjects
that cannot be
photographed, but
are instead painted
in a photographic
way. His advertising
work seldom involved
painting a product,
but rather picturing
an idea about a
product or company.
To him, a good space
painting contains both
this is, and what if?.
My favourite paintings
of his are the two
Star Wars posters,
which summarise
Johns technique of
bold brushstrokes
and masterful
composition.
06
Selling the concept After some
New beginnings Armed with the
Tutorial
The work of
John Berkey
12 Using photos
I deep etched the photo, then lled the mask with

the appropriate blue-grey tone. I then rotated and skewed the shape
into the appropriate perspective. You can do this with any photo you like.
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21/9/07 13:17:13
Its all about the texture

Add a bit of texture to make the spaceships convincing
14 More
texture
13 Using photos as texture
I then placed the photo on top, but only

at about 40% opacity, using the Overlay blending option. I just want it
to be a texture, and Ill paint it the appropriate lighting myself. Dont be afraid
to try this with the great blenders that Corel Painter has, its easy to blend it
into the background.
Next I nd some
mechanical looking
texture for the closer
spaceship and mask it
on top, this time using
the Soft Light layer
composite method, as
I just want to use the
shadow area to create
some texture.
Small is big!
If you keep the canvas
size small, itll force
you to focus on
composition first. This
is always essential to
creating an effective
painting. You could
either draw them, or
what I do is block in
enough colour and
tone information so
that it reads. Youll
be surprised how
many ideas you can
quickly generate, and
because its so fast,
youll come up with
new compositions
that you probably
wouldnt have thought
of otherwise. Once
you have chosen your
thumbnail, continue
working like this and
block in as many of
the bigger shapes.
Avoid the temptation
to zoom in and your
painting will be much
better for it. After all,
if it doesnt read to
the eye small, then
it still wont read no
matter how much
you render.
15 Even more texture
I do the same
again for the circular space station. Again,
its really just a mechanical looking texture and
you can really use anything (which I why Im not
showing you the texture). Its not really specic
other than having some mechanical looking
detail. An engine, a circuit board try a few things
and see what result you get.
18
16 Blocking in
I dont worry about

texture for this satellite, because its so far
away. I just want to give it some form, so darken
everything that would be in shadow. A secondary
highlight pass will come later.
Complete all the main

satellites now have texture through them.
As Ive done all these using the compose method
effects, I can now Drop All and atten back to
the canvas.
20 Let there be light!
Blenders are your friends I select
the Flat Grainy Stump (size: 20 45%

opacity), and begin to blend the texture into the
image. The trick is to follow the form, so here Ive
indicated where Ive made vertical strokes. This
sharpish edge on this blender is great for creating
edges, too.
17 Drop all
19 More blending
I continue doing
this all over the satellites, following the
form, so for curved areas I use a curved brush
stoke, and use horizontal strokes over the areas
like the solar panels.
We have form
now, so we just need to add a strong
highlight on the metal satellites. I mix a bluish-grey
colour and apply using the Square Conte 15 (size:
12.5 6%) brush to areas that would be catching
the Sun. An important note to remember: be
consistent! Dont just add highlights to areas you
think look nice, or youll lose realism.
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21/9/07 13:18:03
the
21 Deepen
shadows
22 Repeat after me
Repeat this exact

same process on all the spaceships,
staying consistent with the light and shadow
areas. Use the Blend tool to create edges.
In the distance
The spaceship looks real, but what about the surroundings?
I purposely left
the solar panels on
the satellite blank,
knowing that painting
them straight would
be really hard. So
instead I went back
to Photoshop, made
a new layer and
then painted them
flat. I then used my
manipulation tools
to skew four of them
into the appropriate
perspective. Dont
be afraid to do this
it saves a lot of
time trying to paint
something mechanical
like that and if you
dont get them
even and in the
correct perspective,
it can detract from
the image.
Essentially the texture

gave us our midtones,
so now we want to
add the shadows.
I use the Acrylic
Captured Brush (size:
7.5 - opacity 17%)
and work quickly over
the area. Its more
about inferred detail,
so dont get bogged
down in one area.
Make a few bold
marks, and then
move on!
Tutorial
Dont be
afraid to
manipulate
24 The horizon
23 Keep repeating...
You can then use

the Square Conte 15 (size: 12.5 6%)
brush for highlights. Its a metal surface, so dont
be afraid to keep it sharp. Dont over render. Just
work fast and loose, until the surfaces have form,
and then move on.
25 Use your reference
Im just going
to focus on this area for
the time being, so you
can see in detail whats
being done. I actually
do all these steps with
the whole canvas on full
screen, which stops me
from going too far with
any detail. Im dragging
the paint away from the
earth using the Artist
Oils Dry Palette knife (size:
127 opacity 38%).
Its perfect for this type
of effect!
Ive never been in space, so its really

important to use your reference. I want to infer land masses and a
cloud layer, so I alternate between applying colour with the Square Conte 15
(size: 12.5 opacity 6%), and then blending with the Artist Oils Dry Palette
knife (size: 127 opacity 38%).
26 Space isnt black
One thing about Berkey and McCall is they

never use just black for space. So I use the conte brush to block in
some deep purples and blues, and then blend it out with the palette knife.
Again, dont be afraid to leave strong edges.
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21/9/07 13:19:05
Get lost in space

Dont forget about the external extras
27 Fire in the hull!
Referring back to my
thumbnail, this area is going to be on re
from a laser blast, so I use the Acrylic brush and
Conte, to lay in the warm tones. Dont go over
saturated and red, or the effect will look fake. I try
to create volume by placing the strongest reds,
next to a dark brown. Use the Flat Grainy Stump to
blend and create edges.
28 Frikkin laser beams...
I like to
create the lasers on a new layer, using
the acrylic brush at high opacity (size: 6.6, opacity
68%). Just build it up with two or three strokes
at the most, then use the manipulation tools to
skewer it into the areas indicated in my thumbnail.
29 Oh my stars and garters!
Creating stars is relatively easy. I

could overlay a photo and it would work ne, but I just decide to
paint them. I use the Acrylic brush at a small size, and place them around
the blue-grey areas I painted earlier. A second or third pass is required, and
I increase the size each time slightly, and vary the opacity. Theres so much
going on in this image that I dont want them that strong anyway.
Berkey
30
paints
great moons
I work
over my placeholder
for the moon,
increasing the size, and
base it on something
like Berkey would have
done. I use the Conte
brush, and just build
up the forms, and then
the Acrylic brush to
create the strong edge
at the top. I also paint
in some ICBMs, using
the reference as a
guide, and then create
the missile trails using
the same technique as
I did with the lasers.
31 Heres one I prepared earlier!
I
dont want to waste the satellite I created
in the concept piece, so I just cut and paste it into
the empty area on the left. I use the same Acrylic
brush settings to paint the detail back in, and
also the blender to soften some of the edges so it
doesnt look cut out. That saved about an hour.
Colour
correction
I always like to go in
and do some final
colour adjustments
after the painting is
complete. I felt that
some of the reds were
a little strong, so I
desaturated them
and shifted the hue
slightly more magenta
so the lasers and
explosions sat better.
I also shifted some
of the blues into the
cyan, and then slightly
desatured everything.
A small change, but a
big difference overall.
32 Details
Now its time to add details and do some rendering. The

explosion still feels a little soft, so I use the Conte brush to add edges.
Then I use the Acrylic brush to add debris that is exploding out from the craft.
33 Final details
I now add details to the solar panels (see the side bar
for how I did those) and form to the space station by strengthening
the highlights. I then add a human gure, and the appropriate lighting from
his backpack (I have to stop myself, before I over work it!). This painting is
dedicated to John Berkey and Robert McCall.
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21/9/07 13:19:55
Art study How to paint hair
How to
pa in t ha ir
Creating realistic hair in Corel Painter isnt as difficult as you

might think. Read on for our guide to quick and easy techniques
to painting hair in different mediums
Stra ight ha ir
Dry medium (chalk)
Chalk is a natural for quick, expressive,
volumetric rendering and the method used
here is one of drawing in loose gestural
details followed by blending. Start by
drawing the basic outline of the hair using
the darkest value and a Tapered Artists
Chalk 30, using a broader line for the
outer edges. Block in the two darkest
values with a Dull Grainy Chalk 30 using
directional strokes following the hairs shape,
keeping it loose. Use the Smudge tool set
to a Size of 40 to blend the two values.
Make directional lines with two dark values

using the Tapered Artists Chalk 20. Add a few
shadow lines of the darkest value in the lighter
areas and add a bit of shadow at the part. Use
the Smudge tool set to 40 along the grain to
blend the lines in. A few light strokes in places
will break up any lines that seem too regular.
Use the Tapered Artists Chalk 20 to add the two lightest values
(darkest rst and lightest smaller and on top) at the highlights.
Switch the Size to ten and add more hair strands. Smudge as before.
Wet medium (watercolour)
The process used here is to draw in details

over a light rough-in and then slowly
darken the values by adding successive
layers with a broad brush. Basic paper
is a good choice for texture. Open up a
Watercolor layer. Use the Smooth Runny
Camel 30 to quickly sketch in the shape
of the hair. Then use it like a wash, with
long directional strokes to begin defining the
hair. Use the Dry Watercolor Eraser to get
rid of any strokes that overlap the figure.
Merge the layer down.
Lay down the rough

outline of the hair and
apply the rough areas of
light and dark.
Open another
Watercolor layer. Take a
Wash Pointed Flat sized
to 30 to dene hair
shape. Resize the
Dry Eraser to 40
and lighten the
lines in places.
Merge down.
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Thick medium (oils)

Art study
How to paint hair
Long silky straight hair is what the Oils were made

for. For this section we will start from a base painted
with some lovely bristly textures. We will build up a
loose and painterly value scheme with a few brushes and
some soft blending. Start with the darkest value loaded
on a Thick Wet Camel 10, and with a relaxed stroke
draw in the outer edges of the hair shape. Put a nice
strong line everywhere except the forehead and ends of
the hair.
01
Using the second lightest value, start with a Fine Camel 30

for blocking in the basic undertone. Add a few directional
strokes with the Thick Wet Camel 10 to better express how
the hair falls.
02
03
On a separate
Watercolor
layer, use the
Runny Camel 30
to add darker
values to round
the form. Leave
some lighter
areas, especially
on the side of
the head.
Clean up any
edges with a size
20 Dry Eraser.
Pick the darkest value and

use the Detail Oil Brush 10 to
dene areas. Use the second
darkest value and pull along
some of those strands to blend
them in. Switch back to the
lightest value and use the two
brushes in the same way for the
highlights. Repeat until happy!
Use a Fine Camel 20 to paint in the darkest value with
directional strokes. Take a Fine Feathering Oil 30 and the
darkest value for gentle blending. With a Detail Oil Brush
10, alternate between the darkest and second darkest
value to add strands of hair. Grab the Fine Feathering Oil
30 with the second darkest value to loosely blend.
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21/9/07 14:38:10
Art study How to paint hair
Apply
skintones
Curly ha ir
Wet medium (watercolour)
Open a Watercolor layer and select a Smooth Runny

Camel with the second lightest value. Draw the basic
hair shape. Using a Fine Camel 15, draw in the hair
outline and make gestural strokes. Open a Watercolor
layer and use the Smooth Runny Camel 30 to model
the basic values. On a final Watercolor layer, use the
Watery Glazing Round 30 with a little sampled light
skin tone and add a little colour variation throughout.
Hair
contours
Erase to
the edges
Dry medium (chalk)
Curly hair can seem a bit overwhelming to contemplate rendering, but

simplifying the forms and limiting the areas of interest a bit make the
job much easier. Were going to employ the same basic method as in the
straight hair/chalk section, namely going back and forth between gestural lines
and artful blending. Start by picking the darkest value and using a Tapered
Artists Chalk 20, draw in the basic outline of the hair. Carefully make a
nice thick line along the left side of the face.
01
Apply chalk to
build up the effect
Take the Dull Grainy Chalk 30 and block in the

two darkest values to follow the contour of the
hair. Blend with the Smudge tool. Switch to a
Tapered Chalk 40 and block in the two darkest
values with directional strokes as long as the hair.
Blend with the Smudge tool and repeat until the
values are pretty nal. Use the second brightest
value and a Tapered Chalk 30 to add in highlights
on either side of the parting and on the curl at
the ear.the
Blend
with the
Smudge tool.
Finally,
contrast
between
shadow and light is increased with
bright, saturated tones added
to some of the foliage. A simple
background helps enhance the
nal composition.
02
Use the Tapered Artists Chalk 30 with the lightest

value and add highlights in the areas of interest.
Blend with the Smudge Tool 40. Pick the Tapered
Chalk 20 and render more shadows and hair
strands. Switch to the Tapered Chalk 10 and put in
a few highlights in the shadows and shadows in
the highlighted areas. Blend with the Smudge tool
and repeat as desired. Clean the edges with the
Basic Eraser and the Tapered Chalk.
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21/9/07 14:39:22
Work up
to highlights
Art study
Thick medium (oils)
01
How to paint hair
We will start with the basic structure and refine

the shapes and contours. Using the Fine Camel 30
loaded with the second lightest value, paint in the
basic shape. With the Fine Feathering Oils 30
loaded with the darkest value, make some gestural
lines. Load the Fine Camel 30 with the second
darkest value and enhance those contours. A
light touch with this brush produces lively
thick/thin lines. Use Detail Oil 10 to create
a clean line across the left side of the face.
02
03
04
Load a Fine Feathering Oil Brush 30 with the darkest value. Use
directional strokes to darken shadows and use the next value to
lighten. Create a new layer. Take the Fine Feathering Oil with the
darkest value. Use it to add denition to shadows throughout. Do
the same with the Detail Oil 15. Erase with a 40 Eraser to soften.
Erase parts
to add texture
With a Fine Feathering Oil 20, start dening the

shapes of the curls. Use the middle two values for this.
A Detail Brush 15 loaded with the darkest value helps
nish the shapes. Switch to the next lightest colour
and add some highlights. Do the same with the other
two values and progress to a few bright highlights.
59
21/9/07 14:41:31
Tutorial Sumi-e brushes
Master the Sumi-e brushes

Expand your creative horizons and see how Corel Painter can bring a whole new twist
to the age-old East Asian art of Sumi-e
Tutorial info
Artist
Charlene Chua
Time needed
1-2 hours
Skill level
Intermediate
On the CD
Customised
brushes and more
hile it is quickly gaining

appreciation in the West,
the traditional East Asian
ink-wash art, mo-shui or
sumi-e, has been held in high regard in
Chinese, Japanese and Korean cultures
for centuries.
Similar to Eastern calligraphy, inkwash art (sumi-e is its Japanese name)
traditionally makes use of black ink
and a brush to produce pictures on rice
paper. Although deceptively simple in its
inal form, the art requires a thorough
understanding of your materials, as
well as the subject matter. Unlike
Western art forms, the artist does not
preoccupy themselves with building

up layers of colour to represent form,
mood and texture. Instead, they combine
their minimalist tools with a precise
understanding of the subject and in turn
renders the essence of it onto paper.
Typically, it takes years to master
the art in real life. With Corel Painter,
however, you can pick up some basic
skills, minus the fuss. Painter comes with
a set of digital Sumi-e brushes as part of
its vast brush library, and these can be
used to achieve ink-wash artwork.
In this tutorial well show you how
we tweaked some Sumi-e brushes with
the Brush Creator to make our custom
brushes, which weve made available on

the CD. Well share some tips on how to
use the brushes to maximise their effects
and then see how applying some simple
textures can dramatically help to improve
the authenticity of your sumi-e painting.
For classically trained ink-wash
masters, there is no substitute for the
accuracy and range to be got with real
materials. While Painters tools are the
best digital alternative, they are not yet
capable of perfectly mimicking a true
sumi-e brush. However, you should later
try combining the sumi-e techniques here
with other Painter brushes to discover
new and unique effects along the way.
Coarse Bristle Sumi-e
Detail Sumi-e
Digital Sumi-e
Fine Sumi-e Large
Fine Sumi-e Small
Flat Sumi-e Large
Flat Sumi-e Small
Variable Thick Sumi-e
Flat Wet Sumi-e
Opaque Bristle Sumi-e
Soft Bristle Sumi-e
Sumi-e Brush
Variable Thin Sumi-e
Tapered Digital Sumi-e
Tapered Sumi-e Large
Tapered Sumi-e Small
Thick Blossom Sumi-e
Wet Bristle Sumi-e
Dry Ink Sumi-e
Thin Bristle Sumi-e
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Tutorial
Sumi-e brushes
61
21/9/07 14:15:40
01 Lets begin
Create a new
le (ours is 30cm high
by 24cm wide). In the
Color palette, doubleclick the main colour
swatch. Input Red:
219, Green: 203 and
Blue: 187. Next, select
the Paint Bucket tool
from the toolbar, and
click on your Canvas
layer to ll it with the
selected colour.
02 Loading up custom palettes
This tutorial makes use of

customised Sumi-e brushes, which are included on the CD. You
can either choose to load these up, or congure the Sumi-e brushes by
following the brush settings below. To load up the custom brushes, click
Window>Custom Palette>Organizer. Choose Import, then locate the le
custom sumi brushes.pal on the CD and hit OK.
Custom brush settings

Use these configurations to create your own Sumi-e brushes
Each of these custom brushes will give a unique effect to best apply to specific areas in your painting.
Open up the Brush Controls palettes and enter the details below to tweak the default brushes
Flat Wet Sumi-e 20 Stem

This custom brush was used to draw the fine stems
of the bamboo, from which the leaves protrude. It is
based on the Flat Wet Sumi-e brush variant.
Category
Behaviour
Value
GENERAL
Subcategory
Soft buildup
Grain
23 per cent
Minimum size
14 per cent
Expression
Pressure
Resaturation
24 per cent
Expression
Inverse (check box)
Bleed
60 per cent
SIZE
WELL
Stem2
Use sharp
diagonal strokes
for the stems
Stroke outwards
with a bit
less pressure
The Stem2 custom brush was specially customised to draw the thick
stems of the bamboo plant. It is based on the Flat Wet Sumi-e brush,
and makes use of the custom colour palette included in this tutorial.
Category
Behaviour
Value
GENERAL
Subcategory
Grainy Soft Buildup
SIZE
Minimum size
45 per cent
Expression
Pressure inverse ~(check box)
Step size
One per cent
Spacing
One per cent
Minimum spacing
1.5
Damping
15 per cent
Continuous time
On
SPACING
Deposition
Sumi-e Leaf
This custom brush was created specifically for
drawing the bamboo leaves. It is based on the
original Sumi-e brush variant.
Category
Behaviour
Value
GENERAL
Dab
Static bristle
Subcategory
Grainy Hard Cover
SIZE
Minimum size
20 per cent
SPACING
Spacing
9 per cent
Cubic interpolation
Thickness
40 per cent
Hair scale
240 per cent
Clumpiness
60 per cent
Scale/size
60 per cent
BRISTLE
ANGLE
Replicate the
leaves with short
sharp strokes
COLOR VARIABILITY
Squeeze
78 per cent
Angle
132
Expression
Direction
From color set
Leave spaces
between strokes
for the bumps
Apply pressure,
followed by a
quick stroke
out and down
Apply pressure,
then stroke quickly
outwards for the
best effect
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21/9/07 14:16:10
Now load up the

colour set for this
tutorial. Choose
Window>Color
Palettes>Show Color
Sets to view the Color
Set window. Click
the arrow on the top
right and choose
Open Color Set. Select
Append, then locate
the le sumi colours.
pcs on your CD.
04 Setting up Brush Tracking
Brush Tracking is a great Corel

Painter feature that customises the way strokes appear according
to your own stroke strength. Go to Edit>Preferences>Brush Tracking. In the
Scratch Pad area, draw a stroke at Normal pressure. Click OK. If you have
difculty drawing a stroke later, you can try adjusting your pressure setting
here to tune it to your needs.
the
06 Draw
bamboo
In your Layers palette, create a new layer.

Choose the Stem2 custom brush and draw a quick, diagonal stroke
from the bottom-left corner. The layers composite method will change to
Gel; change it back to Default. If you dont like your stroke, hit Ctrl/Cmd+Z and
redraw it. Drawing on top of it will only muddy your brushstrokes.
Continue drawing the

bamboo by making
several more sharp,
diagonal brushstrokes.
Leave a little space
between the strokes
to suggest the bumps
between segments in
the bamboo. You can
vary the size of your
brush and reduce its
Opacity to suggest
depth nearer objects
appear darker and
more detailed in
sumi-e work.
07 Creative fakery
08 Add texture
05 Starting to draw
When youre happy with your stems, duplicate

its layer with Layer>Duplicate Layer. Select your Eraser tool, set it
to Soft Mode at 38 per cent Opacity. Randomly erase parts of the duplicate
stem artwork. This helps create more colour variation in the brushstrokes, to
enhance the illusion of real ink and makes the art more attractive to the eye.
Instead of striving for

realism to impress
or awe, Eastern
brushwork tries to
communicate the
essence of a subject
through the clarity
and skill of the
artist. By limiting
the artist to the bare
essentials, the art
demands an intimate
understanding of its
four treasures: the
brush, ink, inkstone
and paper.
For those
interested in picking
up the craft, there are
some handy online
resources: watch
sumi-e master Kazu
Shimura as he paints
flowers, tigers and
other amazing stuff at
www.youtube.com/
user/kazushimura.
There is a good
tutorial with diagrams
to help you construct
your strokes at www.
yasutomo.com/
project/sumibasics.
htm. Finally, you can
find the official
Sumi-e Society of
Americas website at
www.sumiesociety.
org/frame.htm.
Sumi-e brushes
Loading
03
custom
colour sets
Tutorial
The Tao
of Sumi-e
Select the Dry Ink brush variant from the Sumi-e

brush set. Use your Dropper tool to select the canvas colour for
your main colour, or input the values from step one again. Create a new layer
above your stem artwork. Gently brush the edges with the Dry Ink brush to
create some texture at the end points of your strokes.
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21/9/07 14:16:37
Fine details and paper textures
Leaf the final touches to the end
Drawing
10
a bamboo
leaf
09 Drawing the small stems
Create a new layer and select the

Flat Wet Sumi-e 20 Stem custom brush. Draw the ne stems for
the bamboo leaves by making light, ne strokes with the brush. Use Brush
Tracking to modify your stroke strength if needed. You can also gently dab
your brush to make dots that accentuate the bulges between the bamboo
stem segments.
Other uses
Apart from
reproducing
traditional sumi-e
strokes digitally,
Corel Painters Sumi-e
brushes can be used
to create interesting,
textured brushes
that can be combined
with other brushes
and paper for some
truly amazing effects.
Because the Sumi-e
brushes are generally
quite textured,
they are great for
customising into hair,
fur and other natural
fibre texture brushes.
Using the Brush
Creator found through
Window>Show Brush
Creator, you can
adjust the settings
for any brush variant.
New variants can be
saved by clicking the
arrow next to the
Brush Preview and
choosing Save Variant.
Create a new
layer and select the
custom brush Sumi-e
Leaf. Choose the light
brown swatch from
the Color Set, and
reduce the brushs
Opacity to 29 per cent.
To draw the bamboo
leaves, you want to
make short, sharp
brushstrokes. Press
down with your stylus
for a half-second, then
make a quick stroke
towards or away from
you to achieve this.
11 Adding more leaves
Continue drawing in leaves. Bamboo leaves

usually appear in clumps that hang off the ends of stems. Vary the size
of your brush tool to create a variety of leaves. Then create a new layer, select
a dark brown main colour, and put your brushs Opacity up to 100 per cent.
Draw in a second layer of dark brown leaves.
12 Paper texture
We sought a suitable paper texture from Flickr,

choosing from the artist Yaronimus shareware account at www.
ickr.com/photos/yaronimus. Hit File>Place and locate rice-paper.jpg on
your CD. Adjust the scaling to t, and hit OK. Set the composite mode to Gel,
reduce the layer Opacity to 40 per cent and move it above your brushstrokes.
14 Finishing
touch
13 Extra effects
Create a new layer and open up the Gradients

palette, found at Window>Library Palettes>Show Gradients. Select
the Two-Point gradient and set it to Circular Gradient. Set your additional
colour to white if its not already, then use Effects>Fill>Gradient on the layer.
Change the layers composite method to Gel and move it to the top of the pile
if necessary.
And
there you have it, your
own digital sumi-e
art piece! We added
a couple of Japanese
cranes with the custom
brushes to complete
the picture. You might
want to do the same,
or add in a seal with
your name in Chinese
or Japanese characters
to give your artwork a
further touch of
Asian authenticity.
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21/9/07 14:16:59
Drawing 101 How to capture motion
How to
capture motion
Being able to create dynamic images full of movement and interest is a
valuable skill to have. Pick up some handy hints here
rtists have consistently tried to

gloss over the fact that accurate
movement is impossible to
capture on canvas. Sculpture,
painting and print have all settled for
recording movement with a freeze-frame
snap that captures the most information
for the viewer. Scholars have learnt
about past centuries through motionless
tableaux earnestly recording battles,
tragedies and everyday activities;

a smoking gun, blood splatter and
theatrical body language ask us to put
together the action like detectives. The
French painter Gricault depicts Horse
racing at Epsom in 1821, in the traditional
freeze-frame manner with all the horses
legs off the ground. The moody, stormy
background and expression on the
horses faces scream action.
This was the way horses were depicted

until photography changed our beliefs.
About 50 years later, Eadweard (ne
Edward) Muybridge rigged up newly
perfected cameras to prove that not all
the feet leave the ground at any one time.
Photography has given us the ability to
represent movement accurately and the
means to take great leaps towards new
forms of representing motion.
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Drawing 101
The background is
utilised well to show
movement, as the
carriage brings up dust
How to capture motion
The movement of
the clothes helps
give the impression
that the figures are
running forward
About ten years after this, the French

scientist tienne-Jules Marey developed
a method that meant you could take a
series of photos in one. He did a large
amount of work with birds, for example
The Flight of the Pelican taken in the late
19th century.
This way of representing movement
has been inluential upon the art world
too. Consider the simple lip book. This is
the most simple way to explain animation
and a great method to include in your
artistic repertoire. The Italian 20th
century Futurist artist Balla embraced all
things new and dynamic; movement was
his chosen artistic theme. It represented
for the Futurists the dynamism and
progress of the new century, the
machines, weapons, industry and
inventions. Ballas friend Boccioni took
this style further with more personality
The figure is
still, but the
clothes indicate
stormy weather
and vibrancy, and with a greater level of

abstraction in his work. These images and
further information about these artists is
available on www.artchive.com.
How inspiring it is to watch everyday
activities and to be able to record them in
a personal way thanks to photographic
and artistic development. The theme of
movement is full of energy and life and
it allows you to perfect your powers of
observation and to develop your own
personal progress. You are challenged to
use your eyes and your imagination. For
our introductory foray into movement,
we have an artists study inspired by a
photograph by Marey. This gave us the
conidence to experiment with marks and
materials, safe in the knowledge that it
was a superb image in its own right.
In the next few sections, we will look
at what you can do with the theme of
movement, what materials are the most
successful, which marks convey energy
and well also look into developing your
own personal sense of expression. You
should inish this challenge with the
sense that it will always be a good idea
to be armed with a camera, ensure you
are prepared with the materials that will
help you expediently capture spontaneity,
and to have a thoroughly open mind
to experiment and make mistakes in
order to create expressive backdrops,
illed with vibrancy and energy. The
importance of superb observation and
happy accidents with materials are key
to successfully capturing the vigour and
luency of the sources of inspiration you
see that stimulate your imagination.
The theme of movement is full of

energy and it allows you to perfect
your powers of observation and to
develop your own personal progress
Animals show movement
well as they rarely stay
still, though it takes
patience to get the fine
details correct
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21/9/07 11:46:44
Free-flowing sketches
Create movement in your drawings through a series of sketches, each
differing marginally as time lapses by a fraction of a second
o practise motion for yourself,
choose an object thats at hand and
make some fast-working drawing
sketches that overlap as your object
moves ever so slightly each time. Below
OVERLAPPING THE MOVEMENT
you will see some 10-minute drawings.

These were based on photographs of a child
jumping, although something as basic as a
tube of paint rolling or a lower opening will
do just as well.
In this drawing, we used photos as our primary source material. We also

photocopied them, as this reduced the amount of detail and blurred the
tones. The photos were taken from a variety of viewpoints around the boy as
he jumped for a couple of seconds. You can see his arms and legs showing the
time that had lapsed between each one. We composed it on a grid to make sure
all the photos line up and fit on the page to try and create a really momentary
feeling. We found that it works best from left to right. The figures merge,
blend and overlap, and yet they part at times to express the pattern of each
movement rather than the energy of the jump.
The drawings on the next page exemplify

a few of the different takes we explored in
this theme, and help give ideas for depicting
motion. So pick up your pencil, sketchbook
and primary source material!
STAGE 1
STAGE 1
STAGE 2
STAGE 2
SEPARATING THE MOVEMENT
In this image, the photographs we used were better quality and we chose to draw the falling motion with
more detail and less expression. It almost gives the effect of a group of boys falling down like dominoes.
The drawing style works to a point, but it looks static. We could quite conceivably have rigged up some
boys with wires and drawn them from life. So it seems that this is a good one for observational skills but
less so for an effective sense of movement!
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21/9/07 11:47:59
BLURRING THE MOVEMENT
Drawing 101
Boccioni was good at using a photograph as source material but using a long
exposure to capture the movement of the figure, however momentary. The working
drawing from this photograph is done with inks and pencil crayons to aim for a
more fluid mark; ballpoint seems to have a sharpness that isnt as fluid. Having a
single viewpoint gives the eye a strong source to focus on and the lines moving in
the direction of that point brings the sense of dynanism and forces the viewer to
focus there. The figures are almost redundant as the surroundings are so packed
with speed and fluid movement.
BLURRING OBJECTS
Alternatively, by blurring and adding dynamic perspective, a real sense of rushing forward
or away can be given to static figures. Again, a long exposure was given to the source
photograph. Once more, a basic pencil drawing and a thin wash of inks create real energy,
covered with a top layer of darker ink where necessary and dynamic whooshing lines of
perspective. The unusual angle and horizon enhances the sense of depth. The mark-making
is decisive but not completely freely expressive or experimental, although a few happy
accidents did begin to emerge with the ink.
Experimenting with lines

Define movement in abstract shapes
We had an go to see if we could achieve more flow with
our mark-making as it surrounded the observational
drawing. This image was based on a photo of a flying
pelican. With it roughly sketched out, you get to the fun
part. Grab anything that feels like it might look energetic
and vibrant to stop the pelican looking stuffed and
draw the shapes of the wings as they may (or may not)
move through the air. Then start flicking your brush,
splattering your drawing with ink and keep going until
you feel you can do no more. We learnt that some lines
worked brilliantly, as did some splats, but some were not
necessary. A further drawing based on this experiment
would be the next way to go
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21/9/07 11:49:13
Dynamic drawings
The next set of illustrations all draw, so to speak, from the ideas that we
have previously covered in this tutorial
his tutorial needs careful
consideration over the quality
of your paper and a really good
source to draw from. We used a large
black-and-white photograph, cartridge
paper, a clean rubber and a range of
We decided to analyse the figure more closely step

by step without blurring or overlapping. This kind
of analysis heightens your observational skills.
pencils from 2H to 6B. Take your time to

look at your source material and tweak
your drawing constantly. Dont get put off
if you make any mistakes; you will improve
enormously with practice. Try using an
artists mannequin to try different poses.
Pay attention to the bodys position and the

muscles as they work to push the figure forward
at a run.
Sketch the shape of the position with a light H pencil, to make sure its
as proportionate as possible. Then fill this out to include the head,
hands, feet and muscles. Use a watery ink wash for the shadows. Use
a fine liner to enhance the outlines and certain features to give the
figure definition. Keep the colours of the materials in the same range.
The technical walkthrough

Dont run before you can walk
SOURCES AND COMPOSITION
When you are looking for primary source

material (someone right in front of you),
you can use a professional life model or
a friend. Endless fun can be had from
trying different poses. This one is superbly
simple because it is drawn from the back
and you dont have to worry about the
face until you feel comfortable with your
particular style and composition. Its very
hard to ind secondary source materials
on the internet, though some excellent
art or graphic libraries will have source
books with endless photos of people to
work from. We chose the simplest possible
movement: just a twist and a turn to the
side. Keep it simple and then when you
feel conident, extend yourself with more
challenging poses.
TONES AND MATERIALS
Use a very small brush to paint the

shadows on with great care. Really pay
attention to the accuracy of your tonal
work and to prevent confusion, make your
thin wash slightly dark for each new igure
to help you distinguish which is which
later on. Think about the marks carefully;
for example, drag your brush straight
down the lares of the trousers to depict
the shadow. A scribble here would be
pretty useless. This is a slow movement so
scribbly mark-making is not as necessary.
Smooth and subtle is the name of the game.
70
21/9/07 11:50:02
Drawing 101
Now its time to really play. Think scribbly marks, think messy splatters and
smudges. Think anything except control and just let your hand and your gut
feeling go for it. We began with a thick brown wash brushed on in streaks and
stripes. Then we used a stylus that splatters beautifully just when you least
expect it, aiming for dynamic scribble to suggest speed. We then randomly
splattered and smudged with thin washes and ripped paper to merge it more.
We used an H pencil to draw a light stick-man that we later pumped up with blockedin shapes. We used a soft, flat-ended brush for our thin and thick brown washes of
drawing ink and a small thin one for details and splattering. The scratchy, spluttery
stylus gave us nice messy marks using permanent black ink, which also turns slightly
blue when it dilutes. The fine liner refines the outline of our figure, but this isnt
entirely necessary.
DEFINITION AND BACKGROUND

You should still be able to see the pencil
marks laid down under the thin ink
wash. Its now time to deine the igure
further. Make sure you are totally happy
with the proportions and attitude each
stance takes and look carefully at your
source photographs once again. We
used a ballpoint here to really sharpen
and deine the drawings and deepest
shadows. It takes a little nerve using
ballpoint because its so permanent but
have faith and observe clearly. Take your
time to choose and pick which parts you
are drawing and which parts you arent.
We chose to leave the background plain,
but it has potential for experiments with
materials, so let your imagination take
light and enjoy the ride!
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21/9/07 11:50:41
showcase
LINNEA JALANDO-ON
TITLE
WEBSITE
JOB TITLE
Yuki
http://linneart.deviantart.com
Student
Despite her young age, Linnea has produced an
incredible portfolio of work, using Corel Painter
to create artwork thats full of strong graphic
images. We predict great things from her, so
make sure you visit her gallery often!
072-073_OPM_09.indd 30
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072-073_OPM_09.indd 31
21/9/07 11:40:04
Your
questions answered
Thick and luxurious
How do you get the look of really
thick, textured paint?
S W
Your experts
Cat Bounds
Cat is a much-loved
member of our magazine
website and shes been
kind enough to share her
vast knowledge of art
techniques and how to
achieve them in Painter
Tim Shelbourne
Tim has been using Corel
Painter for many years
now, and is on hand
to fix any problems or
quirks you have with the
program. If you need
help, hes your man!
What youll find in this section

Software
Dont get bogged

down in a Corel Painter black hole
write to us and well 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
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Hill, Bournemouth, Dorset, BH2 6EZ.
Alternatively you can email us at
opm@imagine-publishing.co.uk
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YOUR
PROBLEMS!
Send in your questions

for our experts to answer
at opm@imaginepublishing.co.uk
To add even greater dimension to

our brushstrokes, we begin with an
Impasto brush or one of the others
that allow us to set Color and Depth. For this
exercise (right), we chose tools from the Artists
Oils set. The Wet Impasto brush slathers on a
deep, rich layer of paint. Begin with 100 per
cent depth and then play with the slider and
work paint in everywhere you want depth,
keeping in mind that in traditional oils and
acrylics, there will be areas with little or no
impasto effect. Now take the Dry Palette Knife
and begin to move the paint around. It spreads
like soft butter, adding realism to the strokes.
Vary the size of the Palette Knife brush. Its
better to keep it slightly larger than youd like,
keeping you from getting too precise.
Compose yourself
I need your help and guidance! Ive
been struggling to ind out what the
most useful composite method is.
D MC
The best composite method depends
on its intended use. At one time or
another they all come into play, but
the top group of methods, which are unique
to Corel Painter, offer some wonderfully
creative options. Colorize offers a wealth of
possibilities. This method replaces the hue
and saturation of the canvas pixels with the
hue and saturation of the layer pixels. We can
use this feature to convert a colour image to
greyscale, or a greyscale image to colour. A
black layer turns the underlying colour image
into a greyscale image. A coloured layer adds
colour to an underlying greyscale image.
When working in layers, Colorize allows us
to bring an unexpected colour element to a

painting or try on different colours, even after
the brushstrokes are down. We could create
an Andy Warhol-like composite by creating a
number of colour versions of our image.
ABOVE
It was great fun, painting
the grapes and glass
shapes in this image. Once
the paint was laid in with
Wet Impasto, spreading
it around with the Dry
Palette Knife was so
realistic we were afraid we
would get wet paint on the
inside of the monitor!
LEFT
We sketched this horse in
sepia tones, then painted
a transparent watercolour
wash layer and changed
the composite mode to
Colorize. Too bold? Reduce
the Opacity of the wash
layer for a more subtle
change. Too subtle? Just
keep playing!
74
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20/9/07 17:52:51
Use colour smartly

Create a background
A painted background is the stage on which

images tell our story. We can choose a
neutral background and allow the image to
Art class
Can you help me to build up a

simple background of different
brush marks?
H W
Q&A
Which colour has the maximum effect as

a background?
stand on its own, create a background that echoes

colours from within the image or use a contrasting or
complementary colour. We will sometimes use less
saturated colours painted with soft strokes to keep
the background in, well, the background. Portraits
are often painted on neutral backgrounds so as not
to detract from the image, but it still needs to relate in
some way to the overall colour composition or else it
will feel somehow disconnected. In digital art, its even
easier to experiment with various colour combinations.
S S
There are many brushes and brush
variants that will give us beautiful
backgrounds for any image,
composition or atmosphere. It requires a little
experimenting and some patience but as
artists, weve already discovered that place
within where time stands still while we create,
and nothing is tedious if it moves us closer to
expressing our vision. The process is simple;
open a new file and begin painting on white
or choose a colour fill brush. Pick one or
two colours and begin filling the space with
random brushstrokes. Now bring out a Blender
brush, make it large and set it to less than 50
per cent Opacity and soften, leaving traces of
brushstrokes here and there. Then just repeat
the process until youre happy with your
brand-new background.
01 Remaining neutral
Lets begin with a neutral

background for this bright yellow
Gerbera daisy. The ower is
denitely the star of this show and
stands in stark, glowing beauty.
The grey here lends a dramatic
atmosphere as the daisys
noncommittal backdrop.
02 Borrowing colour
Here, weve pulled

the gold tones from the ower
and desaturated them a bit. The
result is a rich, warm, supportive
background and our attention
is drawn to the background
brushstrokes, as well as those in
the daisy.
ABOVE
Here we used the Variable Oil Pastel brush, with Color
Expression set to Direction to apply variations of two
colours, softening using the Just Add Water blender
Loosen up
Many of my paintings look too
photographic and tight. Id
love to be able to make really
spontaneous, sketchy paintings. Any tips?
03 A bit of contrast
And nally, we go to
the opposite side of the colour
wheel and splash these blue
tones around the daisy. If colour
combinations could sing, then this
one would. Each painting brings a
new set of choices about the story
we want to tell.
F MK
75
20/9/07 17:53:32
Q&A Art class
This is a common mistake made by

many artists, particularly when using
Corel Painter which easily allows
you as much detail as you could ever want.
Essentially, successful painting is about leaving
a few areas of the image to the viewers
imagination. Its important to include some
lost and found edges in your paintings,
where just a few areas are worked up to an
impeccable finish and other less important
areas are very simply sketched in. Another
good idea is to roughly go over your Canvas
layer with a large brush before you actually
start to paint the subject itself, as this can
really add to the sketchy, spontaneous feel.
Remember to concentrate the vast majority of
your effort and detail in just the central area
of interest, such as here in the portrait below.
The area around the sitters head is merely
indicated with very sketchy marks. And our
best tip of them all? Finish before you think
you should!
RIGHT
A spontaneous, sketchy
painting will always
have more immediacy
and vitality than a tight,
photographic one. Take
time to stand back from
your screen every now
and then to judge the
painting in its entirety
Adjusting size
When painting, I often ind I run out of canvas space. How do I resize
my canvas once Ive started painting, and is there a way to alter image
size and resolution?
M L
In the Canvas Size window, youll be presented with a dialog where you can add
any number of pixels to any or all of the four sides of the canvas. To change the
image size on the other hand, go to Canvas>Resize. To change the size of your
image but keep the resolution the same, uncheck the Constrain File Size box.
01 Canvas Size
Simply
go to Canvas>Canvas
Size. Then just enter the amount
of pixels you want to add to either
the top, left, bottom or right of
the canvas area and click OK. The
new canvas added will always be
the default size of your original
Canvas layer.
Changing both
02
image size
and resolution
Go to
Canvas>Resize. Choose your
measurement units and make
sure to check the Constrain File
Size box. Enter a new value for
either the Height or Width. Notice
that the Resolution changes with
this. Remember when using this
method, as you increase the
height and width, the Resolution
will decrease, and vice versa.
BELOW
Certain parts of a painting
are less important than
others, such as the sitters
ear in this shot, which
is very simply indicated
with just a few lines and
approximate colour, added
with broad strokes
dimensions,
03 Change
maintain Resolution
Again, go to Canvas>Resize.
Make sure Constrain File Size is
not checked. Now if you enter
new Height and Width values, the
Resolution will stay the same. To
increase just the Resolution, while
maintaining the same physical
dimensions, simply enter a new
Pixels Per Inch value.
76
20/9/07 17:55:22
The value of workspace

T B
01 Create a custom workspace
Go to Window>Workspace>
Customize Workspace. Within the dialog,
click the + sign and name your workspace,
choosing the Default Workspace to base it
on. Now click each main category of Media
and hide each one you dont want displayed
by clicking the visibility eye next to it in the
right-hand panel. Click Done to nish.
02 Creating custom palette layouts

Click on the title bar of a palette you
want to keep and drag it out into the workspace.
Drag other palettes you want to keep over the
previous one and release the mouse button to
dock them with it. Now close any unwanted
palettes. Position the palettes wherever you like.
youll be using. In Painter, you can tear off individual

palettes and group them together. To group one
palette with another, simply drag it from its current
location, place it directly over another palette and
release the mouse button. The new palette will
automatically dock below the palette you dropped it
over. Now you can close any palettes you dont want
displayed, giving you a better organised, clutter-free
workspace. You can do this with any number of
palettes, making up your own unique groups to
show only the palettes you want before finishing up
by saving the layout.
Art class
Trudy, you have raised a very good point,

and hopefully our answer will benefit a
whole spectrum of our readers, as well as
yourself. There are many advantages to creating a
custom workspace. You can decide which brushes,
papers, weaves and many other items are displayed,
and you can save these workspaces as youll see in

the walkthrough below. This means you can have
a workspace that only displays the brush groups,
papers and other media categories which you
need, with no other clutter. Once youve saved
your custom workspace, you can easily load it via
Window>Workspace and by simply choosing your
desired workspace from the list. To revert to the
programs default workspace, just choose default.
Custom palette positions are easy to create, and
again, these enable you to conserve valuable space
for your actual canvas by only displaying the palettes
Q&A
How can I save different workspaces

and different palette positions? Is
there even a beneit to this?
03 Saving and loading layouts
To save the layout, go to

Window>Arrange Palettes>Save Layout. Enter a name for your
new layout and click OK. To revert to the default layout, or choose another
one, go to Window>Arrange Palettes and choose your desired palette
layout from the list of saved ones.
Free the canvas

I was wondering, is it possible to
unlock the Canvas layer? You seem
to be able to with every other layer.
S A
The Canvas layer is always locked,
as indicated by the padlock in the
Layers palette. However, there are a
couple of workarounds to enable the Canvas
layer to be unlocked. The Canvas layer can be
lifted to a Watercolor layer. To do this, go to
Layers>Lift Canvas To Watercolor Layer. Once
the Watercolor layer is created, right-click the
layer and choose Commit. Remember, the
composite method for this layer will be set
to Gel, so you may wish to change it back to
Default in the Layers palette. Its important to
realise that this process promotes the entire
Canvas layer to a floating layer, so any marks
you make on the original Canvas layer from
now on will be hidden by the newly promoted
floating layer.
Although a normal Canvas

layer is always locked, you
can actually promote it to
an unlocked floating layer
77
20/9/07 17:56:13
Q&A Art class
Mix it up
Whats a good way of mixing media?

I ind that I favour different types of
mediums and would like to merge a few.
D OS
Paintings happen intuitively, as the muse

leads and though the process is different for
each of us, decisions to incorporate mixed
media usually evolve as we work our way further
into the painting. Adding mixed media elements can

add style and direct the viewers attention to an area
of the overall composition. Usually, less is more with
these added details; where a couple of pencil lines
may add a great deal of interest, a web of scrawls
can read as clutter. Likewise, if were adding texture,
random patches may lend a certain richness and
depth to our piece while edge-to-edge texture may
come off as heavy and obtrusive. Experimenting
with mixed media techniques leads us down new

avenues in our digital art journey, and the sky is
the limit. Try sponging on a texture, adding a bit of
graffiti with the Artist brushes, Chalks, Crayons,
F-X brushes or the Image Hose. As long as we save
along the way, we wont lose our basic painting and
even if we dont keep any of the effects, we will be
more familiar with some of the brushes we may not
often use.
01 Enhance detail
When we look at a painting, were

drawn to areas of movement. Loose lines like these pull
colours from within the painting, and translate as movement. Weve
also added patches of texture with a Chalk brush to dene shadow
and shape.
03 Find a balance
02 Add some sparkle
The background is lled with light

and colour, but a few splashes of Fairy Dust seemed to be
just what was needed to suggest city lights. Set the colour to white,
adjust the size of the brush and experiment, making sweeping
strokes and varying both pressure and speed.
Again, less is more, so

our entire painting need not be
lled with mixed media effects.
Squinting our eyes, we decide
if the piece is balanced, and
there are no areas that seem
inordinately heavy. Think outside
the box mixed media will get
our creative juices owing.
78
20/9/07 17:57:20
Art class
Smooth operator
How effective would any of the

Surface Control effects be as a base
for painting?
Can you recommend a good brush for smooth

surfaces such as glass or calm water? The only
ones I can think of are the Watercolor brushes.
P
Bravo Polly, you appear to have very
good instincts. Artists can get the best
out of Corel Painter with a blend of
guidance and pure inspiration, which you have
shown with your question. We can create a base
on which to begin a painting in just a couple of
quick steps. For this example, we will use Color
Overlay. First, either select or mix the colour you
want for your base colour. Then bring up the
Papers palette and select a texture. This time,
use Simulated Woodgrain at 200 per cent. Now
go to Effects>Surface Control>Color Overlay
and there you have it, you have instant texture!
In order to soften your texture, apply the Soften
filter, using either the Gaussian or Circular
Aperture. The effect will be applied the same all
over. Some artists find it helpful to spend a bit
of time creating a number of backgrounds and
saving them in a folder for future use. This works
especially well if certain colours often seem to
find their way into your paintings or if you want
a supply of neutral bases on which to paint your
images in the future.
Q&A
Surface control
T O
In the Gouache brushes folder are the Opaque Smooth
brushes. Gouache interacts with paper like watercolour,
but the colour pigment particles contain fillers like
chalk, thus are more opaque with interesting reflective qualities.
01 Begin with broad strokes
We started off with a

large setting for an Opaque Smooth brush and Opacity
set at 100 per cent, picking up the cloned colours. This photo has a
lot of highlight and shadow, so we could choose where to begin a
stroke in order to pick up lighter and darker shades.
Paint on auto
I love the Underpainting
command in Corel Painter X, but
is there anything else that can
quickly establish the general tone and
background at the start of my painting?
L
Either of these backgrounds might work well, but we usually

like less detail and texture. In either case, this is a down and
dirty way to create a beautiful base and get on with the fun
of brushstrokes
Auto-Painting can be used handin-hand with Underpainting to

quickly establish the bones of a
painting, and get rid of the bare canvas. Once
youve hit the Quick Clone button in the
Underpainting dialog, go to Window>Show
Auto-Painting. Choose one of the Cloner
brushes from the variant selector. Adjust
your brush to a suitable size. Now check the
Smart Stroke Painting checkbox. The Speed
Slider determines how quickly the individual
brushstrokes will be applied. Now click the
Play button and sit back as Painter establishes
the underpainting. Simply hit the Stop button
when youre happy. Once the canvas is
covered, you can then paint or clone on top
of the underpainting to complete the image
and add more detail. You can find even more
variety of brushstrokes by choosing Smart
Settings instead of Smart Stroke Painting,
choosing the kind of marks made from the
Stroke box.
02 Dene the shapes
To bring detail into our painting,

we used most of the Gouache brushes and especially
liked the Detail Smooth brush for building up shapes in the lily
pads, being careful to keep it painterly and not too photo-realistic.
03 Find the shimmer
After working on darker layers,

we then began to bring in highlights and sparkle on the
lily pads, as well as some added colours for interest and depth in
the calm water. We could either call this painting done now, or
continue to build up layers until the look is just right.
79
20/9/07 17:58:44
Using the
producoptPrso
Corel Paint Sh
us to
Photo X2 allowed oto
t ph
turn this kitty ca
ome
hr
oc
on
m
a
into
g
tin
shot for pain
The creative products on test this issue
COREL PAINT SHOP

PRO PHOTO X2
Discover if this latest version

of the affordable image editor
can take care of all your phototweaking desires
CASIO EXILIM ZOOM

EX-Z1200
This small camera packs a mighty
12-megapixel punch. We see
if it has anything else to offer
demanding digital creatives
BOOK REVIEWS
Feeling a little uninspired? Turn
to page 86 and have a look at
the range of creative books up
for review. Whatever your style,
there is something here to please
Reviews
Discover some of
the best products
out there to extend
and improve your Corel
Painter experience
81
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21/9/07 15:23:33
Reviews Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2
Corel Paint Shop

Pro Photo X2
From 49 (upgrade) | Discover just how much of a face-lift this
new addition to the Paint Shop Pro family has had
e all know Corel for its sublime
natural-media painting software,
but the company also offers a range
of creativity and productivity
programs. Paint Shop Pro (PSP), an image-editing
tool, has been around since 1992 in some form or
another. Originally shareware, it was purchased
by Corel in 2004 and this latest upgrade beneits
from its commercial and creative investment.
PSP has had a contemporary makeover with
a sleek new interface. A graphite workspace
takes its cue from Adobes Lightroom and Apples
Aperture and certainly looks the business.
Cool, clean and intuitive, all your tools are to
hand but are muted enough not to distract from
the image youre working on. Commonly used
commands are now easily accessible by dockable
toolbars, and you can customise your workspace
effortlessly. For traditionalists, you can switch
this new look off and revert to the old colour scheme.
To add to the new graphite workspace, Corel
has introduced a range of features that mix the
practical with the fun. For those wanting instant
gratiication, Makeover Tool modes offer photo

enhancement on the ly. If youre looking a little
pasty, splotchy, yellow-toothed, red-eyed or
overweight, then PSP offers a range of makeover
tools that can have you looking your best. We
particularly enjoyed the Thinify mode, which
attempts to remove the weight the camera can
add, as well as the Suntan mode, which after
another disappointing summer will add a little
can now can crop, rotate and ix photos without

having to open them individually. The One Step
Photo Fix and Smart Photo Fix adds a further
level of automation, suggesting settings for
popular photo enhancements including colour,
brightness, sharpness and saturation. The novice
can apply a suggested ix or iddle manually
to their hearts content to achieve the ultimate
satisfactory effect.
If your creative juices run a little too freely, then fear not,
original photos are now automatically preserved when users save
an edited version
colour to your cheeks. If the novelty wears thin,
there are plenty of correction tools including ones
to remove external noise, adjust the perspective,
remove purple fringes, remove objects and tools
to change colours, all of which youll no doubt use
regularly. A new Express Lab mode means you
Like all automated tools the results are a bit hit

and miss, so experimenting and delving deep into
PSP will reap rewards. If youre prepared to climb
a fairly shallow learning curve, there are plenty
of professional tools that compare well with the
substantially more expensive Photoshop.
Time Machine
The Time Machine offers
a tour of photographic
history by letting users
see what their photos
would look like if they had
been taken in another
era, with a range of
based on styles from the
1830s to the 1980s
New graphite interface

A new, darker graphite interface gives a neutral background for
those wanting to concentrate on the image. Users can modify their
workspace to maximise productivity and reduce on-screen clutter
82
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20/9/07 17:49:07
Fine-tuning
With One Step Photo
Fix and Smart Photo
Fix, users can apply
a range of suggested
image corrections or
experiment further by
manually tweaking the
settings. These include
adjustments for colour,
brightness, sharpness
and saturation
Website
www.corel.com/
paintshopprophoto
Operating system
PC only
RAM
500MB RAM (768MB

recommended)
768MB RAM
required if using
Windows Vista
1GHz processor
2GHz recommended
System requirements
500MB hard
disk space
Microsoft Windows
XP/Vista with
latest service
packs installed
Layers
Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 includes advanced features including
working with layers and adjustment layers that allow for editing
without permanently modifying the image a running theme
throughout many of the new features
What we like
What we dont like
we say
a variety of artistic effects to a layer, such as

Drop Shadow, Emboss and Relection, without
having to leave the Layer Properties dialog box.
You can also combine bitmap and vector images
and add text to your images with ease. A HDR
(High Dynamic Range) Photo Merge feature lets
users combine auto-bracketed photos to create a
photo that retains the best of the original photos.
Camera RAW support has also been improved,
while black-and-white conversion now includes a
range of colour ilters to add a subtle tint to your
moody masterpiece.
We noticed performance could be sluggish at
times and there is no native Apple Mac version,
which is a pity, but it does work well enough on a
Mac running emulation software once you have
installed a copy of Windows. If your Corel Painter
creations include working from photos then you
may have found the perfect creative partner,
especially if you seek value for money.
Professional
features at an
enthusiastic
price; offers a
good Photoshop
alternative for PC
users on a budget
Features
verdict
If your creative juices run a little too

freely, then fear not, original photos are now
automatically preserved when users save an
edited version. A new ile is also created when
you crop a photo so you always have the original
if you change your mind. Preparing photos for
email, the web, Word and PDF documents is now
a simpler task. The Save For Ofice command
removes the guesswork by automatically
optimising an image for its intended use, while
the Copy Special command prepares the image
based on its intended purpose. You can email
images direct from PSP and use the in-built link
to Yahoo! Photos.
For the more ambitious user, a range of
advanced adjustments come as standard,
including new Layer Styles. Although essentially
aimed at photographers, PSP also includes
enough tools to create effective professionallooking graphics. Layer Styles let users apply
Price
79 including VAT
Upgrade 49
including VAT
specifications
Corel Paint Shop Pro

Photo X2
Worthy upgrade with

good range of
new features
Enhanced stylish
graphite workspace
Value for money
Still minor
performance issues
Lacking in thirdparty resources,
tutorials, guides and
support forums
No native Apple
Mac version
9.0
Ease of use
9.0
Quality of results
9.5
Value for money
9.5
Effect Browser
The Effect Browser lets users preview a substantial range of effects
before applying them to an image. Results are hit-and-miss, but for
the adventurous, you can create and save your own
Visible Watermark
The Visible Watermark feature lets users add a watermark to their
photos to help safeguard against misuse of their images, especially
on the web
Overall
score
9.3
83
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20/9/07 17:49:24
Reviews Casio EXILIM Zoom EX-Z1200
Casio EXILIM Zoom EX-Z1200

279 | An everyday compact with extraordinary picture quality
Menus
Menus are found via the
icon-based interface,
including a special eBay
Best Shot menu
White Balance menu
asio is calling the EXILIM Zoom

EX-Z1200 its current lagship model,
the reasons for which will rapidly
become apparent to anyone who picks
one up and has a play with it.
This sleek, small unit currently has the highest
amount of available megapixels in a compact
camera on the market an impressive 12.1. To put
that into context, its a igure that can comfortably
outdo certain new entry-level DSLRs and give you
the power for large-format printing.
Weighing in at a trim 152g without its
proprietary Super Life rechargeable lithiumion batteries or any accessories, the design
itself appears pleasantly classic, with smoothly
rounded corners and subtle ergonomic features.
Its a fairly slim, well-made little thing that its
comfortably into the palm of your hand, but
despite that, it manages to pack in a wealth of
features that could put bigger and more expensive
products to shame, let alone other compacts. The
dark casing also gives it an air of sophistication.
The power, display mode, zoom and playback
buttons are all found on the top of the camera.
The icon-based menu interface is displayed on
the right-hand side of the clear, colourful 2.8-inch
Super Bright LCD monitor, and navigated via the
cameras small round d-pad, menu button and the
tiny BS, or Best Shot, button situated next to the
lusciously colourful LCD screen.
Best Shot is the EX-Z1200s name for a scene
mode, and it features an excellent range of
pictorial presets, from the standard night, sunset,
portrait, landscape and screaming children

options, to more esoteric settings such as lowing
water, backlighting and even a mode optimised
for eBay auctions. There are 34 still-picture
Best Shot settings in all, and another nine for
video, maximising your ability to capture clean,
optimised shots of almost anything. This means
that beginners are pretty much guaranteed a
good shot, whatever the scene. While the EXZ1200s ISO range is generally between 50 and
400 with a default of 50, certain settings in Best
Shot mode can automatically crank this up to
3200 when youre using the cameras anti-shake
or high-sensitivity functions. Exposure modes are
surprisingly versatile for such a small compact,
with aperture and shutter priority modes and
a full manual option housed alongside Program
Auto mode and a pan mode during video footage.
Its like having a miniature studio in your pocket,
only without the bulky, awkward bits.
In terms of usability, the EX-Z1200s CCD
shift technology and anti-shake DSP reduce the
chances of blurred shots from shaking hands,
while a start-up time of around 1.3 seconds,
shutter release lag of a minimal 0.009 seconds
and Burst mode with a respectable rate of three
lash photographs per second ensure that you
can capture those quick, blink-and-youll-missit images with ease. The Soft Flash can prevent
overexposure, while the High Power Flash is great
for shots where your subjects are at a distance. A
lash assist routine helps to make sure that youll
get the best from your lash photography. The 3x
Memory card
The EX-Z1200 does not come with
a memory card of its own its
internal memory is only 11.4MB
but will happily accommodate one
of up to 4GB
Shutter release button
Lens
The 3x optical zoom isnt fantastic,
but combining it with the 4x digital
zoom does let you squeeze a little
more into your close-ups, though
this impacts on the image quality
Record Mode menu
Menu
Face Recognition
ISO menu
Set button
Best Shot modes
D-pad control
Best Shot menu
Intuitive to navigate but featuring

small buttons, the d-pad can
sometimes be frustrating to use,
though it does offer some useful
shortcuts to often-used functions
84
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21/9/07 12:16:50
Flash modes
Zoom
Dimension
279 A, Fon, Foff, RE,

Megapixels (effective) Soft Flash
12 Connectivity
Max resolution USB, AV
4,000 x 3,000 Weight
Lens data 152g
f2.8-5.4 (37-111mm) (without batteries)
camera specs
Casio EX-Z1200
Price
3x opt, 4x dig 93.3 x 50.5 x

Focus/Macro 22.4mm
40cm-inf/6cm Batteries
Shutter speeds Lithium-ion
30-1/2,000sec Storage
ISO sensitivity SD, SDHC, MMC,
50, 100, 200, 400 MMC+, 11.4MB int
Metering options
LCD
S, CW, MS 2.8
Exposure modes
A, P, AP, SP, M,
34 scene modes
Build design
With a classic compact design, the EX-Z1200
isnt breaking the mould but its comfortable
and easy to use, although the large LCD is
prone to fingerprints while youre handling it
Shutter
button
Lens
Batteries
Casios exclusive Super Life lithium-ion batteries are made to be
long-lasting just make sure theyre fully charged before use or
they run out quickly
Playback button
On/off button
What we like
What we dont like
we say
intriguingly, the clever little thing offers a Family

First mode, in which it gives priority to the
visages of those it describes as recorded family
members. Whoever they happen to be, youll ind
that the EX-Z1200s menu system is simple and
intuitive for nearly all your family to use. The
icons are clear and instantly meaningful, and the
navigation system is simplicity itself. The only
way that the EX-Z1200 lets itself down is with
the iddly size of its buttons, which your ingers
can slide off of with ease. Although, to be fair,
theres not much room on this camera to make
them any bigger.
Image quality really is outstanding on the EXZ1200, both in terms of the capture process itself
and in its reproduction on the LCD. The camera
offers a range of playback modes, from a menu
of nine images at a time, to a slideshow, album
function and favourites folder, eliminating the
need for one of those cute but expensive image
storage boxes. A range of very basic editing
tools is built in, allowing you to perform simple
operations such as trimming, resizing, reversing
and rotating.
The USB cradle feels a little on the cheap side,
which is a bit of a letdown, but you cant have
everything. Its worth remembering, while youre
being wowed by its ease of use and great design,
that the EX-Z1200 is not a professional-quality
camera its a humble household camera. It just
happens to be at the top of its range, and the peak
of functionality, too.
After our initial

frustrations with
the buttons size,
we found the
EX-Z1200 excels
in functioning
as an about-thehouse camera for
all the family
Features
verdict
optical zoom isnt fabulous in scope, even though

it combines with a 4x digital zoom to produce
a hybrid of 12x in total. Sadly, some clarity is
sacriiced at maximum zoom, although thanks
to this cameras overwhelming megapixel count,
you can forego a little physical zoom and enlarge
and resize images later on.
This is primarily a family-oriented camera,
designed to capture memories and make itself
useful around the house. As such, it focuses on
the human face. Its Auto Tracking AF function
can track the faces of moving subjects, but most
on the top
Youll find that the EX-Z1200s menu system is simple and

intuitive for nearly all your family to use. The icons are clear and
instantly meaningful, and the navigation system is simplicity itself
Wide range of Best

Shot scene modes
Crisp, colourful
picture quality
Family First
face recognition
Overall
score
Fiddly, slippery
little buttons
Loss of clarity
at maximum
zoom extension
Flimsy USB cradle
8.0
Ease of use
10
Quality of results
10
Value for money
8.0
9.0
85
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Reviews Books
Digital Art Masters: Volume 2

22.99 | A collection of the finest 2D and 3D artists in the industry
he sequel to the glorious original,
Digital Art Masters: Volume 2 is
another paperback publication
thats full of sickeningly good
artwork, perfect for inspiring a new
artistic endeavour.
Sticking to the original format, Digital
Art Masters is much more than just a
gloriied coffee-table picture book.
Throughout the meaty 280 or so pages,
around 60 top digital artists showcase
a selection of their work and take the
time to explain in detail how they went
about creating one chosen image from
scratch. Rather than taking on the
format of a heavy tutorial-based book,
the explanations are written in a chatty
style with low-through text and clear,
Rather than taking on the format of a tutorial-based

book, the explanations are written in a chatty style with
flow-through text and clear, mind-blowing visuals
Perfect layout
Digital Art Masters: Volume 2 is a pleasure to read,

thanks to its chatty, informal style and gorgeous
choice of illustrations
mind-blowing visuals. This allows you to

get a real insight into both the technical
production side of each featured artists
creations, but more importantly, gives you
a greater understanding of the thought
processes of each contributor.
As Digital Art Masters is compiled by
the team at 3D Total (www.3dtotal.com),
its no surprise that many of the featured
artists in this book rely heavily upon
3D renders as a basis for all the designs.

However, there is some mention of general
image-editing techniques and although
this does tend to swing more heavily to
Photoshop than Painter, we found that the
peek into the process of creation was still
interesting and valuable.
The book is divided into genre-based
sections including Scenes, Characters,
Sci-i, Fantasy and Cartoon. The styles of
illustration are well-balanced and varied,
with a selection of artists that satisies
all tastes. Although each artists section
is generally based on one selected image,
each proile is inished off with a small
portfolio. Not only does this prove their
main images werent just a luke, its
another welcome selection of designs to
throw into the ideas pot. Our only small
gripe is that contact details and website
addresses for the featured artists are only
printed in a directory at the back of the
book, so theres no quick way of jumping
straight to an artists website when youre
licking through.
3D-based
Although the book leans heavily
towards 3D creation, there are
plenty of illustrative styles to suit
every taste, as well as a range of
different methods to learn from
Illustration genres
The book is split up into different
illustration styles, including
Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Scenes and
Characters, truly appealing to all
avenues of interest, which makes it
accessible to all
Compiled by
3D Total
Price
22.99/$39.95
Publisher
Focal Press
ISBN
978-0-240-52085-8
Image descriptions
Some artists profiles spend more
time exploring image techniques
than others, but the creation
process described by each one is
invaluable to the reader
Artist directory
Unfortunately, artists web details
arent printed throughout the book,
so theres no other way to look up
their websites without having to
turn to the directory at the back of
the book
86
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Perspective Depth & Distance

9.99 | Polish up on the old-school rules
Author
Geoff Kersey
Price
9.99
Publisher
Search Press
ISBN
1-84448-014-3
f theres one thing that can spoil

a painting digital or traditional
its a dodgy perspective. A second
opinion can sometimes spot a
composition fault almost immediately,
and this guide can help.
This book is targeted towards
those who are interested in creating
naturalistic landscapes. A small section
of the book is devoted to traditional kits
for watercolour painting, but once this
is dealt with, plenty of the topics are
relevant to creating within Corel Painter.
Many different forms of perspective are
discussed here including Linear and
Aerial, and Geoff Kersey also goes on to
work through a selection of different
picturesque scenes. Although the book
is targeted towards purist watercolour
artists, there is still a lot for Corel Painter
users. Wed deinitely suggest you getting
hold of a copy to browse through, as there
are some interesting tips and techniques
that will help you out.
In perspective
Perspective is an essential
rule to perfect. There are
some handy tips mentioned
throughout this book that
are relevant to any artist,
digital or otherwise
Colour suggestions
As well as concentrating on compositional techniques, the
book also spends a bit of time discussing colour schemes
and how they alter your image
Small projects
The book is split into small landscape projects. Wellwritten, clear step-by-steps take you through the painting
process from start to finish
Mastering Composition With Your Digital SLR

25.00 | Capture your own photos with confidence
Authors
Chris Rutter
Price
25.00
Publisher
RotoVision
ISBN
978-2-940378-25-8
ften a great source photograph

is vital to a successful digital
art project, but relying on
stock images can get costly. If
you have a good-quality camera, though,
you can take them yourself.
One of the most important
considerations is to take a good photo
that can easily be incorporated into your
designs. Mastering Composition focuses
on various key subject areas, such as
portraits and landscapes, and suggests
key practices for obtaining the perfect
shot. The book is a little heavy going
for those who dont feel that conident
with a camera, especially as it spends
a lot of time concentrating on working
with SLRs. Its also quite expensive for a
book that focuses on only one aspect of
photography, and it may cause a headache
if you try to digest it in one go. However,
there are some good quality shots
throughout, it reads well and its easy
to ind tips for different subject areas
thanks to the clearly deined sections.
A specific
target audience
Mastering Composition is
firmly targeted towards
digital SLR users, so
be warned: some
techniques wont be
achieved with a
compact camera
Inspiration
The illustrative photographs are genuinely inspiring
and complement the editorial superbly throughout the
various sections within the book
Image editor
A small section of the book is devoted to fine-tuning your
shots in Photoshop. Handy for those who want to perfect
the image before importing into Corel Painter!
87
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Readers gallery issue nine
Gallery
One of our most recent Featured Artists on the magazine

website is Jan David. We caught up with her to find out more
about how she works and the way that she uses Corel Painters
tools in her projects
ore and more traditional
artists are leaving the world
of messy paints and canvas
behind in order to immerse
themselves in the digital arena of Corel
Painter. One such artist is Jan David.
Jan initially created art with oils
and watercolours, but has since decided
to live a creative life on the computer.
She is quite a recent member to our
magazines website galleries, but
impressed us straight away with her
range of work. Mixing classic portraits
with very painterly landscapes, her
brushwork is relaxed and results in
traditional-looking artwork.
Jan kindly sent us some of her
images to use in the magazine, so if you
like what you see, pop over to www.
paintermagazine.co.uk/user/Jan
David and leave a comment! If youd like
to be featured in these pages, see the
boxout for how to enter.
01
Title: Self portrait

A self-portrait of Jan David:
Well, this is what I look like.
When did you start using Corel Painter?

I started using the program around two
years ago when my husband asked me
My favourite tools, besides all the great brushes, are the

Dodge and Burn tools. These are just a must
why I didnt just paint on the computer.
I was doing art the traditional way oils
and watercolours. I bought a book called
Painter Creativity by Jeremy Sutton and it
became my bible.
What are your favourite Painter tools?
My favourite tools, besides all the
great brushes, are the Dodge and Burn
tools. These are just a must.
How would you describe your style? Do
you think it conforms to one style or is
made up of many?
I would describe my style as painterly.
The goal to painting on the computer is to
make the painting look like a painting.
Do you have a favourite piece of Corel
Painter art that you have created? If so,
what is it?
My favourite piece of art that Ive painted

was Flower in the mist. [You can see this
for yourself over the page or on Jans
gallery on the website.] When I paint, I
love to give the viewer something to stare
at. I want the viewer to tell me that they
couldnt take their eyes off of it.
Have you even been given an invaluable
piece of creative advice? If so, would you
share it with us?
The quote, Life is not measured by
the number of breaths we take, but by
the number of moments that take our
breath away by George Carlin is my
favourite quote.
Are there any Corel Painter tools or art
styles that you would like to try?
Someday I deinitely think Id like to get
into watercolour.
Who or what inspires you?

My husband and I are both 57 and
retired, live in Grants Pass, OR, and love
to sail and ish on the Rogue river. He has
always been my inspiration. He is truly a
talented artist in his own right, but also
a genius at the computer. He is the wind
beneath my wings.
Share your art with

other readers
These pages of the
magazine are given over
to you, as a place for you
to share your creations
with readers all around
the world and also to
publicise your gallery
on our website. If
you have a gallery
that youre proud
of, send an email
to opm@imaginepublishing.co.uk.
publishing.co.u
92
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20/9/07 17:45:04
02
Title: Somewhere in my mind

I painted this painting because I really needed
a vacation. I kept seeing this beautiful image
and told myself if I ever went on vacation it
would be to a place like this. This was painted
using the Funky Chunky brush.
03
Title: The red ower

I painted this for a neighbour who needed
artwork for her wall.
04
Title: Cuba Gooding, Jr

I painted Mr. Goodings wife in
his glasses using Photoshop, then
painted it in Corel Painter using
Oil Brushes. I love the loose feel
of this painting.
93
20/9/07 17:45:40
Gallery
Readers gallery issue nine
05
Title: The Native American

I saw this gentleman at a powwow
and asked him if I could do his portrait if
I sent him a copy. This is a pastel
using the Smudge tool in Photoshop
and then a variety of different brushes
to get this effect.
06
Title: Boy with buttery

Phyllis Stewart took this photo. I love
doing portraits of children and hope to do
a lot more. This was done in Corel Painter
using the Funky Chunky brush.
07
Title: Tim McGraw

Another portrait using the Sargent
brush with added texture. One of my
favourite singers.
94
20/9/07 17:46:28
08
Title: Heidi portrait

I took this picture using a little
Konica Minolta. I really pride myself as
being a portrait artist. This was
done using the Smudge tool in Photoshop then Marilyns Messier brush
for the background.
09
Title: Flower in the mist

I won my rst art contest with this
painting. I used Woodcut before I
painted this with Marilyns Messier
brush and Blender.
95
20/9/07 17:46:56
Readers challenge issue nine
Challenge
ts easy to fall into a creative pattern, where
you have a style or subject matter that you
are used to and that you are comfortable
with painting. Sometimes the best thing is to
leave the norm behind and try something different.
Thats one of the points of our creative challenges.
We provide you with this collection of images and
its up to you to think of a way of using one, some

or all of them. Try some of this issues techniques
out on them, or go for a style youve always wanted
to try but never got round to doing. You cant hurt
anything and who knows you could see your entry
in the magazine! Theres no deadline so take your
time and have fun.
This challenges materials
THE WINNER
WILL GET
THEIR PAINTING
PROFESSIONALLY
PRINTED ONTO
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, Ofcial Corel Painter Magazine,
Imagine Publishing, Richmond House, 33 Richmond Hill,
Bournemouth, Dorset BH2 6EZ, UK
Alas, we cant 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

96
096-097_OPM_09_comp.indd 96
21/9/07 14:24:17
Cha llen ge
winner
The best entries that have come
in this month
ts always a joy to get your entries to our challenges and

this issue we had some lovely ones to pick from. There
were a surprising amount of lowers to make their way
in this time around maybe you have been inspired
by gardens youve visited over the summer. Jan Davids pink
creation narrowly missed out on the top spot. We loved its
textured strokes and painterly feel. Third place went to Adrian
Beamishs misty and tranquil landscape painting, which used
various images from previous challenges. We liked the extra
touches he included, such as the people and pier. But the winning
title went to Anabel Pappie. Again, we loved the textured strokes
and feeling of thick paint. Excellent stuff!
WINNER!
Anabel
Pappie
2ND
PLACE
Jan David
3RD
PLACE
Adrian
Beamish
97
096-097_OPM_09_comp.indd 97
21/9/07 14:24:45
learn to paint hair
Hair is a notoriously difficult subject to

paint, but there are certain rules that
can be applied to make the process much
easier. Jeff Johnson walks you through
the best ways of painting hair in different
mediums, giving you the foundations to
go on and perfect your technique. Turn to
page 56 now!
Official Magazine
100_OPM_09_back cover.indd 1
19/9/07 17:22:34

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Ofcial Corel Painter TM Magazine

Share your work!

Visit us online www.paintermagazine.co.uk

Become a better digital artist with our guides

TEXTURES | TUTORIAL REFERENCE FILES | STOCK PHOTOS

Inject movement and

If I was given to making gross

Visit our website!

Jo Cole, Editor in Chief

ON THE FRONT COVER

DISCOVER SOME QUICK AND EASY

SEE HOW ONE ARTIST COLLECTS IDEAS

Regulars in every issue

Take out a subscription to

10 Corel Painter community

See how professionals are using

The rst of our special pages

Another merry gaggle of artistic

Havent entered one of

A full breakdown of the

Use cool colours to paint a

84 Casio EXILIM Zoom EX-Z1200

Practical art advice

Create inspirational art

32 Create ice-cool portraits

38 Paint like: Matisse

56 How to paint hair

Get up and running

Get to know your tools

n ews eve n ts res our ces letters web site s

Meet Corel Paint

The new, dark-themed graphite

Latest version of image editor promises professional results at an affordable price

The Smart Photo Fix

The new Express Lab allows you to edit

photos at different exposures and then use

The ultimate resource

sing a graphics tablet with Corel

Theres more to YouTube

Popular website has plenty for

Texture can be used in digital art in

Harvest free fonts

The Bamboo Fun starts at 69.99 and offers good

Mark this date in your diary as it

n ts res our ces

Share your Corel Painter wisdom

Ofcial Corel Painter

If youd prefer to contact

We completely agree the dynamic layers

Riding the waves

Above: Dees nautical

Hello painters! I wanted to thank you

So I found the article to be very useful and

Thanks for sending your artwork in Dee, and

Our favourite readers gallery this month

The middle image, entitled

I realise this is jumping the gun a bit, but

Youre preaching to the converted when you

effect it gives and love how you can adjust the

So many questions, yet so

Ive only bought the past two issues of

The latest from our

Thanks for your email Irve, and also thanks for

Interview Rebecca Parker