CorelPainCorel Painter - 08 - Magazine, Art, Digital Painting, Drawing, Draw, 2d

Learn to
Ofcial Corel Painter TM Magazine
PAINT
digitally today!
Work with Chalk brushes
Learn vital art techniques
Tips for using Corel Painter
Official Magazine
Issue eight
Airbrush tools
An intro to the Airbrushes
and how to use them
FEATURED
IN THIS ISSUE
Over
40
Drawing eyes
Achieve realistic eyes with
this step-by-step guide
pages of
tutorials
Tree study
Quick and easy methods for

painting believable trees
Pain t your own
masterpiece
Discover how you can create better
artwork with our in-depth tutorials
Special feature! See page 20
The art of painting
portraits
Visit us online www.paintermagazine.com
Improve your portrait skills!

Experts reveal the key ingredients
involved in planning and painting
exquisite portraits
ac
nd M
PC a
FREE CD
INSIDE
PAINTER X DEMO | TUTORIAL FILES | STOCK PHOTOS

Art class
Dedicated pages that answer
your art and software questions
001_OPM_8_COVERfinal.indd 1
Collages
Use the composite methods
to create a digital collage
Sci-fi landscape
See how one artist went about
creating a futuristic landscape
ISSUE EIGHT
ISSN 1753-3155
6.00
08
771753 315000
www.paintermagazine.com
21/8/07 16:44:07
Welcome
This is THE magazine for anyone wanting to further their
Corel Painter skills or learn how to become a better artist
Program guides
Learn about the Chalk
brushes and how to use
them correctly
Pg 40
Paint like
Edvard Munch
Use surface texture for a
truly 3D painting
Pg 68
Drawing 101:
How to draw eyes
The eyes so often elevate
or extinguish the soul of
the painting
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
ISSUE EIGHT
Pg 32
Portraits are simultaneously

the most popular and most
frustrating things to paint.
They are attractive because
they allow you to bring a
sense of personality to the
painting either in the person
being painted or the way they are painted.
Since portraits are both revered and feared,
we thought they would be an excellent topic
for a feature! Turn to page 20, where we talk
with three very different Corel Painter portrait
artists, and discover how and why they use the
program in their work. Weve also got them to
share their best tips for working on portraits,
and weve even persuaded some of you to reveal
your personal tricks!
Leaving portraits behind us, we turn to
painting scenes with a limited colour palette
(page 34). This is an interesting experiment
that really forces you to think about colour and
how it affects an image. In direct contrast, our
Paint Like this issue is Edvard Munch (p40).
We re-create The Scream, which is a riot of
colour and emotion.
Have fun!
Jo Cole, Editor in Chief

jo.cole@imagine-publishing.co.uk
005_OPM_08_welcome.indd 3
23/8/07 16:57:19
original artwork by Mayrhosby Yeoshen
ON THE FRONT COVER
Collage pg 46
Fea ture
The art of painting
Pg 20 PORTRAITS
LEARN HOW COREL PAINTER ARTISTS

ARE USING THE PROGRAM TO CREATE
PORTRAITS AND LEARN FROM THEIR
VALUABLE ADVICE
Pg 56 TREE STUDY
IMPROVE YOUR LANDSCAPE PAINTINGS

WITH OUR QUICK GUIDE TO PAINTING
TREES. LEARN ABOUT COLOURS,
BRUSHES AND TREE SHAPES
Regulars in every issue

08 Subscriptions
Take out a subscription to
the magazine and you can save
up to 40% on the cover price!
10 Corel Painter community

The best sites, services and
resources for creatives, plus see
what other readers have to say
on the Letters pages
96 Readers challenge
Havent entered one

of our challenges yet?
Turn to this page and
get started
98 On the disc
A full breakdown of
the content on this
issues free CD
30 Painter showcase
The rst in our special pages
dedicated to outstanding
Corel Painter 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 in
our gallery section
Original artwork by
Sue Stevens
portraits
pg 20
WIN!
YOUR
WORK
PRINTED
TO CANVAS
pg 96
Talented artists share their

secrets for stunning portraits
Reviews
82 Olympus E-410
It promises to pack a powerful
punch, but does the E-410 deliver
when it comes to quality? We tested
it to nd out
84 Backups4All
Protecting your artwork is
important for any digital artist, so
we were intrigued to see what this
online back up service was like
85 Panorama U Laptop Bag

Find out about this bag that can
handle your laptop, camera,
phone pretty much anything you
can throw at it
88 Bags of Love
Looking for the perfect present?
Check out this review of one
company that can take your digital
les and turn them into all sorts of
attractive products
006-007_OPM_08_contents.indd 6
23/8/07 16:05:32
Jeff Nentrup pg 14
pg 50
Futuristic cityscapes
Original artwork by Jeff Nentrup
Interview
pg 40
Paint like:
Edvard Munch
Inspirational art
14 Jeff Nentrup
Jeffs work takes viewers into strange new lands with

intriguing creatures and strange beings. We caught up
with him to discover more
tutorials
Create inspirational art

34 Limited colour palette
Strip away colours for
dazzling effects
40 Paint like: Munch

Re-create one of the most
iconic paintings of our time
50 Futuristic cityscape
Drawing 101
Traditional artistic techniques
68 Drawing eyes
As a complement to our portraits feature this issue, the Drawing
101 section deals with drawing eyes a vital skill to master if you
want engaging paintings
Use composition tricks for an

alluring image
56 Tree art study

Learn how to quickly and
easily paint trees
62 An intro to airbrushing
Make friends with the
Airbrush tools
Visit our
website now!
www.
painter
magazine.
co.uk
Primers
Get up and running

32 Brushes: Chalk
Beautiful texture is easy with the
Chalk brushes
Feature focus
Get to know your tools

46 Create collages
Merge your photos, text,
backgrounds and paintings into
one good-looking collage. We
examine the tools that help you
do this
006-007_OPM_08_contents.indd 7
23/8/07 16:06:20
y
t
i
n
u
m
Com
Tutorial xxxx
n ews eve n ts res our ces letters web site s
NEWS EVENTS
RESOURCES
LETTERS WEBSITES
INFO FORUM
Alan Davis
Chris Price
Carrie Woeck
Michael David
Digital Painting Forum

Garner professional and friendly advice on all aspects of
digital art from this subscription-based online community
TEACHING
Works can be finely
tuned in the private
community with help
from other members
orel Painter has attracted a hard

core of artists who are dedicated
to educating people about the
program and how it works. One
of these Painter evangelists is Marilyn
Sholin, who has also contributed to our
Art Class section this issue.
Marilyn Sholin
Sholin hosts the Digital Painting

Forum, which has thousands of
international members and over 50,000
posts about Corel Painter, Essentials, and
Adobe Photoshop. The various forums
include useful topics such as tutorials,
brushes, digital painting, art and the
business of creating, marketing and selling
digital art. While theres plenty for Corel
Painter fans, the forum deals with all
forms of digital art, so you can see how
other people are using different software,
maybe picking up a few tips along the way.
In addition to the actual forum areas,
one aspect of the forum that we really like
is the Featured Artist area. Each month a
member gains their time in the limelight
as the featured artist, where their work
is given prominence on the home page,
complete with interview. You can easily
access previous featured artists and this is
a great way to get a quick overview of the
standard of work on the site.
Jan David
This forum has a small subscription fee

that is well worth the education and
friendship gained. One of the members
favourite features of the forum are the
gallery where members can post their
paintings and keep albums of them, while
getting feedback from other members. The
forum also has contests and challenges for
prizes like full versions of Corel Painter X
and other software.
You can visit the forum at www.
digitalpaintingforum.com and take
the Sneak Peek tour to see what it holds.
Membership fees are set to rise from 1
October, with a years membership costing
$49 and two years costing $75.
10
010-011_OPM_08_news.indd 10
23/8/07 11:02:43
n ts
n ews eveJet
info n ews eve n ts res our ces letters web site info Perma
Inkjet Paper
& Canvas
RESOURCES
Model behaviour
Merge free stock with Corel Painter
for outstanding results
sing photography as a basis for
your Corel Painter projects is an
excellent way of capturing scenes
you may not otherwise be able to paint.
But for truly limitless possibilities, take a
foray into the world of 3D.
You wont have to learn a complicated
program, because lots of kind souls have
provided base models. One such soul is
Rita Marfoldi. Her deviantART account
is full of stock resources, available to
download and turn into digital paintings.
She offers individual iles for free as well
as special packs, a mass of high-res iles,
costing only a few dollars to download.
Take a worthwhile look at her gallery at
http://sadestock.deviantart.com
RESOURCES
Free papers
Popular free resource site offers
over 50 papers
he Plugin Site is a great resource

for free goodies and Corel
Painter users will ind a great
collection of Papers on there. Harrys
Papers is a collection of over 50 paper
iles that can be loaded and used for free.
Arranged into groups, all you need to do
is register at the site and then wait for
an email conirmation. Once you have
this, click the link back to the site and
then download the papers. Pop over to
http://thepluginsite.com and see what
else is of interest.
Marfoldi specialises in
fantasy art, but there
are also sketches,
colours and textures
E
Y
FRE
VER
I
S
DELORDER00
ON R 1
E
OV
Fine Art media

without equal
Digital art exhibit
EXHIBITION
Corel Painter Magazine reader gets

own digital art show
ere very excited to report that one of
our readers is getting her very own
art exhibition. Cheryl Blanchard,
who was featured in issue ve, is going to be
exhibiting her work at Studio 33, New London,
CT 06320, USA, from 7 September for one
month. Visitors to the gallery will
be able to view 20 of Blanchards
works. Digital art has typically been
frowned upon in the ne-art world
but things are starting to change and
shows such as Blanchards is proof
of that. If youre in the area, be sure
to drop into the gallery to show your
support and if you have your own
show coming up, let us know and
well be proud to include details in
the magazine.
Release the true glory of

your digital masterpieces
with PermaJets Inkjet
media range.
Choose from over 25
different varieties in
many amazing finishes,
textures, weights and
sizes.
Whats more, we have put
together special online
deals, exclusive only to
readers of this magazine!
To take advantage go to:
www.permajet.com/109/
To see for yourself the
difference our papers
make to your Art
reprographics call
today for your FREE
printed sample
swatch.
The site has a vast array of plug-ins and freeware,

as well as galleries, news, reviews and tutorials
Cheryls self portrait (top) and street scene (above) are representative
of her expressive and arresting style
Call: 01926 493 632

010-011_OPM_08_news.indd 11
23/8/07 11:03:17
n ts res our ces

eve
s
ew
n
o
inf
te
bsi
we
s
ter
let
ces
our
res
ts
n
eve
s
n ew
s
r
e
t
t
e
L
r
u
o
e
Welcome to the part of the magazine where you can com
and share your thoughts on anything you fancy!
Send your
letters to...
Ofcial Corel Painter
Magazine, Imagine
Publishing, Richmond
House, 33 Richmond
Hill, Bournemouth,
Dorset BH2 6EZ, UK
If youd prefer to contact
us via email, send your
message to opm@
imagine-publishing.
co.uk
Colour swatch
I dont usually write in to magazines

(and I promise Im not saying this just
to get published), but I wanted to say how
much I enjoyed issue seven! I am very
impressed with the variety of styles and
was particularly happy with the seascape
feature. Ive always wanted to paint
the sea but end up with a blue mess.
Im looking forward to trying the
techniques out.
But on to why I am writing. One thing
that I found really helpful in the sea
feature was the colour palette at the
beginning. I know people describe what

colours they are using, but it is so much
more helpful to see the hues. Now I can
refer to this and then get painting. Im
probably in the minority with needing
this, but can you do this regularly? I do
ind it much easier and there may be
others who want it too.
Simon Lakeland
Thanks for your kind words, Simon. Its always

the best route to take if you want anything
published! We enjoyed the seascape feature
as well and am pleased that you did too. Its
interesting what you say about the colour

palettes. It is something we do now and again
and agree that it makes things easier. What
do others think? Do you want definite colour
palettes for every guide or do you prefer to
make up your own swatch? Let us know.
Sell your wares
I have got a few pieces of art that Im quite

proud of and wondered if you or any other
readers had a suggestion for what I can
do with it? Ideally Id like to try selling it,
but havent got a website or any means
of taking payments. Is there a simple way?
Keith Burnes
Readers tip
Share your Corel Painter wisdom
Random brushes
If you nd it difcult to think up new brush
variants, the Brush Creator will do it all for
you! Open up the Creator, and then pick the
Randomizer function. Pick a brush category
and variant and then click the Randomize
Current Selection button. Youll see various
variants appear.
Barbara Haimer
Let us know if, like Simon,

you found the inclusion of
a colour palette useful, or
if you prefer making up
your own unique swatch
Thanks for that, Barbara. The Randomizer is

among those functions that are rarely used
but that give great results.
Featured gallery
Eric Schranz
Eric Schranz
Our favourite readers gallery this month
Eric Schranz
www.paintermagazine.co.uk/
user/tuxxon
ranz
Eric Sch
Eric is no stranger to the Painter

software he rst it way back in version
two but abandoned the program
for a while as his computers werent
powerful enough to cope with it! He
returned to the fold with version IX, and
2006 saw him start using the program
in earnest. We were really struck with
how Eric introduces texture into his
work pay a visit to his gallery and you
will be treated to rich brushstrokes and
thick paint worked into colourful and
intriguing creations.
12
012-013_OPM_08_letters.indd 12
23/8/07 11:04:11
share my photographs with other readers.

You can see them from www.sxc.hu/
proile/cynthiab.
Cynthia Berridge
CafePress is a great way to sell your images on

various merchandise with no hassle
Hello Keith, there is indeed a simple way. You

might like to check out the CafePress site
www.cafepress.com. This service allows
you to use your images as the basis of a wide
range of products, from T-shirts and baseball
caps, through to ceramics and other fun items.
You can set up your own shop, so visitors
can come and visit and then get your images
printed onto product. CafePress will create the
products, take care of the payment and also
ship the good worldwide all you do is pay a
small commission. Maybe try and talk to a few
of the people who already have a store and see
how they have got on.
Photos for all
Hello, I love the Oficial Corel Painter

Magazine and am trying my hardest
to understand the program and all its
particulars! I have an account with Stock.
XCHNG and would love the chance to
Thanks for that, Cynthia. You have a great

collection of images, a lot of which lend
themselves beautifully to Corel Painter
projects. We were particularly impressed with
your fruit still-lifes. They would make great
reference photos for sketches or full-blown
paintings with the Oil brushes. We have a
feeling that a lot of readers will get use out of
your images and thank you for offering them
up to the community. As a small aside, Cynthia
has got us thinking. If you get caught up in the
spirit of sharing, pass it on to us! We could run
a regular section where we print details of your
content and either include it on our CD or have
the link for people to download!
www.paintermagazine.com
bsi te info
we
s
ter
let
ces
our
res
ts
n
eve
s
ew
n
o
inf
te
bsi
we
s
ces letter
The latest from our

forum and website
Website challenge
Some of the best so far
By the time you read this, our website challenge
will be over and another set of images will have
been revealed for you to download and create art
mayhem with. But we thought it would be nice
to bring you another small selection of entries
received so far, so you can have a nose at what
others have been up to.
For your enjoyment this issue, we have three
very different but equally lovely images. First
up is Apryl Bachettis work. We loved how the
original photo had been totally transformed into a
dramatic fairytale-esque piece of art. Hugo Pataos
piece caught our eye as he re-created a traditional
art study perfectly. And last but not least, Kathy
Pilgrims mosaic treatment of the carnival horses
worked very well. You can see who won by visiting
the website www.paintermagazine.com.
ENTER T
WEBSITHE
CHALLE E
NGE
Dont be
shy
welcome everyones
www.pa to enter! Go to
co.uk/co intermagazine.
mpetitio
ns.php
Reader Cynthias
photographs are on
display on the Stock.
XCHNG website, so feel
free to have a browse
and draw inspiration
13
012-013_OPM_08_letters.indd 13
23/8/07 11:04:39
Interview Jeff Nentrup
An interview with
Jeff Nentrup
From standing start to the biggest film of the year, Jeff Nentrup has
had a roller-coaster career and its only just begun!
hile artists wielding the
weight of Photoshop claim
much of the spotlight when
it comes to showcasing
their work, artists like Jeff Nentrup can go
by undiscovered.
Growing up in Thousand Oaks, a town
just outside of LA, the illustrator moved
to Pasadena to complete his BFA in
Illustration in 2000 and has been there
ever since. Starting his creative journey
in traditional media, most particularly
in oil painting, Nentrup admits before
1997 he had never seen a digital painting
before. However, that all changed during
his last semester at college where the
artists took an advanced concept course
taught by Painter Master Ryan Church. I

remember him saying that Painter was
the quickest way he could communicate
his design ideas and I was hooked. Lord
of the Rings had just come out and Ryan
was working on these little prequel ilms
called Star Wars. It was very exciting for
me and I quickly added some cinematic
samples to my graduating portfolio. I
was fortunate enough with them to land
work on the Harry Potter ilms right out
of school. We found out more about this
intriguing artist.
What techniques do you use?
At irst I would scan in pencil drawings
before I could draw well on the machine.
Before long, Id usually open a new ile and

start with a black scratchboard tool to line
it out. When Im happy with the basics,
Ill tone the whole image down to get rid
of the white. From there I use Painter to
mimic my paints and brushes, blocking
things in and softening edges with the
blending tools. The real advantages
digitally are the speeds of masking,
cloning, drying and glaze the things
that slow you down at the easel. A lot of
ilm directors and production designers
are now used to the photographic look
of using photo elements, even in the preproduction phase. Its understandable
because it ends up looking like the ilm
theyre trying to make. However, it can be
14
014-018_OPM_08_interview.indd 14
22/8/07 14:56:56
www.jeffnentrup.com, www.basamatic.com
Designer/illustrator
Warner Brothers, Paramount Pictures, Dreamworks SKG and more
All original artwork by Jeff Nentrup
website

job title
clients

[ABOVE]
Black
SabbathResurrection
This was a
rebrand campaign
conceptualising the
mythical Ironman
character for the band
led by legendary front
man Ozzy Osbourne
[right]
Cyber Punk
A character for Wizards
of the Coasts dark
role-play game called
Hecatomb.He was born
out of a two sentence
description of a
techno-thug
15
22/8/07 14:54:32
Interview Jeff Nentrup
Im interested in
humanity and the distance
between our moments of
dignity and ugly limitations
THE GREENMAN ENCOUNTER

This was a personal concept piece that
Nentrup created for a disbanded film
adaptation based on characters from A
Princess of Mars
[ABOVE]
Drift Shadow and
Twisted Visage
(aka: ice zombie)
These were card
illustrations for a Magic
the Gathering series
called Coldsnap
overwhelming when an artist is

expected to crank out a near-matte
painting per day.
How do you come up with the concepts?
I like to think through the concept before
I start drawing. Ill go over design briefs
or reference photos if a client provides
them. When Im in full creative control Ill
do my own research. Then I rent movies
or put on good music. When I start
drawing I keep it simple until I know its
working. If its not working at all, Ill walk
away for a while. Maybe ride my bike, pick
up an instrument or something. Then go
back to my desk with a fresh eye.
Why do you like/use Painter?
I think of Painter as a kind of magic
sketchbook. No mess or fear of ruining
a painting. Ive used it almost every day
for the last ive years. At irst I was very
aware that because of the freedom to try

things or undo them, it was speeding up
the learning curve of my painting and
design skills. I use a lot of custom paper
textures to get a more natural look in
my work. Im also a bit of a sucker for the
Sargent Brush.
What system do you use?
I have a fast desktop Mac running
two large screens so I can have all my
reference material in view or watch a ilm
while I work. My mobile rig is a 17-inch
MacBook Pro. I use my 9 x 12 Wacom
tablet for both machines, a variety of
digital cameras and a basic scanner.
Who/what are your inuences?
My greatest inluences have always come
from the museums. It was during a trip to
Paris and Amsterdam when I was 20 that
I realised I was an artist. I did my irst
painting at 21 and then immersed myself

in it completely. Before that it was mostly
ilm that I remember making an impact
on me creatively.
What excites you about your work?
Art history and new artists keep me
motivated. I love people and ind a lot of
my inspiration there. Im interested in
humanity and the distance between our
moments of dignity and ugly limitations. I
have to be grateful that I can make a good
living with my imagination. There is a
lifetime worth of it to explore.
What has your artwork been used for?
My clients include Warner Brothers,
Paramount Pictures, Dreamworks SKG,
Disney, Sony Pictures, Universal Pictures,
Hewlett Packard, Activision Games, EA
Games, Sony Online Entertainment, NIKE,
COKE, LEGO, Hasbro, Simon & Shuster
16
22/8/07 14:54:52
D&D Cityscape
Within this full-wrap
cover for a Dungeons
and Dragons book
called Cityscape,
there are actually
tiny characters on
the cathedral top
battling gargoyles
Books, Random House Books, Walker

Books, Bloomsbury Books, Black Sabbath,
My Chemical Romance, BT, Bloc Party,
Estee Lauder, Adidas, Wizards of the
Coast and some others
Do you have any current projects youre
working on, or any projects lined up for
the future?
Right now Im doing some pre-production
paintings for a Zach Braff and Cory
Edwards ilm. I was just commissioned
to do a book cover with Candlewick Press
called Kaimira and continuing a series Im
doing with Wizards of the Coast.
How would you describe what you do?
I wear the hat of either designer or
illustrator. As a designer I use the speed
of digital painting to rapid sketch ideas
for a client. As an illustrator Ill go all the
way from thumbnail sketches to inished
artwork on the computer. Im almost 100

per cent digital for commercial work. The
speed allows me to take four or ive jobs
in the time it would take me to actually
draw out or paint any one of them. It
also makes things more easier to edit
for you and the client. While working
on Dreamgirls, director Bill Condon
stood over my shoulder with both the
production designer and art director
while I pulled colour sliders around. We
composed three or four shots like that
completely on the ly. That wouldnt
happen in any other medium.
think that the more you paint and draw,

you deinitely become more aware of
your own tendencies.
How do you keep yourself from becoming

run-of-the-mill with so much competition
out there?
I love other artists work so much, as do
we all, so I have to ight the tendency to
use techniques or signature moves of
other well-known artists in my ield. I
What advice would you give someone

trying to follow in your footsteps?
I think one of my best moves
professionally was being open to new
ideas. As an oil painter I never cared
about the computer or thought of it as
a tool. As a student, mileage is the key
Forgotten Realms
This is a book cover called
The Gossamer Plain, the
first book in a series for
regular clients Wizards
of the Coast, called The
Empyrean Odyssey
[ABOVE LEFT]
Ironman
Jeffs work often retains
loose brushstrokes
that give the feeling of
fluid images
17
22/8/07 14:55:18
Interview Daniel
Jeff Nentrup
Conway
Bright Eyes
This was a sketch created for the
Fightstar album booklet. It was
also used in the Corel Painter X
promotional material
Sometimes people
outside of the
industry have a hard
time understanding
what I do
to building skills and I think knowing
traditional mediums is a must. One of the
best pieces of advice I heard as a student
was a simple insight good work opens
doors. And then realising that I dont have
to like something to be inluenced by it.
Would you like to try another area?
Im a professional musician by night.
What do you enjoy the most about
your work?
I love the variety of jobs I get called for. Ill
do a lot of quick sketch concept work for a
ilm or videogame, and then turn around
and do a tight rendering job. However,
there is nothing better than selling an oil
on canvas.
What is your proudest creative moment
so far?
I think designing a campaign for Black
Sabbath and then getting a big hug from
Ozzy at the launch party was priceless.
Do you think the market has changed its

perception of digital art?
In business, everybody is on a computer.
The average person knows about a JPEG
or PDF Beyond that theres no denying
the amazing work being digitally created.
Its exciting to have been involved with a
medium that is still in its infancy.
Sometimes people outside of the
industry have a hard time understanding
what I do. Ill tell them I use a computer
to paint and theyre lost. Often people
will assume the computer uses a lot of
tricks and theyre right on one level. But
its deinitely not easy. I have a word
processor but I cant just sit down and
expect to write a good novel with it.
Is your personal art work different to

your professional commissions? And, if
so, in what way?
Its a completely different process when
you get an assignment. The clients needs
are everything. By the time I get to my
painting studio Ive usually got a good
idea germinating in my head. Ironically
enough, Im so comfortable with my
Painter rig at this point that I end up
sketching ideas out on the computer
before reproducing them as oil paintings.
What is your favourite piece of Painter
work that you have created?
There was this one that got deleted. You
would have loved it.
[TOP]
The Tepaphone
This is another
Hecatomb card. This
one was described as
a mental telepathy
weapon, using a
technology of lenses
and conductors
[ABOVE]
Green Jasper
A full wrap-around
book cover. The knight
and castle are on the
front cover
18
22/8/07 14:55:47
Original artwork by Mayrhosby Yeoshen
Feature The art of painting portraits
20
020-029_OPM_08_feature.indd 20
23/8/07 16:10:57
Original artwork by Vanessa Lemen
Original artwork by Mayrhosby Yeoshen
Original artwork by Ryan Cole
A picture may paint a thousand words but a portrait can stir a multitude
of emotions. Nick Spence meets three accomplished portrait artists
Experts panel
Mayrhosby Yeoshen (www.mayyeo.com)

Mayrhosby Yeoshen is an animation student
enjoying a reputation far beyond her
college campus. A favourite on many online
communities such as deviantART, her work has
gained many fans by displaying a maturity and
craft far beyond her years.
Ryan Cole (www.ryancoleart.com)

Ryan maintains an excellent sketch blog and
illustration portfolio, with an emphasis on comic
books, caricature and Corel Painter tips and
tricks. He graduated from the Savannah College
of Art and Design in 2006 with a Bachelor of
Fine-Arts degree, majoring in sequential art.
Vanessa Lemen (www.vanessalemenart.com)

Vanessa is co-founder of Studio 2nd Street in
Encinitas, California, with her husband Ron.
She has worked in several different arenas
of art, from representational and fine-art to
illustration and entertainment art, and works in
both traditional and digital media.
ts not dificult to see why portrait

painting has endured despite a
wealth of artistic movements
and inspirational subject matter.
The human face, with its ininite
arrangement of eyes, nose and
mouth, is unique. Central to our ability to
feel empathy, love, passion, anger and hate,
it stirs the most extreme emotions within
ourselves, deining both the way we look
and how others see us.
Long said to be the windows of the
soul, the eyes particularly attract attention.
The best portrait paintings offer another
view behind the eyes, revealing something
that a snapshot cannot. Artists have
long tried to capture the essence of the
subject as well as revealing something
of themselves. If all fails to inspire, add a
mirror to your studio or desktop and you
have a subject that will sit patiently and
subtly change over the years.
Corel Painter is ideal for portrait
painting, offering an exceptional range of
natural-media painting and illustration
tools. If you have a particular expression
in your mind that you want to convey, the

program has the techniques to transfer
what starts off as an abstract thought, to
the canvas as a detailed inished product.
Varied and versatile, the program is able
to reproduce the look and mood of both
classic and contemporary portraiture by
utilising the right tools.
For the enthusiast portrait painter,
Corel Painter offers some useful tools to
ensure a likeness between your subject
and painting. The Quick Clone feature
allows you to use a guide, particularly
photographs, to maintain a resemblance
and make sure facial proportions dont veer
into caricature. The introduction in Corel
Painter X of the Underpainting and AutoPainting palettes, and new composition
tools based on divine proportion and the
rule of thirds offers further possibilities for
more established portrait painters.
We spoke with three portrait artists to
discover how they use Corel Painter in their
work and to pick their brains for juicy tips.
Whatever your style, theres advice here.
Original artwork by Helen Yancy
21
23/8/07 16:12:18
Mayrhosby Yeoshen
ayrhosby Yeoshen, nicknamed
May, creates striking wideeyed portraits of friends and
fantasy friends, armed with
only an old copy of Corel Painter, Photoshop
and a Wacom tablet. Buying her irst
graphics tablet ive years ago while still a
teenager was something of a turning point,
having worked as a traditional artist from
an early age. Bundled with the tablet came
Painter Classic, a stripped-down version of
Corel Painter that hinted at the potential
working digitally had to offer. Yeoshen
began picking up commissions and as a
freelance illustrator, worked mainly as a
portrait artist creating fantasy characters.
Although her work has a strong fantasy
element, her style is not easy to pin down.
I would describe my style as a mix of
digital and traditional art, since I work in
a very detailed way to avoid giving that
smooth feeling that most digital artists
obtain, explains Yeoshen. I am a huge
fan of old master paintings and therefore
I try to apply the same old touch into my
paintings, be it adding to my canon or
applying the colour palette.
used in real life, and several other tools

like rotating the canvas freely, it certainly
gives you the feeling of nearly painting in
real life.
Yeoshens favourite Corel Painter brushes
include the Camel brushes, Artists Oils,
Pastels and many other custom brushes
that she either creates or downloads from
other artists websites and communities.
Creating and customising your own
brushes can give you a subtle edge over
artists, adding a touch of originality to your
work while signiicantly expanding your
creative options. For maximum detail, the
Pencil tool is also a must for Yeoshen.
Working digitally doesnt mean you
can abandon traditional drawing skills,
although with its cloning tools, Corel
Painter does allow you to work from
photographic sources with ease. Yeoshen
likes to get the balance right between
working from photographs and from life.
I use more photographs than still-life
studies to help me in my process. The fact
that I cannot rely on models forces me to
use photos. However, when possible, I bring
the laptop and the tablet with me and ask
Central to Yeoshens meticulous work is

the face. Portraits real and imaginary
dominate her personal website and best
showcase her talents. As a lover of the
human face, I must admit that portraits
have a charm that cannot be compared to
other painting topics such as landscapes or
still-life studies, insists Yeoshen. Its the
proportions of the different features of the
human face, the expression depicted and so
many other things that keeps portraiture
as my irst choice.
Corel Painter is now central to Yeoshen
creating her portraits, offering a range of
tools and natural media that rival the real
thing. I really enjoy the way Corel Painter
grants you possibilities to make your
illustrations look more alive and less fake
due to the nature of the digital media. With
a wide range of brushes that mimic the ones
my friends to pose for me, being as fast as

possible so as not to bore them. For clothes I
just need a mirror.
Yeoshen will develop her painting in a
traditional way, starting with some basics
and reining the image over time. To start
I draw the line art, which can be done
with a real pencil on a real paper sheet
that is then scanned. Then I drop the basic
colours for background, skin, hair, clothes,
etc. From then its just a matter of divide
and conquer. I usually start with the skin
and everything involved, eyes, lips, before
moving onto the hair and clothes. Its a
matter of constant reinement, as everyone
knows. For a more organic touch, I use a
cross-hatching technique that creates the
feeling of realistic skin and can only be
noticed when zooming the canvas in its
original size.
Corel Painter grants you possibilities to make

your illustrations look more alive and less fake
All original artwork by Mayrhosby Yeoshen
Originally from Venezuela, and now living in Ottawa, Canada, Mayrhosby Yeoshen is an
animation student currently basking in a deserved reputation extending far beyond her
college campus. Her work has gained many plaudits after cropping up and appearing on
online communities in recent years
Above
Yeoshen based this
portrait on Anne Rices
famous vampire Lestat,
the second in her
Vampire Chronicles,
following Interview
with the Vampire
This striking portrait by

Yeoshen was heavily
inspired by the film
Final Fantasy VII:
Advent of Children and
especially Yazoo
22
23/8/07 16:13:06
Left
Yeoshens self-created
vampire Coltrane Holland;
another example of her
fantasy-based artwork
much admired by
Yeoshens peers
I use more photographs than

still-life studies to help me in
my process. The fact that I
cannot rely on models forces me
to use photos
Portrait of Nathan by
Yeoshen is another
example of her fan-based
artwork, the creation of
fellow deviantART
regular Ingvild-kun
23
23/8/07 16:13:40
All original artwork by Ryan Cole
Quentin Tarantino sequence

After the initial sketch, Ryan sets
about building up the layers of
detail. An avid believer that you must
study anatomy in order to paint it, he
uses his knowledge and exaggerates
it to achieve the caricature effect
al
Origin24
23/8/07 16:14:35
Ryan Cole
Its hard to imagine that someone who produces this contemporary and
stunning art only graduated a year ago, but thats what talented Ryan Cole
has done, coming away from the Savannah College of Art and Design with
a Bachelor of Fine-Arts in sequential art comic books to the layman
or someone so youthful, Ryan
Cole draws his inspiration from
traditional sources, citing the
Impressionists as inluences,
particularly Renoir and Degas. John Singer
Sargent is another favourite, especially his
portraits that, in Coles view, capture all
thats appealing about portraiture painting
I think a lot of artists just prefer to
draw the human face over anything else,
says Cole. Its a real challenge to capture
not only a likeness, but also the personality
of a subject, and the whole process is
just fascinating from the artists end. I think
that comes through in the inished
product; people can see the artists
fascination with his subject, and that
fascination is infectious.
For Cole, painting a portrait should be
more than a simple exercise in producing
a photo-realistic image. I like to give my
portraits something you cant get with a
photograph, so I tend to exaggerate the
colours and I dont smooth out the brush
strokes. I also like to leave in some of the
little mistakes; I think that sort of thing
keeps a portrait from feeling stiff and
lifeless. I also really like to do caricatures
and comic-book-style portraits, which are
usually black-and-white line drawings.
I follow pretty much the same idea with
those, though they do tend to look better
when I tighten them up.
All of Ryans work begins with an initial sketch,

letting him organise the features and prepare for
the application of colour
Despite a lifelong love of drawing and

painting, Cole found traditional portraiture
both frustrating and time-consuming,
but discovering Corel Painter and
working digitally brought new creative
opportunities. I never inished one
traditionally painted piece. With Painter,
not only do I get a huge variety of options
from different brushes and types of media
to papers and textures, which would be
cumbersome and expensive in real life, but
I can edit and tweak indeinitely with no
chance of ruining a piece, enthuses Cole.
For ink drawings, Cole begins with a

sketch and then converts it to a light blue
colour before he begins inking. I ink
with a custom inking brush on a layer set
to Multiply. This way I can erase simply
by switching to white. I use the Fit To
Path feature a lot in my ink drawings,
and recording and replaying strokes is
very handy for things like feathering and
hatching. Learning new ways of working
digitally can also have a positive effect on
your traditional skills. Theres no one to
stop you from taking techniques youve
This intuitive intimacy offers Cole a level

of control over his portraits that he found
dificult to reproduce in Photoshop. I tried
painting in Photoshop before I tried Painter,
and it was just too counterintuitive for
me, explains Cole. I spent too much time
tweaking the brushes and using ilters and
effects to get my drawings to look a certain
way, and not enough time just drawing.
Painter lets you get the look you want
right away, and no additional adjusting is
required. Its more about drawing and less
about technical expertise.
developed in Painter and applying them

to traditional media. Personally, though, I
doubt Ill ever go back to paper.
Recently Cole has become something
of an advocate for Corel Painter,
enthusiastically explaining his working
methods on his website blog. The most
compelling reason is its a lot of fun. A
program like Painter opens up all kinds of
opportunities to explore and experiment.
For most artists, its the process that were
in love with, and working digitally gives us
all these great new things to try.
Painter lets you get the look you want right

away, and no additional adjusting is required
Colour is applied to the main face. Ryan favours

exaggerated colours and will leave his brush
strokes as they are
In keeping with his colour needs, Ryan has

introduced a contrasting background hue to the
tones in the face
The final details are applied. Notice how the

brush strokes are still evident, which give an extra
texture and depth to the image
25
23/8/07 16:15:05
Vanessa Lemen
Art is such a subjective medium, so it should come as no
surprise that some artists plan their work differently to
others. Vanessa Lemen will often utilise Corel Painter to
help her during the planning stage of a traditional painting
or an artist working in
predominately traditional media
like Vanessa Lemen, Corel Painter
offers a level of experimentation
and freedom that is hard to reproduce
elsewhere. When I work digitally, Im very
experimental in terms of procedure. I enjoy
the digital medium because it allows for a
different kind of freedom, explains Lemen.
I can scrape and scratch, and smooth
and blend, and drip and smear. I can crop
the image, or expand it to try different
compositions. I can save several variations
of the same painting. I can throw layers
in the trash or look at them in a different
coniguration and see if one way works
better than another. So the most helpful
aspect is the freedom that it gives me,
which allows me to experiment and to not
be hesitant about trying different things.
With artists materials increasingly
expensive, Lemen will use Corel Painter
to help plan her work. Its a cost-effective,
time-saving and environmentally friendly
Lemens creative process is displayed

on her fascinating blog (http://
vanessalemenart.blogspot.com),
detailing both the painting process and the
stories and inspirations behind each work.
With much of her best work portraits
either commissioned or self-initiated,
including a striking self-portrait its clear
each portrait holds a powerful appeal.
Maybe its because a portrait painting is
an iconographic image of that moment, and
at the same time its evidence of the artists
connection to that thing thats beyond
themselves, and their ability to objectify
what they are responding to, says Lemen.
And as far as the viewer goes, its very
subjective and thats the beauty of it. A
portrait painting gives everyone the beneit
of the doubt and the permission to make
their own interpretation.
When working digitally with Corel
Painter, photos can be an important part of
the creative process, again helping to look
at traditional painting with fresh eyes. Im
way of working. I can also utilise Painter to

help me work out a strategy in a traditional
painting Im working on. I sometimes
shoot a photo of the painting, and open it
up in Painter and experiment with it and
problem solve. Its also a great way to do
thumbnails and igure out a composition
ahead of time, or brainstorm and work out a
concept, doing value and colour comps, and
piecing different elements together, etc.
Lemen and husband Ron also have a
solid and extensive background in art
instruction. Art classes at their studio
are a culmination of the wide-ranging
knowledge they have gained through
their experiences as artists, with a strong
attention to classical foundation. Lemen
has found a good balance utilising her
communicative nature to be a very
altruistic and dedicated instructor, while
she feels that her personal work is done
best when alone and speaks from what she
calls the strength of solitude.
open to working with Painter in a lot of

different ways. When I work from life, the
process is very much like direct painting
in oil. When I work using photographs,
its mainly for textures and incorporating
them into my work in such a way that
would be like glazing transparent layers
over each other and building up the image
atmospherically, incorporating portrait
painting into the layers and building it up,
which is similar to how I would create an
indirect painting in oil. I also take photos
of paintings and work on them in Painter
sometimes to work out a problem.
In keeping with the experimental nature
of her digital work, Lemen doesnt have
a typical Corel Painter worklow. Its best
features allow Lemen to remain lexible and
expect the unexpected. The way I work
with Painter is pretty experimental overall.
The process of the image might change with
the subject matter or situation. Its a lexible
and forgiving tool to create with.
The most helpful aspect is the freedom that

it gives me, which allows me to experiment
All original artwork by Vanessa Lemen
This piece, titled

Autumn, capture the
subjective beauty that
Vanessa attributes to
the portrait form
Above
Corel Painter allows
Vanessa to try our
ideas before moving
onto her traditional
canvas and paints
Left
In this image titled
KoiSelf, Vanessa
exhibits her love of
textures and slowly
building an image up,
layer by layer
26
23/8/07 16:15:33
A portrait painting gives

everyone the benefit of the doubt,
and the permission to make their
own interpretation
27
23/8/07 16:15:49
Top portrait tips

Thirsty for more portrait tips? We quizzed the featured
artists in addition to readers of this magazine to put
together a compilation of the top ten tips for creating
stunning portraits in Corel Painter
01
Mayrhosby Yeoshen
www.mayyeo.com
Pay attention to anatomy

Anatomy studies dont hurt anyone.
Examine the distance from one eye to the
other, how many noses long a common head
is, where the end of the jaw is
located and so forth. Just
practise and study to
perfect your skills.
When working with
portraits, study the
subject in detail. How
this person is, the
personality, what he
or she does, the age,
environment and so
on. This will help you
greatly when deining the
mood of the piece.
02
03
Carver Shivers
www.paintermagazine.
co.uk/user/Carver Shivers
Optimum conditions
When I use a photograph that I am going to
clone, I use the Layer Adjustment tools to
adjust the contrast, lightness and so forth,
prior to the actual cloning process, in order
to highlight the effects on the photograph.
In this case, I added a Screen layer for the
image to make the image a little lighter
overall, giving the subject more emphasis.
04
Monica Saulmon
www.iconportrait.com
Use layers
I like to use digital layering on my inal paintings. Its like furniture surfaces and antique paper in the Overlay
the glazing techniques the old masters used to add depth layers mode at 20% Opacity in Photoshop. It can really
to their paintings. Here, I used images of old antique
add the inal polish to your Corel Painter portraits.
Ryan Cole
www.ryancoleart.com
Stretch it out
I never draw the same thing twice if I dont
have to. Take eyes, for example. I usually
just draw one eye, choose the Lasso tool
to make a selection around the eye, and
copy and paste it in the same location in
a layer above the original. Then I go to
Effects>Orientation>Flip Horizontal and
nudge it over by holding Shift and pressing
an arrow key. (Holding Shift changes the
nudge increment to ten pixels, whereas the
arrow keys themselves nudge by one pixel.)
You can also hold down the Cmd/Ctrl key
to change your cursor to the Move tool and
move your duplicate eye that way (Cmd/
Ctrl+Shift will constrain the movement to
straight lines or 45 degree angles).
28
23/8/07 16:16:33
05
David Cole
www.paintermagazine.co.uk/user/davidc
Clone from a photo

A good way to practise your skills is
to clone from a photo. Begin with an
interesting photo and whack up the
shadows and highlights. I set up the
cloning with Artists Canvas as the
texture and illed the canvas with
a light warm grey. I used mainly my
own custom brushes on this which
are derived from the wonderful
Sargents brush, some Bristle
brushes and some Chalk brushes. As
you can see, the background of the
last version is much more vigorous
and has some shape framing the head
and joining up the edges of the canvas.
This was an easy picture to do because
the photo was so interesting to start
with. It was important for me to capture
the warm, low evening sunlight and this
meant warming up the whole image and
saturating the colours; it is the natural light
that makes the picture. Though this was a
colour cloned picture, there was substantial
free hand-brushing along the way.
06
09
Giovanna Gazzolo
co.uk/user/Giovanna
Marcelo Chiarella
co.uk/user/chiarella
Using colour
Portraying emotion in a portrait is very
important to me. When I know the emotion
that I want to portray, I choose a colour
palette that I think matches the intensity
and lavour of the feeling. For example,
here I had to reproduce some shy colours
and thought to mix dark yellow, blue and
the most important: purple and red! This
exercise is very useful think of a feeling
and imagine which colour it is linked to.
07
No res? No problem!
08
Mayrhosby Yeoshen
www.mayyeo.com
In a flip
When the painting itself starts, do not forget

to always lip the canvas horizontally.
Mistakes that couldnt be seen before can be
identiied easily this way. The Rotation tool
also comes in handy.
Dont throw out an old low-resolution

photo. It could render a great work of
art! First of all, resize it to the desired
inal size, Quick Clone it and begin your
brushstroke work. The canvas texture
and your brushstrokes will take care of
recreating the interest and the sense of
resolution. Now you no longer have to
disregard using your old photos!
Stephanie Thibaudeau
www.scenicdesert.net
Perfect hair
I love to use the Oil Fine Camel 30 brush for dog hair. I usually set
the Opacity to around 30 and give nice long strokes in the direction
the hair grows to give the hair a soft, lowing appearance. To make
highlights in the human hair, get your Color Picker and touch the
hair with this. Then, once the colour is selected, move the slider on
the Color Wheel to choose a lighter shade and use that colour to
stroke in beautiful highlights. The Fine Tip Soft Airbrush tools are
great for this!
10
David Cole
co.uk/user/davidc
Base coat
I quite often use a coloured undercoat
perhaps a dark, unsaturated red brown
for portraits to paint onto, and use messy,
large strokes to begin with. The Sargents
brush, and the Bristle Brush from Artist Oils
work fantastically for this purpose.
29
23/8/07 16:17:14
showcase
STARR SHAW
TITLE
WEBSITE
JOB TITLE
Police Dock
www.starrshaw.com
CG artist
After last issues seascape spectacular, we couldnt

resist including Starrs gorgeous watery scene. We
highly recommend you visit his site and drink in
the artwork, from intricate sketches to loose and
expressive paintings.
030_OPM_08.indd 30
23/8/07 16:53:31
Primer Chalk
CHALK BRUSH PALETTE
BRUSH CATEGORY
Chalk
The array of chalk brushes gives

you a full range of creative
possibilities. They allow you to
produce sweeping, textured
artwork in addition to more
detailed sketches.
Get the most from this months featured

brush category, without getting chalk dust
all over yourself!
PRIMER
nless youre extremely young

and have only ever seen
interactive whiteboards, for
most of us growing up, chalk
was the artistic medium that we had the
most contact with, calling out to us as it
did from the classroom blackboard, day
in, day out. Not that it was often used in
a particularly exciting fashion of course,
but do you remember how great it looked
when the boards were freshly blackened,
and a bright streak of pink or orange
made its way across? It may have only
been making its way across to the
end of another equation, but still,
they were the good old days
Anyway, thank goodness for
the digital Chalk brushes in Corel
Painter, because you can now utilise
all the great aspects of drawing in
chalk, such as the sharp colour, the
smudginess and texture, and all without
creating the dusty mess that detracts
from your masterful piece of artwork.
You will be able to get the most from
these brushes if you also try setting a
paper texture, as that is when the Chalk
brushes truly behave like the real thing.
As you can see from the main image, they
lend themselves well to observational
studies, partly because they give you
great texture for large soft areas, as if
rolling the chalk on its side, but also
because they are perfect for sharper
edges and highlights too.
CHOOSING THE RIGHT SURFACE

The chalks truly come to life when theyre
used on textured paper. The Rough
Charcoal Paper was perfect for the look we
wanted to achieve here, but there are many
variations to choose from
Searching for the right paper
Applying the paper texture
Always go for texture
Experiment for the best effects

You can open the Paper Selector by going to
Window/Library Palettes/Show Papers. From
here you can browse all the different surface
types that you can incorporate into your work,
ensuring that your work mimics natural media
just that little bit closer. And you can adjust the
scale, contrast and brightness of the texture
too. By making the scale larger, you will have
obvious paper texture, and a smaller scale will
give a more subtle look. Basic Paper is quite a
good choice for chalk, as is the Rough Charcoal
and even the canvases.
Once youve chosen the paper you want, go to

Effects>Apply Surface Texture and a new palette
will appear. There are numerous options for you
to experiment with here, from the softness of the
texture, through various depth controls that affect
the bumpiness of the paper texture, to numerous
lighting settings. You can select the direction of the
light in addition to the brightness and exposure.
You can even choose a colour for the light as well.
Essentially, the variations are endless and you can
use the technique effectively for both subtle and
extreme effects.
32
032-033_OPM_08_brushes.indd 32
23/8/07 15:50:15
FEATURED HIGHLIGHTS
The Tapered Artist Chalk was used to add the
highlights that fall within the main edge outlines.
Its just perfect for adding that little bit of denition
without overstating it
Primer
Know your chalk brushes

The chalks on offer and their various strokes
Chalk
Blunt Chalk
Tapered Artist Chalk
Dull Grainy Chalk
Tapered Large Chalk
Large Chalk
Variable Chalk
Sharp Chalk
Variable Width Chalk
SHARP CREASES
We used the Sharp Chalk for the
wrinkles in the skin and any of the
smaller details. As you would expect,
you get a really crisp line, which
makes it an important Chalk brush
dont let everything get too soft
SOFTLY DOES IT
When you rst start to esh
areas in with colour (sorry!),
the Dull Grainy Chalk is ideal
as, with big, soft strokes,
it leaves the paper texture
showing through
Square Chalk
Resat levels
Not too much
Find the right balance
Finally, some added depth

Adjusting the Resat levels of your brush
when needed is crucial, especially when
working with the Chalk brushes. The
higher the level, the less the brush variant
will blend with the surrounding colours.
Anything above 50 and you wont notice
it blending too much, but as you decrease
the level, its a great way to smudge your
colours without having to use the blenders
too much. Once you get below 12, the effect
is extremely noticeable, so learn to use it at
the right setting for the job.
If youve gone to the trouble of setting

up some paper texture, be sure not
to overwork your chalk drawing, just
as you would have to bear in mind
with real chalk. Leave some of the
texture showing through here and
there if everything is flat because
youve built it up too much, then you
wont get as convincing an effect. Also,
starting with a coloured background
means that those gaps in the chalk are
actually adding depth to the drawing.
33
032-033_OPM_08_brushes.indd 33
23/8/07 15:53:10
Tutorial Limited colour palettes
READERIASL
TUTOR
Limited colour palettes

If you try limiting your colour palette in Corel Painter, youll be pleasantly surprised when you
discover how much can be achieved with just a few hues
Tutorial info
Artist
Cat Bounds
Time needed
2 hours
Skill level
Intermediate
On the CD
Starter photo
hile the old masters

painstakingly ground their
own paint pigments from
rare minerals, we have an
ininite array of colours at our ingertips
and when painting digitally, there isnt
even the issue of using up precious tubes
of paint; digital paint wells never run dry.
There is a lot to be said for artwork that
is splashed with colour, but limiting your
choices to just one or two basic colours
can yield fantastic results, as the image
above shows. It allows the creation of a
unique atmosphere, a bit of drama or it
can lend itself to the story the artist is
seeking to tell in one moment in time.
This type of painting is unexpected,

often doesnt incorporate local colour
and may entice the viewer to tarry a
moment longer. We relate to life by means
of colour. You know what a grey day feels
like. We equate certain shades of red with
passion or love or anger. Some rooms are
painted in colours thought to be soothing.
Colours in advertising are often intended
to grab our attention. A painting wrapped
in one dominant colour may make a
powerful statement.
When planning a painting, we ought
to consider colour theory, and then
do our own thing. That way, it doesnt
rule our paintings, it just resides in the
subconscious, making suggestions. Most

of us make up our own rules anyway!
For example, some artists never paint
with pure black, because they think it
sucks the life out of their paintings. An
excellent alternative is to use deepest
blue or brown or charcoal, which read as
black. Another good tip is to include what
can be known as mouse colours. These
are unexciting, drab shades, but serve
the vital purpose to balance out the more
vibrant hues.
In this tutorial, we will explore limited
palette possibilities, how to choose the
right colours and how to whip up some
great colour palettes in the Color Mixer.
34
034-038_OPM_08_limitedcolour.ind34 34
23/8/07 16:49:21
Use whichever colour you like

Start off
01
with the
Color Wheel
02 Lets begin
Were not going to begin with primaries though.

Where to nd the beginnings of our limited colour palette?
Theyre all around us. For example, you might scan a swatch of wallpaper
because it has the muted colours you want. From your scan, create a New
Color Set from Image. Remove or add colours using the + or symbols.
04 Original
photo
Corel
Painters Color Set creates colour
swatches from within an image. What might
have looked like two or three colours will be
divided into hundreds of hues, and we can
customise them even further by bringing them
into the Mixer, combining them with the Dirty
Brush or Palette Knife and then create a new
Color Set from these.
05 Photo prep
The
image were using is
a painting of a park
in North Little Rock
in Arkansas, USA;
a favourite spot of
photographers and
painters any time
of the year with
an atmosphere of
home, heritage
and permanence.
Currently it is painted
using local colours.
Now lets try using
limited colours and
create something
entirely different!
Load the image from the disc. Lower the

desaturation and add contrast to bring out plenty of detail. If
painting on a black-and-white version, there is less temptation to paint any
of the local colours. Make a cloned image, save and its time for the fun
part playing with brushes.
More
colourful
paint strokes
Traditionally, a
limited colour
palette referred
to painting with
the three primary
colours (yellow,
red and blue) and
mixing secondary
and tertiary colours
from these. If you
have come to digital
art from traditional
media, you may want
to still use your colour
name charts because
you think in terms of
those names.
03 Thats a lot of colour!
Tutorial
Youre not limited to a predetermined swatch
Select the Sample

Multiple Colors tool
at the bottom of
the Mixer Pad and
move the slider to
the desired sampled
area size. Click inside
the Pad to pick up
your colours and
then begin painting,
as if you were using
a traditional brush
dipped into several
colours. Mixer colours
are sampled left to
right, so laying out
your colours top
to bottom will give
you a wider range
of possibilities. This
technique works well
with the Artists Oils
brushes, and when set
to a lower Opacity, you
can achieve some nice
colour blendings for
both backgrounds
and textures.
06 Heres the setup
For this painting, create a custom brush

palette. From the Oils palette, choose Thick Wet Oils 20 as your
main brush. Select the Soft Cloner to reveal edges. In addition to this, use
the Just Add Water blender to soften some of your brush strokes, and a
Dry Palette Knife.
35
23/8/07 16:49:41
Experiment with other colours and hues

Using a different Color Set can transform your painting, bringing out many different emotions
08 Time
to decide
07 Sun-lit version
Begin by laying in a quick outline of the images

elements by choosing a Main Color and an Additional Color and
setting Color Expression to Direction. Now, depending on the direction of
your brush stroke, you will see variations of the chosen colours; much more
interesting than just one colour. Just Add Water lends softness and begins
building a background.
The painting is
coming along nicely,
but it may be a bit
more colourful and
cheerier than you
want, so save it and
begin again. This time
choose the mouse
Color Set and mix
additional colours to
go along with them.
This is all part of the
process. Sometimes
you may have several
versions, but never
discard anything.
Et voil!
10
A Color Set
is born
The real deal

Corel Painter has the
ability to produce
wonderful painterly
effects, but how do
you know youve got
it if youve never
painted in traditional
media? Give your
digital painting a
boost by buying or
borrowing a couple of
basic fine-art brushes,
paints and paper or
canvas, and spend a
few hours, or days,
playing with them.
How does watercolour
paint react on wet
paper? When you
sprinkle it with salt?
How does camel
hair interact with oil
paints? Learning is
never wasted, and
the discoveries you
make will definitely
come into play in your
digital art life.
Load the mouse Color Set.

These are your base colours. To conjure up a quiet atmosphere,
choose a cool blue and a deep lilac. There are cool and warm hues of every
primary, secondary and tertiary colour; mix warms with warms and cools
with cools, and you wont end up with muddy colours.
The mouse
colours mix so well
with the new hues
that in no time at all,
youll have lots of
pleasing smudges on
the Mixer Pad. Load
it as a new Color Set
so you can save it for
another time. Save it
with your other Color
Sets, although you
could save it in the
Old Mill folder.
11 Brush settings
12 About brush strokes and light
09 Searching for new colours
Brush Expression still set on Direction, begin with

big, loose strokes. For now, turn off Depth, giving you just enough
bristle denition. You can always come back later and add a layer of added
Depth strokes. Use 50% Opacity for a transparent, wet acrylic effect. Vary
the brush size and transparency throughout the painting.
Were already beginning to

think about highlight and shadow, as well as colour. Try zooming
in close to paint and returning to normal repeatedly. As you zoom in, each
area of the painting stands out as a tiny abstract of dark and light and of
pleasing brush strokes, set apart from the overall painting.
36
23/8/07 16:49:59
13 Finding
big shapes
14 Rough strokes
Our painting is rather

rough, but the shapes and hues are
nice. You could stop here, but you can go on to
rene it a bit. Some say thats the hardest part
of painting, knowing when to stop. If youre
having trouble deciding, leave the painting for a
day and come back to it with fresh eyes.
Things to take into consideration

It is the time spent over little details that make a painting great
Colour temperature
creates mood and a
spatial effect: cool
recedes, while warm
goes forward. How do
you know if a colour
is warm or cool? Look
at where it sits on the
Color Wheel. Begin
with blue; blue hues
that fall closer to the
greens will be cool
while blues closer to
red will read as warm.
How about red? Red
hues closer to blue
will be cool while reds
sitting closer to gold
will be warm. And so
it goes around the
Color Wheel. This is
handy to know when
you want to create
depth and dimension
in your painting.
Look for pleasing

shapes, big, rough
shapes that may stay
as they are, or may be
dened later. Again,
each magnied area
becomes a small
abstract. Think of it as
a good painting if you
could cut it up into
several pieces and
still have worthwhile
paintings. Your
soft colour palette
will become more
important from
this point.
Tutorial
Colour
temperature
16 Matters
of colour
15 Begin to rene
You will want detail

in the areas that will dene the painting,
like this crooked rail fence. Use a smaller brush
and an increased Opacity, and youll begin to
nd highlights and shadow, lending dimension
to shapes. Oh, did we say the beginning was the
fun part? This is the fun part. Okay, its all fun.
17 Strokes matter
Theres nothing
more boring than a
big area of canvas
thats all one colour,
and this holds true in
your limited colour
palette paintings.
Zoom into each of
these dark window
and door openings
to make sure that
there are colours and
interesting organic
shapes within each
of them.
By the same token, every stroke matters.

Painting these roof shingles all sketchy and messy will make them
read as shingles, though dont take pains to delineate them. You may
even want to come back and capture this roof as a texture for another
painting. Everything we do is but a facet of something greater.
18 Soft detail
For the surrounding branches and leaves, reduce

your brush size and think in clusters rather than individual leaves,
working quickly and constantly changing colours. Keep the buildings
walls fairly colourless, and wrap it in soft clouds of teals and lilacs. Toward
the front, paint with a greater Opacity, softening as you move to the back.
37
23/8/07 16:50:16
An endless supply of options at your disposal

Tweak your painting as much as you like until youre satisfied
Make
20
those
all-important
nal decisions
19 Casting light on the subject
Though no light source has been

designated yet, experiment with the light, maybe moonlight,
shining on the front of the building. If you back away from it and squint
your eyes, the overall shapes should be evident and pleasing. You could use
the Glow brush to highlight, but you can also select that area and raise the
contrast and brightness.
Using limited colours
The beauty of digital

painting is that there
are always more
options. You could
still raise the colour
saturation, play
with the Hue slider,
increase the drama
by lowering the
brightness or add a
surface texture. The
atmosphere is one of
tranquillity, thanks
to the subdued, cool
colour palette and
gentle brush strokes.
Why use many when two will do?
Weve seen in this tutorial how a

limited colour palette can still result
in very inviting images and also
how setting yourself the challenge
helps you look at things in a slightly
different way. When you are so
dependent on a speciic colour theme,
the choice of colour is so important in
conveying a mood or emotion. Heres
a quick look at some other examples of
limited colour.
Ghost Ship
Ghost Ship uses a limited colour palette
that works well transparently, and creates a
deserted atmosphere with hints of gold, as
of the sun trying to peek through fog. The
absence of colour equates with the absence
of movement and life. It began with some
colour smudges on the Mixing palette and
developed into a very limited colour palette.
With one photo and one set of brushes, but
varying the colour palette, we can create
many paintings. If rose hues were chosen
instead of taupe, this painting might well
have been about the dawning of a new day.
Geisha
This painting began with a fairly detailed pencil drawing,
without a great deal of shading, and the introduction of a
colour palette; but limited colour palettes need not always
be about low saturated colours. Geisha uses a palette made
up entirely of vibrant blues, some of them warm and some of
them cool with a touch of rich violet. The resulting Color Set
is reminiscent of jewel tones. Bristle Oil Brushes and Palette
Knives were used to move the paint around like soft butter
everywhere except the girls porcelain white skin. You can

see the larger image at http://www.pbase.com/catbounds/
image/62614114, to get a real feel for how the tones work
together. By combining both cool and warm blues for the
background, this gives the illusion of movement within
the painting. However, this painting didnt begin with an
atmosphere or mood in mind and neither need yours just
see where your imagination takes you.
38
23/8/07 17:29:21
Tutorial Paint like Edvard Munch
Paint like: Edvard Munch
The Scream is an iconic image of modern life, referenced in highbrow and lowbrow
culture alike. We reveal how to recreate this artistic epitome of human angst
Tutorial info
Artist
Hannah Gal
Time needed
3 hours
Skill level
Intermediate
On the CD
Sketch
[BELOW]
Grainy texture
Instead of using a filter
or texturiser for the
texture in this painting, a
highly textured brush is
applied to add realism,
as in the Grainy Hard
Build-up from the Oil
Pastels seen here
dvard Munch is Norways

most famous painter. He was a
troubled, multi-talented artist
whose dream was to create art
that gives something to humanity. Art
that arrests and engages.
With The Scream, Munch managed
to fulil his dream to an extent even he
would have dreamt was beyond reach.
This iconic painting has become one of
the most recognisable works of art ever
created, with a passion that transcends
time and geographic boundaries. To
many, it is a truthful rendition of human
angst, suffering and the human condition
in general.
A particularly strong image, it lends
itself clearly to a multitude of uses. From
commercials and ilm, to childrens TV,
not many works of art can include Beavis
and Butt-Head as well as Wes Cravens
Scream, Looney Tunes and Courage the
Cowardly Dog in their credit list.
Munch has created several colour
versions of the piece using different
media. He also produced a striking
lithograph in an attempt to generate
extra income.
The original title given to the picture
by the artist is The Scream of Nature. The
ominous name goes some way towards
explaining the story behind its creation.
It is set in the scene of the erosion of
Krakatoa, and most possibly inspired by
the powerful volcanic eruption there in
1883. The ash ejected from the volcano is
said to have created a red tint in the sky

that was to last for months. I sensed an
ininite scream passing through nature,
Munch has said.
Munchs troubled personal life was a
source of inspiration. The paintings are
disturbing, a touch twisted, unusual and
telling. They are emotionally charged
with a unique and unusual sense of colour.
The ability to transfer feelings to
canvas with such great accuracy is
perhaps Munchs greatest gift and the
reason he remains a source of reference to
contemporary artists.
Munch is considered to be a key
inluence on the Expressionist movement
in Europe. This particular piece is part
of the series The Frieze of Life, in which
he delved deep into the human psyche
with the themes of love, fear, death, life
and melancholy.
The artist has attributed his
preoccupation with these themes to a
childhood laden with sadness. As a child,
he experienced the loss of his mother
and older sister to tuberculosis. Troubled
adulthood followed with alcoholism and
unhappy relationships.
1892 was an important year for Munch
when the Berlin Artists Association
invited him to exhibit his work. The
paintings caused such an outrage, that

the exhibition had to close. The entire
episode, however, brought with it a wave
of publicity, which beneited Munchs
career and he chose to remain in the
country. This is where he started work
on the monumental The Frieze of Life,
exhibited for the irst time in 1902.
In 1894 Munch began printmaking,
bringing the work to a greater audience.
Motifs for this more marketable art
derived from his original paintings.
In 1908, Munch suffered a nervous
breakdown and a year later returned
to Norway for what was to become an
isolated and proliic life. He passed away
in 1944 leaving behind 1,000 paintings, a
staggering 15,400 prints, 4,500 drawings
and watercolours, and six sculptures.
We will create The Scream using a
combination of media including Acrylics,
Oil Pastels and Colored Pencils. We start
with a drawing and continue to create
a lithographic effect using Charcoal.
The application of paint is important in
any work of art, but doubly so with The
Scream. The piece is made of long strokes
that would be best applied in one, without
lifting the stylus. We will mix long, bristly
strokes with gritty texture and use
surface texture for a touch of 3D depth.
Multi-tone face
Besides drawing the features on the face correctly, we
need to place shading and highlights in the right place
Direction
The stroke application varies throughout the piece.
Different areas call for different length and pressure
This iconic painting has become one of the

most recognisable works of art ever created
40
040-045_OPM_08_munch.indd 40
22/8/07 14:17:30
Tutorial
Paint like Edvard Munch
41
22/8/07 14:18:28
Take a deep breath and begin

Follow this guide and you wont be screaming
01 Layers
Open a new image size and

copy the provided scream drawing as a
separate layer. For reference, we kept a small copy
of the original piece as a layer that could be turned
on and off. A third layer seen here is of a Munch
lithography, which well get on to.
02 Lithography effect
To familiarise yourself with style, create a

lithography. Go to Brush Creator>Choose Charcoal >Dull Charcoal
Pencil 3. Make black your Main colour and set Expression to None. With the
Drawing layer visible and the Charcoal layer selected, cover the blank image
with this solid black medium. Adjust the brush size according to your need.
You dont have to do this, though.
03 Acrylics
Select Acrylics from the Brush

Creator. Real-life acrylic is fast-drying and
can be diluted with water. It can tend to look like
oil paint or watercolour, depending on the level of
dilution. Now choose the Dry Brush 30 category.
Museum and
art history
The Munch museum
was created as a
tribute to Norways
famous artist. Besides
information on the
artists troubled life,
it takes an analytical
look at his work.
Go to www.munch.
museum.no/ and
delve deep into the
life and work
of a particularly
prolific artist.
Under Life and
Work is a section
called On Munchs
Paintings. It looks at
different paintings
including The Scream
in detail, speaking of
the inspiration to the
piece, when it was
created and what its
importance was in the
greater scheme of the
artists life.
It also highlights
influences on
Munchs life that have
inevitably had an
impact on his work.
04 Application
Create a new layer called Colour and make it the

top layer. Use the Color Mixer or Color palette to create the colours
you need and apply strokes of black and light brown. The strokes are long and
should look bristly and airy. Set the Opacity between 10 and 12 and set the
Expression to None.
05 Build up
Zoom in and apply brush strokes in the direction of the

original. Make these strokes as long as possible and try to keep your
stylus on the tablet from the start to the end of each stroke. Pay attention to
changes in lightness and try to reect that in your application from this early
stage. This all contributes to a more sensitive and less rigid look.
07 Build
up close
06 Fill
Create a new layer and open the

Color palette. Sample a light brown/
dark mustard colour. Click on the new blank
layer and Select All. Go to Effects>Fill in the main
menu and select Fill With Current Colour with
the Opacity set to 100 per cent. Place this layer
beneath the Colour layer.
Keep the Acrylics

brush at a maximum
Opacity of 40.
Continue to slowly
build paint. You could
choose a prominent
shade like orange,
cover one area, and
use the Grabber to
move the next area
to apply all strokes of
that colour. Or you can
concentrate on just
one area. The colour
builds on previous
strokes beautifully.
42
22/8/07 14:19:33
The basic strokes throughout the

painting should be in place now. Before
moving to a different media, zoom out and look
out for any overly bare areas accidentally missed.
Go to the Layers palette and choose Drop All. You
should now have the Canvas bottom layer and
Layer 1, which includes the colouring done so far.
In the Brush Creator,

choose Oil Pastels>Oil
Pastel 30. This brush
brings a totally
different texture and is
lighter to apply. Under
Color Variability, pull
the G slider to 20 and
see the effect on the
stroke in the brush
preview below.
11 OilskyPastel
10 Blending oils
Create a new layer and

name it Oil Pastels. Set Method to Cover
and Subcategory to Grainy Hard Cover. With a
10-12% Opacity, and Expression set to None apply
light strokes over the previous Acrylics. The two
textures should blend together well.
The sky in
The Scream is nothing
short of amazing. It is
made of a multitude
of shades of orange,
mixed with turquoise,
cream and yellow. The
strokes here need to go
horizontally from one
side of the canvas to the
other. Sample a shade,
apply your brushstrokes,
sample the shade next to
it, apply and move on.
Randomizer
Fill in the persons details

Monster Munch anyone? (Sorry!)
12
Face Pay particular attention to the persons face. Note the different
shades that make it. There is brown, beige, a hint of orange and
green. Lightly apply colour to create the features. These are loose at this stage.
In real painting,
colour is applied using
brushes loaded with
paint. This paint mixes
with colours around
it and you often get a
single stroke made of
two colours.
To mix colours
this way, open Brush
Creator, select Stroke
Designer and choose
Color Variability.
Now select in RGB
and apply a stroke of
your clean paint onto
the pad. Drag the R
slider to 50 and see
the effect; then to 100
and see how the new
colour blends in.
Try this with other
colours and even
two together. Apply
your stroke and drag
the magnification
level at the bottom
of the Brush Creator
to 200% and see the
stroke close-up.
an
09 Use
Oil Pastel
08 Drop
Tutorial
Color
Variability
13 Face build up
Zoom in on the face and in the Brush Creator

choose Airbrush>Soft Airbrush 40. Set the Method to Cover and the
Subcategory to Soft Cover. Use this soft brush at an Opacity between 10-12
per cent to ll in any light areas that have escaped the Acrylics and Pastels.
Brush Creators
Randomizer was
originally created for
those unfamiliar with
the brushs controls.
It is, however, a useful
tool regardless of
level of expertise. The
idea is simple, you
give the Randomizer
any stroke and it
creates a selection of
new variants for you.
Open Brush
Creator and click on
Randomizer. Fourteen
variations of the
strokes are available
for you to choose
from. Click on one
and it will display in
the preview window
below. For a low
level of variation,
keep the Amount of
Randomization slider
to the left. Drag it to
the far right to see it
in full action.
43
22/8/07 14:20:03
Gaining
14
texture
from strokes
Increase the Opacity

to 15-16% and vary
Opacity to apply a
layer of this tool all
over. Reduce the brush
size, sample your
colour and apply some
yellowy type streaks to
the face and body.
15 Area ll
The low Opacity of the brush lets previous layers shine

through and remain intact. The textures are working together. Use
the Airbrush to cover areas such as the face and area above it.
Build up the textures and colours

Go for thick and luscious strokes
16
Grainy Hard Cover In this part of
the process, you skip from one brush to

another as you see t. Apply Airbrush to ll in an
area nicely and move on to the Oil Pastels to add
texture. Save your brush so you can come back to
it instantly.
17 Rich in feel and tone
Build up the
variety of shades slowly to create a rich
feel. There is no strict method at this advanced
stage. The image should by now be covered with
a mixture of Airbrush and Oil Pastels. Zoom in,
sample a shade you wish to enhance in order to
echo the artists original and apply both media.
18 Ground detail
The bridge is of pivotal importance to the

composition. Its straight, angled lines add to the feeling of discord.
It is best to apply these lines in one go, again keeping the stylus on the tablet
from the start of the line to the nish. Apply colour in the same way as previous
steps, lling in an area and enhancing with texture.
20 Airbrush
detail
19 Airbrush
Use the Airbrush at 18-22% Opacity to start building the

darkest blacks in the image. If you are not certain of the level, start at
an even lower Opacity or go to Preferences and increase the number of Undo
levels. Alternatively, create a new Layer and drop when its nished.
Set
Airbrush to a small 4-6
size brush and a 5-7%
Opacity. Observe the
thin streaks that are
spread throughout
the image. Zoom in
on the face, sample
a light brown/yellow
shade and lightly apply
in short to medium
strokes. Apply once
and zoom out to see
the effect before
applying an additional
stroke on top.
44
22/8/07 14:20:31
Go back to Oil
Pastels and methodically go over the
entire image to apply texture to the painting. This
is in preparation for the next stages where we add
denition to elements.
Zoom in on the
face, choose the top left brush tip in
Brush Creator and set black as your Main colour.
Slowly go around the face to add a contour line
to it. This border adds an edge and overall feeling
of sharpness to the piece. It is of paramount
importance on the face.
23 Colored Pencils
Open Brush Creator

and choose Colored Pencils>Colored
Pencils. Set Method to Cover and Subcategory to
Grainy Hard Cover. Use a Grain of 20% to lightly
enhance existing browns on the face and add
shades of light green. The textured strokes should
be clear and not blended in.
Blue
25
strokes
and streaks
24 Blue streaks
The thin streaks are vital

to the piece. In step 20, we applied light
brown/yellowy streaks to the face, and here we
apply blue/turquoise ones above it all over the
dark lake. Use Colored Pencils this time at 40%
Opacity and Expression set to Pressure. Grain
should be 20-14% with light and quick strokes.
Zoom
in to 100% and
observe the streaks.
They should be thin
but full of gritty
texture. Go over lines
where there is a group
of streaks together
to enhance them.
Take notice of those
streaks to the side of
the face as well. Some
are slightly lighter than
others, so choose
a lighter shade to
randomly cover some
of the streaks existing
there already.
For a seriously deep

look at Munchs
technique, go to the
Munch museum site
(http://158.36.77.
168/munch/default.
aspx?lang=en).
You can find out about
what canvas Munch
chose for a piece, and
how it was primed
and stretched prior to
painting. There is an
extreme close-up on
details which will give
you a great insight
into his work.
Another eyeopening feature there
is the look through
a microscope at the
artists paintings. He
used a limited palette,
and concentrated
mainly on relatively
clear, bright
pigments. One paint
sample interestingly
shows various layers
that contain organic
reddish paint, and
ultramarine, chalk
and lead white paint.
In another real gold
was found.
21 Oil Pastels revisited
22 Pointed crayon
Tutorial
Research
Adding the finishing touches

The bridge over troubled water
26
Colored Pencils bridge Stay with
Colored Pencils but use a 40% Opacity

and a thick Pencil to add texture to the vertical
lines on the bridge. Keep the stylus on the surface
as you go over the area. The colour will build up.
27 Apply Surface Texture
Go to
Effects>Surface Control>Apply Surface
Texture. Set Using to Paper (Basic Paper) and
the amount to 15%. This is a slight effect to add
overall sharpness to the image and a slight touch
of 3D realism.
28 Renement
We earlier mentioned the option of creating

temporary layers for different uses. Here we created one for general
renements where you zoom in to a 66% magnication level or higher, and
make nal corrections and adjustments. Start with one area and using a dark
black pastel, accentuate the darkest areas in the piece. Use a light shade to
highlight the brightest.
45
23/8/07 17:26:34
Feature focus Composite methods
Composite
methods
CLONING IN SOURCE IMAGES

Cloning images into your collage creates a
very nice effect. With this technique, you
can place each image you wish to add to the
collage as a layer in a clone source le that is
the exact size of the working image. Work
on a new layer just in case you dont like
what is revealed. Note that almost any brush
can be used as a clone brush by clicking on
the Clone Color icon in the Colors palette.
Combine composite methods to create

memorable collages in many ways
he process of collage can be
either simplistic or extremely
complex. You will discover
the ways to achieve a painted
look and will depend less on images and
more on developing your image through
brushwork, layer composite methods and
textures. Corel Painters layer Composite
Methods serve the same purpose as
Photoshops blending modes. A composite
method is a formula that dictates how
the pixels of a layer will combine with the
pixels on the layers and canvas beneath
it. For example, composite methods are
applied to a layer to darken or lighten,
increase or decrease contrast or
adjust the colour of the imagery
beneath it. A powerful feature of
composite methods is that they
do not permanently alter the
image you are working on.
When beginning a collage,
spend time organising images,
textures and patterns. Create
a folder where your images can
be retrieved quickly, and organise
meticulously from the beginning.
Were going to look at whats involved
in creating collages, with speciic focus on
the Composite Methods. These allow you
to see through layers and are perfect for
creating backgrounds for collages. Read
on and ind out whats involved and then
try the technique with your own images.
FEATURE
FOCUS
GEL COMPOSITE METHOD

The Gel composite method tints the underlying
image with the layers colour. Note that the
Munich Rathouse appears translucent and picks
up the colours from the Canvas layer. The Gel
composite method can also be useful in the
overall perspective of your collage, making images
appear to move forward in the composition.
Lasso tool
Introducing paper texture
Making random selections
Use special effects in your collage
The Lasso tool is located in the toolbox. Use

it to create a precise or random selection
around the part of the photo you wish to use
in your collage. If you draw an open path with
the Lasso tool, Corel Painter connects the
end points with a straight line before creating
the selection. It is a simple and quick way to
introduce an image element into your collage
using the copy/paste method. Create a loose
Lasso around the image, then copy and paste
it into the collage. It now occupies its own
layer directly above the Canvas layer.
Introduce paper texture often into your collage.

Images that tend to have strong tonal contrast
make for some of the best paper textures. Paper
textures can be applied in many ways. You can
even use special effects to emboss your images.
One of the ways is to choose Effects>Surface
Control>Apply Surface Texture. However, one of
the most satisfying is to apply texture by hand
using brushes that reveal the underlying paper
texture such as the Chalk variants. If it begins
with Grainy then you know you are working with a
variant that reveals paper texture.
46
046-049_OPM_08_featurefocus.indd46 46
23/8/07 16:46:12
Composite Methods
Feature focus
All the choices
Composite Methods differ according to what files you use and the
layer opacity, but heres a rough guide to what they all look like. We
used Corel Painter X and a texture file over a painting.
Creating texture on the Canvas

layer is part of the beauty,
revealed via layer composite
methods. As any image can be
captured as a paper texture,
the possibilities are endless.
Use the Capture Paper method
to reveal texture in your work.
Try the Chalk>Square Chalk 35
brush variant. Subtly brush in the
texture throughout to reveal it
precisely where you want.
Soft Light
Colorize
Hard Light
Reverse-Out
Darken
Shadow Map
Lighten
Magic Combine
Difference
Pseudocolor
Hue
Dissolve
Saturation
Multiply
Color
Screen
Luminosity
Overlay
GelCover
Composite methods
CREATE TEXTURE ON THE

CANVAS LAYER
Gel
APPLY PATTERNS AND EMBOSS EFFECTS

There are many ways to create effects. Applying the
Pattern effect will help to build added texture into
your paintings and serves as a great starting point
should you have your image printed and then decide
to embellish it later. Again, when you add a new
effect to the current collage, remember to clone the
le you are working on and begin with a at image.
Save each new effect with a descriptive name.
Managing layers
Keep on top of the game
Managing layers as you develop your
collage is an important part of the process.
You may well end up with dozens of layers
so taking the time to name each one will
help you stay organised. Renaming layers
is a simple task. Right/Ctrl-click on the
layer you wish to rename and select Layer
Attributes. In the dialog box, type in the
new name and select OK. Layers give you
added flexibility as you build your collage
enabling you to apply precise effects on a
single layer or many different layers.
47
23/8/07 16:47:26
Feature focus Composite methods
Master the art of composite methods
FEATURE
FOCUS
Gather source images for a creative collage

Compile a selection
of images and then
let Karen Bonaker
reveal how to use
a combination of
composite methods
and create a collage
like youve never
made before
01 Your custom palette

Lock up
your layers
When you create a
collage, it is easy to
accumulate many
layers and keeping
track of them all can be
a daunting task. A nice
tool in Corel Painter
is the ability to lock
layers. Locking layers
protects it from being
painted on, dropped,
or moved. To lock a
specific layer, you first
select the layer in the
Layers palette and
then click once on the
Padlock icon. To unlock
the layer, just click once
again on the Padlock
icon within the layer
in the Layers palette.
When the collage is
complete, blend away
harsh or distracting
edges with a
Blender variant.
Select
Brushes>Clone and Quick Clone>Paper
Texture. If the item you want is represented in a
palette with an icon, you can create a new palette
by just dragging the icon. This works for brush
variants, art materials gradients, paper textures
and patterns nozzles, looks and scripts. Drag
the lower-right corner to expand the palette. Hold
down Shift to move the icons around the palette.
04
02
Source media Begin by scanning
or collecting your images. Gather your

source material, create a new folder and call it
collage. Inside this folder, create subfolders which
will hold your paper textures, images and so on.
Organise these folders in a way that makes sense
to you so that images and layers are easy to nd.
Open your image folder and determine

which image will be your main or foundation
image. For this project, I am working on a portrait,
and have chosen a portrait of my father when he
was 19 years old and just entering the army. Other
images in the folder all say something about this
chapter of his life, and are all part of how I will
build the story.
06 Developing the background
Preparing your photo The
image needed some help in regards

to saturation so apply Equalize from the Effects
category, which helps to increase the saturation.
This is an old image with some scratches, which
are corrected by using the Rubber Stamp tool. So
take a moment to clean up your foundation image
by correcting colour and so on.
03 Foundation image focal point
05 Save and save methodically
Save
each rendition methodically as a RIFF
or a TIFF: remember that RIFF will retain all layers
whereas TIFF will atten the image but will not
degrade the image each time it is opened, unlike a
JPEG. Use the Save As command.
Your
background image will be the image
used to build a background texture. Heres a
complete page from a picture album scanned into
Corel Painter. Select the Rectangular Selection tool
and change the Saturation and Hue settings on
each image. Use Uniform Color. The Rectangular
Selection tool is located on the toolbox. Enable
Add To Selection on the Properties bar.
Emboss effect
The Sharpen effect
More texture anyone?
The eternal struggle between light and dark
The Emboss effect is another source of

creating texture in your collage or paintings.
One of the most effective ways of using the
Original Luminance method is to create an
embossed image. Unlike standard emboss
effects, applying surface texture lets you
control not only the height of the texture, but
also the lighting and material properties of
the embossing. Images that contain a high
tonal contrast work exceptionally well for
this effect. Consider using black-and-white
images for the best results.
The Sharpen effect sharpens the image by

increasing the contrast between light and dark
pixels, exaggerating the highlights and shadows.
There are two choices that you can make when
applying this effect. One is Gaussian, which
sharpens the red, green and blue components of
the image. You can also apply Circular. Circular
sharpens the image based on the image luminance.
There are three sliders available, with the slider
amount determining how much object edges are
sharpened. Keeping your settings low on these
sliders will avoid increasing colour noise to match.
48
23/8/07 16:47:58
Feature focus
by selecting File>New. Determine your

resolution. If you were going to print this image,
perhaps you would choose 150ppi. For this
project, use 24 x 19cm with a working resolution
of 150ppi. This size will give us nice detail.
The background paper colour will blend with the
other images.
Composite methods
07
09 Adding texture
Image File and Size Begin
08 Creating a paper texture
Create a paper texture from one

of your source images. Open the background image, which you
created earlier. Capture it as a paper texture. From the Window menu choose
Select>All. Open the y-out arrow on the Papers palette and select Capture
Paper. Rename the paper background texture. The cross-fade slider should
be set to 0.00.
Choose
Chalk>Square Chalk 35 and begin
brushing in texture on your Canvas layer. Because
the paper texture is saved, you can use it at any
point during the creative process to add more
texture on specic layers or selections. Set your
Paper Scale to 25% and try inverting the paper
texture for additional texture. Save this version as
paper-texture.riff.
Explore your options

Make the most of the composite methods
the foundation
10 Introducing
image
Open your foundation image.

The quickest way to introduce an image element
is to copy and paste from one image into another.
When you paste the image, it now appears on
its own layer directly above the Canvas layer.
Right/Ctrl-click and choose Free Transform to size
the image. Set Transform>Commit. To copy an
element choose Select>All, then Cmd/Ctrl+C to
copy and Cmd/Ctrl+V to paste.
12 Flatten the collage
11 Experiment with composite methods
Run the gamut and

experiment with all the composite methods available to you in Corel
Painter. Each time you paste an element remember that it occupies its own
layer hierarchy. You can add a layer mask or erase on any layer. Add textures,
emboss, or free brush paint. Let your imagination go.
When you are

satised with the elements in your collage,
save it again in the RIFF le format. Now you are
free to come back to your collage to add or delete
elements. From the Windows menu choose
Layers>Drop All. This will atten your image. Save
again, only this time in the TIFF le format. Apply
Equalize and Sharpen as the nal steps.
Magic Combine composite method
Motion Blur
Its a kind of magic
Movers and shakers

In the Magic Combine method, the layer is
combined with the underlying image based on
luminance. The parts of the layer that are lighter
than the underlying image are visible. The lighter
area of the underlying image replaces the parts
that are darker.
One way to use this method is to fill text. With a
photograph as the top layer and black text as the
underlying image, choosing Magic Combine fills
the text with the image. You can then go on to crop
the text and apply other effects such as Emboss if
you so wish.
This effect makes an image appear

as if it was been blurred by movement.
It can also add a subtle effect to your
collage. Some good choices for the
Motion Blur effect are for text. The
Motion Blur palette presents you with
three sliders; the Radius slider, the
Angle slider and the Thinness slider. The
preview window will allow you to see
the effects before they are applied. The
Motion Blur effect is applied through
Effects>Focus>Motion Blur.
49
23/8/07 17:27:58
Tutorial Create a futuristic cityscape
Dawn Austin shows you how to create a
Futuristic cityscape
Take a trip back to the future and discover how to make this stylish but deadly
assassin, using tricks to hold the viewers attention
50
050-054_OPM_08_dawn.indd 50
23/8/07 12:47:50
Tutorial
Create a futuristic cityscape
Tutorial info
Artist
Dawn Austin
Time needed
3 hours
Skill level
Intermediate
he importance of composition
in an image is paramount. In
this tutorial, we will be focusing
on the main character and
her situation. We will explore how to
create an interesting background, but an
altogether more arresting main igure.
We will learn about relections,
composition and how to capture the
viewers attention and mesmerise them.
In order to get someone excited about
an image, you must be able to draw
inspiration from what appeals to you.
What captures your attention when
looking at an image? We will be using
a painterly technique, but you will be
strengthening the drawing throughout.
51
23/8/07 12:48:10
Tutorial
Striking details
Working on the eyes and the skies
Blocking
02
in the face
and hair
01 The sketch
We begin by roughly sketching out our idea, using the

Acrylics Detail brush. You should keep the sketch quite simple at this
stage; you dont want it to dictate too much of the final outcome. Place your
character at the far end of the picture with her head angled, looking toward
the viewer. You want her to appear as if shes scanning the horizon.
Now start
airbrushing the face
in. Pick a muted skin
colour, and use the
Soft Airbrush, setting
Opacity to around
80%. Start to give the
face some contour
lines. Place some
shadows and you will
start to really get a
feel for the character.
Use the Oils>Fine
Feathering Brush to
block in the hair, giving
it some direction.
Connection
to the viewer
One of the key
elements in making
a great piece of
artwork is to have a
connection with the
viewer. The weight
of the look to the
characters eyes must
be able to pull in the
viewer. To achieve
this, make sure the
body language of
your character is
interesting; here,
we have turned the
characters body
away from the viewer,
but her head is
imperiously looking
down. Her eyes have
a sexy, feline quality
about them. Try and
make the characters
eyes alive. Study your
own eyes in a mirror,
look at the glints of
light on the iris, the
shadows beneath the
eyes. These give the
eyes personality, and
that is what will draw
the viewer in.
04 The eyes
03 Add form to the face
Continue shading the face, giving the

cheekbones more definition, and refining the shape of the nose.
Think carefully about where you want the highlights and shadows; its all
about slowly building up the detail.
05 Eyelashes and lips
Switch to the
smaller airbrush, set to 70-80 Opacity,
and draw in the lashes. Again the stroke is harder
as you flick out your hand so the pressure is less at
the end, thus giving the lashes a natural finish. Use
the same airbrush for the lips and pick a damson
red hue from the Color palette.
06
You want your characters eyes to entice the viewer. Use

the Fine Tip Soft Airbrush, with Opacity set to 90. Begin to draw the
eyes in detail. Also pay attention to her make-up; here were creating a smokey
look reminiscent of the Eighties. Outline the shape of the eyes, and then
adjust the Opacity to around 2030 and make the size slightly bigger. Vary the
pressure with your hand, and start with light upward strokes. Then switch to a
charcoal colour and work on the shape, but only shading around the sockets.
Setting the tonal values This step
will set the mood of the piece. The

colours ought to be lush mauves, greys and pinks,
but to have a slightly desaturated look. Use the
Soft Airbrush for this, then paint in the clouds,
including a hint of the reflections in the water.
07 The buildings
I blocked in the shape

of the buildings in the background, using
the Acrylics Opaque Detail Brush set to an Opacity
of 10-15. In keeping with the muted Color palette,
we will alternate the colours of the buildings. Keep
it quite painterly at this stage, as you can always
tighten up the drawing as you go.
52
23/8/07 12:48:27
For this stage,

the Dull Pastel pencil is perfect. Set the
Opacity to ten per cent and the Grain to 20 per
cent. Alternate your colours and overlay them.
Here we have some white highlights breaking up
the cloud clumps, adding a bit of sparkle. Keep the
pressure fairly light, and draw in circular and dotty
movements. This best simulates real clouds.
09
Finalise the buildings Now we
need to tighten up the drawing of the

buildings. Use the Round Soft Pastel to block in
the remainder, and then choose the Opaque
Detail Brush from the Acrylics menu, Opacity
13-15. Use blues or purples for the buildings and
opposing colours for the highlights and sparkles.
10 Strengthen the composition
Once
you get halfway through the image,
you may realise that there is something distinctly
lacking in the composition. If you feel that your
eye needs another point of interest, you can add
another structure. I introduced a bridge to lead
the eye. Its vital to keep looking at ways to make
an image more interesting.
Blocking in the details
The Blender tools are

invaluable to artists.
They are perfect for
using on a face for
that smooth, glossy
model-like finish.
Use the Soft Blender
Stump to smooth the
edges of shadows in
the face and make-up
around the eyes.
Used in hair, it is
great for blending in
the strands if they
look too sharp. Also
superb for reflections
in water, it is a really
quick and easy way
to smear and soften
the edges, just by
dragging the brush in
the desired direction
of the water flow.
08 The sky and clouds
Tutorial
Get blending!
Introduce the final colours and give the image some life
in the
11 Block
final details
Finalise the jetty and

put in the makings of a
bridge behind the girl.
Sketch in the shingle at
the bottom, keeping it
all quite painterly. You
should strive for the
colours to look quite
Eighties, as a lot of the
fashion drawings in
that period had bold,
gutsy marks, and that
is the feel and quality
aimed for in this piece.
13 The clothes
We want our character

to have a leather-looking wetsuit on.
Use the Soft Airbrush and block in all the dark
and midtones. Use the Detail Airbrush set to an
Opacity of 57% to put the highlights in. Then use
the Acrylics Detail brush in blue, contrasting the
orange colour drawn in the cyber, circuit design.
At last, the image is starting to take shape.
12 The hair
Using the Opaque Detail Brush

with Opacity set to 35%, draw in the
wisps of hair. The character suits being a redhead,
but you may feel that she should also have streaks
of black. Move the pen quite quickly, so when
you draw the hair, it helps to create the wisps.
Alternate the pressure, firm at first then lighter
towards the end, so the hair tips look more varied.
14 The face is the payoff
Working
further on the face, we first have to
match the skin tone to the rest of the image. For
this, use effects and tonal control and adjust the
selected colours. Play around with the sliders until
you achieve more of a desaturated look. Zoom in
on the eyes and make them darker. The eyes stand
out now, possessing a smouldering effect.
15 The reflections
Use the Acrylics brush to add to the buildings.

Once done, to soften the effect use the Round Blender brush from the
Blenders menu, set to 100% Opacity. Stroke the brush across the buildings,
making it bleed out. Keep firm but light pressure and use side-to-side strokes.
Use the Just Add Water brush, also in Blenders, for the water surrounding
the jetty. Use soft downward strokes to pull the paint down, as this gives a
painterly approach to painting reflections thats quite easy to do.
53
23/8/07 17:30:26
Tutorial
Special effects
Spruce up the image with some futuristic tones and hues
16
18 Finishing touches
The rocks For this, use a Chalk brush.
With the Sharp Chalk set to 28% Opacity

and around 25% Grain, sketch the rocks in, again
alternating the use of colours; use light lilacs, soft
greys and light mauves. Then select Blenders>Soft
Blender Stump, with an Opacity set to 51 and the
Grain to 25, soften any hard edges to make them
blend in more with the surrounding objects.
About the artist
17 Colour correction
For a contrasting tone, use a light tangerine

colour and select the Furry Brush in F-X. Set the Opacity between
5-7%, the Resat to 9% and the Bleed to 72%. Use very soft swirls, alternating
the size of the brush as you go along. Take a nal look at the colour in
your picture, and if you want to make any changes, go to Effects>Tonal
Control>Correct Colors and use the sliders to adjust contrasts.
On the face, use

the F-X Glow tool. Select an electric
blue shade and swipe the brush around the
cheekbones and some strands of hair. Next use
the Soft Blender Stump to soften parts of the hair
so it looks less sharp. Using the F-X tools Piano
Keys, select light pinks and peach hues. With the
Opacity set to 40%, add these near the buildings
to give the background an interesting look.
The woman behind the tutorial
Dawn Austin currently

works as a digital
artist in Hong Kong for
a leading photography
company, in addition
to undertaking
freelance book covers
and editorials. Of
English and Chinese
descent, Austin likes
to create artwork that
personifies the two different cultures. She
likes to portray sultry atmospheres and
trendy kids, while in sharp contrast she also
likes dark fantasy and science fiction.
Although her work is mainly characterbased, shes always keen to try new styles
and ways of working, for instance in
different genres, so she doesnt feel pigeonholed and her interest is held.
Drop City (left)

Toxic Tess (above)
Two very different images in terms of
mood, but both exhibit her interesting
use of composition and trademark
city backdrops
The Ruins
An interesting departure for Dawn in terms

of colour, this
muted piece of art is still packed with
atmosphere
54
23/8/07 12:49:23
Art study How to paint trees
pa in t trees
How to
One of natures trickiest items to paint are trees, coming in so many shapes and sizes
as they do. We take you through our guide to the easy way to draw and paint the
different varieties in Corel Painter
Faraway trees
When painting trees in the distance, the trick is
actually to do as little as possible. Its easy to fall
into the trap of using a really small brush and
trying to get as much detail in there as you can.
In actual fact, try using the largest brush you can
get away with, and restrict the number of tones
Pine trees
01
Starting with some Soft Acrylics, we

loosely build up the scene in terms of
tone and composition.
you use as well. You want to create the illusion

at a glance that everything is how it should be,
so that your detailed foreground elements are
brought into focus. And for correct perspective,
the further away your trees are getting, the
bluer they need to be.
02
A Palette Knife is introduced to
help dene the angular pine trees.
Its more important to draw the
shadows between the rows of
pines, as that will dene where the
trees then appear to be.
Oak trees
As you can see, with
a relatively large brush
and some subtle
blending, you can very
quickly render a tree
that can be perfectly
convincing in the
background of a piece.
As your trees edge closer to the foreground, using

the Eraser to reveal gaps in the foliage can pay
dividends. When something is in the background
or middle distance, its the shape that denes it
and makes it feel real rather than tiny details.
03
Continuing to work into the piece with the Palette Knife, despite the abstract
marks there is still a sense of depth, showing how important highlights and
shadow are. Note that only three colours were used.
56
056-059_OPM_08.indd 56
23/8/07 16:28:31
Bare trees
Art study
Step-by-step
03
02
01
A simple background is created

rst it doesnt really matter what
media you use, but if you keep the
Resat level of the brush down low,
you can blend it in loosely as you
continue to paint.
How to paint trees
A lot of your artwork will doubtlessly be influenced

by the scenery outside, and as autumn creeps in, this
inevitably means trees shedding their leaves. But for
an artist, this presents a welcome challenge, as bare
trees command so much presence and evoke powerful
emotions that are personal to each viewer.
Getting the shape and details just right though are
crucial in creating a believable backdrop. Too much detail
can draw unwanted attention to the tree, which is
predominantly a background item, and thats where this
guide comes in.
Continue to add twigs

until youve got a natural
balance that feels right
when you look at it. Not
too bare, but crucially not
too overloaded with
detail either.
Twigs
Its all too easy to add too many twigs to your

branches. The important thing is the illusion
provide just enough detail so that your brain
knows its a tree.
The Wet Detail Acrylic Brush is

perfect for making the initial marks.
Keep your strokes as loose and uid
as possible. Decrease the brush size a
few pixels at a time.
Painting trunks
As well as having an overall
fade in brightness from one
side of the trunk to the other,
add notches and bumps
where you can. Fo realism,
remember that shadows
from the leaves will also bend
round the trunk.
Dappled
sunlight
When rendering bark, it is

important to vary the tones,
working quickly with natural
strokes. Whichever brush or
brushes you use, keep the
Opacity low so all the tones
blend in together. The Artists
Oils are particularly useful.
57
056-059_OPM_08.indd 57
23/8/07 16:29:25
Art study How to paint trees
Leafy trees
Mark-making
Leafy trees bring landscapes to life, but it can be easy to

get bogged down in detail when trying to paint them.
As with everything, the trick is to keep things simple.
You can build a realistic tree just using blobs. Pick a
shadow, highlight and midtone colour and use these to
create depth. Be sensitive to the time of year as well,
adjusting your colour palette accordingly. Start with a
general shape and then add brush dabs until your tree is
complete and looking fabulous!
Building up
the leaves
Paint in the
direction of
the trunk
Step-by-step
Colour palette
Spring /
Summer
01
We used the Wet

Detail Acrylic Brush
to create this. To start
with we made a very
loose outline of the
tree, and started to
dene some of the
tones of the leaves.
02
Next its a case of lling

in the gaps, slowly
reducing the brush size
and starting to dene
how the leaves shape
the edge of the foliage,
i.e. the silhouette of
the tree.
Autumn
03
More tones are

introduced, helping
to establish the sense
of the leaves without
having to draw them
all individually. The
Eraser cuts some
of them away too,
making the overall
shape much
more interesting.
04
Finally, the 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.
58
056-059_OPM_08.indd 58
23/8/07 16:30:14
Building up the branch marks
Wide stroke 50
Calligraphy Brush:
Opacity 50%+,
Grain 90%,
Resat 50%+
(size according to scale)
Wide stroke 50
Calligraphy Brush:
Opacity 10%,
Grain 90%,
Resat 12%
(size approximately
half of first strokes)
How to paint trees
Striking in either the foreground or background, these

tall, thin coniferous trees create a peaceful, ambient
mood. When painted in the distance you only need
paint a tall spire, and things arent that much more
difficult when it comes to close work. The main thing
to remember is that you need to make the branches
spread out gradually and they need a textured, rough feel.
Green is the colour of the day, from dark through to a
lighter highlight.
Art study
Pine trees
Smeary Palette Knife 30

Opacity 60%,
Resat 3%,
Bleed 90%
(approximately same size
as second set of calligraphy strokes)
Shadows
Mid-tones
Highlights
Step-by-step
01
Starting with a
Calligraphy brush
at full Opacity,
quickly mock up
the trunk and the
main foliage areas.
Use the angle of
the brush to your
advantage, leaving
edges angular.
03
A loose
background
will just help to
bring the tree
forward, and
help highlight
where more
detail is needed.
02
Start to work in some
more foliage tones,
by reducing the brush
Opacity, Resat levels
and Size.
04
Add some simple

denition to the
trunk, and then
use a Palette Knife
to really help the
foliage feel like
spiky pines rather
than soft leaves.
59
056-059_OPM_08.indd 59
23/8/07 16:30:55
060_OPM_08.indd 60
23/8/07 16:20:19
TITLE
WEBSITE
JOB TITLE
Osvaldo is one artist who can truly claim diversity,

with a collection of work that dees a label. He
describes himself as creating complex and emotional
scenarios of the human condition in addition to
dreamy art like this example here.
Storm Catcher
www.pixelium-art.com
Digital artist
OSVALDO GONZALEZ
showcase
62
062-067_OPM_08_airbrush.indd 62
23/8/07 12:41:35
Tutorial
An introduction to airbrushing
An introduction
to airbrushing
Create an Art Deco-style travel poster inspired by Cassandre,
using Corel Painters selections and Airbrush tools
Tutorial info
Artist
Stewart McKissick
Time needed
3 hours
Skill level
Intermediate
On the CD
Initial sketch
rt Deco, or Art Moderne,

was a popular design
movement of the Twenties
and Thirties. Its beginnings
can be traced to the rise of industrial
design after WWI, exempliied by
the German Bauhaus school and the
international exhibition on decorative
arts held in Paris in 1925.
The style came to be known for its
bold geometric shapes, a relection
of the machine aesthetic of mass
production and a reaction to the
organic, nature-inspired style of Art
Nouveau. It was popular throughout
the Western world and saw expression
in every aspect of art and design. Some
famous period practitioners included
potter Clarice Cliff, industrial designer

Donald Deskey, fashion illustrator
Erte, glass artist Rene Lalique, painter
Tamara de Lempicka, and graphic
artist A M Cassandre, noted for his
advertising posters for Dubonnet.
For this tutorial, weve taken our
inspiration from Cassandres poster
designs, which had a bold simplicity
of shape, along with colour harmonies
and contrasts that rendered them at
once both readable and aesthetically
attractive, artworks that transcended
mere objects of commerce. While he
considered commercial design its own
discipline, Cassandre was inluenced
by Cubism and architecture. He said he
wished to combine the need for formal
perfection with lyrical expression.

His best work had a sophisticated
playfulness to it.
Many of these posters used
traditional airbrush techniques. For
our tutorial, well concentrate on
using Corel Painters airbrushes to
achieve this look. Central to this style
is making selections to isolate the
various shapes as we colour them in.
This can take some time and patience
to make the precise edges needed,
especially curves. Well also use layers
and gradients. Making many layers
needs lots of memory and hard drive
space. You may wish to save various
dropped versions of the poster as you
go along.
Starting off with the sketch

On your (underlying) marks, get (Color) set go!
01 The sketch
Open the sketch on the CD

and save this to your hard drive as a RIFF
le. Go to Select>All in the Select menu and then
Select>Float to put the sketch on its own layer.
Choose Multiply from the composite methods
on the Layers palette to make a transparent layer
which you can turn on and off while you work.
02
Layers Try to work from back to front on an image this helps to
keep you organised and establish a mood and environment. Start

with a new layer called SKY and build from there. All layers will be below the
sketch. Name them to help keep things clear.
03 Color Set
Open the Color Set called

Buildup Ink Colors. This set has the pastel
feel that many Deco travel posters had. Making
variations to the set as you go along is a great way
to start off.
63
23/8/07 12:42:05
Tutorial An introduction to airbrushing
Selections aplenty
Your guide to the right tools and techniques
04 Selections
Making selections is
one of the biggest tasks in this type of
illustration. Select the sun with the Oval Selection
tool a y-out from the Rectangular Selection
tool and hold Shift to constrain it to a perfect
circle. Active selections act like a stencil or mask,
and are displayed with the moving dashed-line
marquee sometimes called marching ants.
Airbrushes
06 Selections the Pen tool

05 Selections saving
You can make selections as you paint or

all at once, and save them to the Channels palette by choosing
Select>Save Selection in the Menu bar. Saved selections can be turned on
and off, edited, and combined in various ways. You can save up to 32 in one
document. Make and save some now and make others as you paint.
Keep the
shapes simple with mostly straight lines
to make selecting easy. However, most cannot be
selected with the Rectangular or Oval Selection
tools, so you need to use the Pen tool. This takes
practice, especially for making curves. For straight
lines, you just click the mouse to place a corner
point this method will select the airplane.
A pick of the best Airbrush variants
Corel Painters Airbrush category is

one of its very best at mimicking the
real paint and pigment equivalent.
It is, in fact, an improvement no
more spilled paint cups, breathing
dangerous fumes or having dust and
hairs stick to your friskets (masks)
and correcting mistakes is a lot easier!
Airbrushes have long been used for
photo-retouching, precise technical
illustration, and decorative, designoriented artwork. All this can be done
in the digital world as well. The ability
to create smooth transitions as well as
sprayed-on textures make airbrushes
ideal for stylised shading or creating
Digital Airbrush
atmosphere and rounded form.
The standard smooth airbrush for basic airbrushing uses.
Digital Airbrush Grainy Edge Cover

The basic smooth airbrush made textural by changing
its Method subcategory. This subcategory gives rough
edges with solid centres to the strokes.
Digital Airbrush Grainy Hard Cover

The basic smooth airbrush made textural by changing its
Method subcategory. All paper textures can be sprayed
using this technique.
Airbrush Coarse Spray

A special Dab Type, this brush has particles and will
spray in a directional manner using a properly equipped
tablet and stylus. A special palette allows you to
customise the spread and flow of the particles.
Airbrush Pepper Spray Feature setting

Similar to Coarse Spray, but with more varied sizes to the
particles. If you change the Feature setting on the Brush
Controls>Size Palette, you can exaggerate this as depicted
in the image above.
64
23/8/07 12:42:25
The Pen tool draws shapes these are

vector objects with strokes and lls. Each shape
will appear as a layer with a circle/ triangle icon.
For a project like this, we should convert these to
selections use the button in the Property bar or
go to Shapes>Convert to Selection in the Menu
bar. Save the selection to a new channel.
The cloud
requires geometric curves these
shapes take practice to draw. You must click and
drag a direction handle while holding down the
mouse button to pull the curve. Dont worry
about following your sketch exactly. You could
use combined Oval Selections here instead. See
the side tip for more about selections.
Nows the time to use your airbrush

Load up the selections and get to work
09 Start painting gradient sky
You can select more shapes as you go.

To start, ll selections with a colour or gradient.
Use gradients for large transitions. They can be
airbrushed for more detail later. Select the sky
with the Rectangular Selection tool and use a Two
Point Linear gradient at 90. Go to Effects>Fill in
the Menu bar to apply the gradient.
You can load your

selections in various
ways: Replace
Selection loads a
selection exactly as
it was saved. Add
To Selection will
combine the chosen
selection with an
active one. Subtract
From Selection will
deselect overlapping
areas from a chosen
selection and an
active one, and
Intersect With
Selection will keep
only the overlapping
areas. With practice,
these options can
make hundreds of
combinations from
the 32-channel limit.
07 Selections converting shapes 08 Selections curves
Tutorial
Selections
an insight
Start
11
airbrushing
(a trick!)
10 Gradient ground
Make an additional layer for the ground. Add

layers for most of the major shapes; this makes reselection and
changes easier. If your computer memory is limited, combine things together
for instance, this could be on the SKY layer. Gradients can be customised
with multiple colours and applied at any angle. Pick a yellow gradient and
invert the angle to 270.
Begin
with an easy shape:
the sun. Load the
selection and ll it with
a at colour. Select
the Digital Airbrush
variant with default
settings. Change
Color and increase Size
to 70. This is a smooth
brush with no texture.
Go to Select>Stroke
Selection (if this
is greyed out,
rst choose
Select>Transform
Selection) to make a
perfect stroke around
the edge!
Hiding
12
marquees
and the sketch
Load the plane

selection and ll it.
When airbrushing,
you dont want to see
the marching ants,
so go to Select>Hide
Marquee. The mask is
still active, but hidden.
Also turn the SKETCH
layers visibility eye
off to see subtle edge
relationships. You may
prefer selecting with
a mouse, but use a
tablet and stylus for
pressure-sensitive
airbrushing here.
13 Sub-selecting and Preserve Transparency
Deselect the
plane (Select>None) and turn the sketch visibility back on to see
details. On the Layers palette, check the Preserve Transparency box. This
makes it possible to only paint where colour is already on the layer. Now subselect the wings and shade to give them some form. Keep colour and values
light for atmospheric distance.
65
23/8/07 17:38:56
Tutorial An introduction to airbrushing
Bringing it all together

Get a rush from your brush
14 Cloud
15 Detail ground
16 Bushes with texture
17 Decorative zig-zags
Load the Cloud selection and ll it white. You can go to

Effects>Fill or use the Paint Bucket tool. Using the same smooth
Digital Airbrush set to its largest size, shade the bottom and left with the
lightest blue from the sky, selected with the Eyedropper tool. Then highlight
the right with yellow from the sun.
Use guides
and grids to
keep things
straight up!
Corel Painter has
rulers, guides and
grids to help keep
design-oriented and
technical art square
and exact. You access
these from the Canvas
menu. When you
draw your pencil
sketch, use rulers and
drafting triangles,
but dont worry too
much about making
it perfect you can
correct things on the
computer using these
very precise tools.
For this illustration,
set the Grid Options
to .125 inches (.318
cm) and the line
thickness to .01
inches. You can pull
guides out from the
displayed rulers. Both
the grid and guides
have a Snap to option
to help you draw
perfect selections.
For the bushes, make one selection, then

move and resize it using the Selection Adjuster tool. Put paper texture
in by changing the Digital Airbrushs Method Subcategory in the General
Brush Controls palette to Grainy Hard Cover. Texture suggests detail in closer
objects. Make a separate layer for shadows and lower its Opacity to make
them transparent.
Select the buttes and paint them. Using layers

and Preserve Transparency, its not necessary to save every major
selection. Save your sub-selections like the butte shadows instead. Use the
Rectangular Selection tool to paint the plane contrail, and also the strata on
the Ground layer. Note the reected colours from the plane and sun.
Put the triangular zig-zag pattern in the

nearer foreground to suggest detail but also for a decorative effect.
This motif was common in classic Art Deco design. Carry it through on the
roadrunners feathers. Use the grid and the Snap to Grid option to make the
pattern exact, and paint it on the Ground layer.
19 Cactus
details
18 Cactus dissection
Select the cactus

in three parts the body and two
arms but ll them in on one layer. Draw wavy
lines using the Pen tool and grid to keep them
perfect. Leave the vector shape strokes coloured
green, then make copies to convert to selections
for shading. Use straight lines if this is advanced
beyond your pen skills.
To
create the stronger
cactus texture,
again use the Digital
Airbrush Variant, and
switch its Method
subcategory to Grainy
Edge Hard Cover. Set
the Grain slider to
nine and change the
paper from Basic to
Rough Charcoal Paper.
Combine your saved
cactus selections with
the wavy ones to
get the sub-selections
you want.
66
23/8/07 12:43:14
Introducing the roadrunner and the text
21
Select the roadrunners main body shape and save

it. Fill it with a at colour of middle value and intensity. Filling a midcolour allows you to add both highlights and shadows and keeps the overall
shape unied. Notice the use of darker shadows to create atmospheric space,
keeping an emphasis on the foreground elements.
Make sub-selections
for the details.
Save some like the
eyemask, beak, main
tail and a set of zig-zag
feathers. Move the
feathers and repeat
using the Selection
Adjuster tool; create
other selections using
the Load Selection
options. You can
also invert selections
(Menu>Select>Invert)
and use this along
with Preserve
Transparency to create
new masks.
Digital airbrushing
is similar to the real
thing in that you
dont actually make
contact with your
surface in fact, using
a tablet and stylus
is more tactile than
actual airbrushing.
One thing to avoid in
airbrushing are puffy
transitions tentative,
overworked
applications of
colour that comes
from being unsure
of your shading. Use
as large a brush size
and as few strokes as
possible. Undo a bad
stroke rather than
painting over it. And
dont be lazy about
making selections
the variety of hard
and soft edges make
an airbrushed image
solid and pleasing.
20 Roadrunner
Main tails
and details
Airbrushing
pointers
Tutorial
Finish up the poster
23 Type
22 Find your legs
Finish the roadrunner

by adding his legs and shadow on their
own layers. Make the Shadow layer partially
transparent to overlay the cactus shadow added
to the existing shadow layer. Here, use the Digital
Airbrush variant set to Grainy Hard Cover. For the
speckles on the roadrunner, use the Pepper Spray
Airbrush variant.
The
typeface is Novel
Gothic. Being geometric,
its easily hand-drawn
with the Pen tool. Set
the words with the Type
tool, skew them using
the Layer Adjuster while
holding Cmd (Mac) or Ctrl
(Windows), and convert
them to Default Layers for
airbrushing (in the Option
menu from the Layers
palette). Use Stroke
Selection to outline the
word Arizona.
Sun rays,
24
road and
more details
On a
new layer, make some
subtle rays and glow
around the sun. Add
value and texture to
the road, darkening
the shadows use the
Coarse Spray Airbrush
variant for the texture.
Once everythings in
place, go over all the
values, colours and
details to make nal
adjustments. Saving
selections and layers
makes this easy.
25 Final adjustments and details
Darken the cactus and some of

the ground elements (using layers set to Gel for transparency). Add
one more distant row of zig-zags, and details to the roadrunner, foreground
bush and sunrays. Put some motion lines coming off the roadrunner. Make
any nal colour changes, like the purple in the butte shadows, at the end.
67
23/8/07 12:43:32
Drawing 101 How to draw eyes
How to
draw eyes
In day-to-day activity, eyes can betray the spoken word. In art too,
they can reveal hidden truths, so its imperative to master their form
ow many times do we refer to

eyes and sight in everyday life?
The eyes have it; I see what
you mean; Seeing is believing;
Eyes are the windows to the soul. It
could be argued that these describe the
credibility or truth that eyes express.
A smile is false because of the crinkle
of the eyes, not because of the curve of
the lips. It is therefore crucial to try and
overcome initial mistakes. This tutorial
aims to reine and enhance both your
observational and drawing skills.
When we are very small, we make huge

assumptions when drawing faces and
eyes. We assume we automatically know
where the features lie within the ears,
chin and hairline. We forget to doublecheck weve looked at faces, eyes in
particular, all our lives and we think we
dont need to look twice. We forget that
its hard to draw accurately from our
imagination, which regularly trips us
up. So with that in mind, some common
assumptions with eyes include missing
or seriously linear eyebrows, repetitive,
Free reference photos for all

Practise your drawing skills with the CD reference files
SOURCE
FILE
ON THE
CD!
sparse eyelashes or including the whole

of the outside of the iris. Then there is
the shape of things. The almond shape of
the eye, how far down the hood of the lid
drapes, the relection in the pupil theres
plenty to look into. The key to success lies
in keen observation; you cant look at your
subject too much in a sitting.
Sorting these teething problems will
give you a very sound foundation on
which to build your image. Our next
consideration will be the observation and
representation of shadows and the type
of shading that works for the skin folds
around the eyes. With shading, start out
cross-hatched and scribbly, then aim for
smooth and soft on top. This is achievable
with the right pencil leads. Start out with
a correctable H and enrich the midtones
later with a B or HB. A inal dark contrast
can be added with a 2B and even a 6B
for the pupil or eyelashes. To draw an
eye accurately is said to be one of the
hardest aspects to perfect, and therefore
one of the most satisfying to master. By
following these tips and the step-by-step,
stage-by-stage process from start to
inish, you really will enjoy this challenge.
68
068-071_OPM_08_drawing.indd 68
22/8/07 17:45:04
Different eye shapes
All in proportion
It is more than likely that you will be
drawing a portrait to accompany your eyes
so here are a few pointers about accurate
proportions. Plot the eyes just above the
horizontal halfway mark on the face. The
eyebrows are just under a third of the way
down the face bear in mind that the density
Drawing 101
What works and what doesnt
Avoid your subject looking cross-eyed

of the eyebrows can transform the look of a
face. The eyeline now needs to be divided up
into five. The eyes can then be drawn with
an almond shape into the two spaces that
are neither at the side nor in the middle. This
means that the space that the nose occupies
is the same size as the width of one eye.
How to draw eyes
HOODED EYES
With careful observation you will notice that these eyes are half-covered by the top
lid. Half the pupil is visible beneath and there is lots of white. Draw an egg shape
and a circle at one end for the eyeball and pupil; divide this in half to denote the lid.
Subtly build the shadows on the lids to create form.
FRONT VIEW
SIDE VIEW
The eyes ought to be slightly

above halfway on the face,
with the eyebrows roughly in
line with the tip of the ears
Common mistakes when

drawing the eyes include
placing them on the faces
edge or too near the ears
Dimensions
SMALL EYES
NOSE WIDTH
Looking at small eyes, you will notice that they are long like a fat banana rather than
an almond, and you can see almost all of the iris. Draw an egg shape once again,
but this time the lids will encase it on either side. A slimline eyelid and short, stubby
eyelashes accompany this elegant and understated type of eye.
After equally dividing the width of

the face in ve from ear to ear, the
middle space between the eyes
will be the space that the nose
will occupy
EYEBROWS
Just under a third of the way
down the face, the eyebrows
shouldnt overlap too much into
the space between the eyes and
the ears
EYELIDS
Draw your eyes use a round
object for the iris if you arent
yet comfortable drawing a circle
freehand but remember that
the lids will cover part of the eye
ROUND EYES
This one has a large round shape for the eyeball, just covered by a rounded lid that sits in a
rounded socket. The sunken socket and large iris exaggerates the pupil size and shape of the
eyeball. Capturing the perfect circle for the iris is nearly impossible freehand. When you start out,
use an appropriately shaped object like a coin to build your condence, then back to freehand.
69
22/8/07 17:46:17
Drawing 101 How to draw eyes
Seeing is believing
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder literally, in this case, so make sure
you do it justice by perfecting your drawing skills
his tutorial needs careful
consideration over the quality
of your paper cartridge is
best and a really good source to draw
from. We used a large black-and-white
photograph, a clean rubber and a range of
pencils from 2H to 6B. You will need to set
aside about three or four hours to follow this

tutorial, as it should take you the best part of
an afternoon. Take your time to look at your
source material and tweak your drawing
constantly. Dont get put off if you make any
mistakes; keep trying as you will improve
enormously with practise.
Guidelines for your eyelines

Blink and youll miss it
STAGE 1
MAPPING THE MAIN SHAPE
Draw expressively and freely for a few minutes, to sketch

out the general shapes that make up the different parts of
the eye. You can afford to hold your H pencil loosely and
make a curvaceous and soft sketch. The sketchs most
important function is to show you how much paper the eye
will occupy.
STAGE 4
DETAILING THE TONES
Here is where your keen powers of observation will

really help. You have to look carefully at the shape and
relationships that the shadows take. Where are they
deepest? Where are they subtle? Where are they delicate?
Outline them all with confident H pencil lines once again.
STAGE 2
CHECKING YOUR MEASUREMENTS
Now to double-check that your sketch is accurate. You may

find that when you observe the relationships between the
different parts, you see that you have initially drawn the
pupil in the wrong place; just move it to the right place. Use
the pupil as your starting point and work out how many
pupil widths make up the width and height of your image.
STAGE 5
THE FIRST TONES
Remove any labels, trust your outlines and begin to colour

or shade in the shadows and dark areas. The lightest parts
are the whites of the eye and the reflection in the pupil. But
you may decide to leave a few other areas as white paper.
Shade very loosely and quickly, making sure you shade in
one direction.
STAGE 3
FIRMING UP THE FIRST SKETCH
You should now feel confident that your outline is correct

and you can convey that confidence in your drawing. Rub out
sketchy lines and, firmly but lightly, draw the most important
descriptive lines. If you are in any doubt about what goes
where, label the different parts so you dont get lost without
the tones to guide you.
STAGE 6
THE SECOND LAYER OF TONES
Your first layer of shading should include all shadows very

lightly in the middle of the tonal range. Carefully observing
the darkest areas and shading them in the opposite direction
can enrich this. You should now have a sound working sketch
that can be easily changed if you still feel some areas arent
quite working.
70
22/8/07 17:47:14
STAGE 7
STAGE 8
STAGE 9
Drawing 101
At this stage, even if you think it is all going smoothly, take

a good long look at your drawing as you may notice a few
mistakes; possibly the too-round shape of the tear duct or
the line of the bottom lid may be too sharp as it lies against
the eyeball. The bottom lid is unprotected and moist, so it
will pick up highlights without even trying and needs very
little definition.
STAGE 10
THE EYEBROWS
Time to define. So far we have done all the work with an H

pencil. Pick up your HB pencil and go crazy on the eyebrows.
Look carefully to see the direction of the individual hairs
and do your best to capture this direction with swift, short
marks. These marks start heavily and tail off like a hair; you
may need to do them back to front to suggest a softer edge.
STAGE 13
THE TOP LASHES
Aim once again to make your marks in the correct direction

that the real eyelashes follow. Use a B pencil once again or
a HB. Layer upon layer with no curls, unless they are there.
Then allow the dark shading you use here to creep down
towards the tear duct.
MAKING MARKS - THE FUN BIT
The next focus is on the skin texture, folds and contours of

the lids, wrinkles and brow. You can really go for it at this
stage, scribbling and cross-hatching to your hearts content.
Consider the curve of the folds and cross-hatch in the
direction of the curves. This will help you get a real sense of
the movement of the folds and creases.
STAGE 11
THE EYELIDS
Use your B pencil to pick out the defining lines surrounding

the lids. Use a sharp lead for the top ones. The bottom lid
needs a much softer line so use the blunt edge of your pencil
to define it before you add with a rather sharper lead, small
and subtle eyelashes on the bottom lid. The top lid will also
require darker definition, especially at the edges of the lid.
STAGE 14
LAST MINUTE HIGHLIGHTS

AND LOWLIGHTS
The reflection brings the eye to life but dont forget to add
realism to the eye with the all important eyeball shadows.
The lashes cast a shadow over the very top of the eyeball
and this continues down to the corners of the eye. Use an H
pencil to create a subtle shadow.
How to draw eyes
THE NEXT DOUBLE CHECK
SMUDGING - THE NEXT FUN BIT
Now we are working on the tones and highlights of the skin

only. To enhance the smoothness of the skin, smudge your H
pencil scribbles firmly with your finger. You should feel that
the drawing is not set in stone from the start to finish, giving
you plenty of room to correct mistakes. Finally, take a clean
rubber and rub out the smudges to create highlights.
STAGE 12
THE IRIS AND PUPIL
Pick up your 2B pencil and your rubber. Look deep into

the eye. Youll see speckles, blotches, a dark circle around
the very edge and a massive reflection right in the centre.
Recording the tones and the reflection brings the eye to life.
Draw exactly what you see and dont worry if it looks wrong,
it will all fit together when its complete.
STAGE 15
THE FINAL TOUCHES
Just a few reminders to polish it off. Check your wrinkles

are still well picked out with your rubber. Smudge any areas
that look too cross-hatched . Finally pick up your darkest
pencil and give a final layer of darkness onto the eyelashes,
the top half of the eye and the middle, lower section of the
eyebrows. Finally, have a close look to check all is in order.
71
22/8/07 17:48:08
showcase
072-073_OPM_08_angel.indd 72
23/8/07 16:18:33
072-073_OPM_08_angel.indd 73
23/8/07 16:18:50
TITLE
WEBSITE
JOB TITLE
Jason has devoted his life to painting and

drawing, so much so that he now works at the
inuential Massive Black company. Jasons love
of fantasy novels has guided his work and he
has produced some beautifully-imagined pieces.
Junk Angel
www.jasonchanart.com
Digital artist
JASON CHAN
Your
questions answered
A little rough around
the edges
Your experts
Marilyn Sholin
Marilyns knowledged
and love of Coel Painter
has led her to set up the
excellent Digital Painting
Forum, which we feature
on the main news. Here
she reveals art tips
Jo Cole
We thought it was time

for the editor to roll up
her sleeves and answer
your Corel Painter
questions! She helps out
with the tricky ways to
get painterly effects
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
I often use the Clone features of

Corel Painter but only seem to
be able to get very neat effects.
As a result, its almost too perfect for its
own good! How can I make things look
more painterly without me having to do
anything freehand?
Left
Import a photo
into the program
that you want to
transform for a
painterly effect
R D
You can do a variety of things, Ruby,
and a lot of the best results come
from experimenting, but one of the
most fun methods comes from Painter Master,
Jeremy Sutton. He incorporates what he calls
a muck up stage into the cloning process,
which basically means he roughly clones an
image with absolutely no thought to detail.
Although it looks horrific to begin with, it
provides a good base for bringing back the
detail. A lot of traditional artists will block in
colours first and then slowly paint more refined
shapes until its finished this is the same
principle. Once youve finished the muck up
stage, you can use your favourite cloner to
bring back the detail. Our best advice and
secret tip of the day would be to use the
Smeary Camel Cloner, which is excellent as it
brings back detail but still looks like paint. Just
bring the brush size down and brush over the
photo with more care. Even if you have nearphoto effect in the detail, as long as you leave
some of the muck-up stage showing, you will
have the painterly effect you desired.
Right
Here weve used the
Smeary Flat Cloner to
brush over the photo
and create a right royal
mess of colours
Left
Now is the time to
bring back some
detail on the most
important parts.
For an interesting
photographic
art effect, use
something like the
Soft Cloner
Send in your queries to

Official Painter Magazine Q&A, Imagine
Publishing Ltd, Richmond House, 33 Richmond
Hill, Bournemouth, Dorset, BH2 6EZ.
Alternatively you can email us at
opm@imagine-publishing.co.uk
SHARE
YOUR
PROBLEMS!
Send in your questions

for our experts to answer
at opm@imaginepublishing.co.uk
74
074-079_OPM_08_artclass.indd 74
23/8/07 12:22:12
Feeling sketchy
B L
Art class
Ive just bought my irst Wacom

tablet (an Intuos3) and Im not sure
where to start when it comes to
settings. Im not too worried about the
buttons or strip, but I want it feeling right.
Any advice?
The Pencil brushes can give you pretty

much all the same effects as their real world
counterparts, but they are labelled slightly
differently. Whereas you can go into an art shop and
pick anything from a 2H to a 6B, the Pencils in Corel
Painter are called according to what effect they give.
So you have titles such as Sharp Pencil, Greasy Pencil
and Dark Hatch. Heres a closer look at how to get a
traditional pencil sketch effect in Corel Painter.
Q&A
Tablet tweaks
Ive really been enjoying your Drawing 101

series but I had made myself a promise to
try and lead a paperless artistic life! Ive
used Corel Painter for making oil and watercolour
paintings but must admit I have no clue as to how
to use the Pencil brushes or where to start. Can
you help me out?
R R
We always have time and advice for
our readers Richard! Especially ones
who share our enthusiasm for artistry
using a Wacom tablet. Its best to alter settings
in response to what medium you are working
in and the kind of feel youre going for, but
there are some fundamental settings that will
put you in good stead. Open up the Control
Panel (from System Preferences in Mac or
Wacom Table Properties in Windows). Select
the Grip Pen icon, then the Pen tab and then
move the Tip Double Click Distance slider
to Large. This means you wont accidentally
double-click when applying strokes. Click
the Details button to open the Feel Details
01 Keeping track
If youre using a graphics tablet,

go to Preferences>Brush Tracking and make
a mark as if you were holding a pencil. Think loose and
gestural strokes.
02 Paper and draw
Create a new document and

set Basic Paper from the Paper Selector. Choose
the Pencils brush category and pick the 2B Pencil. The default
setting has the Buildup method, which means it gets darker
the more strokes you apply just like a real pencil! Use this to
create the basic drawing.
Make sure you dont accidentally double-click by

adjusting this slider
window. The Click Threshold slider will affect

how easily your tablet registers a click. The
higher you go, the less sensitive it is. And
talking of sensitive, the Sensitivity setting
adjusts the tablet to your way of working.
Make a mark in the Try Here pad. Adjust the
Sensitivity slider until you get it as you like.
Click OK and you return to the main menu.
When you do want to make adjustments to
the buttons, click the drop-down menus to set
the Pen buttons or pick the Functions icon in
the Tools bar. There you have it! Hopefully that
will have quelled any uncertainties you had.
03 Final touches
Use the 2B Pencil for a

realistic sketch, but there are other ways.
Pick a light colour and change to the Cover Pencil
to apply an opaque colour. Now you can apply
highlights over dark strokes without smudging.
75
23/8/07 12:23:09
Q&A Art class
Unlock palettes from their

groups by clicking and dragging
off to the side
See it all
Ive recently started working with

the Color Sets, as I ind the fact they
are labelled according to traditional
paint colours very helpful. Im getting a bit
fed up with having to keep scroll up and
down the menu, though, but cant seem to
resize the palette. Am I missing something?
W F
By default, Corel Painters palettes
are grouped according to like, so
the colour palettes are together
as are the brush controls. While this is great
for organising, as you have pointed out, it is
impossible to extend a palette so you can see
everything. What you need to do is unlock the
palette from its group. In your case, you would

call up the Color Sets palette and it will appear
with the colour controls as normal. Go to the
top of the Color Sets palette and place your
cursor near the top of the palette; it should turn
into a hand. Click and drag the palette over
and it will unlock the Color Sets from the other
palettes. Now you can extend and see all of the
colours! If you want to lock a palette back, put
the cursor over the top of the palette and when
it becomes a hand, click and drag back to its
group. A black line will appear so let go and its
back in its home!
Using the multitude of

effects that Corel Painter
includes, it is possible
to achieve a number of
different adjustments in
order to give a picture
some sort of life before
being cloned
Clone foundations
Should I do anything to a photo
before I clone it? I dont think Im
getting the most from the function.
J E
Once they are free, you can extend the palette length as
much as your monitor allows
Weve shown the original picture

before preparing it for cloning. Its
important to do everything to the
photo first before cloning and then save it
as the changed photo so there is always an
original with the right colour to go back to. To
create a painting there should be life, contrast
and colour to the photo before cloning it.
There are a number of ways to achieve
the changes. Equalize is one that can make
the change quickly and still be adjusted. Go
to Effects>Tonal Control>Equalize. At this
screen it can be adjusted and then click OK.
You can easily control

the Grain Settings in the
Brush Controls palette.
Moving the slider to lower
settings limits the level
of colour deposited into
the paper grain. Higher
settings allow for deeper
colour penetration
76
23/8/07 12:24:05
Painting sketch
Sketch marks make a great addition to any

digital painting, portrait or otherwise. The
greatest flexibility is achieved by using the
01
Preparing for sketch effects
Open the painting intended for sketch effects

and add a new layer using the Layers palette. Be sure to
tick the Pick Up Underlying Color checkbox. If desired,
simplify the painting to a point where sketchy lines
would look natural.
02
Let the sketching begin Choose a
brush and sketch away, following the lines of

the painting. Be expressive with your marks using uid,
thick and thin lines. They will add a great dynamic feel
to your nished painting. Continue sketching until you
have a completely sketched layer.
After clicking OK, if it was too much, go to

Edit>Fade and fade part of the Equalize effect.
Next go to Effects>Tonal Control>Adjust
Colors. Here bump up the saturation so there
are warm rich colours to begin. Once this is
done, it must be saved with a new name.
Go to File>Save As>Eliana_Orig_Paint. This is
the file that is ready for cloning. Elianas final
painting is warm and rich with life. The portrait
of this three-month old conveys all the feeling,
beauty and wonder of a babys world. It has
been cropped to form a better composition to
focus on her luminous eyes.
Well Jess, youll be pleased to hear

that Corel Painter has a brush all
loaded and ready to help you with
your task. Its found in the often overlooked FX brush category. Go here and choose the Hair
Spray variant. Once picked, simply brush over
your image and it will cause the colour to splay
out in a furry frenzy. Its best not to use this
over very detailed work as it will obliterate it,
but you can always use this first and add detail
later. Hope that helped!
Brush out those knots

in your hair
Id really like to create a portrait

of my family, using a photo as a
basis. Any advice on how to set up
the photo?
Im creating my own childrens

characters and Im having
problems getting a really luffy
fur effect. Ive tried painting individual
strands, but I havent the patience. Is there
a quick way?
J B
Art class
D M
pencil marks. If you want oily or brushed sketch

marks, Tapered Gouache from the Art Pen Brushes
category works well.
No matter the brush choice, be sure to size your
brush appropriately for the size and resolution of
your painting. A two pixel brush mark will be lost
in the final print of a high resolution painting at
any size. Fifteen pixels is a good starting point for a
300dpi painting.
Now then David, well continue in the vein which
you mentioned, so for your own use and for our
readers, well apply those tips to create a fantastic
sketchy painting!
Q&A
Your magazine has always given great

advice, and now Im in need of more of
the same! I like it when you can still see
sketch marks on a portrait but was wondering
if its best to do them on a separate layer, or
have them on the paint layer. Any advice?
layering technology, as marks on a separate layer

do not alter the painting below. By using layers, you
can always go back and make major adjustments,
erase stray marks, use different composite methods
or adjust the opacity without damaging your
painting on the Canvas layer.
Jumping headfirst into the arsenal of brushes,
any brush can be used to create sketch marks, but
for a more natural look, brushes in the Charcoal
category will work best; Sharp Charcoal 7 is
recommended because of its pressure sensitive
size taper. Also, this brush picks up paper texture
well, and in the end, its marks look like natural
03 Blended to perfection
Pick a brush from

the Blenders category that matches the style
of your painting. Create a new layer for blending, and
selectively blend and paint the sketch into the painting.
The Opacity of the layer may also be adjusted. This will
really make the sketch feel like a part of the painting and
not just an afterthought.
Family affair
S F
Setting up the photo when you
know its going to be a painting as
the final output is a wonderful way
to preconceive your portrait painting. Think
The Hair Spray brush is a quick and easy way of giving the effect of fluffy fur. You may
have to be a bit inventive about when you use it, but it can give a great look
77
23/8/07 12:24:42
Q&A Art class
about the background and how it will be treated

in the final painting as to painted realism or
painterly strokes.
Putting the people together, decide first if
its to be a horizontal, vertical or maybe even a
square painting. By having all these decisions in
place before ever taking the actual photo, it will
save work later in the painting. If the elements
are all together in the photo portrait, it makes the
painting of it so much easier.
Consider your lighting as to whether its
going to be a dark painting with shadows or
open and flatter lighting. How dramatic will the
final painting be? Once that is decided, it makes
it easier to light the portrait and create either
something light and airy or something richer and
darker that lends itself to canvas reproduction.
In the background
I cant for the life of me work out how
to clone onto coloured paper. I want
to give the impression of a pastel
paintings thats been done on blue paper but
dont know how.
E M
What you need to do is increase the size
of the canvas and then fill it with colour.
Open up your clone source and then go
to Canvas>Canvas Size. Enter the amount you
want to extend your canvas by weve gone for
a thick border of 300 pixels here and then click
OK. Select a Main colour and go to Effects>Fill.
Make sure Current Color is selected and click OK
to set your paper colour. Toggle Tracing Paper on
and then start cloning as you would normally.
Left
The finished painting
is ready for the wall in
a light and airy style,
keeping the people as
the primary subjects but
allowing the environment
to show their lifestyle. The
style of this painting is
much more light-hearted
than the previous, more
traditional oil painting
Above
This was pre-designed
to be vertical to hang
in the home as a
watercolour painting
in a specific spot.
Knowing it was going
to be a watercolour
meant looking for a
light background to
photograph against
Colour choice
I once used a great command in
Photoshop that allowed me to grab
the colours of a photo and save as a
colour swatch. Is there a similar function in
Corel Painter?
B G
Left
For canvas extension
on all sides, make sure
you enter a number in
every field
There certainly is! Open up an image

in Corel Painter and then open the
Color Sets palette. Go to the options
arrow and select New Color Set From Image.

This will grab all the colours and, well, create a
new set! You can then pick Save Color Set and
name it. If it grabs too many colours, you can
delete them by clicking the Delete Color icon.
To name them, pick the Display Name option
from the menu and then double-click next to
a colour. Give it a name and then double-click
the next colour.
Below left
Using the Fill command
will flood your canvas
with colour
Below
Setting a background
colour is an easy way
of creating a natural
background
Give your colours a name by double-clicking them when

in the Display Name format
Its easy to grab the hues from a photo or image. Just use
the New Color Set command from the Color Set menu
78
23/8/07 12:27:54
Q&A
Art class
Here comes the rain

Whats a good way of simulating
the look of rain? I dont want a
realistic effect just something
nice and atmospheric.
S H
Using Corel Painters Layers is a
great way to play with creating
rain. We are going to use a few
of the features in Painter to do this quickly.
The original photo I want to put rain on is
sized to an 8 x 10 at 300dpi. We are going
to create a new canvas the same size as the
photo and fill with black.
04 Autoplayback
01 Fill with black
Open your image

and create another le the same size as
the original and ll with black using Fill Bucket
in the Tools palette. Be sure your Current Color
that is forward is black to ensure it will ll with
black. Any other colour and that will be the
colour it will ll with.
After that, go back

to the Brushes Selector and choose
Autoplayback. The stroke will be repeated on the
layer over and over. Stop it when its fully covered,
but not blocked up.
05 Motion Blur
Go to Effects>Focus>Motion Blur.
Watch the Preview box as you adjust the settings. Be
sure to play with all three settings to get a long blurry angled
effect on the lines.
02 Layer up
Add a new
layer on the black
Canvas. In adding
the new layer, you
are able to draw
on it and see what
you are doing. The
purpose for the
layer of black is to
see your strokes and
what they look like.
Record
03
strokes
of rain
Using the
Oils>Details Oils
Brush 5, make a
few marks with
white paint to see
what you like. Click
Record Stroke from
your Brush Selector
and put down the
one stroke you
want repeated.
06 Intensity
Now that you have the layer,

its time to copy and paste it into your
painting. Put more than one layer into your painting
and adjust the Opacity on each layer individually so
there is a variety of rain intensity.
79
23/8/07 12:28:31
Using the
prodmpuuscE-t41s0
The Oly
source
provided a good Corel
to
in
photo to take
with
Painter and play s
he
us
br
the Chalk
The creative products on test this issue
OLYMPUS E-410
With its professional picture
quality and easy-to-use
functions, we wonder whether
this is the perfect camera for the
enthusiastic photographer
COGNITION
BACKUP SOFTWARE
PANORAMA U
LAPTOP BAG
Have peace of mind that your

files are automatically backed up,
using this affordable and friendly
service from Backups4All
Store your camera, laptop,

phone, PDA, MP3 player and
anything else you may have in
this sturdy and alluring bag
BAGS OF LOVE
We bring you the lowdown on
one company who is offering
visitors some truly unique ways
to present their artwork. Prepare
to be amazed!
Reviews
Discover some of
the best products
out there to extend
and improve your Corel
Painter experience
81
081_OPM_08_reviews.indd 83
23/8/07 12:12:33
Reviews Olympus E-410
Olympus E-410
SRP 499 | Olympus has tinkered with the E-400 but is it enough?
Screens
The menu system on the
Olympus E-410 is easy
to navigate, with clear,
distinguishable screens
lympus is the poor relation in the

DSLR market. Its common knowledge
that it lags behind everyone else
in innovation, resolution and
performance right? Well, actually, the truth is
very different.
Olympus was the pioneer of a dust-reduction
device that was featured on the irst Four Thirds
camera, the E-1, back in 2003. Then along came
the E-300 (the irst 8MP camera), the E-330 (a
7.5MP DSLR with a unique Live View facility),
followed by the worlds smallest DSLR in the form
of the E-400.
One odd aspect of the E-400 launch was that
Olympus didnt release it in North America.
However, six months on we know why, as the
E-410 has landed on our laps, replacing the barely
aged E-400. So has Olympus managed to squeeze
the best from its unique camera system that
promised so much?
First, it really is tiny and so light. Placing the E410 next to a Canon EOS 5D with 24105mm lens
and battery grip is like parking a smart car next
to a Hummer. The kit lenses are also interesting.
The 14-42mm and the 40-150mm are smaller
and lighter than any other Olympus Zuiko digital
lenses and feature near-telecentric construction.
One of the main changes from the E-400 is
the inclusion of a Live View facility. This has
resulted in a switch of sensor brand from Kodak
to Panasonic. Another beneit of the switch,
according to Olympus, is that the new sensor

displays less noise at higher ISO settings. Its fair
to say that Olympus has never been regarded as
the class leader in signal-to-noise ratios and well
return to this issue later on.
Having a 10MP sensor puts it in the class
currently dominated by the Nikon D40X and
Canon EOS 400D. If the image quality can
compete, then it may well be onto something.
The launch price is also tempting: a body-only
purchase is just 499. The build quality is as good
as the current class leader, the Nikon D40X, and
it feels better made than the Canon rival. The
plastics are of a good quality, nicely put together
and it its nicely in your hand, with a rubberised
grip to improve comfort. Existing E-series owners
will immediately be at home with the handling.
Most functions are easily accessible through the
menu system and there are one-touch buttons for
Timer/Shooting mode, exposure compensation
and the Depth Of Field preview button.
The main camera functions ISO, metering,
image quality, etc are controlled by a user
interface thats one of the most intuitive weve
seen. Theres a plethora of metering options, from
spot to matrix, and also the ability to protect
highlight or shadow detail.
One minus for the E-410 is that there are only
three selectable focus points, less than some
of its rivals. Our gripe is that, when mounted
on a tripod, we sometimes want to select the
Batteries
The 1150mAh battery provides
around 450 shots before requiring
a recharge, but if you use Live View
and extensive image replay, then
this will vary
Connections
The E-410 provides the usual highspeed USB 2.0 connection, housed
behind a secure panel on the rear
of the camera. The USB cable is
supplied, along with an AV lead
Colour options
Mode dial
Viewfinder
Lens
The 14-42mm kit lens is an absolute
peach for the money. The sharpness
across the frame is impressive and
outperforms lenses costing twice
the price
Live View
Playback
button
Trash
Main shooting
LCD
screen
D-pad control
D-pad control
Picture mode
Pressing the OK button when youre

in Shooting mode gives instant
access to all the main shooting
functions, allowing you to navigate
easily using the d-pad
82
082-083_OPM_08_camerareview.indd82 82
22/8/07 15:20:41
Exposure modes
499 P, S, A, M, 20 scene
Megapixels (effective) modes
10 Flash modes
Max resolution A, RE, M, SS, Fon,
3,648 x 2,736 Foff
Lens data
camera specs
Olympus E-410
Price
Connectivity
By lens USB, AV
Zoom
Weight
By lens 375g (body only)

Focus/Macro
Dimension
By lens 129 x 91 x 53mm
Shutter speeds
Batteries
ISO sensitivity
Storage
60-1/4,000 sec, bulb Lithium-ion

A, 100, 200, 400, CF, xD
800, 1600 LCD
Metering options 2.5
ESP, CW, S, Highlight,
Shadow
Build design
For a DSLR, it really is very tiny and lightweight.
But this doesnt mean its flimsy. The plastics
are good quality and the rubberised grip feels
comfortable and secure
Test shot
All test shots were taken using the Auto WB control, which was
excellent outdoor images required no fine-tuning
Flash
button
Mode dial
What we like
What we dont like
Olympus has
really pulled the
rabbit out of the
hat with the E410 so look out
Canon and Nikon!
Features
Live View
MOS sensor
Excellent Auto
WB feature
Clean image quality
on the top
extremely useful facility. We feel that those

making the move from a point-and-shoot will feel
very at home with this.
One essential feature on DSLR cameras is the
ability to have a histogram review available
post-shot to tell us what we have captured and
then adjust the exposure if required. The E-410
offers an excellent histogram and also an equally
essential highlight warning indicator. We cannot
over-stress the importance of these features.
Size does have its penalties, though, as the
viewinder on the E-410 is a little on the small
side. However, its actually very bright and easy
to compose images with. Flash performance was
adequate for an on-camera lash.
Take any of the full-res iles produced by this
camera and print them off on a decent printer
and you should be impressed. Logically, with 12bit sensors being able to capture four thousand
colours or so, its not surprising. However, theres
just a special something about the Olympus
prints. They have a 3D quality that can rival the
best output from some manufacturers pro-spec
offerings all in a camera costing less than 600
with kit lens.
During testing, we really got to like this little
gem. Its well-proportioned, svelte and curvy. If
your budget allows you to consider the E-410,
then we would say, unless you already have an
investment in another brands lenses, buy one.
Youll be taking home the new class leader.
we say
appropriate focus point to maximise the depth of

ield. With the E-410, we were unable to do this
and we had to resort to manual focus (in Live
View) in order to achieve this. Olympus claims
that by only having three focus points, focusing
is faster and more accurate, which was indeed
the case.
The E-410 does give the opposition a swift
backhander, though, by providing the rather
excellent Live View function. Currently the only
production DSLR at this price point to offer this
Only three selectable

focus points
Struggles a bit under
tungsten lighting
9.0
Ease of use
verdict
The Olympus prints have a 3D quality that can rival the best
output from some manufacturers pro-spec offerings - all in a
camera costing less than 600 with kit lens
Shutter
release
Lens
release
9.0
Quality of results
9.5
Value for money
9.5
Overall
score
9.3
83
082-083_OPM_08_camerareview.indd83 83
22/8/07 15:20:55
Reviews Backups4All
Backups4All
very savvy computer user should have
a checklist of things to do to ensure
their digital life runs as smoothly as
possible. Keeping antivirus and system
software up-to-date, regular defragmenting
and freeing up valuable space all help ease the
strain on both you and your hard drive.
Inevitably, though, things will go wrong.
Trying to recover lost iles can be a painful,
time-consuming and expensive process.
Backing up, burning data to disc and investing
in an external hard drive are all good solutions,
but each relies on the user to remembering to
do so. Backups4All takes a different approach.
A simple automated process will back up your
data to a secure off-site location with just a few
clicks of the mouse.
Installing the Backups4All software is an
equally simple process. A free fully functioning
30-day trial is available for download and
requires you to enter basic information such as
user account and log-in details. After successful
login, a back-up setup wizard will appear to
help create your irst back-up set. All data
backed up using Backups4All is encrypted
using an encryption key (pass phrase) of your
choosing, so its important that you keep it

safe from others. All data is compressed and
encrypted before it leaves your computer
so the chances of it being intercepted on the
internet before it makes its way to the server
are negligible.
Backups4All will only copy changes from
your last backup so there is no needless
duplication. You can restore iles directly
from the application or via the web from any
computer, location and at any time, so youll
always have access to your iles. For additional
security, you can restrict access to your backup iles to a set of IP addresses, which you
deine. Regular email notiications keep you
informed as to whats been backed up and
when, or if youve missed a backup. Prices start
from 5.99 a month for 5GB of storage space,
rising to 17.99 for 20GB. Aimed at home users
and SoHo (small ofice/home ofice) customers,
its still a signiicant investment over the life
of a computer, although the peace of mind it
offers could be priceless. No home user Maccompatible option is available as yet, although
Backups4All should rectify this shortly, making
this excellent service available to all.
specs
From 5.99 per month | This online back-up storage solution offers home
users professional level data protection to protect against file loss
Backups4All
Company
Operating systems
Cognition Windows 95/98/ME/

Software Limited NT/2000/XP/2003/
Price Vista (including
5.99, (5GB), 10.99 64-bit)
(10GB), 14.99 (15GB), Minimum requirements
17.99 (20GB) Windows 95,
Website 128MB memory,
www.backups4all. 100MB disk space
co.uk
Backup Setting
Control how long deleted
files and older versions are
retained on the server
Online access
verdict
we say
24/7 access to your data

from your computer or
anywhere on the internet
Backup Source
It offers a user-defined
service for you to decide
what needs backing up
Backup log
Keep track of changes to
backed-up files and data
with intelligent file copying
What we like
What we dont like
Although some
may find it
expensive, if
you can justify
spending your
money on this for
your particular
work, the service
is well worth it
Features
No fuss
Peace of mind
Automated
data protection
Excellent support
Overall
score
No annual
discounted deals
No Mac-compatible
home user/SoHo
version yet
8.0
Ease of use
9.0
Quality of results
8.0
Value for money
8.0
8.0
84
084_OPM_08_backup.indd 84
23/8/07 11:15:48
Company
specs
Panorama U Laptop Bag

Size
15 x 5.9 x 11.8
(Maximum external
Price
size. May vary
64.95
according to content)
Website
Weight
www.kata-bags.com
0.87kg
Kata
It will protect your

equipment from knocks
and adverse weather and is
extremely comfortable
Lots of space
The main compartment has a dedicated area for the laptop in
addition to pockets for other electrical equipment
Kata Panorama
U Laptop Case
compartments has further divisions. The main
compartment has a safeguard laptop area,
which means you can take your laptop out to
locations and use as your digital easel. If you
dont have a laptop, this area is also perfect for
sketchbooks or any other number of items. Also
contained in this main area are three smaller
pockets for items such as a small camera, PDA
or MP3 player.
The front zipper pocket has reinforcement
along the front, as well as a division strip
that can be moulded to it around whatever
is stored there. This is the perfect place for a
digital SLR, as the strip can swirl around the
camera and lenses, keeping everything safe.
Theres a further compartment around the back
with an internal organiser for pens, cards and
space for keys, money or general bag stuff.
As a dedicated camera or laptop bag,
this product triumphs. It will protect your
equipment from knocks and adverse weather
and is extremely comfortable to wear. But
where it really excels is in the fact it is just so
damn wearable! It doesnt feel like a specialist
holdall it will happily take all the junk you
would normally shove into a bag but it will also
protect your precious equipment. All in all, a
stellar combination.
What we like
Lots of space
Special
organiser pocket
Ergonomic design
Protective areas
This is a goodlooking bag

that protects
equipment but
also has the
flexibility to be
used every day
Safe and hidden

The strap houses a phone
compartment and any excess
strap is hidden thanks to the
cover-all sleeve
What we dont like
The mobile
phone pocket is a
bit of a squeeze for
larger phones
Features
10
Ease of use
we say
ow more and more of us are grabbing

our cameras and heading outdoors
to take reference pictures for future
art projects, it seemed a good idea to
look at ways of transporting that equipment.
After all, nothing spoils a days shooting more
than a sore neck after lugging a camera about
for hours!
The Kata company has long been involved
in the business of packaging and travelling
products, more often seen in the high-end
arena of professional video and photography,
security and high-tech industries. But one
of its latest products, the Panorama U bag
on test here, is perfect for the home creative.
It combines all of the quality engineering of
Katas products with features that make it
practical for day-to-day usage. All too often you
buy a dedicated camera case only to ind you
also have to take another bag for extras like
keys, purses, phones and so on. With this bag,
you can it everything you need in one space!
The bag itself is treated to Katas own
ElastoGuard laminate, which feels like wetsuit
material. This makes the bag very tactile
but more importantly, protects its contents
from the elements. There are three main
compartments to the bag and each of these
Cleanly designed
The Kata bag is well designed,
with pleasing special extras.
Check out this special opening
for headphones!
verdict
64.95 | Is this the perfect bag to take on creative outings?
9.0
Quality of results
10
Value for money
10
Overall
score
9.8
85
085_OPM08_reviews.indd 85
23/8/07 11:36:42
Reviews Books
Painter X for Photographers

27.99 | Achieve great results from your own photos
orel Painter is a huge program
with ininite possibilities and
can be a daunting prospect
for those who have previously
only dabbled in photography or other
photographic-based image-editing
programs. Finding an affordable book
that does a good job of exploring the
program, not only well but also in a
concise manner, can be tricky. Painter
X for Photographers is written for those
who have a good eye for colour and
composition, but arent necessarily au fait
with the ins and outs of painting concepts,
tools, papers and techniques.
The book begins with an exploration
into the setup and structure of Painter,
and also takes some time to explore the
Painter X for Photographers is written for those who

have a good eye for colour and composition, but arent
necessarily au fait with the ins and outs of concepts
A good introduction
Getting acquainted with Painter Xs many brushes
can be a daunting prospect. The Choosing Brushes
section demonstrates the effects of the brush library
useful compatibility between Painter X

and Photoshop. Once this introduction is
over, it then tackles some basic techniques
including cloning and tracing paper. Quite
a hefty section near the beginning of the
book is devoted to the selection of brushes
that are available in Painter X. Using the
same photographic example over and
over again, the pages do seem a little bit
repetitive but it is a useful approach to
seeing the different results that brush

choice can achieve.
Included on the rear page is a DVD-ROM
presented by Martin Addison, which adds
as a good accompaniment to the book and
helps you to master the tricks in a more
informal manner.
Later on you will ind more speciic
tutorials for which you can open the
source iles on the DVD and work through
the steps, including portraits and special
effects. These images are perfect for
trying out your new techniques on and
once youve got the hang of the methods,
you can easily apply the steps to your
own photographs.
Although this is a superb starter guide,
the synopsis of the book leads you to
believe that the book is suitable for both
fresh starters and seasoned pros, the
classiication of the book for Beginners
and Intermediates and the basic topics
mean that the Painter X for Photographers
would be most appreciated by those who
are new to Painter concepts.
Edited by
Martin Addison
Price
27.99
Publisher
Focal Press
ISBN
978-0-240-52033-9
The basic interface
Bite-size projects
Complete beginners to Painter X

will find the opening chapters
useful as they take the time to
explain the basics and introduce the
programs interface
Throughout the book you will

find plenty of quick and simple
techniques for you to try your hand
at. After all, its true what they say,
practise makes perfect!
Using the DVD

Many of the smaller techniques
in the book can be closely
scrutinised and followed
meticulously using the sample files
found on the DVD supplied with
Painter X for Photographers
Handy resource
Near the rear of the book you will
find a valuable print resource of
all the paper assortments found in
Painter X, which is always useful to
refer back to at any time you may
need to
86
086-087_OPM_08_books.indd 86
23/8/07 17:37:12
Successful & Creative Washes

9.99 | Take advantage of traditional watercolour tips
Author
Barry Herniman
Price
9.99
Publisher
Search Press
ISBN
1-84448-148-4
y now, we all know how

successful Corel Painter is
in replicating the medium
of traditional paint. Thus,
although Successful & Creative Washes
is aimed towards watercolour artists,
the layout and approach of the book is
valuable to Painter digital artists too.
Although the book does devote a
considerable amount of space to building
up larger, more intricate scenery from
scratch, the most useful section is at the
beginning. Here, Herniman explores
some unusual effects that can be achieved
with your brush, including stunning wash
effects, glazing and spattering. The layout
of the book is superb, with bright and
clear step-by-steps that are accompanied
by clear and simple instructions.
Although there will some tips that have
no relevance to the results that can be
achieved in Painter, this is an excellent
resource for those who wish to perfect a
traditional watercolour style.
Basic brush tips

The book begins with some
invaluable brush application
tips, many of which can be
applied to your Painter tools
Clear layout
The step-by-step style tutorials are carefully laid out with
images big enough to pick out intricate details, benefiting
digital as well as traditional artists
Good examples
Each small project begins with a good-quality large
example, which acts as a good reference as you follow
the tutorials
Digital Macro Photography

19.95 | Get up close and personal with your camera
Authors
Ross Hoddinott
Price
19.95
Publisher
Photographers
Institute Press
ISBN
1-86108-452-8
f you want to stand out from the

crowd with your Painter results,
then delving into the world of macro
photography will give you plenty
of scope for accessing unusual patterns,
colours and intricate details.
Digital Macro Photography, written
by Ross Hoddinott, BBC Young Wildlife
Photographer of the Year 1995, is an
easy-to-read introduction to macro
photography. The manual doesnt get
bogged down in technical jargon and is
divided into easily digestible sections.
For those who are new to photography,
the book begins to explain the kit you
will need to take successful close-ups
and common problems that might crop
up. Images throughout the book are
impressive and inspirational, and each
chapter in the book encourages you to
look in different areas for your subject.
Hoddinotts writing style is friendly but
concise, although if you already know the
basics of macro photography, you wont
ind anything extra here.
Kit advice
The book begins with
a detailed tour of the
cameras, lenses and
equipment that will
help you on your way to
taking great close-ups
Shooting tricks
A successful macro photo relies heavily on good
technique. The Basic techniques section talks you
through your camera setup and problems that may arise
Varied subjects
The book covers a plethora of different subject matter.
Professional tips throughout the book offer advice for
setup and more advanced camera settings
87
086-087_OPM_08_books.indd 87
22/8/07 17:49:40
Output
Bags of Love
Memory Boxes
For storing special trinkets,
the memory boxes comprise
of a printed image and
fabcric-covered sides
Photo albums
Available in small, medium
and large, these are popular
for wedding albums
Journals
Printed professionally and
handbound to a book cloth.
You can even re-create your
own This Is Your Life book
Bags
Bags of Love
Complete with a one-year

guarantee, bags are
printed on satin, with
leather, vinyl or canvas
trim. They are really
sturdy and attractive
Dont leave your artwork to gather virtual dust on your desktop waste no time in checking out
the multitude of practical gift ideas that Bags of Love has to offer you
Tutorial info
Artist
Rosie Tanner
Time needed
15 minutes
Skill level
Beginner
ags of Love is an online service

providing a massive selection
of personalised photo gifts. The
UK-based company employs
a team of specialists to manufacture all
items in-house.
The company launched way back in
2002, which means its a well-practised
expert in providing excellent customer
service and top-quality products. The gift
range has grown from a small selection of
bags to a huge array of practical items.
On irst impressions, we assumed there
wouldnt be much market for a website
which simply turned photographs into
bags, but in actual fact, the range of gift
options is so immense that youre likely
to ind making a decision extremely
hard. Not only does it produce the usual
suspects such as photo canvases, photo
books, jigsaws and obviously the bags,
but it also produces some more unusual

options. The irst item to catch our eye
was the wallpaper, in which you can
have an image blown up to a huge scale
and plaster your wall in it. Granted, this
is expensive with prices starting at 49
per square metre, but in terms of giving
boxes, tapestry and framed prints, too. All

textile printing is done with water-based
ink and they are machine washable.
The company is both digital and
analogue friendly, so dont fear if all you
have is an original print or negative.
You can elect to send your picture via
your home that personal touch then you

cant get much better than that. Other
interesting items itting the interior
design category include folding screens,
roller blinds, blankets and cushions all
delivered to your door between one and
21 days. On a smaller scale, Bags of Love
also produces calendars, memory
snail mail and it will do all the necessary

scanning and uploading for you. Other
handy bonuses you should remember
is that it offers free black-and-white or
sepia conversions, free red-eye removal
and even free blemish removal too! Head
online to www.bagsolove.co.uk and see
what it can do for you.
The company is both digital and analogue friendly, so

dont fear if all you have is an original print or negative
88
088-089_OPM_08_bagsoflove.indd 88
23/8/07 11:40:33
Prep and upload your files
Gift vouchers
In no time at all, youll have both a thoughtful and practical gift
01
02 The rst choice
Click on the gift you

want to purchase and a page will load
asking you how many items you wish to order.
Type the relevant number in the box. On the
same page is a drop-down menu providing Photo
Treatment options: Colour, Black and White and
Make Sepia. Choose your preferred option and
then press Add to Cart.
Make a selection Load up www.
bagsoove.co.uk and take a look at the

gift options. This is the hardest part, just choosing
what you want to go for, but luckily the gifts are
divided into categories for ease: Wedding gifts,
Personalised gifts, For the home, For him, For her
and Photo gifts. We opted for a memory box.
03 Where in the world?
Next, you
must select where you live. Despite
being based in the UK, Bags of Love will deliver
worldwide, although obviously this does affect
postage costs. For the memory box, the postage
costs are as follows: UK 3.85, EU 12 and
Worldwide 15.
04 Its all about you
At this point you

have to enter your address details. If this
address differs from the one you want your gift
delivered to, then simply click in the option box at
the bottom of the page and a new form will pop
up asking for your preferred delivery address.
If youre stuck for

finding the perfect
present for friends or
family, you can order
gift vouchers from
this site too. That
way, people can opt
to have any of their
images placed on a
gift. All you have to do
is track down the item
you want to buy your
friend and tick the box
marked Purchase as a
Gift Voucher.
You will receive
through the post an
attractive decorated
gift certificate printed
on A5 white card, with
an ivory envelope,
which you give to
your friend. They can
then upgrade or add
extras on if they wish,
by simply paying the
extra difference. The
gift voucher takes
three to five days to
get delivered.
05 Signed, sealed, delivered
Before
you can proceed any further, you must
agree to the terms and conditions by clicking on
the box. As always, its advisable to read through
these before placing an order that way you
wont be getting any nasty surprises later on.
Baby photo albums

A personalised album is
great for lasting memories
06 Money talks
Now enter your debit or

credit card details. You can also contact
Bags of Love direct to make a payment over the
phone, or even send a cheque or postal order.
Finally, upload your image. You can upload a JPEG
or TIFF and there is no limit on le size. Likewise,
you can also send your images via post.
Artwork
Time can be enjoyably
whiled away looking for
the perfect gift
89
088-089_OPM_08_bagsoflove.indd 89
23/8/07 11:40:53
Readers gallery issue eight
Gallery
Appearing regularly in our website gallery, Sue Stevens

surprised us when we found out that she has only been using
Corel Painter for a year! Discover how one reader has made
the move from traditional artist to digital genius
aking the move from
traditional art materials to
the digital canvas neednt
call for a massive change
to your working practices. Corel Painter
encompasses all the settings and brushes
needed to carry on in your traditional
style, as Sue Stevens can testify.
Although she has only been using
the program for just under a year, Sue
has an impressive array of work that
combines traditional techniques with
the beneits of working digitally. Texture
plays an important part in her work,
with conident brushstrokes that look as
though they have been slathered in paint.
Weve got some of Sues images here, but if
youd like to see more, head over to www.
dp@munday.biz.
01
Title: At the Garden

Centre
We thought this was a great
candid scene that merges
the colours and textures to
striking effect.
When did you start using Corel Painter?

I discovered Painter in September 2006
while researching the possibilities of
painting using Photoshop, and bought the
program immediately.
Had you used much traditional media
before this?
I have painted all my life, originally using
gouache and oils, and later moving to
Undo is essential to me and Save As gives me

freedom to experiment without total commitment
acrylics and watercolour. I have been
unable to continue as I lost partial use of
my wrist and hand several years ago.
as if I was using paint. I would paint it

differently now, but it recalls the pleasure
of that moment.
Have you a favourite Corel Painter tool?

Undo is essential to me, and Save As
gives me freedom to experiment without
total commitment
Who or what inspires you?

Karen Bonaker, without a doubt. She is
an excellent teacher who freely imparts
her knowledge and advice. Her lessons
have enabled me to use the Corel Painter
program luently and her tutorials to
explore the programs possibilities. I
know that I use what I have learnt.
How would you describe your style?

My work has been given labels, but I think
I paint traditionally, and I try to paint to
suit each image individually.
Whats your favourite piece of art that
you have created?
My own favourite Corel Painter image
(Wensleydale) was the irst time it felt
02
Title: The Artists

Bridge
A fabulous image that has
the perfect water reection
for this style. A peaceful and
accomplished piece.
Whats the best piece of Painter advice

youve had?
Someone recommended the LVS online
classes. I signed up at once and that was
the best Corel Painter advice that Ive had.
92
092-095_OPM_08_gallery.indd 92
23/8/07 11:49:06
03
Title: Shadow Patterns on

Waterlillies
This is another piece that conjures up
feelings of the old masters. The water
is fantastic, with a great feeling of
movement and ripples.
04
Title: Early Morning

The light in this artwork is sublime. The
softness is perfect, the composition sets just
the right mood and the rays are gorgeous.
93
23/8/07 11:49:26
Gallery
Readers gallery issue eight
06
Title: Peonies
The green background here makes the pinks of the
owers leap to the front, giving a feeling of depth and
layered planting.
05
Title: Cowboy
Painting movement is a tricky thing to
do, so we were impressed with how
Sue introduced dynamic elements into
this piece. The ying lasso leaves you
in no doubt that the cowboy is on the
move and the different directions of
the horses heads also contribute to
the sense of speed and movement. The
use of yellow looks as though dust is
being churned up by the horses hooves
again giving a feeling of speed.
07
Title: Misty Morning

Although the detail here is quite
minimal, you can instantly see what
the scene is and almost feel the cool
sensation of a misty morning. The
path leads you nicely into the painting,
helping the viewers eyes move around
the scene.
94
23/8/07 11:50:10
08
Title: Weston Shore

This painting proves that you dont
need to use realistic colours in order to
make a scene recognisable. The purple
colours on the sand make the blue
of the water really stand out. Sue has
also used great texture in this image,
with lovely thick paint bringing the
image together.
09
Title: Boats on the Mill Pond

Rich, luscious colours are
complemented by thick texture and 3D
paint, all combining to make this image
look just like a traditional piece. The
composition and lack of sharp detail
gives a lazy Sunday feeling, where all
you have to do is relax by the river and
take a short nap!
95
23/8/07 11:50:37
Readers challenge issue eight
Challenge
eve put together another merry
hodgepodge of images for you to
transfer onto your computer and do
something amazing with! You might
like to pick just one photo, or maybe use a selection
and try your hand at montages. You are free to use
images from past challenges or you can use some of

your own photos or artwork just make sure you
use at least one challenge photo in your entry.
Either email or post your artwork to us at the
address given below. You can enter multiple entries,
but only one will be put forward to the inal judging.
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_08_comp.indd 96
23/8/07 16:54:54
Cha llen ge
winner
Have a look at the best entries
that have been sent to us
ts a tough business being us. Not only do we have to scour

through amazing artwork from inspiring artists to get
the magazine tutorials, we also have to pour through
the entries you send us for the challenges. This being the
magazine, we take care of the magazine challenges, although
dont forget the Creative Challenge on our website.
So who do we have this issue? Taking third place is Samantha
Cread with a irey dragon, using the pastel medium. Second
place goes to W Szabo Peter for a very accomplished painting,
complete with a personal belief. But the winner this issue is
Joey Lim Li-Shan, for a colurful, textured and intriguing piece of
work. Well done!
WINNER!
Joey Lim
Li-Shan
3RD
PLACE
Samantha
Cread
2ND
PLACE
W Szabo
Peter
97
096-097_OPM_08_comp.indd 97
23/8/07 16:55:32
JASON CHAN
Official Magazine
100_OPM_08-back cover.indd 1
Our cover artwork comes courtesy of Jason Chan. We loved his

use of texture and colour and couldnt resist having it grace the
issue. See more of Jasons work at www.jasonchanart.com
21/8/07 16:47:49

CorelPainCorel Painter - 08 - Magazine, Art, Digital Painting, Drawing, Draw, 2d

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

CorelPainCorel Painter - 08 - Magazine, Art, Digital Painting, Drawing, Draw, 2d

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Learn to

Ofcial Corel Painter TM Magazine

Quick and easy methods for

Pain t your own

The art of painting

Visit us online www.paintermagazine.com

Improve your portrait skills!

PAINTER X DEMO | TUTORIAL FILES | STOCK PHOTOS

Visit our website!

Portraits are simultaneously

Jo Cole, Editor in Chief

original artwork by Mayrhosby Yeoshen

ON THE FRONT COVER

The art of painting

LEARN HOW COREL PAINTER ARTISTS

IMPROVE YOUR LANDSCAPE PAINTINGS

Regulars in every issue

10 Corel Painter community

Havent entered one

Talented artists share their

85 Panorama U Laptop Bag

Original artwork by Jeff Nentrup

Jeffs work takes viewers into strange new lands with

Create inspirational art

40 Paint like: Munch

Use composition tricks for an

56 Tree art study

Get up and running

Get to know your tools

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

Digital Painting Forum

orel Painter has attracted a hard

Sholin hosts the Digital Painting

This forum has a small subscription fee

he Plugin Site is a great resource

Fine Art media

Corel Painter Magazine reader gets

Release the true glory of

The site has a vast array of plug-ins and freeware,

Call: 01926 493 632

n ts res our ces

I dont usually write in to magazines

beginning. I know people describe what

Thanks for your kind words, Simon. Its always

interesting what you say about the colour

Sell your wares

I have got a few pieces of art that Im quite

Share your Corel Painter wisdom

Let us know if, like Simon,

Thanks for that, Barbara. The Randomizer is

Our favourite readers gallery this month

Eric is no stranger to the Painter

share my photographs with other readers.

CafePress is a great way to sell your images on

Hello Keith, there is indeed a simple way. You

Photos for all

Hello, I love the Oficial Corel Painter

Thanks for that, Cynthia. You have a great

The latest from our

Interview Jeff Nentrup

taught by Painter Master Ryan Church. I

Before long, Id usually open a new ile and

All original artwork by Jeff Nentrup

Interview Jeff Nentrup