"Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 - Anchorage, Alaska"

Anchorage AK Seascape

Anchorage AK Skyline

On Vacation and had some time to reflect on another vacation in Anchorage, Alaska. I selected two photographs taken with my Canon Rebel XTi. I am using our Laptop, and Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 to Auto-Paint

I used the settings for two Watercolor Sketchs Auto-Paint, with Rough Paper and tapered brushes. It is an easy exercise to do, with some pretty great results.

Both photographs were taken from the South East of Anchorage, Nice lines and color. One is a seascape. The other is a shot of the city's skyline.

Short Post as the Auto-Paint is done by the program, with little intervention on my part. But the Photographs were taken by me. I hope you enjoy my meager sharing. Click on the images for their larger views!

"Milestone Reached - Over 140,000 Plus Pageviews for gatzkART!" Corel

Skewed Grunge Woman Portrait

"gatzkART!" has reached another Milestone, over 1,200 images and now over 140,000 Pageviews! Thanks to many of you who regularly visit and my occasional visitors. I truly appreciate your interest in my Digital Visual Artwork and Music.

Beginning with a Woman's Portrait from the MorgueFile I opened it in Corel PSP Pro X3 and then I adjusted the Threshold for white space. It is a simple portrait taken in the backseat of a car. So I Skewed the image.

Selecting a Grunge Texture from StockVault's Free Textures I added it as a layer and used the property Multiply to add it with transparency. I also applied the Saturation Vibrancy for added color.

Looking at the image I wanted additional color so I used Filter Forge's Photo Effects Vibrancy, this boosted the colors to a punchy state. I then used Filter Forge's Frames Grunge Frame to add additional edginess to the image. Using PSP Pros X3's Picture Frame I layered in a Golden frame.

Adding my inverted signature to the file I saved it as a Medium sized piece for display. In the Image Information I included some Creator information Title, Copyright, Program and Sources. I left in some of the EXIF information of the original Woman's Photograph.

It is my pleasure to share my Digital Excursions with so many of you, and it is gratifying to have reached another goal I had not anticipated.

I did have some bad news this week. My Line 6 Toneport UX1 of about 5 years is no longer working correctly. So I am not able to use it and the Gearbox or PodFarm software with it to record my music.

I have made adjustments to my on board sound system with RealTek hardware so I can record and playback, view videos, listen to Pandora, etc. But have a higher learning curve with multiple tracks in Audacity due to latency problems. I need another newer Toneport and some new DAW Software to record with, but it may be a while before that happens. Until then I will be endeavoring to simplify my recording with the on board system and my Shure PG58 microphone, along with Audacity.

"Pen and Ink Watercolor Textured Portrait" Corel

"Pen and Ink Watercolor Textured Portrait" Corel

I began this Portrait of a Blonde Young Woman in Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4. I Auto-painted it using the Detailed Watercolor settings, I left them at the defaults. On top of that I added an Auto-painted Pen and Ink layer. I saved this large iteration.

Opening in Corel PSP Pro X3 I applied the Saturation Vibrancy to it for color, as the watercolor was very soft and light. I then searched for a suitable Stone Texture to add to it. This I did. Both the original photographs were from StockVault's and MorgueFile's Free images.

I added my signature layer and resized it and placed it. Then I added a 50 pixel black border and a thin black picture frame in PSP Pro X3. I saved after adding the Image Information, Title, Copyright, etc. I then resized for display here on "gatzkART!"

Though I don't know any of the women depicted in my recent work I appreciate StockVault and MorgueFile's Sharing of the photographs and Textures for my (or anyone's) use.

"Modern Painting - Woman Textured Portrait" Corel

Modern Painting - Woman Textured Portrait

This portrait was started in Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4, my settings were the standard Modern Painting, Basic Paper, Intense Color and Dab Brush. I allowed the program to Auto-Paint the Woman until I liked what I saw and then stopped the Auto-Paint.

Using the soft clone brush I painted some details back into the resulting face, eyes and mouth. I saved the large iteration. I reopened in Corel PSP Pro X3. I applied the Saturation Vibrancy for additional intensity to the colors. I opened a Free Grunge Texture and copy and pasted as a New Layer. I used the Texture property Multiply to add it.

I did not sign it as it looks a lot like the original photograph from MorgueFile. The texture I believe came from StockVault. I think this is a nice romantic, punchy colors image to share with you.