"How to: Anger - Bearded Man Digital Watercolor" Corel

Anger - Bearded Man

I found this photograph, grayscale, on the Morguefile Free Photos site. I was touched by the Anger of this Bearded Man. I decided to paint it to add to my recent collection of Bearded Men paintings. My first step was to open it in Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 and auto paint it, grayscale, as a Pastel first. I stopped it before it was finished. Then I used the Watercolor Sketch with Dry Brushes set, Rough Paper and finished the auto painting.

I saved that iteration and opened it in Corel PSP Pro X3, I altered the image to a RGB 16-bit format as JPG. Saving that I opened it in Corel Painter 11.

Here I selected the Digital Watercolors Coarse Brush to paint Freehand. It automatically went to my default color Palette with colors, flesh tones and earth tones appended. I used that palette to paint. I like the Digital Watercolors because they paint on the one layer that is loaded and allows you to follow the shadows and features closely.

I selected the colors I wanted for this image as I went painting it freehand with my Wacom Stylus and Tablet. This is an older Legacy tablet that to my delight works in Windows 10! I adjusted the brush and colors as I was moved to. I did not touch the background of the piece as it had a great look and good colors for this image.

I finished painting and saved the large iteration. I then opened in Corel PSP Pro X3 and upped the Saturation Vibrancy by 33 for more punch to the colors. Here I added my signature as a layer, then resized it and merged the layers together. Saving once again I then opened the file in Corel PhotoPaint to resample for display size, saving that iteration as well, with a new name.

It has taken me a few hours to do this particular piece, eventhough it is done Digitally. I also have to remember each step I take so I can relate the workflow in my posts. So I type up the description of that and it takes a bit of time as well. I finished up about 2:00pm EDT, for this posting Saturday, and will schedule it for Sunday. As I will be busy then and I will also post to Google+, Facebook, and Twitter for those who follow my works and descriptions of "How To" do the images later.

"Wedding Song - Dream Has Come True"

https://soundcloud.com/gatzka-music/dream-has-come-true-wedding-song

The Couple

I have mentioned this song in my last post, the Wedding Song "Dream Has Come True," for our Son and new Daughter in law. It was played and presented at their wedding reception. My wife and I were surprised by the enthusiastic applause we received from all there.

It is short, 2:25 Minutes, have a listen!

Congratulations to our Son and his new wife!

"How This Was Done - Wooden Corduroy Bridge Impressionistic Style" Corel

Wooden Corduroy Bridge

Another Free Photograph I was given to use. A "Wooden Corduroy Bridge," in the forest. With Autumn here and the colors soon to change I selected this for today's theme. I opened the file in Corel PSP Pro X3 and applied the Smart Photo Fix, increasing the color and adding shadow and deepening the highlights. I used the Saturation Vibrancy tool on it. I saved that iteration.

I opened Picasa and selected the adjusted image. I applied the Ortonish tool to the image, and saved that. I then opened it in Corel Painter 11. There I did a Quick Clone, selected the Artist Brush Auto Van Gogh and auto painted the piece with smaller brush strokes.

Saving that file with a new name I reopened it in PSP Pro X3 and also opened the pre-painted image. I copied and layered that over the painted piece. I then played with properties (using the Overlay property) and opacity. This boosted the detail and depth of it. I added my Signature as a Layer and merged all to one layer (background.) I saved that iteration with a new name. Viewing it full screen in Picasa, I was satisfied with the final piece.

I then resized the image for display and your consideration.

I haven't been working too much on new songs lately. My Son got married, and my wife and I collaborated on a song for the Bride and Groom to sing at the reception for them. "Dream Has Come True," was my first real collaboration with my wife, we both really enjoyed it. It was well received at the reception and we were given a surprisingly enthusiastic round of applause. My Son and his new wife appreciated it and that was very important to us.

It is a simple tune with shared parts and the 12-String for accompaniment. I may share it on SoundCloud if I have enough room left to post. It is only 2:25 minutes long! Long enough to get the sentiment out.

"Digital Collage How To: Lighthouse with Slight Murmuration of Birds " Corel

Lighthouse with Slight Murmuration of Birds

I started this Digital Collage with three photographs from Unsplash Free Photos. I opened them one by one in Corel PSP Pro X3 and began the collage.

First I took the two photographs of Flying Birds and used the Crop tool on them to narrow in on the birds themselves. I applied the Threshold tool to each one, this made for black and white images to overlay. I placed the first one and sized to fit the Lighthouse Sky. I used the layer property Multiply and merged the layer. I did the same with the second birds image. This gave me a small murmuration of black birds. I merged the second layer of birds. I added my signature layer with the property Multiply as well, and merged all layers.

Still in PSP Pro X3 I applied the Smart Photo Fix with increased color, decreased shadows and highlights. I then applied the Saturation Vibrancy for a pop to the colors. I changed the image to a 16 bit RGB and Exported it as a JPG. I saved that large iteration with a light compression ratio. The higher I set the ratio the more pixelated the image became. So, I lowered it making for a larger file size. All this before re-sizing for display.

The download of the Lighthouse did not give it's location, and I am not certain where the original photograph was taken. Like many, I like Lighthouses as I live in the Great Lakes Area, and we have many of them throughout the State of Michigan.

"Steps To: Red Brick Wall, Door, and Bike" Corel

Red Brick Wall Door and Bike

Steps to do this and the Programs used:

• Picasa - HDR settings Strength=High Radius=Medium
• Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 settings Watercolor Sketch, Rough Paper, Colors=Intense, Dry Brush
• Corel PSP Pro X3 settings Smart Photo Fix=Brightened, Colorful, Sharpness Saturation=Vibrancy at 33
• Photograph from UNSplash Free Photos

Enjoy some of my Music in the CDBaby Kiosks below, just scroll down and listen to Full Previews! Listen before you Buy.

Check out my Art and Music For Sale Page for more information about buying a piece of my work!

"How To - Acoustic Electric Guitar Player" Corel

Acoustic Electric Guitar Player

I garnered this photograph doing a Music search on Morguefile Free Photos, "An Acoustic Electric Guitar Player," performing. I opened in Picasa and applied the HDR tool increasing the strength and radius. Saving that I opened in Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 and applied the Gouache Style to it. I saved that iteration.

Opening in Corel PSP Pro X3 I applied the Smart Photo Fix, brightening it up and increased the colors a bit. Still in PSP Pro X3 I upped the Saturation Vibrancy by 33. So far I like what I had but it was lacking something. So, I went searching for a Texture in my Folder for them. I found one I liked that added Crackle to the image.

As I worked with the Texture I altered the opacity, allowing the crackled lines to show, but lightening the rest of the Texture background. I blended the two images together. I believe I used the property Multiply. I added my signature as a layer and merged all layers.

Check out my Music as you scroll down to the CDBaby Kiosks below, I have Full Preview of each song and they are for sale, but you can listen before you buy! Also my Art is for Sale see my Page about that for details, just click the link listed in the Home row.

"How to - GIMP and Corel - Guitar Player Leaning on Wall"

GIMP Painting

Corel Painting

I got this photograph from the Morguefile Free Photos under the search Music. I opened it in GIMP, to try my hand at that program. Though it was a color photograph I applied a GIMP filter called Photocopy. This gave me a sketchy outline of the, "Guitar Player Leaning on Wall."

I selected the Airbrushes for painting in GIMP. I altered the Opacity and sizes as I painted this piece. I used semi pastel colors for the digital painting. I finished this and Exported the file as a 100% JPG. You need to Export regular file formats found in other programs as GIMP has it's proprietary XCF format it saves at.

I opened the finished piece in Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 and selected the Watercolor Sketch settings with Saturate for the colors and a Dry Brush. I then let it auto paint that. It gave me just what I wanted, a nicely saturated Digital Watercolor Sketch. I saved that iteration.

I opened in Corel PSP Pro X3 and Adjusted with the Smart Photo Fix, upping the Color, Darkening it a tad as well. I then applied the Saturation Vibrancy set at 33 for that punch to the colors. I added a 10 pixels black border, and my signature.

I resized both the GIMP Painting and the Corel Painting and am displaying them both for comparison.