"How To: Forest Pathways Continued" PE5 Plus

Forest Pathways

I selected another Forest Pathways photograph for my Series of images of recent days. I like this one for the Trees and the less traveled path. I first opened in Paint.NET and applied the Artistic Ink Sketch tool. I had the color set high, and the Ink Medium. The trees looked great but the sky was washed out a bit. I increased the Saturation from 100 to 123 and this helped the sky colors. I saved the file.

Next I used Painter Essentials 5 from Corel (PE5.) I did an auto painting of the Pencil Drawing with the Pencils, Pens, and Markers, Dry Ink Brush. It was very light. I next switched to the Impressionistic Painting for more punch to the image. I selected a Digital Watercolor Dry Brush and auto painted again. Fantastic colors now embellished the image.

I hand painted some details back in using the Soft Cloner Brush to bring out the trees a bit more clearly. I saved that file.

In Corel's PhotoPaint I opened the Forest Digital Painting and the Ink Sketch I had done earlier in Paint.NET. I copied the Ink Sketch to the clipboard, closed it and layered it on the Painting. I adjusted the layer with Curves to lighten the colors a tad. Then I adjusted the Opacity about 75%. I merged the layers and applied Saturation increasing it also.

In Picasa, I tuned the image by increasing the Shadows. I added a Border and Matte and saved again. In Paint.NET, I Flipped the image Horizontally to have the Pathway Curve to the opposite way, as the other pathways images in the Series seem to go the same way. I added my signature layer and merged the layers. I saved again for the final large piece.

To resampled the file for display I used PhotoPaint. I resized it at 120dpi, 75 Compression, and Smoothing at 25 for a smaller footprint. I renamed the file and saved for display here.

Just a reminder that I am going to Introduce a New Song on CDBaby the beginning of February 2016. The Song is "I Still Remain." Simple format without much fuss in the mix. Vocals and my 12-String Seagull Guitar Played and sung live into the Line 6 Pod XT Live and recorded on my computer. Look for it's release!

Also a mention for Grammarly the Free Grammar program. I used it to write and correct this blog post in Blogger. It works well and has a Premium version that would enhance anyone's writing. I recommend it.

"How I Did This: Pathways Digital Watercolors" PE5 Plus

Pathways Digital Watercolors

Continuing with my Series of Pathway images I used this photograph of a Forest Pathway and applied Digital workings to it. I have not heard any comments about my Videos so I am going to use narrative discussions for the time being until I receive more feedback from you the viewer/reader of this blog.

I opened the color photograph in Corel PhotoPaint. Here I decided to start with a Grayscale image. I went to Color Mode and altered the photograph to grayscale. I then added back to the image RGB 24-bit color format. It remained grayscale, but now I could paint it in RGB colors. I saved the larger iteration.

Next step was to open the image in Painter Essentials 5 and Digitally Paint it. I selected the Watercolor Sketch set, with a small Digital Watercolor brush and auto-painted the image. I took that and saved it.

I then Hand Painted the image, with my Wacom Stylus and Tablet, using Digital Watercolor Brushes, I selected various brushes including a Broad Water brush. I selected to choose from the basic color palette multiple greens and browns to paint by hand. This gave a variety of depth to the piece. After I was done hand painting I saved the file with another name.

I had Picasa 3+ open and I went to Increase the Saturation tool and did just that, adding some punch to the hand painted image. I also selected the tool Warmify and applied that at a low setting. I saved again.

Back in PhotoPaint, I layered my signature with the property Add for transparency. I merged and saved again. I had found that I had older Filter Forge Filters to add to my PhotoPaint Plugins, so I did that using the Troubleshoot Compatibility on the setup files in Windows 10.

I applied Filter Forges Photo Effects Vibrance, more depth of color, and the Frames effects giving it a Film Frame. At that I looked at the image set to view large on my screen and was satisfied with the results. I saved the large file, then Resampled it to a 72dpi display size for this post. I used 75 compression, and 25 smoothing as I saved the display file.

"How to: Open Gate Pathway Through Woods" Picasa HDR PE5 Watercolor

Open Gate Pathway Through Woods

I tried out some “Video How to views,” for you and am now returning to written steps formatting. I hope you enjoyed the Videos. Comments about the videos as an expession of my work are welcome. Did You like them or find them tedious? Let me know if you will.

I am working on a Pathways motif and today I have one I really enjoyed creating. I used various programs and tools as you will read about here.

I opened the “Open Gate Pathway,” in Picasa and began by applying an HDR effect with the Radius set to Medium and the Strength set Low. I saved the image. Still in Picasa I adjusted the Highlights and Midtones of the piece, saving again. Then I increased the Saturation slightly, saved.

Next I opened the large image in Corel Painter Essentials 5 (PE5). Selecting the Watercolor Sketch set with clone colors from the image picked. I chose the Pencils, Pens, and Markers Grainy Cover Pencil Brush and Digitally painted the piece in this style. After this completed I picked the Soft Cloner Brush to hand paint back in some details on the Gate and Pathway and Trees/Brush. I saved this iteration with a different name.

I opened the piece in PhotoPaint and used the Curves to lighten the depth of color. Next I increased the Saturation of the color by 13 (from 0). I opened my signature file and copied to the clipboard, closed it, adding it as a layer to the main image. I used the property Add for transparency. And I merged all layers. I saved the large file then Resampled for display, using a differing file name.

I listened to a listing of Joe Bonamassa Vids in the background while I worked on this image. I just bring up YouTube and select a list of songs and play them one after another. I especially enjoy his Acoustic versions of Blues/Rock tunes as I work. Nice to have a desktop PC that allows that to take place.

I have a new song coming out in February 2016. It is an Acoustic 12-String with vocals tune. I used little special effects and tried a lead track, but I did not like the result. So it is just myself playing live into the microphone and recording. Keeping it simple, the song's name is “I Still Remain.” Look for it's release!

Autumn Pathway - Art by Kirk Mathew Gatzka

"How To: Test of CamStudio and Painter Essentials 5" by Kirk Mathew Gatzka

"Acoustic Bonamassa with Congas Player" Picasa - Painter Essentials 5 - PaintDotNET

Acoustic Bonamassa with Congas Player

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I am having trouble with Pinterest as my family names are getting mixed up with the email accounts selected for that platform. So I am currently not there.

As I am not a “full-fledged” business I am not on Linkedin either.

I had another screen capture to use for today's post. “Acoustic Bonamassa with Congas Player,” is the image of the moment.

I opened the file in Picasa 3+ and did the following adjustments:

• Cropped the photograph
• applied Contrast
• Auto Color
• Increased the Color Temperature
• used the HDR tool – Radius low and Strength low.

I saved this iteration. I then opened in Painter Essentials 5 to Digitally Paint the image:

• Chose the Illustration set
• Dry Brushes
• Digitally Painted
• Used the Soft Cloner Brush for details
• Selected the Pen and Ink Drawing set
• Dry Ink Brush
• Digitally Painted the image for light Pen and Ink

Saving this iteration I opened in Paint.NET and applied my Signature:

• Opened the main image
• opened the Signature file
• selected all and Copied to the clipboard
• closed Signature file
• Pasted into the main image as New Layer
• Resized and placed the signature
• applied the property Additive for transparency

I saved the file again with a new name. I have created a new folder for my 2016_gatzkART work and that is where I will be saving my new works for this year. I will probably create other folders to categorize my works to make them easier to find. Of Course, with Picasa, they are usually pretty easy to find if categorized into appropriate folders in Windows 10.

Music and Digital Visual Art by Kirk Mathew Gatzka

Forest Scene Digital Art by Kirk Mathew Gatzka

Music and Digital Visual Art by Kirk Mathew Gatzka

“Gary Clark Jr.” HDR Picasa - Painter Essentials 5

Gary Clark Jr. - Numb

I opened a screen capture of "Gary Clark Jr.," in Picasa 3+. I adjusted the Contrast of the image for the lighter appearance. Next I applied the HDR tool with the Radius set to Medium and the Strength also Medium. This was a PNG file, but I saved it as a JPG to work with.

I now opened with Painter Essentials 5 and used the Watercolor Sketch set. I set the Brush to Simple Water Brush small size and digitally painted the piece. I then selected the Colored Pencil Drawing set and a Calk Charcoal Brush medium sized. I added just a few Pencil Strokes to the image.

Using the Soft Cloner Brush, I hand painted back in some details of his face, and the microphone. This lets the HDR appearance show the changes it made. I saved that iteration.

Completing the piece I opened in Paint.NET and added my signature file as a layer. I sized and placed it and applied the layer property Additive to it for transparency. I merged the layers to finish the piece. Then decided to use Curves set to RGB to lighten the depth of colors a small amount. This image has plenty of saturation of color so I did not alter that at all. I saved again.

Gary's song “Numb!” is a favorite of mine, he is another of my Blues Rock Singer-songwriter Guitarist I turn to for listening and watching Videos of him perform.

Thus, I have one more image to add to my Music Themed Visual Artworks.

All names, copyrights and, videos or trademarks belong to their prospective owners, I only own the right to my Artworks and explanations of my workflow. 

"Joe Bonamassa - Mountain Time" Picasa - Painter Essentials 5 Plus

Joe Bonamassa - Mountain Time

I use Pandora on my Smartphone and my Tablet to listen to Music. One of my Shuffle Artists to listen to is Joe Bonamassa, along with a few others. I also enjoy Videos of Bonamassa performing his Blues Rock Music. I have used Picasa for some screen captures of Joe playing his favorite Guitars.

I opened Picasa and selected one of those screen captures, “Joe Bonamassa – Mountain Time.” I increased the Highlights a bit and the Color Temperature as well. I applied the HDR tool in Picasa for that effect the Radius Medium and the Strength Medium settings. I saved that file.

I next opened in Painter Essentials 5 and used the Oil Painting set with a small Dry Brush. I used the Soft Cloner Brush to add back in details of his face, Guitar, and clothing. I created a new layer with the same unpainted image in it and applied the Colored Pencil set with another small brush. I dropped the layers together for one background and saved it with a new name.

I used Picasa's Border with only the outside border showing and added corner curves to that. Saving again I opened that file in PhotoPaint and added my signature layer, sizing it and placing it using the property Add for transparency. I saved that iteration.

I Resampled at 120dpi and increased the size of the image before resizing for display, saving again. Next I resized for display 120dpi, 75 compression, and 25 smoothing, saving as a JPG.

The “Joe Bonamassa,” name, and all song originals belong to their prospective owners and I do not own the rights to these.

"Street Musicians Three" Painter Essentials 5 Plus

Street Musicians Three

“Street Musicians Three,” is one more of my Music Themed images. I first used Picasa 3+ HDR tool on the photograph, Radius Medium and Strength Medium High. I saved the beginning iteration.

I opened that in Painter Essentials 5 and used the Watercolor Sketch set with a Dry Wash brush. This gave me a good watercolor image. I hand painted with the Soft Cloner Brush and added back in the faces, instruments, clothing and the guitar case and bicycle details. I smoothed out some of the Clouds and blue Sky, I added some detail to the trees, and the Red Building in the background.

Saving that iteration, I used Picasa, which was still open to add a Black Border to the piece. Saving that I opened in PhotoPaint and added my signature layer. I merged the layers and increased the Saturation by 21 then saved again. I had about an 8.3MB file at 120dpi.

For display here I Resampled the file to 1220 X 861, 75 Compression and 25 Smoothing, still at 120dpi, an Optimized JPG file, with a new name.

Kirk Mathew Gatzka | Search for It | CD Baby Music Store

New Song on CDBaby for Full Preview and For Sale. Have a listen and comment or review the song, here or on CDBaby!

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/kirkmathewgatzka11

‪#‎CDBaby‬ ‪#‎indiemusic‬ ‪#‎previews‬

Kirk Mathew Gatzka | Search for It | CD Baby Music Store

"2016 Time to Re-String Your Guitar" Hand Painted Painter Essentials 5 Plus

2016 Time to Re-String Your Guitar

“2016 Time to Re-String Your Guitar,” began as a free to edit photograph I selected from my Guitar and Music Folder this morning. I began by using Paint.NET's Effects, Artistic, Ink tool and created a digital Pen and Ink image to work with. I saved the large file.

Next I opened the file in Painter Essentials 5 and using varying Digital Watercolor Brushes, I hand painted this piece. I varied from brush to brush changing sizes and strokes. I did not take notes today I just wanted to paint by hand without interruptions. I have an older Wacom Tablet that I use to paint digitally. Hand eye coordination is very important, plus a bit of artistic abandon is freeing.

I selected the colors from the basic palette from Essentials 5, and tried to make the image colorful but consistent. I did later pick a Dry Ink Brush for some details I wanted to add, with a distinctive color of my choice. I saved the large file again.

Then I opened the file in PhotoPaint and adjusted the Tone Curve and Saturation for punch and depth. I brought up my Signature file for 2015 and cloned out the copyright symbol and the date. I used an Arial font for the new copyright symbol and new 2016 date. I did this on my Black and White signature file, I still need to alter the inverted signature file.

I added the signature layer to the piece and sized and placed it, using the Property Add for transparency I merged the layers. I saved once again.

Picasa 3+ was opened so I used the Warmify tool for additional depth to the colors. I added a Black and Brown Border here as well. I uploaded the image from Picasa to my online Picasa Albums.

Back in PhotoPaint I Resampled the file at 120dpi with 75 compression and 25 smoothing, I saved that file for display with a new name.

I have a Seagull S12 Cedar 12-String Guitar, so it takes much time to re-string it when I do that. I love the full-bodied sound of the 12-String and really enjoy playing it. It was built in 1990 and is still going strong. It needs a bit of fret work to freshen the sound. We will see what the budget allows soon for that.

We also have a used Violin for my wife that needs work to bring it up to playing worthiness. That is in the new budget for this year as well.