"Acoustic Guitarist on Brick" PE5 - PhotoPaint - A Last Gasp!

Acoustic Guitarist on Brick

I have reached an impasse. With this blog, I have tried to educate many in the use of certain graphics programs. Now I must admit that I am unable to keep up with the Newest and Best of the programs being used now by many. This blog has grown obsolete as have my graphics programs.

Over 175,000 plus page views and almost 1,500 posts I find myself faltering in my efforts to use my personal workflow and the programs I use to create a truly exceptional experience for you, my readers.

I just can't find time to continue or reasons to keep posting to "gatzkART!" any longer.

I must allow my past efforts to remain for those who wish to explore all the posts here for their own reasons.

I want to thank those who were regular visitors to this blog. Your interest in my digital visual artwork and music has been greatly appreciated. Priorities change, advances march on and sometimes one finds oneself at a loss.

Please return and use this blog as a retrospective of digital artwork and music made with great enjoyment and a desire to share. It will remain until the curators of older and lost artifacts on the Internet fade away.

I will not delete it, but it will, from this time forward, become inactive.

Sincerely yours,
Kirk Mathew Gatzka
Digital Artist and Independent Musician

"How to: Street Musician Classical Guitar" PE5 Plus

Street Musician Classical Guitar

From an online free photography site, I saw and chose A "Street Musician Playing a Classical Guitar." I saved the original photograph to my computer and opened it in Corel Painter Essentials 5 (PE5.) 

Here I selected the picture for digital painting. I used the Watercolor Sketch setting with some Grain. I chose the Opaque Acrylic Brush and painted it. After it completed the digital painting I used the Soft Cloner Brush to add back in some details to the face, hands, and guitar. I then saved the large file as a bitmap image file.

I now opened the piece in Paint.NET. I found and selected a painted wood texture file. I added this as a new layer resizing it to fit the whole image. I applied the property Lighten to it while reducing the Opacity to 88%. It added a complimentary touch to the image. I also added my signature as a layer sizing it and placing it in the lower right-hand corner. I merged all the layers and saved this iteration.

Next, I resized for display. 72dpi, 1220 X 813 pixels, with compression set to 90%. I saved this file as a JPG with a new name.

I have been endeavoring to learn a new song from Joe Bonamassa (Bad Company's tune,) "Seagull." I played it on my Martin DRS1 and sang along. One stanza in the song is odd to me, that is where the Seagull gets shot down. I don't own guns or shoot anything, so I, for myself, sing it "I'll Never Shoot You Down!" Seeing that I will never record the song for publishing, I did not think that the authors would mind so much. It is just a small change for my taste.

I continue to practice on the Martin and have let my 12-String set for a while. I will bring it out after I get more used to playing my newer 6-String.

"How To: Double Embarrassment" PicsArt Plus

Double Embarrassment

I began today's image with a photograph of a Young Lady with her Guitar. Her hand is covering her face in a gesture of embarrassment. I opened it in PicsArt Photo Studio on my computer. I applied the Effects tool HDR2 to it. This gave me a base image to work with.

I opened another image of a Group of Trees for Texture and adjusted the property and opacity of it to allow the main image of the Young Lady show through. I merged these together. I used the Curves Tool to add some depth. Next, I used the Mask Border Tool for a border to the image. It was coming out as a Sepia toned visual.

I added the clipart of an old Camera in the corner. Then using the Clone Tool I duplicated the Young Lady, thus the title, "Double Embarrassment."

I added the image of my signature and date in PicsArt. I merged all layers and saved the large piece.

I used Corel Painter Essentials 5 (PE5) next. I chose the Watercolor Sketch setting with a Dry Brush and painted the scene. I used the Soft Cloner Brush to add back in details to the face, hands, and guitar. I saved with a new name.

Now I reopened the image in Paint.NET to Adjust the Saturation to about 175. This brought out many additional colors in the image. I saved again as a large image.

For display size, I used Corel PhotoPaint and resampled the image. 96dpi, 1220 X 813 pixels, 75 Compression, 25 Smoothing, saving the smaller image with a new name.

I have recently found out that when viewing my blog page on my Android Tablet, using the Chrome browser, I can no longer play any of the songs on the CDBaby Kiosks. This may be Adobe Flash Player related, as I can play them with no trouble on my computer using Firefox, and I have an updated version of Flash Player. So I apologize in advance if you also have similar problems with playing the songs Full Previews. (May also be a JavaScript problem.)

I looked for HTML5 music player code on CDBaby's site but they haven't changed any of it. If you have any difficulty please leave a note on the blog about this issue. Thank you.

"How to: Alone with Her Thoughts" PicsArt Plus and Recording Setup Noise

Alone with Her Thoughts

I recently found this photograph of a young gal "Alone with Her Thoughts," by this magnificent Tree. I wanted to try some experiments on it with my computer software. I first chose the PicsArt App and used a Local Boost Tool (enhance,) next I applied the Effects FX HDR1 tool. With this tool, I upped the Unsharp Mask and upped the Saturation. Then I used the Curves tool to add color depth. I adjusted the Brightness to -20, and the Hue to -23.

I went to Mask, to add some Texture using the property Multiply reducing the Opacity. Again in Mask I added the Black Border. I used the Text tool to select my font and added my name and year.

I saved that iteration and opened it in Corel's PhotoPaint. Here, I increased the saturation again by 25. I saved the file. I Resampled for display at 72dpi, 1220 X 813, an Optimized JPG with 75 Compression, 25 Smoothing. I saved with a new name.

I did have some time this Sunday afternoon to practice playing scales on my Martin DRS1 6-String Guitar. I again was using QuistJam Backing Tracks on YouTube through my Line 6 PodXT Live and headphones as to not disturb my wife or the neighbors.

I also did some reading on "Electronic Noise," that troubles my PC setup with the PodXT Live. I believe, through my reading that I have two culprits for noise. My RCA cables are not shielded and the fans of my PC add noise when I use the Microphone. I may have another problem with unshielded USB cables and the main USB cable from the PodXT Live to the PC may add to noise or hum problems. Interesting reading with some expensive solutions ranging from $20.00 to $630.00.

I learned that proper Grounding is also an important key to reduction of noise with electronic components. I have some investigating to do now with my current setup. 1) I have the PodXT Live connected with a basic quality USB cable. 2) I have the Speakers and Headphones connected to a Technics SA EX320 amplifier, using the Phono Aux output with the unshielded RCA cables.

I can either plug in the Shure PG58 Microphone in (on a boom stand,) or plug in my Guitar into the PodXT Live. I can't do both at the same time. I have two other input jacks on the PodXT Live, one for an additional guitar pedal, and an Aux input for playing MP3's through the system. The MP3's would not be recorded onto the DAW or recording software I use.

Curiouser and curiouser.

Step by Step: Bluegrass Guitar Session at the Library" PE5 Plus

Bluegrass Guitar Session at the Library

I have another Guitarists photograph to share after I worked on it digitally. The "Bluegrass Guitar Session at the Library," is the image for today's post.

Working on my computer I opened the large photograph in Windows 10 Photos. I enhanced the image and added some shadows to it, saving it with a new name.

My next step was to open it in Corel Painter Essentials 5 (PE5.) Here I selected the Illustration settings. I grabbed a brush from the Pencils, Pens and Markers called the Thick N Thin Marker Brush. I digitally painted the image as an Illustration.

I then added back in some details, like the strings of the guitars, the hands, and faces, painting by hand using the Soft Cloner Brush. I wanted to add some texture to the image so I applied the Apply Surface Texture tool.

I selected a coarse paper type, adjusting the Lighting with a quiet flesh tone color. This added warmth as well as the texture to the piece. I saved this large iteration at 300dpi using the same name.

Now I opened the file in Corel's PhotoPaint. I adjusted the Hue to 0, the Saturation to 25, and the Lightness to -10. I added my signature layer to the file, sized and placed it and merged the layers. I saved that iteration with a new name.

For my final steps, I used PicsArt. I applied a black lines border Mask from PicsArt. I used the Tool Curves to add depth to the colors just a bit. I saved that file with a new name.

I had used the large file to make changes in PicsArt, so I had to resize the image for display. I did this in Paint.NET 72dpi, 1220 X 813, 75 Compression, I saved this with a new name.

Be sure to click on the image to observe it at the large size for detail and texture. 

Musically, I have been practicing on my new Martin DRS1 6-String Acoustic Electric Guitar, acoustically without amplification. I have been working on accurate finger placement for my chord playing. Along with that, I listen to Backing Tracks from QuistJam on YouTube, playing scales by ear trying out differing keys and leads. It is improving my playing as I do this, really enjoying the time spent.

"How to: Guitar Man in Vintage House" PE5 Plus

Guitar Man in Vintage House

I selected another Guitar Man and a Vintage House photographs I found free to edit online. I opened the Guitar Man in Paint.NET and used Edit to Select All of the photograph. I applied the Eraser Tool and hand erased all the black background. I saved this with a new name as a PNG file to keep the transparency. .I closed that file and then opened the Vintage House photograph.

It was the interior of the older house used as the background layer. I applied the Effect Ink Sketch lightly to this. I reopened the PNG file and stretched to fit the large interior photograph. I had copied it to the clipboard and pasted it as a new layer.  I merged all layers, then I saved this file.

Next, I used Corel Painter Essentials 5 (PE5.) I adjusted the color of this large image with the Equalize tool. I then selected the Modern Painting setting with a Dry Bush and digitally painted the image. Afterward, I hand painted back in some details using the Soft Cloner Brush. I saved this iteration.

I used Corel PhotoPaint to Add my signature layer, saving this large image. Then I resampled the piece to display size. 72dpi, 1220 X 813 pixels. I decided to add one more Effect. Using Distort, Wet Paint I added dripping to the entire piece. I saved this for display with a new name as a JPG file with 75 compression and 25 smoothing.

"Digital Watercolor Acoustic Guitar Player" PE5 Plus

Digital Watercolor Acoustic Guitar Player

Continuing with a series of Acoustic and Electric Guitar Player images I share this one today. I believe that I did get the original photograph through Pixabay, free to edit.

I opened the photo in Corel Painter Essentials 5 (PE5.) I first applied the Equalize tool, setting the Black to 18% and the White at 100%, with the Gamma upped to 62%. This action gave me more color depth and fullness.

Next, I used the Watercolor Sketch settings with the New Simple Water Brush. I digitally painted the photo and saved the large iteration. I examined the results of this, and I found it pleasing to the eye.

I now opened it in Paint.NET, and here I increased the Saturation to 110. I also added my signature as a layer. I merged the layers down. I saved that image.

Opening it in PicsArt App on my Smartphone I used the Tools Enhance at 92 with Saturation set to 20. I applied the Effects FX, HDR1 blur at 25, unsharp at 1.0, saturation at 0.46 with the fade set to 25. I saved that iteration.

Simply saved the image for display, 72dpi, 1220 x 813 pixels, at 75 compression, giving it a new name.

A few simple steps to create a nice looking Digital Watercolor.

"Gal Playing Acoustic Guitar in a Field" PE5 Plus

"Gal Playing Acoustic Guitar in a Field"

I selected a large photograph of a "Gal Playing Acoustic Guitar in a Field," for today's post. It was very soft in lighting to begin with, but compelling. I opened it in Corel Painter Essentials 5 (PE5.) The first thing I did was apply the Equalize tool, setting the Black point to 25.1%, the White point I left at 100%, and the Gamma at 50%. This added more color depth.

I continued to Adjust the Colors using Uniform Color setting the Saturation to 31%. I saved the large file with a new name. In PE5, I used the photograph now adjusted to paint. Selecting the Watercolor Sketch settings I used a Digital Watercolor Dry Brush to paint.

Next, I used the Soft Cloner Brush to hand paint back in details to the Face, Arms, Hands and the Guitar. I decided I wanted to add more Texture to the image; I applied the Apply Surface Texture. Using the Paper setting, I checked Invert to change the light direction. I picked a Light Fleshtone color for the lighting, creating more warmth for the image and texture.

After applying that, I saved the image again.

I opened that large image in Paint.NET. Here I added my signature layer using the property Additive for transparency. I saved the image with 100% size and compression. Then I resized the image to 72 dpi, 1220 X 813, setting the compression to 75%. I saved that for posting with a new name.

I have been putting my new Martin DRS1 6-String Acoustic Electric through its paces, both Acoustically and along with some jam tracks from QuistJam on YouTube. Playing acoustically I used different tunings, Double Drop D, and DADGAD. I am enjoying this Martin Sapele Guitar! It has great tone and good action for both lead and rhythm playing. I haven't done any recording or songwriting other than some poetry/lyric work lately. I am trying out a new chord progression but have yet to add any melody (singing,) or lyrics for that.

"Homage to Van Gogh - Sun Flower" PE5 Plus

Homage to Van Gogh - Sun Flower

Among my favorites of Van Gogh's work are his Sun Flower paintings. I found this photograph online (free to edit.) I thought of him right away. I wanted to do a representation of his style.

I opened the photograph in Corel Painter Essentials 5 (PE5.) I selected the Watercolor Sketch set, choosing the Artists Brushes - Van Gogh, I digitally painted the image. I switched to the Colored Pencil Drawing set and used the same Van Gogh brush, painted some more.

I next used the Apply Surface Texture Effect, using Original Luminance for the texture. I saved the large file.

Next I opened the file in Paint.NET and applied some Adjustments: Curves to add depth; Saturation set at 110 for the punchy colors. I added my signature file as a layer, sized and placed it, using the property multiply I then merged the layers. I saved that iteration.

Though Picasa is not going to be supported with upgrades by Google, I still use it. I opened it and added the Museum Matte to frame the piece. Saving again I used Corel PhotoPaint to Resample the file for display. I used 72dpi, 818 X 1200 Pixels, Optimized, anti-alias, maintained aspect ratio, and saved the display file.

Musically I am working on a new song and I am testing out a Martin DRS1 Sapele guitar to get. My family is going to get it for a wedding anniversary present if I like it. So far I am enjoying playing a 6-String Martin Guitar. I seriously like this Acoustic Electric. I think it will be a great addition to my song writing and improvised lead playing.

"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.

"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.

"Textured Grunge Guitar Player" Paint.NET - Picasa

Textured Grunge Guitar Player

I have done another "Textured Grunge Guitar Player," for today's post. Last post of 2015, is Music Themed. It was simply done.

I opened the screen capture in Paint.NET. Here I applied the Effects, Artistic, Pen and Ink as a black and white image. I saved this iteration.

Since Picasa was open, I cropped and added a black border to the piece. I saved again with a different name. I switched back to Paint.NET and opened that file.

Next I located a Grunge Texture and opened it in Paint.NET. I selected all and copied to the clipboard the Texture. I closed the texture file. I then Pasted as a New Layer onto the Ink Guitar Player image layer. I moved around the Texture until I found the most color in it. Using the property Multiply I added the now transparent texture to the Guitar Player merging the layers down.

I upped the Saturation by 115 in Paint.NET's Adjustments. I opened and selected, copied to the clipboard my signature file. I closed that file. I Pasted the signature as a new layer, resizing and placing it onto the image, deselected it and merged down all layers. I saved that iteration as the final image.

I don't have a Retrospective look at some of your favorite images of mine for 2015, but you are always invited to come here and look through the Label Cloud, or search for images to view again. Or to Listen to my Music Previews and buy what you would like to own.

Thank you for your Patronage of gatzkART! during the year! I look forward to additional Music and Digital Visual Artwork to share in 2016!

"Lead Guitar Player III" Picasa - Painter Essentials 5 Plus

Lead Guitar Player III

Continuing with a music theme I chose another "Lead Guitar Player III" photograph to Digitally Paint. I opened first in Picasa 3+ and applied the HDR effect with the Radius Medium and the Value, or Strength to Higher. This gave the image great tonal contrasts. I saved that change.

In Painter Essentials 5 I selected  the Oil Painting set with a Digital Watercolor Diffuse Water Brush, thus set I Digitally Painted the HDR image. I used Apply Surface Texture Effect with Image Luminance Texture. I then did a light Detailed Watercolor, still using the Diffuse Water Brush, stopping the set before it completed.

In Picasa again I applied and added a Black Border to the piece and saved that iteration.

Using Paint.NET I added my signature layer with the property Additive for transparency. I saved that iteration at 100%, 120dpi. I next resized the image to display size 95 compression and 120dpi JPG.

As always I encourage my readers to click on the image to view the large piece for all details and the best of views. Open from your browser, use F11 (in most browsers) for the full screen view and go back to the regular setting by using F11 again.

I am hoping to add some newer Digital Download CDBaby Singles in the coming months. I invite you to listen the the Full Previews as you visit gatzkART!. Just use the CDBaby Kiosks lower down on the page of images and explanations. I have ten songs for your enjoyment.

You may also notice a Featured Post added to the page on the right hand side. I will be featuring different older posts here for you to review. I will be using Music Posts here and other multi-viewed posts that seem to have been favorites through the time frame of this blog. Click and enjoy the Featured Post as you are attracted to them. 

If you enjoy my Artwork and Music you can Subscribe to my Feedburner Email list for updates to your own email address when I post new works! Add your email address and click Subscribe. Your privacy is very important to me and I will not resell or give out your addresses! Thanks!

"Grunge Textured Acoustic Guitar Player" PhotoPaint

Grunge Textured Acoustic Guitar Player

I received a suggestion that I try to reinstall my Corel Graphics Suite 12 with "Troubleshoot Compatibility" The Install worked with a WinXP Service Pack 3 compatibility. So I now have the Suite running under this setting complete with CorelDRAW and PhotoPaint, and the other Suite programs.

I tested the program PhotoPaint only to have it crash as I had too many Large files open. I learned from that to keep my files down to a minimum while working in PhotoPaint. And to save frequently!

I opened an "Acoustic Guitar Player," free to edit photograph, in PhotoPaint. I applied the Threshold tool for white space and minimized colors. I saved this file. Then I opened a Grunge Texture file from the Freebie Fridays Textures I receive from Stockvault. I copied the image to the clipboard and then deleted it from my workspace. I pasted it over the Acoustic Guitar Player image. Here I used the property Multiply and I merged the layers.

I increased the Saturation of the colors a bit and then save this iteration. I now only had a single file open in PhotoPaint. I added my signature layer with open, copy, paste as layer, then deleted the signature image. I resized to fit and used the property Add for transparency. I merged the file and saved again.

Going to Image, Resample I decreased the piece for display, 96dpi, 75 compression, and 25 smoothing, Optimized JPG.

I was happy that I had no further problems with too many large files open in PhotoPaint. That seemed to allow me to be creative yet frugal in my image creation, frequent saving of files as one goes along is very wise.

"Lead Guitar Player" PaintDotNET - Painter Essentials 5

Lead Guitar Player

I have been thinking about Music lately, my own and others. I decided to do a post about Guitar Playing. I found a really nice "Lead Guitar Player," photograph from UNsplash.

It was actually a very dark piece color wise so I opened in Paint.NET and used Adjustments, Curves, lightening the colors. I then went to Effects, Artistic, Ink. I lowered the number of Ink pen and upped the color to allow the modified colors to show through. I saved that large file.

Opening in Corel Painter Essentials 5 I selected the Detailed Watercolor set. Using Digital Watercolor Dry Brushes I Digitally Painted the piece. With the Soft Cloner Brush I added back in some details, as is my custom.

Going to Effects, Tonal Control I Equalized the Colors, as the painting as a watercolor had dimmed them. This brought the colors back to a balance I liked. I saved that iteration with a new name.

I returned to Paint.NET and applied my signature layer with the property Multiply for transparency. I merged all layers and saved again. I resized the image right in Paint.NET for display.

I recently recorded the song "Good Riddance - Time of Your Life," by Green day with my singing and playing my 12-String. For effect I doubled the singing and playing, on a second track. I used Reverb on both. So I have a experimental Echo sound to the song. I enjoyed doing it but it's not for everybody as the Echo effect is quite pronounced.

It won't be for sale as I do not have the resources to pay fees for a Cover of Green Day's song. But I have been actively seeking others songs to play and record for fun and mixing experience.

"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 I Created This - Woman Guitarist Portrait" Corel

Woman Guitarist Portrait

Today's color photograph is from UNSplash Free Photos. I downloaded it yesterday from my email notice I get from them with free photos to use. Out of about 10 images I selected this one, "Woman Guitarist Portrait."

To begin I opened the photograph in Corel PhotoPaint and altered it to a 16-bit Grayscale file, saved that image. Then using Picasa's HDR tool I upped the Strength and Radius for a grainy, HDR feel. I saved that as a separate iteration, this was a large file about 16.4 megs.

I opened it in Corel Painter 11, a Legacy Product, and began painting the Woman. I appended the Earth Tones Palette and the Flesh Tones Palette to the basic one. using the fleshtones I painted her face using the Digital Watercolors Broad Brush. before I switched to the Coarse Dry Brush I painted most of the Woman and Guitar, leaving the background for later.

I used a number of pastel colors for the first layer on the background, adding colors as they suited me, and trying for a balance in color composition. About the only color I chose from the color photograph I started with, was the Burgundy Red of the Epiphone Special SG Guitar. I added a splash of tones throughout the Woman's Portrait, and colored her eye gloss for effect.

I changed to the Liquid Ink Airbrush Brush to begin to bring the focus upon the Woman Guitarist. I utilized that for a bit and switched to another Ink Brush for more line making. I chose color tones that I had not yet used for this portion of my painting.

I saved the iteration as a 16-bit color JPG, in it's large format. It was still only 72dpi. I opened the file in Corel PSP Pro X3, another Legacy Corel Product. Here I added Saturation Vibrancy to the image for some brightening of the colors. I also added a layer for my signature and placed that, merging layers when done. I then used the Image Information and added a Title, My Name and Date. In Resize I altered the piece to 150dpi and sized it for display here.

If it loads more slowly than usual, please let me know and I will stick with 72dpi in the future. Don't forget to click on the image for a much larger view. (Use F11 in your browser to make it a bit larger, F11 back to the standard browser setting.)

Comments, Shares and Pluses (on Google+ or Comments here on the blog,) are welcome. "Plus One Me," as Daria sings it!

"How to - with outdated Corel Products - Grunge Guitar Player" Corel

Grunge Guitar Player

I took this photograph at a Taylor Guitar Show at Motor City Guitar quite a while ago. I decided to work at this piece in a way I have not worked in quite a while. First I opened in Corel PhotoPaint 12 and used the Posterize tool set on 4 on it. This gave me plenty of color to work with for the next step.

I saved that file and opened it in CorelTRACE 12 and Traced it into a Vector file with the Advanced Outline tool. I saved this iteration as a native Corel CMX vector file. I then opened it in CorelDRAW 12, here I Ungrouped all the traced Vector elements of the image. I began to play with downsizing by eliminating some parts grabbing them with the selection tool and deleting them. I then selected some of them and changed the colors with the Gradient (using both Radial and Linear gradients) and Fill tools.

Taking the selection tool I grabbed what was left of the image and Grouped the entire Vectored pieces back into one Group. I Converted it into a Bitmapped file and copied it to the clipboard. I reopened PhotoPaint and opened the New File from the Clipboard, at 300 dpi. I then adjusted some of the other parts with the Wand tool to select, and the Fill tool for colors and textures. I applied myself to this until I was satisfied the image no longer looked much like the original photograph.

I used, next, Filter Forge's Frames for a Grunge look and feel to the image. I selected a setting after trying out different variants of a Grunge frame, settled on one and applied it. I saved the image with my signature added. I resampled for a display size.

My recent disappointment was to find out that the Corel Products I use to create much of my Digital Visual Artwork is NOT compatible with Windows 10, my reserved package of Windows 10 will not even download onto my computer. I checked and it indicated that it was my Corel Products that were stopping it. I did want to try Windows 10 later this year before the free version is turned off, but it won't download.

I even went to the point of uninstalling all my Corel Products, but with Windows 7 hiding someplace in the Programdata folders were pieces of Corel still there. Windows 10 would not download! I know this is the problem, it is not a hardware problem, it says I meet that standard easily.

Lets face it I am a Disabled Artist on a very tight budget. I am not able to upgrade my Corel Products at this time. So I am continuing to use Windows 7 Pro and my Corel arsenal of graphics programs.

So I suppose that sometime in the future I will have to find those remaining hidden files and folders, uninstall my prized Corel programs and maybe be able to download my copy of Windows 10!

"Guitar Player and Friends" Corel Painter

Guitar Player and Friends

I got this photograph from Stockvault's Freebies. It is a great picture of a Guitar Player with friends, a good example of a depth of field. The Guitar Player is in focus and the others are not. I opened the image in Corel PSP Pro X3 and converted it to grayscale. I saved that photograph.

I then opened it in Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 and painted it as a digital Watercolor Sketch, I saved that iteration. Closing Essentials 4 I reopened the image in Corel Painter 11. There I selected to paint with Digital Watercolor and Gouache brushes.

I used colors almost at random for the image. I knew I wanted a bright red guitar, but the rest came as I worked on the piece. It was tedious work and took longer than usual for me to paint. I am so happy I use a Wacom Tablet and Stylus for digital painting in Painter. I finished the image, saving it as a large file.

I used Corel PSP Pro X3 to adjust the image brightness and used Saturation Vibrancy to punch up the colors. I added my signature and merged all layers, then saved again. I resized the image for display and saved with another name.

NOTE: My next new song will be coming out soon! I am getting the production ready with CDBaby and now am awaiting the 'ready,' report from them. It is titled "Something Amazing," and is a positive tune with upbeat lyrics and sound. Watch for it! The Full Song Preview will be available so you can get a complete idea of the tune in itself.

"Taylor Guitar Player Pencil & Texture Blend" Corel

Taylor Guitar Player

I looked through some of my photographs from the Taylor Road Show, at Motor City Guitar, I selected this one. I opened it in Corel PSP Pro X3. There I decided to use some of the Effects available and I selected Pencil for the base image. It created almost an embossed look and feel to the photograph. All my Show photographs were taken with my Canon Rebel XTi DSLR.

I then looked through some new Textures I had received from Friday Freebies StockVault. I grabbed this incredible Blue Texture. I did this the other day and I believe I used the blend property of Multiply with Opacity adjustments.

I also applied Saturation Vibrancy for a slight boost to the colors. I added a black border and my signature, and merged all the layers, saving the large iteration. I added Image Information to the EXIF properties. All the work was done in PSP Pro X3. I resized for display here but did not mess with the default compression or smoothing.