"Digital Watercolor Homeless Man Four" Corel Painter

Homeless Man Four

I garnered another Homeless Man Portrait from Morguefile and did a Digital Watercolor of it. I opened it in Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 and applied the Watercolor Sketch tool to it. This auto painted the grayscale image into a sketch to paint with color.

I saved the painting and opened it with Corel Painter 11. There I applied the Flesh tones I wanted to the face. I selected from a colorful palette of flesh tones appended. I added the white in the eyes and beard using a Gouache brush, and painted the knit hat with a version of it as well.

I saved the large iteration and reopened in Corel PSP Pro X3. Here I adjusted it with the Smart Photo Fix, which brightened it up a bit. I made the colors bolder by Increasing the Saturation Vibrancy. I added my signature. Saved again, then resized for display.

My efforts in digital painting are much like using Corel Painter and PhotoShop to arrive at a satisfying image. Although I don't have the most current versions of some of my programs, they still work well in Windows 7 as 32 bit programs. I happily paint away and adjust at will with my current arsenal of Corel Products, I would recommend Corel Painter 2015 as it is a good step up from Painter 11.

I have been a Painter user since its Fractal Design days and highly recommend it to those Photographers who want to learn how to digitally paint their art. A Wacom Tablet is highly recommended as well. They have pressure sensitivity and act like real world brushes. A tablet with a stylus is really needed to paint digitally.

"Reviewing the Past in Digital Art - Circa 1990's"

Freehand Drawn - Computer Colored

Freehand Plus KPT Collection

Scanned in Dot Matrix Printout

Again I have displayed some "Vintage" circa 1990 and earlier Digital Artworks. I am Sharing these as I update my PC and OS. Less time for creating newer images.

All of these have some freehand drawing to them, fictional women in bright color or Dot Matrix printout form. Some come from Journals I kept and then scanned in to manipulate in computer programs.

Not much time today to explain workflow, most of which is forgotten anyway! I am pretty certain I used some version of Corel Products for the color images. That's about it.

When I get more time I will probably begin creating New Works for your enjoyment, until then Old times are rolling!

"Concerts in the Plus Danni Rossner, Sonia Rao" Corel - Plus

Sonia Rao

Danni Rosner

I've been ill a few days so I am a little behind on my "Concerts in the Plus" postings. Today I wanted to share with you "Danni Rosner and Sonia Rao," images. Again these started out as screen captures from the Concert on YouTube. Max Lugavere was included but I have already done an image of Max from a Spotlight in the Plus hangout on Google+.

I opened the bitmapped screen captures taken with Picasa 3.9 in Corel PhotoPaint. There I cropped and converted to jpg file format to work with for display.

I opened them with Corel PSP Pro X3 and adjusted to display size. I applied Digital Camera Noise Removal and Smart Photo Fix on both, making differing adjustments to each according to need.

With Sonia Rao I upped the color and softened the skin texture. then I used the Art Media, Brushstrokes on the image. I added my signature using the Visible Watermark tool. I then applied a 1965 type photograph filter in the Time Machine tool. This gave me a frame and then I added a black border to it, saving that iteration.

In Picasa 3.9 I then opened Danni Rosner's image capture. I applied the workflow mentioned above for Noise and Photo Fix. Using the Unsharp Mask tool for some details. I used the effects, image effects, Seamless Tiling on it for a bit of duplication of forms. I also applied the Saturation Vibrancy tool for color depth. I added my signature then using Picture Frame I added the frame.

If you missed the Concert go here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qw0rx13sTlE&feature=g-user

For Sonia Rao: http://soniarao.com/

And for Danni Rosner: http://www.dannirosner.com/

"Dancers" Digital Collage - Corel PhotoPaint - Corel PSP Pro X3

Dancers

I took some time to browse in Picasa 3.9 in my Dover Publications and Free Vintage Clip Art folder. I have over 1,000 pieces of art in the folder and it took some time for inspiration to hit me.

I found the pieces you see in today's image. A floral like background, a woman and man's faces and the dancers silhouette. I opened the floral in Corel PSP Pro X3 and resized it to a 10 x 5.8 inches 300dpi background. I then saved that and opened in Corel's PhotoPaint. There, and from Picasa, I copied and pasted and erased around the faces, placing them opposite each other.

I searched for the "Dancers," silhouette and copied and pasted that and used the property Multiply, then resized to make them the centerpiece in the image. I merged all, used the Tone Curve and upped the color saturation, and added my signature, Then saved the large file, resampled it for display and saved that. I looked at the enlargement in Picasa 3.9

I decided to use Picasa 3.9's Museum Mat for a frame, I applied that, adjusted the mat color to blue and saved that file separately.

It was a simple Digital Collage project with pleasant results.

Listening --- Elton John --- Tiny Dancer

"Digital Faces" Digital Collage - Picasa 3 (New Version) and Corel Products

"Digital Faces"

Today I browsed some photographs I had taken long ago of some of my older works, printed out and mounted on a wall display.

I opened the photographs in Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 and applied a number of the Auto Painting selections to both. After I was satisfied with each painted version I saved them separately. I then browsed in Picasa 3 (the new version) and selected them both and created a collage.

I saved that collage and opened with Corel PSP Pro X3 to add a torn matting and black frame.

I saved that file and opened with PhotoPaint to add my signature and resize for display.

Listening --- Robert Plant & Alison Krauss --- Gone, Gone, Gone

"Series 66 #7" Digital Collage - Last in Series - Corel PhotoPaint

Series 66 #7

"Series 66 #7," is the last in this series of Digital Collages about collaged Faces. I used Corel PhotoPaint, CorelDRAW, Painter 8, and Picasa 3 to create today's image.

I began with a freehand trace of a face from an old photograph done in Painter 8 before I had gotten Painter 11. I then browsed in Picasa 3 folders for faces to select features from. I found a group of black and white scanned in portraits and selected the eyes, ears and mouth from disparate images. I then placed them accordingly.

I used the magic wand to select parts of the face and image and filled with radial gradients the hair and face and neck. I then selected the background and filled it with a space photograph.

Browsing again in Picasa 3 I found 2 color palettes and copied and pasted them into the image using the property Multiply to add transparency. I opened CorelDRAW and typed in the "66," and "#7," at a large size using the fonts Basketcase and 321Impact. I copied and pasted them into the collage.

I added my signature, saved the large file, and resampled for display.

I have enjoyed creating this series of Digital Collage Faces and learned some new techniques, especially erasing sections of pasted in pieces of the image. I hope you have enjoyed the series as well.

Listening --- Jethro Tull --- Part of the Machine

"Series 66 #6" Digital Collage - Corel PhotoPaint

Series 66 #6

I found time today to create another in the "Series 66 #6," I may create one more of these for a total of "7,". Again I used Corel PhotoPaint, CorelDRAW, Corel Painter 11 and Picasa 3 for the making of this image.

I scanned in the background and opened it in Painter 11 to warp the color swatches and to add a paper texture to it. I saved the large file and opened with PhotoPaint and used Picasa 3 to locate sources to use to create the face. I selected for the eyes and nose a digital painting I did in Painter 8 sometime ago. I opened another digital painting for the mouth, also done in Painter 8. I used the Tone Curve on the cut and pasted pieces to boost the color depth.

I browsed to my Dover Publications folder and found the swirling frame and added that. I also located the woman playing the violin and added her playing right into the ear of the face. I had selected the hair, ears, chin for the face from a photograph taken by me with my Canon Rebel XTi.

I did not scan in as much from other sources as I had on others of this series. I used what sources I already had on my Hard Drive. I finally added my signature and saved the large file then resampled for display and sharing here on the blog.

Yesterday I uploaded the first 5 in the series to my Fine Art America (see the link below) account to allow them to be available for sale. I will also add this one as well.

Listening --- 3 Doors Down --- Duck and Run

"Series 66 #4" Digital Collage - Corel PhotoPaint

Series 66 #4

"Series 66 #4," is one more Digital Collage of facial features and a few added things. I used Corel PhotoPaint, Corel PSP Pro X3, CorelDRAW, and Corel Painter 11 to create this collage.

I used cut and paste and erase and place for the image. I used various sources scanned in with my Canon MP495. I started with the background of some painted buildings and opened that in Painter 11 where I used Motion Blur and Apply Surface Texture Image Luminance on it. Back in PhotoPaint I added the various scanned pieces to create the face.

I also used a DaVinci drawing of hands and placed them playing a guitar. I had used Little Ink Pot's Thredgeholder on the guitar for it's sketchiness. Each piece was scanned in, I applied the Tone Curve for color depth, and Tune blur to smooth out each one. Then they would stand out from the textural background.

I used CorelDRAW for the numbers "66" and "#4" using purple as a compliment of the orange shades of the background. These I copied and pasted, sizing to fit the larger image.

I resampled the image to display and share along with adding my signature, finishing up in PhotoPaint.

Not listening to any music at the time I created this, created in quiet for a change.

"Series 66 #3" Digital Collage - Corel PhotoPaint

Series 66 #3

"Series 66 #3" is the image for today. I am staying with this motif for a while, don't know how many I will do or if I will keep up the successive permutations. I really like Digital Collage and working with scanned pieces of collage material.

I used another number of sources for this image. I did add some Dover Publications Clip Art for design purposes. I created it in mainly Corel PhotoPaint, scanning with my Canon MP495. But I also used Corel's Painter 11 for texture and warping of the background. And CorelDRAW for the numbers "66" and "3".

I cut, pasted, erased and sized to fit all the pieces for this face collage. I saved the large 11"x7" file and then after adding my signature, resampled for presenting here.

Listening --- JJ Cale and Eric Clapton --- Heads in Gerogia

"Series 66 #2" Digital Collage - Corel PhotoPaint

Series 66 #2

For "Series 66 #2," I used Corel PhotoPaint, Painter 11 and CorelDRAW to create the image. Staying with the face motif I scanned in using my Canon MP495 and then cut, pasted, erased and resized to fit all the pieces to make this image.

I began by scanning in a large background piece from one source then turned to other sources for the additional pieces. I did use the Tune Blur and Tone Curve on many of the cutouts for smoothing and color depth.

I applied Little Ink Pot's Thredgeholder to the guitar player for a etched line look and feel. I also used the fonts Tossaway, Accords, and Arial Narrow in the piece. Accords is a guitar chord symbol library font which has a number of often used chord symbols.

I did create the "66" number in CorelDRAW with the Tossaway font. I copied and pasted and resized it in PhotoPaint. I added my signature to the large file and resampled for display and sharing here.

Listening --- Kirk Mathew Gatzka --- Collision Warning

"!Music Lives" - CorelDRAW - PhotoPaint - Filter Forge - PSP Pro X3

! Music Lives

I started to create an image today, a digital collage, about music and this is what I finished with. I had to search for some free music notation font files online and discovered two, MetDemo and MusiSync. I found a third that had guitar chord charts, Accord.

I took the font Abadi MT Condensed ExtraBold and used that for the phrase "Music Lives" and added an exclamation point from the font Basketcase. I found a photograph while browsing in Picasa 3 folders of a 12-string guitar so I used Little Ink Pot's Thredgeholder on it for line art and added a couple guitars to the piece.

Almost as an after thought I added an image of myself, unshaven, to add something more to it. I adjusted the image of me from a photograph in PSP Pro X3, making it a line art grunge image.

I also used Filter Forge's Photo Effects Grunge, altering some of the settings as before. This created a framed look, too.

Listening --- America --- This Is For All The Lonely People

Digital Collage - Change of Face - PhotoPaint - PSP Pro X3

Change of Face

Late last night I was up so I worked on this digital collage. I scanned in some pieces from old magazines, using my Canon MP495 All-in-one. The dpi was at 300 for each scan, so they were very full of color and texture. I also added a butterfly clip art piece from Dover Publications Clip Art and a vector "dance" piece I did in 1996. So, old parts new collage.

I opened them all in PhotoPaint and cut and selected the pieces to place. I used a peacock as the background and added the face and the differing eyes and mouth. I endeavored to make an interesting image, as I do so enjoy digital collage creating. The title comes from my altering the facial features with differing pieces, thus: "Change of Face."

I saved the file in iterative saves at differing sizes. I opened the last save from Picasa 3 with Corel's PSP Pro X3. Here I looked for something delightfully digital. I found the framing section and found this classic museum like frame. I added it and it gives the image a distinctive flare. I did resample in PhotoPaint for the final image to show here on the blog.

Listening --- The Temptations --- Smiling Faces Sometimes

Flea Market - Typography Portrait - CorelDRAW - PhotoPaint - Filter Forge

A short post today, very busy time wise. Here is some eye candy for your viewing pleasure. I used CorelDRAW and PhotoPaint and Filter Forge's Photo Effects for these images.

Listening --- The Beatles --- Come Together

Two Digital Collages - Paint.NET - PhotoPaint

Click for Larger Image

Click for Larger Image

I had a couple of more photographs of my Grandson and my Daughter and I decided to do two digital collages with them. I opened with Paint.NET and selected Effects> Collage Paint for the first image and it allows selection of a folder of images, along with the size of the collaged images. I made my adjustments to the selections and let the collage build with images of guitars and other images.

On the second image I opened Paint.NET again and selected a folder full of photographs of my grandson. These made the collage image, if you look closely at the larger images you can see some of that detail.

As the second image's background was dominate I opened with Painter 11 and used the Suminagashi grainy brush on the background. I saved the large file and reopened in PhotoPaint. I used the selection tool to select the background and applied the Local Equalization tool to it. It made the image of my Grandson stand out more.

For both I used the Tone Curve to make adjustments to color depth and saved the large files. Then I resampled to a smaller size for the web. I added my signature to both and saved the smaller file sizes.

Listening --- Pink --- Family Portrait

Long Time Friends - Painter 11 - PhotoPaint - Filter Forge

Click for Larger Image

"Long Time Friends," is the title of today's image. We had the pleasure of visiting with some friends that we haven't spent time with for many years. This began as a photograph of my wife and our friend Jim. The photograph was taken with my Canon XTi Rebel DSLR.

I first opened with PhotoPaint and used the Local Equalization feature on it. Then I applied the Tone Curve to it to give it some depth of color. So I started with a High Contrast photographic image.

I save this large file and opened with Painter 11, did a Quick Clone and selected the Straight Cloner brush. I painted in the two figures that had the High Contrast look and feel. I did not want the details of the background to dominate the image so I selected the Suminagashi 2 Grainagashi brush and painted in the entire background with the clone button on.

I Applied a surface texture to the image and did an iterative save of the piece. I reopened it in PhotoPaint where I applied Filter Forge's Photo Effect Grunge for additional look and feel and a frame. I selected differing variants before I settled on  one.

I saved this iteration and then resampled for the web and saved the final with my signature.

Listening --- James Taylor --- You've Got A Friend

Design for Life - Live for Design - Art Deco - CorelDRAW - PhotoPaint

I opened CorelDRAW and scanned in two pieces of Art Deco from E. Benedictus' Art Deco Designs book to begin this image. I continued with my Design for Life and Live for Design motif for today's image. It's beginning size was approximately 7" x 8".

I adjusted the Tone curve and saturation of the colors. I used the typefaces A Bite, Basketcase, and 321Impact for the text. I looked for some interesting words for the text to include and opened a Text file named simply 98.txt.

To my surprise it was a Project Gutenberg text of a A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. The opening words so aptly described the creative process, as it is an up and down roller-coaster at times, that I selected them for this piece. I saved the large file. Converted it to bitmap and reopened in PhotoPaint.

I added the ladies faces from some Dover Clip Art samples I found browsing my Dover folder in Picasa 3. They add some balance and a classy touch to the whole image.

I added a thirty pixel border of blue and my signature. Re-saved the large file and resampled for display here.

Listening --- Gordon Lightfoot --- The No Hotel [Live]

Two Gals on a Bob-Lo Cruise Vintage Tritone - PhotoPaint

A Vintage Bob-Lo Cruise photograph from the Detroit, Michigan area. I scanned this photograph and frame in with my Canon MP495 at 600dpi. I opened it from Picasa 3 with PhotoPaint.

I made a couple of adjustments for this image. I resampled it to a display size, used the Image> Color Mode Tritone> on it and then converted it back to RGB. I took that and applied the Local Equalization tool for higher contrasts.

The gal on the left is my Mother in law as a young lady, with a friend.

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Now playing: Elo - Moment in Paradise
via FoxyTunes

Vintage Family Photographs - PhotoPaint - Filter Forge

Digging through some vintage family photographs I found a few that I could scan in and enhance and restore. The first image is a close up of my wife as a child on the swing set. The second is a collage of her Mother and Grandmother and herself. I used PhotoPaint to do restoration and enhancements.

I used Picasa 3 to create the collage of photographs after I had worked on them. A little color in a yellowed sepia tone and a tritone for the collage. I had thought of putting a photograph of my wife's graduation picture with her Mother but decided that I may or may not do that at a future date.

I have an old copy of Family Tree Maker, a genealogy program and have some family records back some 5 or 6 generations. It allows you to display photographs of family if you have them for individuals and married couples. You can show these on one of the reports that can be printed. These photographs may be useful for this program.

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Now playing: Sly and the Family Stone - Family Affair
via FoxyTunes

Design Perfection - New Graphic Design Online - High Contrast - PhotoPaint - Filter Forge

This is an enhanced photograph of my Daughter, Dresden Solomon, who is the Owner / Designer of Design Perfection Graphic Design online. She has attended college to learn the skills of a designer, but has been interested in art since she was a child at home. She is a talented artist and designer. And we are very proud of her accomplishments.

I did the enhancement in PhotoPaint where I cropped the photograph and then resampled 200% larger for display here. I applied the Tune Blur to soften the image. I then used the Local Equalization tool for High Contrast.

I adjusted it with the Tone Curve for depth and color. Then I used Filter Forge's Photo Effects Vibrant on it for a greater punch to the colors. I finished with my signature and a film frame from Filter Forge.

If you want a quote or a bid on a Graphic Design project contact her at Design Perfection.

High Contrast - Auto Van Gogh - Portrait - Painter 11 - PhotoPaint - Filter Forge

First time I have had a problem with Blogger, they were down due to maintenance and they lost my Thursday post. According to their blog they are supposed to repost that posting. But I am still waiting. I hope that it is corrected soon. Other than that I have no complaints about Blogger as a great blogging platform.

That aside I browsed my folders in Picasa 3 and grabbed another photograph of my Grandson. I haven't been painting much lately with Painter 11 but wanted to create a painterly image today. So I opened the photograph in PhotoPaint and applied the Local Equalization for high contrast. Then I adjusted the Tone Curve for depth and upped the saturation by 7. I saved the large file.

I reopened it in Painter 11 and applied the quick clone tool with an ocher background. I then used the Auto Van Gogh cloning painting at two brush sizes one small the other a medium brush size. I resaved that file at excellent jpg quality.

I opened it again in PhotoPaint and using Filter Forge's Photo Effects I selected the grunge effect. I adjusted the settings so the grunge texture would not obscure the Van Gogh like brushstrokes. This resulted in a painterly grunge style portrait. I saved the large file.

I resampled in PhotoPaint for sharing here.

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Now playing: Sly and the Family Stone - Thank You
via FoxyTunes