"How To: Dead Branch and Abandoned House" PE5 Plus

Dead Branch and Abandoned House

Pretty much done with my Pathways Series, I perused Morguefile for some interesting photographs. This particular one caught my eye. "Dead Branch and Abandoned House," looked very intriguing. I downloaded it giving it a new name for my file searches. I created a New Folder for more of my new works, including this one.

I opened the large file in Painter Essentials 5 (PE5) and first I applied the Effects, Equalize to lighten some of the colorings, knowing that I would add depth later. I saved that iteration. I selected Use Open Image to select it for painting. My Choice was the Watercolor Sketch (one of my favorites in PE5.)

I went to the Photo Painting Brushes and selected the New Simple Water Brush, and auto painted the image. I then selected the Soft Cloner Photo Painting Brush to add back in some of the Dead Branch Details. I saved the large file again with a new name.

I used Corel PhotoPaint for a few adjustments. I applied the Image, Tone Curve lightening the depth of color. I opened my signature file copied it to the clipboard and layered it onto the main painting. I sized and placed the signature using the property Add for transparency. I saved the large file once again.

I used Resample to make the piece ready for display. 72dpi, 1220 X 813 pixels with Anti-alias and Maintain Aspect Ratio to keep the picture clear.

I decided to punch up the colors and add a frame like look to the piece. I selected the plugin Filter Forges Photo Effects. Here I used the Lomo effect lightly to add some interest to the final display image. This darkened the colors and added a vignette to the image.

"How to - with outdated Corel Products - Grunge Guitar Player" Corel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

"The Simple Sunrise" Canon - Corel

Simple Sunrise

I was up very early just the other day and the Sunrise was very pretty, I put on a light jacket and grabbed my Canon Rebel XTi. Out the door I went. We have new stairs down to our lower deck, I transversed them keeping an eye out for a good shot of this Sunrise.

I took a number of shots simply in Landscape mode and Auto Mode, as it was a bit chilly. I had included the lake, Bald Eagle Lake, in a couple, but it wasn't reflecting enough of the sun and clouds in the water.

I took this Simple Sunrise, composing the clouds and tree tops surrounding it.

Later I opened it in Corel PSP Pro X3 and upped the Saturation Vibrancy by 33. I saved that large iteration after I added my signature. I then Opened it in Corel PhotoPaint to use Filter Forge's Frames adding a Film frame to the image. I resampled to display size and saved in JPEG format.

I kept my approach simple to this image. I like it very much without more processing. I hope you do, too.

"Painted Concrete and Young Woman" Corel

Painted Concrete and Young Woman

This image of a Young Woman started as a photograph from Morguefile Free Photos. I also used a Yellow Concrete Texture from Stockvaults Friday Freebies.

I opened the Texture in Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 with the Modern Painting set. Saving that large iteration I opened it in Corel PhotoPaint. Once there I also opened the Young Woman Portrait and applied the Threshold tool to it. I adjusted for white space, leaving enough detail for face recognition.

I copied that to the Clipboard and Pasted as a layer over the Yellow Concrete. I sized to fit and used the property Multiply for transparency before I merged the two layers. I added my signature and saved as a TIFF file again.

Still in PhotoPaint I adjusted the Tone Curve for some punch to the colors. I then resampled for display. After I did that I decided to add a Film Frame using Filter Forge Frames.

If you haven't listened to any of my songs on CDBaby, scroll down to the lower portion of the blog. I have two kiosks for playing my songs. The first plays three songs in Full Preview and a Bonus track. The second kiosk you select the song you wish to hear by selecting the graphic below the current song being displayed. All should be Full Preview so you can listen before deciding to purchase. Comments are welcome.

"Butterflies with Woman Textured" Corel Digital Collage

Butterflies with Woman Textured

"Butterflies with Woman Textured," started with a background texture from Stockvault's Freebies, a Photograph of a Young Lady with a black background, and a piece of Dover Publications Sampler Clip Art.

I opened Corel PhotoPaint and loaded the Texture first. I added a layer of the Young Lady, which I trimmed off the corners from the photograph. I also applied the Threshold tool to add some white space for transparency (using the property Multiply.) I moved the Young Lady to the lower right hand corner and merged that layer.

I searched for a piece of clip art I could apply to the collage. I found one of Butterflies and Flowers. I opened that, copied it and pasted it from New from Clipboard. I scaled to fit the Texture. I merged that along with my signature and saved the large iteration.

I used Filter Forge's Photo Effects Vibrancy to boost the colors. I saved again. I reopened it in Corel PSP Pro X3, there I boosted the Saturation Vibrancy for more punch to the color. I resampled for display.

Musically speaking, my Lead Guitarist is on vacation, so I haven't heard back from him as of yet. I am hoping that he can improvise a good lead line for "I Still Remain," my newest song. In the meantime I am looking at a Blues Dialect lyric I wrote recently, and endeavoring to put it to music with chords and melody. Stayed tuned for more information on the release of the new song.

"Bearded Mans Profile" Corel - Paint.NET

Bearded Mans Profile

I began this Bearded Mans Profile last night fairly late, finishing it about 10:30 PM. Rather late for a post so I will schedule it to post today, that is tomorrow, I think. If you see it is it posted!

The base photograph came from Morguefile and I opened it first in Paint.NET. I applied the Artistic, Ink tool to the piece, making sure the silhouette of the Profile showed clearly.

Saving that I opened it in Corel Painter 11 and used Digital Watercolors Brushes, Gouache Brushes and Conte Brushes for the image. I did not use the original color palette at all. I used my combination (appended) Flesh Tone, Plus palette. It gives me the flesh-tones I like and a multiple choice of colors for the Hat and Shirt. After I was finished painting I saved as a TIFF file.

I reopened in Corel PhotoPaint and added my signature layer. And added Saturation Vibrancy to it using Filter Forge's Photo Effects. Saving that as a TIFF file again. I resampled for display at 120dpi, saving as a JPG file with 75 compression and 25 smoothing.

"Impressionistic Digital Watercolor, Barn and Clouds" Corel

Impressionistic Digital Watercolor, Barn and Clouds

I started with a desire to do a bit of something different on this afternoon. I selected a Free Stockvault image of a Barn and Clouds. I opened in Picasa 3.9 and applied the HDR filter to it, raising the impact a bit. I saved that file iteration. I then imported into Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 and used a Watercolor effect on it using the Impressionistic dry Brush, with Intense Color selected.

Saving that file as a TIFF file I opened in Corel PhotoPaint and used the Tone Curve to add depth to the colors. I also added my signature as a layer and merged them. I saved the large file and then Resampled to display size. I wanted the colors to Pop, so I applied the Filter Forges Vibrancy to the display size piece. Between the Tone Curve and the Vibrancy tools I got the punchy colors I wanted.

I have always enjoyed old Barns and Beautiful Skies in photographs. I enjoyed making an Impressionistic image today.

I am working on a new song titled, "I Still Remain," I don't have a lead for it just yet. I am an Improviser of leads and not a lead Guitar Player. Plus I am using different Tones for it playing on my Seagull 12-String Acoustic through software and the Line 6 POD XT Live for lead. Ever try to bend double the strings on playing a lead? It is very difficult I can assure you. So it remains to be seen what I come up with.

"Bearded Young Man Portrait" Corel

Bearded Young Man Portrait

Programs used to create this image:

• Corel Painter Photo Essential 4 (for Watercolor Sketch)
• Corel PSP Pro x3 (for grayscale image)
• Corel PhotoPaint (to put the two images together)
• Filter Forge Frames (for the film frame)

I had a bit of time to make this today. I have done many Homeless Men recently I liked this Young Mans Portrait found on Morguefile. I wanted to do a Young Man Bearded, so I accomplished that.

"Vintage Family and Bronx Intl Expo Map" Corel

Vintage Family and Bronx Intl Expo Map

Had some time today to browse my Public Domain Maps and Portraits. I selected this Vintage Family and a Bronx International Exposition Map. I opened the family portrait in Corel PhotoPaint. I also opened the Map in PhotoPaint. I layered the two images, after rotating the Map 90 degrees, and played with the property of the Map. I used Multiply and in addition changed the Opacity of the Map.

I applied a Gaussian Blur to the merged layers to soften the piece. I then applied a Filter Forge Film Frame to the image. I neglected to apply my usual signature to the piece, but that is not a big problem as these are Public Domain Images I am using to create another in my series of Map Layering 'Texture Blended,' images.

I hope you are enjoying my Musical contributions, even if you are only listening and not buying it is a pleasure to share with all of you. "Blind Guide," is to be followed by a song containing a warning for that type of person. Keep on the watch for it and subsequent offerings Musically.

NOTE: I now have a CDBaby Music store at the bottom of the posts. Please Scroll down to it and see the other tunes I have for sale. All are Full Preview songs, so you get an idea of what they are like. Comments, Pluses, Shares are welcome. 

"African Map - Woman's Portrait" Corel

African Map - Woman's Portrait

More fantastic files from MorgueFile! I clicked on their freebies and collected some photographs. I had had a comment on one of my images I did of a Woman's Portrait with a Vintage map. When I saw these two photographs I just knew that they would fit together in a unique way.

I opened Corel PSP Pro X3 and layered three layers together, I used differing properties for transparency. The African Map and Woman's portrait also made her eyes just glow in the merged piece.

I saved the large iteration. Then I opened in Corel PhotoPaint. Here I resampled for display. after I had done that I wanted to punch up the colors more.

I used Filter Forge's Photo Effects Vibrancy on the full image. This made the colors just right.

I saved this time Optimized, compressed by 75 and smoothing at 33 for a smaller file size. It was ready for posting.

"Young Lady Watercolor Texture - Guitar" Corel

Young Lady Watercolor Texture - Guitar

I got this photograph from the MorgueFile site and decided to add Texture to it. I opened with Corel PhotoPaint and applied the Threshold tool, which gave me some white space. I browsed for a Texture file and finding one I opened that in Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 to paint it. I used two setting of Watercolors one with Random Brushstrokes and the other Wet on Wet Watercolor.

I saved the color Texture file and opened it in PhotoPaint. There I copied the Young Lady to the clipboard and pasted it upon the Texture. I applied the Texturize property to it for the grayscale look and feel. I then changed the property to Hard Light and gained a bit of Flesh Tone back into the image. I did not merged the layers yet.

I browsed for a large Guitar image and found one. The insides of a Taylor guitar showing the bracing, just as I saw at the Taylor Road Show I attended a while ago. I scaled that image to fit and applied the Threshold tool to it, I used the property Multiply I adjusted the Opacity of that and merged all the layers, including my Signature.

I used the Tone Curve to brighten the image a tad. Then using Filter Forge's Photo Effects Vibrance I gave some more punch to the colors.

I saved the large iteration. Then resampled for display here.

"Eyes Lips Texture Woman Portrait" Corel

"Eyes Lips Texture Woman Portrait" Corel

In Corel PhotoPaint I cropped another Woman's Portrait from MorgueFile to shoulders and face. I then began to use a playful approach to the image. I applied the Threshold tool to the original crop. I added a texture from StockVault to it, resizing it to fit, and applied it to the white space of the image. I merged these together as one.

I then created a cutout of the face, reducing it in size, I placed it down the dark left side. I decided to add some geometric interest to it. I created two Triangular masks. Which I subsequently filled with a gradient of brown to orange.

I thought the largest of them, on the right side needed some more punch. I cutout the lips and then the eyes, placing them within the colored triangle. Also I added a brown border to the outside of the image. I used my Filter Forge Frames plug-in, for a light film frame. Adding the signature in white I saved the large iteration.

I used the Saturation tool to brighten it a bit. I resampled the image to a display size with compression set to 75 and softness set to 33 and Optimized the final piece. I do like the asymmetrical aspect of the overall image. Makes it interesting and not run of the mill.

"Vintage Woman and Horse on Paper Digital Collage" Corel - Dover

Vintage Woman and Horse on Paper Digital Collage

Had some time today to work on this Digital Collage. I used some images from StockVault's Free Textures (the vintage paper background,) and some Dover Publication Samples (Woman and Horse, Florals, and Art Deco Flourish.)

I opened the Woman and Horse in Corel PhotoPaint, here I applied the Tone Curve to deepen the colors. I separately opened the Vintage Paper (I cropped this image,) and here pasted the Woman and Horse, using the property Subtract.

I searched through my collection of Dover sample clip art for the Florals and added them, resizing and darkening with the Tone Curve before merging them. I used Color Burn and Multiply to add them with transparency. I added my signature using Color Burn for a burnt tone. I resized in Corel PSP Pro X3 and added Image Information: Title, Copyright, Sources and Programs used. I added a Mustard border to the image and saved the iteration you see here.

I have been extremely busy this month with an unrelated Project which will conclude at month's end. I am looking forward to creating more Art and playing and recording music with my 12-String Seagull Guitar in the near future. Not counting watching my Grandson!

"Vintage Ford Rust Orange Truck Four" Corel

Vintage Ford Rust Orange Truck Four

Today I selected this Head-on photograph of the Vintage Ford Rust Orange Truck. I opened it in Corel PhotoPaint and created the image here. I used a different approach than the more straight forward photographs I shared in posts prior to this.

I first rotated the image to portrait, then fit to page. I applied PhotoPaint's Local Equalization for an almost HDR look and feel. I took the Tone Curve tool and added depth to the colors.

Applying Filter Forge's Photo Effects Vibrancy I added Punch to the colors as well. I selected a Texture from my Free Friday Texture collection of a panel of wood. This I copied and pasted as a layer upon the image. I adjusted the property of this texture and also the opacity of it. You may see the vertical lines it added.

Back to Filter Forge's Frames I added a Grunge variant Frame to the whole image. I then added my signature in white to another layer and merged them all. I saved this iteration as a large file.

I then opened with Corel PSP Pro X3 and used the Smart Photo Fix on the image, lightening it up slightly. Using Image Information I added Title, Copyright, Camera (Canon Rebel XTi) and Programs used to the information. It appears that PhotoPaint strips all EXIF data from the image when altered. I resized this image for display here.

"Grunge Young Lady Portrait" Corel

Grunge Young Lady Portrait

I have been on hiatus for a period of time, not doing too much creatively, unfortunately. So I got this photograph of my Daughter, prior to marriage, and scanned it into Corel PhotoPaint. I was determined to share a post today!

I resampled the cropped photograph to a larger size. Then I applied the Adjust, Transform, Threshold to it for some white areas. I adjusted the threshold to show her face fairly well.

I took one of the stone textures from the Free Texture site I have used before. I opened that and fit to screen. Going back to the photograph I copied it and then pasted and resized on the texture image. I altered the property to Multiply and this allowed the texture to show through. It gave a grunge appearance to the piece.

I cropped again, and used New File from Clipboard copy. This gave me the image I was striving for. I added my signature and copyright in white, using invert on my signature file.

Using Filter Forge's Photo Effects Vibrancy on the image to add some punch to the colors. I saved that large iteration. I resampled for display.

The T-shirt, though hard to read says, "Brunettes Actually Have More Fun." The whole image turned out well in my humble opinion.

"Amiga 80's Self Portrait" Corel

Updated Amiga 80's Selfie

As I stated yesterday I found some film (35mm) photographs of Screen Shots of works done on my Amiga 1000 in the 1980's. I had this Self-Portrait Video scanned into the Amiga and enhanced in Deluxe Paint. I took the older photograph and scanned it into my PC with my Canon MP495.

I opened in Corel PhotoPaint the 300dpi scan. I applied the Tone Curve and Filter Forge's Photo Effects Vibrancy for a boost to color. I also boosted the color Saturation in PhotoPaint. I used Filter Forge's Frames Grunge Frame for the grunge effect. Here I added my signature and resampled for display.

Notice the 80's glasses I am wearing in this image. Very large lenses and style for those days.

"Art Deco Arched Panel with Woman and Man" - Corel

Art Deco Arched Panel with Woman and Man

I selected another Art Deco Panel this one with Arches and added a few pieces to create this Digital Collage. I scanned in the panel from Art Deco Interior and Panel Designs by Stephen Calloway.

I then researched my Dover Publications Samplers images for a Woman and Man, to which I added Florals. I did all this in Corel PhotoPaint, dropping in the images and erasing the surrounding backgrounds. I applied to the scan and the images the Tone Curve for depth to the colors. I placed a black design in the upper center of the piece for additional interest.

With the Florals I used the Tone Curve and then the property Multiply for transparency. For each piece used I had to resize to fit the large 7" x 11" scan appropriately. I saved the large iteration and resampled it to display size. I then used Filter Forge's Photo Effects for Vibrancy Saturation, to add punch to the colors. Then I added a thin Film Frame using Filter Forge's Frames. I added my signature and saved the display size image.

I really like the images in the Arches of the Woman being served wine, and the Woman dancing to the Guitar Player. This is what attracted me to this Panel for the Digital Collage, along with the coloring.

"Art Deco Panel with Women and Vase" Corel

Art Deco Panel with Women and Vase

I scanned in an Art Deco Panel from Art Deco Interiors And Panel Designs collection by Stephen Calloway. I used 300dpi and 8.5" x 11" size for the original Panel scan with my Canon MP495. I had also used some recent Samplers Clip Art from Dover Publications for this Digital Collage, thus the Women and Vase. I did get the upper most women and vase from the Free Vintage Digital Stamps site.

I assembled the Collage in Corel PhotoPaint. I used the Tone Curve on each piece and also the large iteration before saving. I used Filter Forge's Photo Effect to increase the color Saturation Vibrancy then added a Filter Forge Frame Film Frame to darken the edges of the piece.

I had to use Filter Forge's effects on the display size as I only have the Free versions of Photo Effects and Frames from them, the original iteration was just too large.

I truly enjoy Digital Visual Collage work and like working with Dover Publications and the Free Vintage Digital Stamps pieces when creating these pieces. I like to use the Vibrancy tool for the punch it gives to the colors, especially scanned in colors. These Art Deco Panels and designs, along with the Art Nouveau designs I use are among my favorite periods of Design.

"Old Times Two" Corel - Filter Forge

Old Times Two

As I had mentioned in my previous post I had found these "Old Times," photographs in my files. I expected to do at least two of these for "gatzkART!". These contain visages of my wife's family and friends.

Here is the second as promised. I opened with Corel PhotoPaint two photographs. I cropped the larger one and then copied and pasted the second (Mother with baby.) I erased around the Mother with baby to add only them to the Tug of War photograph. I merged them and used Filter Forge's Photo Effects Colors to create the blue image. I had adjusted the Tone Curve a bit as the Mother with baby stand out starkly against the larger photograph, with little success in matching them.

I really love these older photographs that I scanned in. They are Circa 1950's I believe. They have a certain character to them that makes them stand out. My simple approach to using the separate photographs to "build" an image in blue is not new, but a timeless one.

Please click on the image for the larger view, thank you.

"Art Nouveau Lady with Butterflies" Dover Publications - Corel

Art Nouveau Lady with Butterflies

"Art Nouveau Lady with Butterflies," is the Digital Collage for today. I used my Dover Publications Samplers files for the whole image. I opened the Background in Corel PhotoPaint.

There I applied the Local Equalization tool and the Tone Curve for depth to the floral background. I resampled it to a Medium sized file. I then browsed for more and found the Art Nouveau Butterflies Clip Art (coloring page.)

I opened that in PhotoPaint and also opened up the Art Nouveau Lady, also a Dover Clip Art piece, a model with a hat and dress separately like a paper doll and clothes. I placed the Lady on the new background with the floral and butterflies. I cut out the hat and placed it. Then I did the same with the dress. I grouped the Object (layer) with Create New Object. I then applied the Tone Curve to her for color depth.

I added my signature in blue and bright pink outline. I applied Filter Forge's Photo Effects Vibrancy to punch up the colors. I saved this iteration with a new name for the file. At this point the file was 24-bit color at 300 dpi.

I opened the file in Corel PSP Pro X3 to add Image Information: Title, Copyright, Artist, etc. I added the Ornate Frame to the image and applied Saturation Vibrancy to it one more time (set at 33.)

I saved this iteration with the same name. I resized it for display, saving with a different file name.