"Watercolor Portrait" Corel Painter 11

Portrait

Found in browsing with Picasa 3.9, a digital pencil sketch of a young woman. I opened Corel Painter 11 and was working on creating a new workspace. I created some new Texture papers using some textures from Flaming Pear saving them in a new library.

I opened a new 8" x 10" 300dpi canvas and using the Chalk brush I painted the entire canvas with textures in very light browns and yellows, ochre really. I saved that file and using copy and paste I opened the pencil sketch on it's own layer. I used the resizing tool to make her fit the large canvas and committed the transformation.

Using differing watercolor brushes I painted the young lady portrait. I altered opacity and selected each brush as I went along. I kept some of the sketch showing through for small details, especially in the eyes, where I used a Tint brush for the eye color.

I did use the Tint brushes quite a bit as well for the painting. If I remember correctly the pencil sketch was created digitally also in Paint.NET, quite a while ago.

My son and I have been discussing portraiture recently. He is going to try to develop his drawing skills with traditional pencil drawings and I, of course, will be working digitally. This is my first attempt within this discussion.

Listening --- Def Leppard --- Woman 

"A Waiting Lady" Digital Collage - Corel PhotoPaint - Corel PSP Pro X3

A Waiting Lady

Today I used some Vintage Clip Art I recently got from online along with Flaming Pear's textures. I opened Picasa 3.9 and browsed to my Flaming Pear folder and selected a texture called "branches." I opened with Corel PhotoPaint and increased the file size by increasing the dpi to 300. I then used the Unsharp Mask tool on it for a bit of sharpness.

I converted this bmp to an RGB image and used Replace Color giving it a blueish cast. I browsed to my Clip Art folder in Picasa 3.9 and found the Marie Antoinette like lady and copied and pasted her into the texture background. I erased much of the image leaving only the lady. I also added the dress making piece to the image.

I Replaced Color on both then added the globe and books and scrolls, copying, pasting erasing, coloring again. I searched for an appropriate corner symbol and did the same. I used the property Multiply on all the pieces of the collage. Saving this I opened with Corel PSP Pro X3 and where I applied the Saturation Vibrancy to boost the color and Curves for depth. I added the ornate frame to match the elegance of the lady.

I resized for display in PSP saving both sizes of the image.

Listening --- Little River Band --- Lady

"Stained Glass Birds" Digital Collage and Painting - Corel Painter 11 - Corel PSP Pro X3

Stained Glass Birds

Opening Picasa 3.9 I made a collage of Flaming Pear's textured squares. I used the Neon filter on the collage and adjusted the color to a bronze like tone.

Saving the large file I opened with Corel's PhotoPaint (I resampled to a slightly smaller file size.) Browsing to my Dover Clip Art folder I found two "Stained Glass birds" images. I placed and resized them to fit the textured image.  Saving again I opened with Painter 11 and used a simple watercolor brush to paint the birds. Then I selected a Liquid Ink layer and painted the backgrounds of the bird images.

I saved the file again and opened with Corel's PSP Pro X3. There I adjusted the saturation Vibrancy and the Curves adding depth to the color. Then I added a soft mat and the simple black frame. I saved the file once more and opened with PhotoPaint.

I added my signature and resampled for display here.

Listening --- The Beatles --- Blackbird

Grunge Guitars - Gaussian Blur - Paint.NET -PhotoPaint

A return to a grunge guitar motif for today's image. I opened my Picasa 3 folder of Flaming Pear texture tiles and using the Collage feature created a collage of some of them. I selected the resulting collage and resampled it for a working size. I opened with PhotoPaint and applied the Tune Blur Gaussian blur to the textures. Then I made then into a Tritone and converted it back to RGB. I applied the Local Equalization to that for a high contrast background image.

I browsed to one of my guitar photograph folders and selected one of two guitars on an angle. I opened with Paint.NET and used the Effects> Artistic> Ink Sketch> tool with the color turned down and the ink up a bit. I resized that to a size similar to the background I had in PhotoPaint. I copied it to the clipboard and pasted it on top of the tritone background. I sized to fit. I used Filter Forge's frames for a film frame.

I added some dripping paint splashes and the text to a fun, bluesy lyric entitled "Talk It Over." I added the basic blues chords E7 - A7 and B7 to the image as well. Here is the lyric:

Before you hand your money over
Talk it over

Before you hand your money over
Talk it over

You might find a good deal
Or you may buy a lemon
You might find a good deal
But think about it hey man

Before you hand your money over
Talk it over

Before you hand your money over
Talk it over

Watch how your dollars spent
They gotta go as far as can be
Watch how your dollars spent
An make sure your honey agrees

If you don't watch your money
Someone else will be

If you don't watch your money, honey,
Someone else will be

Before you hand your money over
Talk it over

Before you hand your money over
Talk it over

It's OK to laugh at the lyrics, they are meant to be fun! As any married couple may know it takes two to make a budget and stick to it! So before that purchase, talk it over, can you really afford it? I hope you can.

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Now playing: Kirk Mathew Gatzka - Talk It Over
via FoxyTunes

Two Landscapes - Red Schoolhouse - Sunset - PhotoPaint - Paint.NET - Filter Forge - Flaming Pear

Two more Luminous Landscapes for today. The Red Schoolhouse was taken by my son, Keir M. Gatzka. I used PhotoPaint's Tone Curve for depth and increased the color saturation for boosting the color. I saved that large file and opened in Paint.NET to apply the Ink Sketch tool. I used the Kuwahara Filter Modified on it for a painterly look. Saving that I opened in Painter 8.

There I applied the Flaming Pear's Chromasolarize filter for a glow. I saved it again with a new name and reopened in PhotoPaint and applied the Filter Forge Grunge frame with the red grunge touch. I resampled it to display here and saved that file.

The second photograph was taken by a relative that wishes to remain anonymous for personal reasons, but I have family permission to enhance it. I kept this Sunset digital manipulation simple. I opened the scanned photograph in PhotoPaint and adjusted the Tone Curve, upped the saturation and added a film frame from Filter Forge. I resampled for sharing here. I had applied Tune Blur on it as well.

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Now playing: Kirk Mathew Gatzka - Talk It Over
via FoxyTunes

Thinking Spring - Experimental Irises - Painter 11 - PhotoPaint

Here is an experimental image done in Painter 11. I first used an Art Deco background and resampled it to a larger 128dpi size in PhotoPaint. One of my Dover Publications clip art pieces. I then saved that and opened it in Painter 11.

I used the Amazonia brushes for cloning on a quick clone with an ocher background, using Auto clone. I added the Great Crested brush for some looseness. Also I added a texture called "florella" from Flaming Pear.

I opened another image and set it to the clone source. Using the Inkspiration brushes I added the cloned Irises to the background I had created with the Twisted Direction brush.

I was thinking Spring! These Irises came from our own garden photographs.

I finished in PhotoPaint adding two borders one black the other plum. I used the wand on the plum and applied the Effects> Texture> Plastic> for a 3D look.

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Now playing: Kirk Mathew Gatzka - Time
via FoxyTunes

Guitar Collage - Kaleidoscope - Paint.NET - Painter 8 - PhotoPaint

I was experimenting with collage on one of the guitar photographs I had taken recently. I opened the resized photograph in Paint.NET and applied the Ink Sketch filter. I also adjusted the Curves> Luminosity>. Saving that file I opened in Painter 8.

There I used Flaming Pears Chromasolarize filter. I saved the file and reopened in PhotoPaint and opened a second guitar image and cut and pasted pieces of guitar and placed them somewhat haphazardly into the piece. Saving that I opened it in Paint.NET again.

I used the Kaleidoscope filter and played with the settings until I had an image that was satisfying to me, Here you can see both before and after images. My favorite is the Kaleidoscope piece.





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Now playing: Beatles - All You Need is Love
via FoxyTunes

Wine Shopping - Flaming Pear's Zombie - Painter 8

Looking for a focal point is some-
times a chal-
lenge. But this photograph, taken by my son Keir M. Gatzka, was a no-brainer. The focal point was clearly the wine bottles on sale.

I kept this image very simple as I found that, in Painter 8, Flaming Pear's Zombie filter to be an adequate one time filter. It created a black and white image with much grain and a vignette of gray.

I added framing using Filter Forge's Freepack 3 again, using a dual film frame. As you know it is one of my favorite frame selections in the Freepack.

So nothing fancy or technically difficult to produce this piece. But I really like the resulting focal point and the grain of this image. Hope you like it as well.

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Now playing: Kirk Mathew Gatzka - Use It Or Lose It 2
via FoxyTunes

Toy Doll Collection - Flaming Pear - ChromaSolarize - PhotoPaint

Toy Collec-
tions can be fas-
cinating subject matter for Digital Visual Art. I selected this scanned in image of a collection of dolls belonging to my niece.

I enlarged it in PhotoPaint, and saved it for use with Flaming Pear's ChromaSolarize filter. I applied the filter in Painter, and then saved that file.

I reopened it in Paint.NET and used the Ink Sketch filter on it and added a painterly look and feel to it as well. I then used Adjustments> Curves> Luminosity> to add depth to the colors.

Back in PhotoPaint I added a 50 pixel pink border to begin framing it. With Filter Forge's Freepack 3 I added a thin film frame, then I added another pink border and thin film frame. I selected the last border and applied Texture> Plastic> to it and removed the mask, saving the final image.

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Now playing: Kirk Mathew Gatzka - Come Home Blues
via FoxyTunes

Dancers at a 50th Wedding Anniversary - Flaming Pear Effect

Quite awhile ago we attended a Fiftieth Wedding Anniversary party. This is when we had a point and shoot digital camera, before I got my DSLR. This shot was taken by my son Keir M. Gatzka at that party.

I opened the file in Painter 8 and used Flaming Pear's ChromaSolarize filter on it to give it the look and feel it has now. It is an interesting way to look at details, like shadows and the balloons and lighting.

I added a double film frame using a fill on a fifty pixel border that I made from another photograph. I added the film frames with Filter Forge's Freepack3, one of my favorite framing techniques.

The effect was a simple way to make a striking image of the dancers. The couple are of Mexican descent and the music theme was Mexican and the dancing was marvelous.

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Now playing: Concrete Blonde - Mexican Moon
via FoxyTunes

A Burst of Creativity - Multiple Images

Lois

Ice Cream Truck

Self-Portrait Playing Guitar

Another Guitarist

Peacocks

A Single Peacock

An Artist At Work

Digital Visual Art Tutorial

I decided to use CamStudio, free version, Screen Casting software to create a Tutorial showing step by step digital manipulation. I scanned in an APS camera Panoramic size photograph of a tree with unusual bark at 300 dpi and 100%. Saved that file and as shown manipulated it.

Due to the timing going 4 minutes over the 15 minute limit for YouTube I did not show the finishing of the image. I'll explain that here.

I used Filter Forge's Freepack 3 for a film frame on the piece and also had recorded how I use my signature file, inverting it to black and white. Placing it as an object in PhotoPaint I used the object property of If Lighter to make the black transparent for a white signature.

I like using CamStudio for Screen Casting but in the future I will cut up my clips to fit the 15 minute guidelines. So I may have more than one in a series.

If you like the Tutorial feel free to let me know. One thing I've learned it is time consuming, Screen Casting, uploading quality video and it is also fun. I hope to make more as time allows.

Digital Collage - Guitar Player - Picasa 3 - Vision Board - Flaming Pear - PhotoPaint

Here is another Digital Collage made with Picasa 3. I began work in the program Vision Board Builder and formed a collage of the "Guitar Player Chording D" and other guitar photographs.

I opened this file in Painter and used the Flaming Pear filters on it to create differing styles of the beginning collage. I saved each image separately and went back to Picasa 3 to select them for another collage. I created the collage and saved it. Then I opened it in PhotoPaint to add a film frame from Filter Forge's Freepack 3.

I did some curves using the Tone Curves in PhotoPaint to give depth to this collage. I inverted my signature file and added it in white to the finished collage.

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Now playing: NPR - Bob Dylan Bootlegs, Tom Tom Club, Marah
via FoxyTunes

More Digital Collage - Vision Board Builder - Picasa 3

I am still using my trial versions of the plugins I mentioned in yesterdays post. Doing digital collages in Picasa3 and a new free program from Day Blocks called Vision Board Builder [click here].

I am posting another two images today of this different approaches to collage. I selected multiple photographs of my Grandson for these. You might say the "Many Faces of Ezekiel," which I entitled one of them.

As you can see I used some of the same photographs for the second collage. Having a grandson is wonderful and one cna't help taking more and more photographs. I had a visit from them yesterday and got a few more of him with one of his hats on. An enjoyable visit and time well spent.

You'll notice the radial feature of Vision Board Builders collage with some lines showing through, but mostly the blending works very well.

I had no trouble with using it first time out. It opened without a hitch and the placement of the modified photographs was easily accomplished.

I should mention that Kurt, the programmer of Vision Board Builder also has a video explaining how to use the program for building your Vision boards or collages on his page that I have the link to above. Tim, an acquaintance on Painter Talk found the program and that's how I found out about it. So if you are interested in digital collage I recommend this program.

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Now playing: Buffalo Springfield - Everybody Look What's Going Down
via FoxyTunes