"Daughter and her Doll" Grunge Digital Collage - Corel PhotoPaint Plus

Daughter and her Doll

This is from an actual 400 ASA Black and White film photograph taken years ago of my "Daughter and her Doll," sitting in a little rocking chair. I had scanned it in and saved it. Some time ago I used Corel's Painter to create a woodcut image of her. I've had it for a long time and decided to play with it a bit.

I located it in Picasa 3.9 in a People folder. I had recently downloaded two grunge backgrounds, this one of rusted materials. I opened with Corel PhotoPaint and fit to screen to see the entire texture. I copied and pasted the woodcut into it. I used the property Multiply on it and adjusted the Opacity to 78%, allowing some of the background to seep through.

Browsing in Picasa 3.9 again I went to my Dover Clip Art folder and selected some Victorian corner embellishments for the top right and left corners. I used the Tone Curve on them to increase there depth of black color. I also found an antique Grandfather clock and some floral designs and added those to the bottom, to the right and left of the woodcut. I again used the Tone Curve and the property Multiply. I slightly cropped the image for size.

I saved the large file, and reopened it in Corel PSP Pro X3. Here I increased the Vibrancy with the Hue and Saturation features. I added a gold mat and a simple black frame to complete the image. Saving that iteration, I resized for display here. Back in PhotoPaint I added my signature and saved both the large and medium sized duplicates.

"Digital Watercolor Paintings" Corel Painter - Corel PSP Pro X3

Four Eyes

Watercolor Portrait

Browsing in Picasa 3.9 I found a couple of examples of portrait work. The first one is an abstract I did years ago and had scanned in. I opened in Corel's Painter and created a clone then using the Ballpoint Pen I sketched the faces. I switched to Watercolor Camel brush and painted the colors into the image.

I added the signature in PhotoPaint. But I used Corel's PSP Pro X3 for saturation boost and the adding of the ornate frame.

The second image was a pen drawing I did at a book store, also quite a while ago. I had scanned this one in as well. I used the same Camel Watercolor brush to begin with, resizing it as needed. I also used a Flat brush for lines and for the background as well as the Erase Salt brush in the same.

Again I added my signature in PhotoPaint and matted and framed this image in PSP Pro X3.

Both images were smaller when I began, I used 300 dpi for them both and resized for display here in PSP Pro X3.

Last night, before going to bed I got out my Seagull 12-String Guitar and played and sang some Beatles tunes, starting with I Am the Walrus. I ended with Fool on the Hill. What an enjoyable hour that was.

"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

Digital Pen and Ink - Watercolor - Corel Painter - CorelTRACE - CorelDRAW

Click for Larger Image

I found another detailed sketch of a brick house that I drew. A house on Walbridge Dr. in East Lansing, Michigan. I scanned it in with my Canon All In One in 24-bit RGB format. I saved the file and opened PhotoPaint. There I converted to a 8 bit black and white image and did an iterative save.

I opened that black and white image in CorelTRACE and traced it into a cmx CorelDRAW file. Saving that iteration I opened it in CorelDRAW. I cleaned up some of the outlines I did not want. I selected the entire house and grounds and made the pen lines thicker for more impact. So I had a pen and ink style piece to work with. I saved that as a 24-bit RGB 300dpi tif file.

I opened it with Painter from Picasa 3's gatzkART3 folder. I selected watercolor brushes to paint it. I kept the colors simple and then I used the select tool to select the wood and used Apply Surface Texture> Simulated Wood Grain>. I used a different texture for the brick.

I saved it as a tif file and then I dropped all Layers and saved as a large jpg. This image I opened in PhotoPaint and placing a black border I added my signature and resampled for display here.

Listening --- Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young --- Our House

Guitar Player and Guitars - Digital Collage - PhotoPaint - Picasa 3 - Flaming Pear

I'm venturing back into one of my favorite motifs in digital collage, that is the Guitar. Today's image is a collage done in Picasa 3 and PhotoPaint where I added together a Guitar Player and differing views of the same guitar piece.

I used Flaming Pear's filters on each Player and guitar image before I added them into a large collage in Picasa 3. I have an individual poster of the guitar player on my Zazzle store for sale and it has proved to be one of the favorites there.

He started out as a photograph that I used Little Ink Pot's Thredgeholder on and then in Painter painted with watercolor. I added him for a special touch to this collage.

I finished up by resampling to fit online and added a light film frame in Filter Forge's frames. The guitars are a Lyon 6-String and a Seagull 12-String in various angles and colors.

Listening --- Kirk Mathew Gatzka --- Norwegian Wood Cover

Duotone Dual 12-String Guitars - PhotoPaint

This Duotone is of combined images of my Seagull 12-String Guitar. One image was painted in Painter and the other is a photograph of the hummingbird etching with flowers I did freehand on the pickguard.

I truly enjoy this guitar and it's versatility. using my Woody Seymour Duncan soundhole pickup I connect it to my Toneport and the Gearbox software and emulated many differing guitar styles. From Archtop Jazz guitar to Hardcore Punk lead guitar styles it's a joy to play.

I had done the collage of the two images in Picasa 3 and resized in PhotoPaint for sharing here. I had previously painted the image on the left in Painter and cropped the photograph before I made the collage in Picasa 3.

I did the Duotone in PhotoPaint, selecting a color scheme that was pleasant to me. I loaded it from Corel's sets for such. I added a grunge frame in Filter Forge.

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Now playing: The Who - Baba O'Riley [*]
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

Waiting for Spring in Michigan - Paint.NET - Painter 8 - PhotoPaint

"Waiting for Spring," is based upon a photograph taken at a greenhouse called Wojo's here locally, last year. Here in Michigan we haven't' had very good spring weather, cold temperatures and mixed snow and rain interspersed with some sun, not enough sun though.

First I opened the photograph in Paint.NET and applied the Kuwahara Filter Modified, for a painted appearance. I also used the Ink Sketch filter with the color turned up and the ink down. I saved this large file.

I then opened this file in Painter 8, which has my plugins attached. I used Filter Forge's watercolor frame on it adjusting the width to a smaller size. I also applied the Surface Texture Image Luminance for the brush-stroked look.

After saving that I reopened in PhotoPaint and added a 20 pixel black border. I resampled the larger file for display here and saved it.

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Now playing: Bruce Springsteen - Secret Garden
via FoxyTunes

More Grunge Guitars - Acoustic Electric - Paint.NET - PhotoPaint

More Grunge guitars, Fenders and others Electric Acoustic guitars from Motor City Guitar. I took this photograph myself at Motor City, and I opened it in Painter 8 and used the Flaming Pear tool Chromasolarize on it. This boosted the golden color of the background.

Saving that I opened it in PhotoPaint and used the Effects> Art Strokes> Crayon> on it. Blending much of the line and color in a crayon like image. I saved again with a different name and opened it in Paint.NET to apply the Ink Sketch tool without any color and a light pen and ink look in black and white.

I selected all and copied to the clipboard, closed Paint.NET and pasted the image on top of my crayon image in PhotoPaint. Using the object (layer) property Color Burn I made the white transparent and this allowed the ink lines to show through. I merged these together.

I opened Filter Forge's Photo Effects and used a grunge filter to add texture and a grunge feel to the image. Also using Filter Forge's frames I added a film frame to the piece. In PhotoPaint, still, I used the Tone Curve to give some depth and brighten the image a bit.

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Now playing: My Morning Jacket - Golden
via FoxyTunes

Classic Acoustic Guitars - Paint.NET - PhotoPaint

A short post today. Here is an image from a photograph of some classic acoustic guitars.

In Paint.NET I used the Kuwahara Modified filter for a painterly look. Then used the Ink sketch filter for line art. I adjusted the Curves> Luminosity> for depth of color.

I took the file into Painter and applied the Lighting filter which gave it a bit of vignetting.

In PhotoPaint I added the frame with Filter Forge's Freepack Frames.

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Now playing: Beatles - While My Guitar Gently Weeps
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

Guitars - Chromasolarized - Paint.NET - Painter - PhotoPaint

At a recent visit to Motor City Guitar in Waterford, Michigan I was allowed to take some photographs of the surrounds. I haven't discussed much music on the blog recently so I decided to add this guitar image from that visit.

I had opened the photograph in IrfanView to do a batch conversion of some of the photographs down to 1024 size. I find that program very useful for batch conversion and use it for resizing for the web quite often when I want to do more than one image.

I selected this photograph and opened it in Paint.NET and adjusted the Curves Luminosity lightening the piece. Then I applied the Effects> Artistic> Ink Sketch> with the color turned all the way up, but the ink turned down. Saving that file I opened in Painter 8 for a set of plugins that I haven't added to Painter 11.

I applied the Effects> Flaming Pear> ChromaSolarize> to the image for a unique look. It warmed up the piece and gives it some added punch.

DADGAD Guitar Playing - Beautiful and soothing!



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Now playing: Moby - Guitar, Flute And String
via FoxyTunes

Historic Fishtown - Painter Pen and Ink and Watercolor

Traverse City, Michigan area has many local spots that highlight older times. "Historic Fishtown," is one of those places. This photograph was taken by my son Keir M. Gatzka a number of winters ago.

I opened the photograph in Painter, cloned it and selected all, cleared the clone and turned on the tracing paper. I chose the Pens> Ballpoint> pen for drawing the basic outline of this historic building. This took some time because of the detail of the stairway and windows and door.

I then selected a watercolor layer and proceeded to paint with a Dry Bristle brush, doing this with the tracing paper turned off. I painted the building with the clone button selected, though the original photograph had little color in it, it made for a nice texture.

This also took some time as the brush was kept smaller for a slanted board appearance. I saved the large file and opened it in PhotoPaint. Here I added a 20 pixel black border for a frame, and resampled it for the web.

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Now playing: JJ Cale and Eric Clapton - Sporting Life Blues
via FoxyTunes

Two Guitars - Digital Watercolor - Texture - Painter

I began again with a photograph of a 12-String and a 6-String guitar, taken by me. I opened the photograph in Painter and cloned it. Selecting All I cleared it and turned on the tracing Paper using CTRL_T.

I selected a dry bristle brush in Digital Watercolors and painted the two guitars. I used a broader brush for the background, also adding salt to that. I used the soft cloner to add back in the strings and pins and tuning pegs.

I used Filter Forge for the watercolor framing changing the color to a rust brown and narrowing the frame size. In Painter I used the Apply Surface Texture> Image Luminance> for more texture.

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Now playing: A.I.C. - No Excuses
via FoxyTunes

Another Pretty Face - Painter - PhotoPaint

I began today with a photograph of a pretty young lady from morguefile. I opened it in Painter and cloned the image. I then selected all and cleared it. Using Colored Pencil #7 I applied an Auto Clone muck up of the image.

While in Painter I applied Acrylic brushes and Digital watercolor brushes and did some soft cloning on the eyes, nose and mouth.

I saved the large file and opened it in PhotoPaint where I resized it for the web. I applied the Effects> Texture> Plastic> with a light pink tint. Which gives it some unique highlights. I applied the Tone Curve for depth and increased the saturation slightly.

I then finished with a Filter Forge photography frame. Cropping the focus to the face more than the greenery in the background.

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Now playing: Bee Gees - More Than A Woman
via FoxyTunes

Cropped Egyptian Beauty - CorelTRACE - CorelDRAW - Painter - PhotoPaint

I began this exercise with a photograph of an Egyptian beauty. I used the image in CorelTRACE and made it a vector graphic, which much simplified the colors and details. I opened it in CorelDRAW and copied it to the clipboard. This I pasted into PhotoPaint.

I resized the image in PhotoPaint and then saving it as a jpg, I opened it in Painter. There I used the Digital Watercolors to create a muck up of the woman's face. I added an Acrylic brush Auto clone and then used the soft cloner to add back the detail of her mouth and eyes and nose.

I used the Effects> Texture> Plastic> with a light peach color on the image

I applied optiVerve Labs Virtual Photographer using the settings of Slide #2, 1600 ASA, Warm, Effect> Wash> to adjust the piece.

Still in PhotoPaint I cropped the resulting image and used a Photography frame from Filter Forge.

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Now playing: Bob Dylan - Just Like A Woman
via FoxyTunes

Dual Guitars - Painter - Liquid Ink - Watercolor

I browsed through my guitar photographs and selected one of my favorites for this piece. I opened the photograph in Painter and used the Liquid Ink and Digital Watercolor brushes to render this painting.

I like the thickness of the Graphic Ink brush and the watercolor brushes. I cloned the original and enlarged it on screen and cleared the workspace then used CTRL-T to use the tracing paper. I kept the process simple as I wanted a likeness that showed enough details, like the strings.

The 12-String is my Seagull and the 6-String is my son's Lyon guitar. I had them both for a while when this photograph was taken. I applied Filter Forge's watercolor frame and saved the large file.

Opening it in PhotoPaint I used the wand tool to select the white space surrounding the image and applied the mask. I used a fill type of wood to finish the frame. I resampled the image for display on the web.

Stay With You by Gatzka Music
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Now playing: Kirk Mathew Gatzka - Pages Without Numbers
via FoxyTunes

My 12-string Seagull Guitar

A simple post today. Here is a representation of my 12-string Seagull Guitar. I applied various filters using Flaming Pear in Painter. I added a grunge frame using Filter Forges Freepack 3.

This image started out as a photograph that I modified some time ago and then added the effects mentioned above. It truly is a beautiful 12-string and I am happy to own one.





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Now playing: Kirk Mathew Gatzka - I'm Counting On You 3 Acoustic
via FoxyTunes

Alaskan River Revisited - Painter - PhotoPaint

I have been busy with a new gadget a VHS to DVD Dazzle DCV100 with Pinnacle Studio 12. I have been digitizing older family VHS tapes to create DVDs from them.

I also am using Windows 7 - Windows DVD Maker to burn multiple copies for family members of the various activities I have on VHS tape. I like the Play Screens of DVD Maker and I also like the basic transitions of Pinnacle Studio.

I took some time today to revisit one of my favorite photographs from our trip to Alaska a couple of years ago. I used Picasa 3 to browse photographs and selected this one. I opened it in Painter and applied Posterize at 8 levels of color. Then I applied the Depth of Field to it. After I added a film frame using Filter Forge's Freepack 3 I saved the file and opened it in PhotoPaint.

Here I adjusted the Tone Curve and the color saturation. I created a signature file using the ballpoint pen brush in PhotoPaint and added the copyright 2011 to it for my first post of the year. I cut and pasted it into the image and used the object property Multiply to add it with transparency.

I am using our laptop for this post which is not what I usually use. but the Wacom tablet is connected due to using this newer computer for the VHS conversions and DVD burning. Not all of my photographic files are on this laptop so I did select from a limited number of files for this image.

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Now playing: The Beatles - Please Please Me
via FoxyTunes

Orchids - Paint.NET - PhotoPaint - Painter

A photograph taken by my son Keir M. Gatzka of Orchids at the produce market last summer.

I opened it in Paint.NET and applied a pen and ink sketch filter along with a painterly filter for a start. I saved that and opened it in PhotoPaint. There I applied the Tone Curve and boosted the saturation for depth and color. Then with Filter Forge's Freepack 3 I used a watercolor frame. Adding a 10 pixel black border.

In Painter I added Apply Surface Texture> Image Luminance> for the texture ( see the larger image for details. )

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Now playing: Kirk Mathew Gatzka - Don't Leave Me Alone
via FoxyTunes