"Steps to: Colorful Coastline - Digital Watercolor" Corel

Colorful Coastline

• Download Free Photograph from Unsplash
• Open in Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4
• Paint Digitally as Watercolor Sketch, Rough Paper, Color Saturate, Dry Bristle Brush
• Save large iteration
• Open in Corel PSP Pro X3
• Apply Smart Photo Fix, Increase Colors, Shadows
• Applied Saturation Vibrancy set at 33
• Add Signature layer, merge and save large file as JPG.
• Resize Image for display here.

"White Bearded Man Portrait" Corel

White Bearded Man Portrait

Back to Bearded Men Digital Portraits in today's exercise. I saw this portrait online recently and was immediately taken by the man's countenance. I just wanted to digitally paint him. So I downloaded from Morguefile and began to think about the endeavor.

To give greater detail to the image I opened it in Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 first. It began as a grayscale image, I used the Watercolor Sketch tool, Rough Paper, Saturate color (grayscale,) Dry Bristle Brush. I digitally painted it there for the sketchiness. This gave me a great piece to Digitally Paint by hand further in Corel Painter 11.

After I saved the large iteration I opened in Painter 11. I used my color palette with the Flesh tones and Earth tones appended, my current favorite palette. I used the Digital Watercolors Brushes, starting with a Coarse Dry Mop brush. I began to paint the fleshtones selecting ones darker than usual, and laid a background to work with. I added colors as I went selecting almost randomly. I varied the size of the brush as I painted, smaller to larger, back to smaller.

When I came to the Beard I selected the Liquid Ink Brushes for greater detail in his white hair and beard. I chose very small strokes for the beard and varied them only a bit as you can see, some larger some very small. This gave me a great effect for some realism sketchiness in the beard.

I painted the eyeglasses as Tortoise Shell, as the details indicated and the beginning photograph had shown. I selected a Digital Watercolor Green and some Yellow for the sweater, and background, adding in a touch of each to the face and eyes. I had layers of Digital Watercolor and Liquid Ink I selected all layers and Dropped all. This blended much of the colors together, as you will notice the green about the eyes. An unexpected result, perhaps a unhappy accident for the eyes only.

I saved the large iteration and opened in Corel PSP Pro X3, viewing it there I upped the colors by 33 in Saturation Vibrancy. I always use Vibrancy toward the punch that move brings to the pieces I paint digitally. I did not use Curves or the Smart Photo Fix at all on this image. Satisfied with the end result I added a layer with my signature, sizing and placing it, then merging the layers to one. Saved a large iteration then resized for display in this post.

"How this was Done - Musicians Digital Collage" Corel - Picasa

Musicians Digital Collage

As a Musician I enjoy seeing them working their craft. I garnered a few photographs of Musicians from Morguefile and selected four of them to present as Digital Visual Art. The selected four of the photographs I had downloaded from the Free Photos on Morguefile. I decided to do something a little different with them. I chose a Fiddle Player, Banjo Player, Acoustic Guitar Player and an Electric Guitar player. I had a Band without drums, not unheard of for Folk Rock Bluegrass.

I opened each one separately in Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 and digitally painted them. The settings were the Watercolor Sketch, Rough Paper, Saturate Color, Dry Bristle Brush. I did each of the photographs with these settings for uniformity of execution.

After I saved each one I opened Picasa 3+ and selected them individually to use to create a Digital Collage of all four. I applied Picasa's Collage tool and set it as 8.5" X 11" format, Mosaic setting. I shuffled the photos until I had a balance of the four painted images. I generated the Digital Collage in Picasa. It was saved automatically as a large JPG image.

I opened that Collage in Corel PSP Pro X3. Here I applied the Smart Photo Fix tool, upping the color and the highlights just a bit, with a suggested brightening setting. I then used the Saturation Vibrancy tool on the Collage. I thought about applying the Curves to it but the colors were just right, so I did not. I added my signature as a layer and sized it and placed it with the Property of Lighten, merging the layers. I saved the large iteration.

As is my custom I next resized the piece for display in PSP Pro X3, 72dpi and full color.

So I am a Producer of Bands now! I created this group and they sound great! Well, if you could hear them like I do in my head, I am certain you would appreciate them.

"How this was Done - Autumn Pathway - Classic Oils" Corel

Autumn Pathway - Classic Oils

I really appreciate the very good photographs you can find on Stockvault's Free Photos. This is one example. It is an Autumn Pathway with great composition and color. I downloaded it and opened in Corel PSP Pro X3, here I applied the Smart Photo Fix, upping the color, decreasing the highlights a bit. I applied the Saturation Vibrancy set at 33, then used the Curves to add depth to the colors.

What punch the photograph had then. I saved the large image at 300dpi. I opened it in Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4. Here I used the Classic Oils settings with rough paper, saturated colors and the Bristle Oil brush. I digitally painted the Autumn Pathway, saving the large iteration as a JPG.

I then opened it in Corel PhotoPaint and added my signature, I also resized for display. This image must be viewed at the largest size you can view it on your device or computer. The brushstrokes are amazingly curvy and make for a great piece.

"How To: Hewn Stone Steps" Corel

Hewn Stone Steps

Another Landscape diversion for me. I believe I got the photograph of the Hewn Stone Steps from Morguefile, but my records are not always accurate. So bear with me about the source of the file, please.

I opened the Stone Steps in Corel PSP Pro X3 and I adjusted it with the Smart Photo Fix, upping the color, decreasing the highlights, and a light brightening. I used the Curves to add depth to the colors. Then I applied the Saturation Vibrancy set on 33. I saved that iteration.

I liked the end result of my last Landscape so I opened this photograph in Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4. Here I selected the Classical Oil Painting settings to paint with. I also tried the Pastel Drawing, Watercolor Sketch, and Modern Painting settings, but my favorite was the Classical Oil.

I saved that file as a JPG, with my compression off. I opened the file in Corel PhotoPaint and added my signature. I attempted to rid the image of a small red object with the standard paint brush in PhotoPaint, but in Windows 10 OS the paint brush painted a inch line on the Steps, this had never happened before. I tried to eliminate the red object to no avail in PhotoPaint. So you may notice it in the painting.

I resampled the 300dpi image to a display size, saving that with compression set at 75 and smoothing at 25. I decided to try one more thing to get rid of the red object. I have done little painting with PSP Pro X3's tools, I reopened the display image in PSP Pro X3. There I selected the color-picker and chose some colors around the stone wall area. I selected the Airbrush tool and painted out the red object with a few differing colors. That was better.

I saved the file again and posted this for today's viewers.

"How This Was Done - Sun Breaking Through a Foggy Forest" Corel

Sun Breaking Through a Foggy Forest

I received some Free Photographs from Unsplash today, I saved one to my computer. I then went to the Unsplash site and logged in and looked through many new and featured photographs. I was attracted to this one of a Forest of Birch and Pine Trees with the Sun Coming Through the Fog.

I opened Corel PSP Pro X3 and I upped the Saturation Vibrancy to 33, then I adjusted the Curves a tad. I went to Colors and adjusted the Fade to 45 for more depth to the colors. Being a large file from Unsplash I saved that iteration full size.

I opened Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 and experimented with a couple of painting styles, Gouache, Wet on Wet Watercolor, and then I decided to apply the Classical Oil Paint settings to the entire image. This was the image I was hoping for. The foreground displaying the wild flowers, the birch trees standing out clearly and, the sun breaking through the forest with a bright cast of light. You can even see the fog in the left side coming out into the trees.

I really liked the end resulting piece. I saved the Painting in a new Folder, "OilPaint," with a new name. I then opened the image in Corel PhotoPaint and added my signature to the piece. I saved again without compression. I then resampled the image for display, with an appropriate name modification, setting the compression to 75 and smoothing to 25.

I usually like to do portraits, one of my favorite subjects to paint. But, I also like Landscapes with great composition and color. So I chose to do that today with the fine free photograph from Unsplash.

"How to: Anger - Bearded Man Digital Watercolor" Corel

Anger - Bearded Man

I found this photograph, grayscale, on the Morguefile Free Photos site. I was touched by the Anger of this Bearded Man. I decided to paint it to add to my recent collection of Bearded Men paintings. My first step was to open it in Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 and auto paint it, grayscale, as a Pastel first. I stopped it before it was finished. Then I used the Watercolor Sketch with Dry Brushes set, Rough Paper and finished the auto painting.

I saved that iteration and opened it in Corel PSP Pro X3, I altered the image to a RGB 16-bit format as JPG. Saving that I opened it in Corel Painter 11.

Here I selected the Digital Watercolors Coarse Brush to paint Freehand. It automatically went to my default color Palette with colors, flesh tones and earth tones appended. I used that palette to paint. I like the Digital Watercolors because they paint on the one layer that is loaded and allows you to follow the shadows and features closely.

I selected the colors I wanted for this image as I went painting it freehand with my Wacom Stylus and Tablet. This is an older Legacy tablet that to my delight works in Windows 10! I adjusted the brush and colors as I was moved to. I did not touch the background of the piece as it had a great look and good colors for this image.

I finished painting and saved the large iteration. I then opened in Corel PSP Pro X3 and upped the Saturation Vibrancy by 33 for more punch to the colors. Here I added my signature as a layer, then resized it and merged the layers together. Saving once again I then opened the file in Corel PhotoPaint to resample for display size, saving that iteration as well, with a new name.

It has taken me a few hours to do this particular piece, eventhough it is done Digitally. I also have to remember each step I take so I can relate the workflow in my posts. So I type up the description of that and it takes a bit of time as well. I finished up about 2:00pm EDT, for this posting Saturday, and will schedule it for Sunday. As I will be busy then and I will also post to Google+, Facebook, and Twitter for those who follow my works and descriptions of "How To" do the images later.

"Steps To: Red Brick Wall, Door, and Bike" Corel

Red Brick Wall Door and Bike

Steps to do this and the Programs used:

• Picasa - HDR settings Strength=High Radius=Medium
• Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 settings Watercolor Sketch, Rough Paper, Colors=Intense, Dry Brush
• Corel PSP Pro X3 settings Smart Photo Fix=Brightened, Colorful, Sharpness Saturation=Vibrancy at 33
• Photograph from UNSplash Free Photos

Enjoy some of my Music in the CDBaby Kiosks below, just scroll down and listen to Full Previews! Listen before you Buy.

Check out my Art and Music For Sale Page for more information about buying a piece of my work!

"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 to - GIMP and Corel - Guitar Player Leaning on Wall"

GIMP Painting

Corel Painting

I got this photograph from the Morguefile Free Photos under the search Music. I opened it in GIMP, to try my hand at that program. Though it was a color photograph I applied a GIMP filter called Photocopy. This gave me a sketchy outline of the, "Guitar Player Leaning on Wall."

I selected the Airbrushes for painting in GIMP. I altered the Opacity and sizes as I painted this piece. I used semi pastel colors for the digital painting. I finished this and Exported the file as a 100% JPG. You need to Export regular file formats found in other programs as GIMP has it's proprietary XCF format it saves at.

I opened the finished piece in Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 and selected the Watercolor Sketch settings with Saturate for the colors and a Dry Brush. I then let it auto paint that. It gave me just what I wanted, a nicely saturated Digital Watercolor Sketch. I saved that iteration.

I opened in Corel PSP Pro X3 and Adjusted with the Smart Photo Fix, upping the Color, Darkening it a tad as well. I then applied the Saturation Vibrancy set at 33 for that punch to the colors. I added a 10 pixels black border, and my signature.

I resized both the GIMP Painting and the Corel Painting and am displaying them both for comparison.

"Step by Step Digital Impressionism" Corel

Tree and Foggy Trail

This began as a photograph from Unsplash Free Downloads. It was a Trail leading off into the fog, with a prominent Tree. I wanted a Watercolor look but an Impressionistic Style. I opened it in Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4. I selected the Impressionistic Style with a Watercolor Brush and applied a partial auto paint to it. I then used the Impressionistic Dry Brush to add to the Style of the image.

After that had completed I used the Hard Cloner Brush to paint in details to the Tree and the Trail. All this in Impressionistic Colors. I saved the large iteration as a TIFF file. I opened it in Corel PSP Pro X3.

Here I applied the Smart Photo Fix to the entire image, adding brightness and contrasts to it with a bit of sharpness. I added my signature as a layer and used the property Lighten for transparency. I merged all layers and saved that file.

As the image had its own fullness of color I did not change the Saturation at all. I resized the image for display in Image, Resize. This I saved as a JPEG.

Corel Painter Essentials 5 has been on sale for around $39.00 on various sales sites. I am tempted to buy it but am saving up for an 8.4" Samsung Tablet. So I am hanging onto my money for now.

I would recommend it to anyone who wants to turn photographs into paintings, or paint from scratch. It is a good program from the Corel Painter group.

"How to - Horsing Around Digital Watercolors" Corel

Horse One

Horse Two

Here are two Digital Watercolors of Horses. I generally don't paint animals but my wife loves Horses, so I did these. The original photographs may have come from Morguefile Free Photos or StockVault Free Photos.

I began with Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4, I used the Watercolor Sketch set with a Dry Brush, on both for the base images. I used the Soft Cloner Brush for retouching some details. I saved the large iterations as TIFF files.

I reopened with Corel Painter 11 and used the Digital Watercolor Brushes to paint some more by hand. Adding a few detail to each image. Also I applied the Liquid Ink Fine Tip Brush for details. I saved the large paintings again as TIFF files.

I opened them in Corel PhotoPaint and layered on my signature, to both. Again saving them. I had merged all layers before saving the paintings.

Using Corel PSP Pro X3 I resized the images to fit the blog posting. I saved these as JPEG files.

"How To - Beautiful Eyes and Lips Young Lady Portrait" Corel

Beautiful Eyes and Lips Young Lady Portrait

Here is another Young Lady's Portrait from Morguefiles Free Photographs. She has beautiful lips and eyes and a full face as well. I selected it from my downloaded portraits for creating a new image from the portrait.

I opened it with Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 and applied a number of painting styles, some layered over the original Watercolor. I used Pastel Coarse Brushes set to Fade in/Fade out. I set the color to Intense. I stopped the auto painting before it was completely done. Using the Hard Cloner Brush I retouched the eyes and lips a tad for detail.

I saved this larger iteration as a TIFF file. Opening it in Corel PhotoPaint I applied the Threshold tool for some white space. Adjusting the Threshold for more color less white space, I looked for a Paper texture to blend with it. I located this Book Edge Texture with Vintage paper colors. I used this to add to another layer. I sized to fit, and applied the Multiply property for transparency. I merged the layers. Added my signature and saved that iteration as a JPG file.

I imported the image into Corel PSP Pro X3 and upped the Saturation Vibrancy by 33 and saved the large file again. I resized the image for display and saved that file with a new name.

"Young Lady and Young Man Portrait" Corel

Young Lady and Young Man Portrait

"Young Lady and Young Man Portrait," from the Morguefile Free Photos. I liked the colors in this photograph, and the smiles on their faces. I selected it based upon these qualities. I opened it in Picasa 3.9 and utilized the HDRish tool, increasing the radius and value. Saving that file I opened it in Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4.

Here I used the Pastel Drawing settings, Soft Pastel Tapered Brushes. Afterwards, I added back in detail with the Soft Brush in the eyes, and smiles, mouths. I save this file as a TIFF formatted file. I opened that file in Corel Painter 11 and began to paint digitally with my Wacom Tablet and Pen.

I began with the Tinting Brushes with low opacity. Then I switched to the Digital Watercolor Brushes, changing them as I went along. I also used some Blender Brushes, Conte Brushes to add some painterly effects. I saved that iteration as a TIFF file with a different name.

I then opened it in Corel PhotoPaint and added my signature, re-sampling for display, I saved as a JPG file with 75 for compression and 25 for smoothing.

With my Music I have been having some fun attempting to play some Joe Bonamassa songs; "Different Shades of Blue," and "Driving Towards the Daylight." Of course, I am not attempting to play his leads, only to reproduce the songs with Vocals and Chords, Lyrics, playing my 12-String Seagull S12 1990 Guitar. I must admit to mimic Joe is quite a challenge, I've been playing too long in my own style, it is hard to fit anothers.

I also have been working on a New Song, "Come with the Tide." It is a rambling tune with a short Chorus thus far. It may need a rewrite before I release it (probably on SoundCloud.)

"I Still Remain," is still with the Lead Player for his contribution. He has been on vacation, we will see what he comes up with soon. I hope to release that one as a CDBaby song for sale, if it turns out well. We will see.

"Blue Eyed Woman in Red with Book and Tea" Corel

Blue Eyed Woman in Red with Book and Tea

I found on the Internet, another free photograph site called Unsplash. I subscribed to their site and I selected a "Blue Eyed Woman in Red with Book and Tea," photograph to create today's image.

Being that it was a large image I cropped to focus upon the Woman and details. I did this in Corel PhotoPaint. I saved the cropped photograph. I wanted a Pastel look and feel to the piece.

I opened it in Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 and used the Pastel Drawing set, not changing any of the settings. I touched up the eyes with the Soft Edge Brush. I saved that large iteration.

Opening in Corel PSP Pro X3 I used the Smart Photo Fix tool, deepening the Midtones and increasing the color. I added more punch to the Red with the Saturation Vibrancy tool. I saved again, then added my signature, resized for display and saved the final image for posting.

"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.

"Violin in Case" Corel

Violin in Case

I selected this "Violin in Case," image from Stockvault's Freebies. The photograph is a very nice representation of a wonderful instrument.

I opened in Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 as a large file, and Digitally Painted with the Simple Watercolor, Wash Brush, Rough Paper. It was very light and not too colorful. I next went to the Watercolor Sketch tool, with another Wash Brush and a Paper texture. I painted over the first iteration.

Some of the details were missing, and a painterly feel in the background was as well. I took the Retouch Brush, soft, and painted by hand some textures. The body of the Violin still lacked definition. I selected the Retouch Brush, hard, and cleaned up those with addition details, all by hand.

I saved that iteration and opened it in Corel PSP Pro X3 and applied the Smart Photo Fix tool. This added some color and increased the brightness. I saved that as well. Re-opening with Corel PhotoPaint, I added the signature and resampled for display size. I used 75 for compression and 25 for smoothing. It was a 300dpi image, now made smaller.

I recently shared my new song with a lead Guitarist ("I Still Remain.") He was to see if he could add a lead backup to my basic Vocals and 12-String recording. He has an iRig and an iPad with Garageband, So he was going to see what he was able to do for the lead. Then they went on vacation! We'll have to wait and see what results he comes up with.

"Straight On Bearded Man Portrait" Corel

Straight On Bearded Man Portrait

I found another Homeless Man Portrait from Morguefile. I liked the way he is looking Straight On at the viewer.

Programs used to create this piece:

• Picasa 3.9 (HDRish Filter)
• Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 (Detailed Watercolor, Dry Brushes)
• Corel Painter 11 (Digital Painting using Digital Watercolor Brushes, Conte Brushes, Chalk Brushes and Blender Brushes saved large file as TIFF)
• Corel PhotoPaint (to add signature and save to display size for posting as a JPG file.)

If I find anymore Homeless Bearded Men photographs I may continue this series. If not I will do some Digital Collage work, which is always an enjoyable challenge.

I am not sure how many of you may feel but I am very curious about the backwards compatibility of the coming Windows 10 Update! I do not think that I will be able to upgrade my Graphics and Digital Painting Programs as it would be cost prohibitive.

So I am hoping that Windows 10 has all these Corel and other programs I use, compatible for me! I would like to upgrade to the newer OS and have been reading up on it quite a bit. It appears that some features are being dropped like Solitaire, which doesn't worry me at all. I just want my Digital Art Programs to be usable with the upgrade. How about you?

"Bearded Homeless Man Red Doorway" Corel

Bearded Homeless Man Red Doorway

Programs used to digitally paint this image:

• Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 (Watercolor Sketch Dry Brushes)
• Corel Painter 11 (Digital Watercolor Brushes, Conte Brushes)
• Corel PSP Pro X3 (Auto Smart Fix, added signature, resized for display)

I used a color photograph from Morguefile for this piece. I have just about exhausted the Homeless Men for digitally painting. I may create some more digital collage works, soon.

I am still working on the song, "I Still Remain," so it is not quite finished for sharing yet. Watch this space for its release!

"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.