"How to: Guitar Man in Vintage House" PE5 Plus

Guitar Man in Vintage House

I selected another Guitar Man and a Vintage House photographs I found free to edit online. I opened the Guitar Man in Paint.NET and used Edit to Select All of the photograph. I applied the Eraser Tool and hand erased all the black background. I saved this with a new name as a PNG file to keep the transparency. .I closed that file and then opened the Vintage House photograph.

It was the interior of the older house used as the background layer. I applied the Effect Ink Sketch lightly to this. I reopened the PNG file and stretched to fit the large interior photograph. I had copied it to the clipboard and pasted it as a new layer.  I merged all layers, then I saved this file.

Next, I used Corel Painter Essentials 5 (PE5.) I adjusted the color of this large image with the Equalize tool. I then selected the Modern Painting setting with a Dry Bush and digitally painted the image. Afterward, I hand painted back in some details using the Soft Cloner Brush. I saved this iteration.

I used Corel PhotoPaint to Add my signature layer, saving this large image. Then I resampled the piece to display size. 72dpi, 1220 X 813 pixels. I decided to add one more Effect. Using Distort, Wet Paint I added dripping to the entire piece. I saved this for display with a new name as a JPG file with 75 compression and 25 smoothing.

"How To: Workflow - Young Man and Woman Portrait" Corel

Digital Watercolor Young Man and Woman Portrait

I truly appreciate the fine portraiture I find at Unsplash Free Photos. I found this Grayscale Portrait of a Young Man and Woman there and downloaded it. I wanted to ply my Digital Visual Art Skills to this image, so, of course I did.

I opened the large file in Corel Painter Essentials 5 and began:

• I selected the Watercolor Sketch set
• Photo Painting Brushes
  • Bristle Oils Cloner
    • Size 15
    • Opacity 88%
  • I hand cloned the eyes and mouths
  • Photo Painting Brushes
    • Straight Cloner
    • Size 21.7
    • Opacity 100%

Saving that large iteration I opened it in Corel Painter 11 and began to paint by hand:

• Digital Watercolors
  • Dry Brush
    • Size varied starting at 29.7
    • Opacity 20%
    • Grain 100%
    • Diffusion 0
    • Wet Fringe 10%
• Background Sky painting
  • Broad Water Brush
    • Size Varied starting at 13.2
    • Opacity 29%
    • Grain 58%
    • Diffusion 0
    • Wet Fringe 50%
• I also used the Liquid Ink Brushes for lined details
  • Coarse Camel Brush
    • Size Various
    • Opacity 100%

I once again saved that larger image and opened it in Corel PSP Pro X3:

• Smart Photo Fix
  • Brighter +28
  • Shadows 0
  • Highlights +10
  • Saturation +10
  • Focus +57
• Hue and Saturation
  • Vibrancy +20

I added my signature, sized and placing it, before I saved the large Final piece. I then resized for display to 801 X 1200 Pixels, 72dpi, JPG file format.

I used Picasa to create the short Movie of the photo steps as the were taken. I have yet to use Camstudio with Windows 10 (free version) to create a YouTube video of my steps and creation of an artwork. 

I did my editing from my short notes I took as I worked on this image, hoping that others can learn from my efforts. Admitting that some of my Corel Programs are older ones, Digital Artists can get the flavor of the workflow and apply it to their current Programs. Most of my writing took place in Open Office the Open Source product. Some additional writing was done here in Blogger's editor.

"How to: Freehand Oil Pastel with Watercolor Paper Texture" Corel

Freehand Oil Pastel with Watercolor Paper Texture

Today I spent some time looking through some Older Freehand Drawings of mine done in various mediums. I found a color Oil Pastel Drawing of a Fictional Man's Portrait I had done, without a date on it. I know I had done it some time ago, but don't remember what year I drew it in.

I had just recently received some very nice Watercolor Paper Textures from Stockvault's Friday Freebies. I wanted to use one as they are new to me. I opened Corel PSP Pro X3 and went to my Textures folder, selecting one I loaded it into PSP Pro X3.

I then scanned in the Freehand Oil Pastel Drawing into PSP Pro X3, with Acquire Twain. I scanned at full color. After it loaded into PSP I resized it to 75% of the original, copied it to the clipboard and pasted as New Layer on the Watercolor Textured Paper. There I adjusted the placing for best effect and viewing, size matching the size of the Watercolor Texture Paper.

I then applied the Layer Property Multiply for transparency to allow the Watercolor to show through. Using Adjust, Smart Photo Fix I altered the Layered Portrait. Settings were: Brighter +23; Shadows -30; Highlights +20; Saturation +50; Focus Original 50; these were to my satisfaction and applied. I merged the two Layers.

I then loaded my Signature File, copied to the Clipboard and Pasted as a New Layer onto the image. I Sized and Placed the Signature, applying the Layer Property Multiply, and merged that with the piece. I saved the piece as a 300dpi RGB 8 bit JPG file.

I looked at it enlarged in Picasa Viewer and decided it needed a small Black Border, I added that at 10 pixels wide. I saved the large image again. Then I resized for display on the blog and other Social Media.

If you like the piece please Share it to Facebook, Twitter, or Google+, or any other Social Media you use. If viewed on a Computer you can share it in multiple ways as a link. Be sure to click on the Headline to make certain you are sharing only this particular post. I you desire to browse my other artworks and posts click the HOME button and scroll down to the Tag Cloud for reference to differing subjects, or use the Search tool for specific searches.

While you scroll down on the pages you will notice my CDBaby Kiosks of some of my Music. The first one will play four songs in a row in Full Preview, the entire songs! Or you can select from the other CDBaby Kiosk for 30 second Previews of all my songs currently available on CDBaby. Select "Playlist," for Full Previews of these other tunes.

"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.

"How this was Done - Bearded Homeless Man" Corel

Another Bearded Homeless Man

I received this photograph of another "Homeless Bearded Man," from Morguefiles Free Photos. I opened it in Picasa and applied the HDR tool upping the Strength and Radius to give it a lot of grain.

Saving that, I opened it in Corel Painter 11 and used the Digital Watercolors Brushes to paint it. I varied the brushes from a Wash to a Dry brush, and used different sizes of brushes as I painted. I saved that large iteration to a JPEG format.

I opened it in Corel PSP Pro X3 and upped the Saturation Vibrancy by 33 for a punch to the colors. I added Image Information, Title, Artist, Date, Comments, and my signature as a layer, to the file and saved again.

I reopened in Corel PhotoPaint and resampled it to display size for this post.

I want to also mention I am CURRENTLY USING COREL PRODUCTS in Windows 10! I don't know what happened but Windows 10 began supporting my Legacy Corel Products! So I upgraded to Windows 10. I like it thus far, has many options for News and local weather and such. And most of my Apps (programs) are working fine in Windows 10.

I added VLC Media Player to my arsenal of Apps and listened to music the whole time I was creating todays piece. Not a glitch with the Apps I had opened at the same time.

Must say I am pleased that Microsoft and Corel were able to support Legacy Corel Products! Thanks to whom ever was listening to my posts!

How this was done - "You Cannot be Serious" Corel Painter 11

You Cannot be Serious

"You Cannot be Serious," is the image I created today. Using a portrait photograph from the Morguefile Free Photos I downloaded this afternoon, I Digitally Painted this piece.

My approach was fairly simple. I first opened it in Picasa (the update) and I heavily applied the HDRish tool to the portrait. I increased the Value and Radius, both. This highlighted the lines and pores of the face, as well as the shadows and highs.

I saved that iteration and opened in Corel Painter 11. There I used all Digital Watercolor Brushes, a Wash Brush and a Dry Bristle Brush to paint this very Serious Man's Portrait.  I Appended the Flesh Tone Palette and the Earth Tone Palette to the basic color starter one. I selected lighter values to begin with and built up the shadows and lines gradually with darker Flesh Tones.

I painted the small parts of his shirt a purple I had selected for some punch. I decided that I would mirror that color in the face around the shadowed areas. It tied the image in together nicely. I saved that iteration.

Next in Corel PSP Pro X3 I upped the Saturation Vibrancy by 33 and then added as another layer my signature with the property Lighten. I merged the layers. It was already a small display size download, so no adjustment was needed there.

"How it was Done - Very Tired Young Driver Image" Corel

Very Tired Young Driver

Today I have reached the milestone of 1,330 blog posts! Thank you for sharing with your friends!

Unsplash sent me their most recent group of Free Hi-Res photographs today. I selected the photograph of a "Very Tired Young Driver." I immediately was drawn to this image, the individual, his hat and shirt, and the amount of light in the entire image.

I opened it in Corel PhotoPaint. Here I applied the Threshold tool for some more white space. I had in mind a Texture Blended image, so I searched for a texture that I already had, not used yet. I located this Concrete Texture. I opened it and copied to the clipboard. I pasted it as a new layer and used the Property Multiply for transparency.

Next I used the Tone Curve to lighten the colors with some depth. I added my signature and saved that iteration. I then opened the image in Corel PSP Pro X3 and applied the Smart Photo Fix, adjusting the Shadows. I added some Vibrancy with the Saturation tool, this brightened up the colors a bit more.

After all these steps I resized the image for display, still in PSP Pro X3, then saved that iteration with my other recent Textured Portraits.

Comments, Shares, Pluses and Purchases always are welcome. Consider purchasing some of my Artwork as a Poster, framed or otherwise through my Zazzle Store. Go to My Art and Music for Sale page and send me an email of your selection from the blog history, I will upload my largest file to Zazzle and send you the URL to the Poster Page. Then you select size, matte frame, paper type. You can purchase it as just a Poster if you would like. Investigate my Zazzle Store for products and other Artwork there.

While you are here on the blog page, scroll down to the Music Kiosks from CDBaby to listen to Full Previews of my Alternative Folk/Rock Tunes. Try before you Buy!

"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.

"Bearded Homeless Man Smiling" PaintDotNET - Corel

Bearded Homeless Man Smiling

This Bearded Homeless Man Smiling was Digitally Painted in the program PaintDotNET, an Open Source Graphics Suite. It is the first time I have attempted to digitally paint with this program. I set the brush sizes as needed with the Properties of Multiply, 50% and 90% Opacity, with some variations.

I had at first tried the Tools, Artistic Ink and Oil and Pencil Sketch, but, did not like the results. So I opted to endeavor to paint it in PaintDotNET. I found it not as robust as Corel Painter 11 (or subsequent releases of Painter.)

I  saved the file at Full Size in JPG format. I opened in Corel PSP Pro X3 and applied the Smart Photo Fix, increasing the brightness and colors. Then for a greater punch I used the Saturation Vibrancy set at 25, boosting the colors even more. Saving that iteration, I opened in Corel PhotoPaint and resampled for display.

"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!

"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.

"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.

"Glasses Beard - Mans Portrait" Corel

Glasses Beard - Mans Portrait

A Mans Portrait using some Auto-Painting in Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4. I had applied a number of auto paint styles to the original photograph. I had first used Corel Painter 11 to Auto Van Gogh paint the color version. Using Corel PSP Pro X3 I upped the Saturation Vibrancy.

Back in Photo Essentials I applied the Impressionist style. which amplified the Van Gogh look. I used the Simple Watercolor set at Saturate colors next. I also used Wet on Wet Watercolor style on the image. Each step added something to the overall image. I attempted to use dry brushes at different times and simple watercolor ones as well.

The image now had lost quite a bit of detail, especially his Glasses. I had used PSP Pro X3 to make a grayscale copy of the original and saved that earlier. I now opened the image in Corel PhotoPaint. I also opened the grayscale image and copied it to the clipboard. I then pasted it over the multi auto painted image and applied the property Multiply to add back in details I had lost.

I had tried to paint it in Corel Painter 11 but just wasn't satisfied with my results today. So I played with Essentials 4 and it's many styles. The final step of adding back in details made the image satisfactory. I believe the photograph came from the Morguefile, but sometimes I lose track of my sources. Stockvault or Morguefile I am not certain on this one.

I added my signature and resampled for display in PhotoPaint, saving the large image as a TIFF file, then the display image as a JPG.

I have added on gatzkART! Blog another CDBaby player that plays the Series of Three songs, Blind Guide, Collision Warning, Reckoning and the Bonus track Something Amazing. I discovered that it played one song right after the other. Thus it tells the story of the Individual who started out self-centered and selfish, warned of a prideful crash, his reckoning as well as his turning around. Scroll down on this blog to the list of Blind Guide and play the series, Full Preview of all four tunes. Purchase which ever you like! $0.99 is not too expensive! Enjoy my unique style of music!

"Messy Hair and Beard - Homeless Man" Corel Painter

Messy Hair and Beard - Homeless Man

Another Digital Watercolor in Corel Painter 11, with accents in Corel PSP Pro X3. I have this Homeless Man Portrait from the Morguefile, his hair and beard are amazingly messy. I had to paint it.

I first opened it in Paint.NET to use the Artistic Ink tool for a Pen and Ink feel to the basic piece. I saved the large black and white image, opening it in Corel Painter 11. I used the Digital Watercolor Brushes, a Coit Ink Brush, and a touch of Gouache. I believe that this Man was one I already painted with his Hand under his chin and cheek. (See earlier portraits of Homeless Men.)

I am working on another song. I have lyrics, no chords or melody yet. I am going to try to make it a Classical Rock song, if I can swing the lyrics that way. I have been listening to Joe Bonamassa a lot lately. His brand of Blues Rock is really good and inspiring. I could never, as this point, reach his level of expertise. He started playing the Blues very young, by four years old it was obvious that he would excel at his craft.

One of my favorite songs by him is, "Slow Train," done in Acoustic style. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKE3itL4ApY

Have a listen if you like Acoustic Blues Rock!

"Resting On Two Hands" Corel

Resting On Two Hands

I had another Homeless Man Portrait from Morguefile, I wanted to share. I opened the Portrait first in Paint.NET and applied the Artistic, Ink tool, with no color, just black for the Ink. I saved that large file and opened it in Corel Painter 11. I used Digital Watercolor Brushes, some Ink, Chalk and Gouache. I digitally painted the image. Saving it as a TIFF file it kept great color.

After I painted it I opened it in Corel PSP Pro X3 to add my signature layer. I tried the Saturation Vibrancy, but it made the image look too brightly colored. I did not save it that way. I saved the TIFF with my signature layer merged.

As I saved to JPG format for display, resized, I noticed the colors and detail blur. I took the image and ran the High Pass Sharpen on it. One more Sharpening and it improved the Ink details. I saved again for display.

"Full Beard, Hat, Glasses" Corel Painter

Full Beard, Hat, Glasses

This photograph I garnered with permission from a Facebook group. I first opened it in Corel PSP Pro X3 and changed it to a grayscale image. I also enlarged it a bit to a display size, as it was a smaller photograph to start with.

Saving that I opened with Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 and used Detailed Watercolor with a Dry Brush for the watercolor appearance. I saved again as a Tiff file. Now I opened in Corel Painter 11. Here I used the Digital Watercolor brushes to paint using my Wacom tablet and Stylus. I selected Chalk brushes for some white and also some Gouache for white.

I used Tinting brushes for the background and added some greens as colors to build the image composition. I saved the image once more as a Tiff file. Opening again in PSP Pro X3 I upped the Saturation Vibrancy by 33. Saving it as a Jpg file for display.

"Beard and Cowboy Hat" Corel Painter

Beard and Cowboy Hat

I chose this photograph of a Mans Portrait with a "Beard and Cowboy Hat." I thought that it would be a challenge to paint digitally. It was a color photograph I opened it in Corel PSP Pro X3 and converted it to grayscale.

Saving that I opened in Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 and used the Watercolor Sketch with a Dry Brush. I saved that iteration and opened in Corel Painter 11.

I used Digital Watercolor Brushes, Chalk, Crayon, Gouache as well. Using my Wacom tablet, I painted it selecting flesh toned colors and browns for the hat and shirt with black and purple for the leather jacket.

"The Couple" Corel Painter

The Couple

I created today's image with the following:

• Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4
• Corel Painter 11
• Corel PSP Pro X3

The portrait was from Morguefile. I applied the Watercolor Sketch in Essentials 4, digitally painted in Painter 11 and upped the Saturation Vibrancy by 18 in PSP Pro X3.

I added my signature and resized for display here. 

The new song I am working on the first recording draft was over 8 minutes long! It also is not as uptempo as I want so it is time to revise! Fun times ahead.

"Hoodie Two" Corel Painter

Hoodie Two

I am really busy lately. I did this late last night. Taking the basic steps, I did previously, I Digitally Painted this image. I used similar workflow as the last post I did. Corel Painter 11 is the main program I used, and for resizing for display Corel PSP Pro X3.

I refer you to the previous post of "Hoodie," Mans Portrait, for details. My appologies for such a short post! But I wanted to get this out today. {Click on HOME for the last post prior to this one.}

I have been working on a New Song and doing guitar and writing exercises. Singer-Songwriter, and Digital Artist. Sometimes something suffers while others are completed. Creativity is hard work!