"Steps to This: Path To The River" PE5

Path To The River

Back to a Pathways image for today! I selected a Stone and Brick Pathway photograph to work on. I opened in Picasa 3+ and applied the HDR effect, Radius at 50% and Strength was Medium. I saved that file. My next step was to open this file in Corel Painter Essentials 5 (PE5).

I picked the Impression Painting set with the Acrylics, Oils Fine Camel Brush to digitally paint. I added back in some slight details with the Soft Cloner Photo Brush. The Impressionist palette really makes this image stand out. I saved this piece.

Corel PhotoPaint allowed me to apply the Tone Curve adding a slight depth to the colors. I applied Saturation set to 10. Added my signature layer and merged the layers saving the large file.

I used the Filter Forge Frames for a Film Frame on the image. I saved the large file again. I next Resampled the image for display. Set at 72dpi 768 X 1024 pixels, Anti-alias and Maintain the Aspect Ratio I saved to an Optimized JPG Compression at 75, Smoothing at 25 for display size.

A piece of advice for all who work on Digital Visual Artwork. Save your working file frequently! It saves a lot of grief if the program freezes or your computer acts up and you lose some of your steps already taken. If you like to save to the working programs native file format for recovery if the worst happens.

"How Did This Happen? My Adventure with Linux - Stone Pathway" PE5

Stone Pathway

UPDATE: I have been able to get Debian 8 LXDE to work on my Dell 1100! I still have some screen issues with funny lines and some missing words on login, but it is working. Added Audacity for recording and it works with a condenser microphone I have. Having fun with Linux issues!

I recently was given a Dell Inspiron 1100 Laptop with only 256MB of RAM and a 20Gig HDD and a CD Reader. Have you ever tried to install a form of Linux on a computer with so little RAM and no DVD-RW? My experience shows it is very difficult! I tried a number of flavors of Linux: Puppy; Lubunto Mini; Debian; and a 45MB version with a forgettable name.

Hours and hours later after Debian gave me a Login Screen. I logged in - OOPS! Something went wrong - White Screened! Not enough RAM I'm certain. Puppy Slackware version - no lettering on window Icons. Did not know what to pick for what, but I had a nice bunch of Icons on the desktop. Lubuntu Mini same story, Icons but with lettering, but CRASH! Not enough RAM! The 45MB version was a command line screen, not GUI, stuck without enough Linux knowledge for that! It Ran, though.

Days later I have now let the project sit for a time, frustrated, I need more RAM and I have a tight budget for toying around with an old laptop. Fun but time consuming and I have neglected my blog!

I decided to continue with my Pathways Series of Images. I selected this "Stone Pathway," which appears to be in a Park. Opening it in Painter Essentials 5 (PE5) I applied the Effects Adjust Color choosing Image Luminance to enhance the colors. Then I used the Equalize tool to add depth to the colors and saved the image.

I selected the saved image to auto paint. I chose the Pastel Drawing, Photo Painting Brushes, Chalk Cloner and Digitally painted the image. Picking the Soft Cloner Brush, I added back in some of the details of the photograph. I saved this image.

I opened it in Picasa 3+ and used the HDR tool with the Radius set low and the Strength Medium-low, and the Fade at 0. I then went and applied the Museum Matte for Framing the image. I saved again.

Next in Corel PhotoPaint, I added my signature layer and merged them. Applied the Tone Curve for more Depth of color. I saved again. I resampled the image at 72dpi 1200 X 823 pixels and set Compression at 75 and Smoothing at 25. I saved with another name for the display JPG file.

This took me a few hours to accomplish, but I am glad to be making Digital Visual Artwork again! I will look into used RAM on sale for that Laptop and see if I can make it work. Someone with a little knowledge of Linux would probably like to own it. If I can just get it working!

"How To: Forest Pathways Continued" PE5 Plus

Forest Pathways

I selected another Forest Pathways photograph for my Series of images of recent days. I like this one for the Trees and the less traveled path. I first opened in Paint.NET and applied the Artistic Ink Sketch tool. I had the color set high, and the Ink Medium. The trees looked great but the sky was washed out a bit. I increased the Saturation from 100 to 123 and this helped the sky colors. I saved the file.

Next I used Painter Essentials 5 from Corel (PE5.) I did an auto painting of the Pencil Drawing with the Pencils, Pens, and Markers, Dry Ink Brush. It was very light. I next switched to the Impressionistic Painting for more punch to the image. I selected a Digital Watercolor Dry Brush and auto painted again. Fantastic colors now embellished the image.

I hand painted some details back in using the Soft Cloner Brush to bring out the trees a bit more clearly. I saved that file.

In Corel's PhotoPaint I opened the Forest Digital Painting and the Ink Sketch I had done earlier in Paint.NET. I copied the Ink Sketch to the clipboard, closed it and layered it on the Painting. I adjusted the layer with Curves to lighten the colors a tad. Then I adjusted the Opacity about 75%. I merged the layers and applied Saturation increasing it also.

In Picasa, I tuned the image by increasing the Shadows. I added a Border and Matte and saved again. In Paint.NET, I Flipped the image Horizontally to have the Pathway Curve to the opposite way, as the other pathways images in the Series seem to go the same way. I added my signature layer and merged the layers. I saved again for the final large piece.

To resampled the file for display I used PhotoPaint. I resized it at 120dpi, 75 Compression, and Smoothing at 25 for a smaller footprint. I renamed the file and saved for display here.

Just a reminder that I am going to Introduce a New Song on CDBaby the beginning of February 2016. The Song is "I Still Remain." Simple format without much fuss in the mix. Vocals and my 12-String Seagull Guitar Played and sung live into the Line 6 Pod XT Live and recorded on my computer. Look for it's release!

Also a mention for Grammarly the Free Grammar program. I used it to write and correct this blog post in Blogger. It works well and has a Premium version that would enhance anyone's writing. I recommend it.

"How I Did This: Pathways Digital Watercolors" PE5 Plus

Pathways Digital Watercolors

Continuing with my Series of Pathway images I used this photograph of a Forest Pathway and applied Digital workings to it. I have not heard any comments about my Videos so I am going to use narrative discussions for the time being until I receive more feedback from you the viewer/reader of this blog.

I opened the color photograph in Corel PhotoPaint. Here I decided to start with a Grayscale image. I went to Color Mode and altered the photograph to grayscale. I then added back to the image RGB 24-bit color format. It remained grayscale, but now I could paint it in RGB colors. I saved the larger iteration.

Next step was to open the image in Painter Essentials 5 and Digitally Paint it. I selected the Watercolor Sketch set, with a small Digital Watercolor brush and auto-painted the image. I took that and saved it.

I then Hand Painted the image, with my Wacom Stylus and Tablet, using Digital Watercolor Brushes, I selected various brushes including a Broad Water brush. I selected to choose from the basic color palette multiple greens and browns to paint by hand. This gave a variety of depth to the piece. After I was done hand painting I saved the file with another name.

I had Picasa 3+ open and I went to Increase the Saturation tool and did just that, adding some punch to the hand painted image. I also selected the tool Warmify and applied that at a low setting. I saved again.

Back in PhotoPaint, I layered my signature with the property Add for transparency. I merged and saved again. I had found that I had older Filter Forge Filters to add to my PhotoPaint Plugins, so I did that using the Troubleshoot Compatibility on the setup files in Windows 10.

I applied Filter Forges Photo Effects Vibrance, more depth of color, and the Frames effects giving it a Film Frame. At that I looked at the image set to view large on my screen and was satisfied with the results. I saved the large file, then Resampled it to a 72dpi display size for this post. I used 75 compression, and 25 smoothing as I saved the display file.

"How to: Open Gate Pathway Through Woods" Picasa HDR PE5 Watercolor

Open Gate Pathway Through Woods

I tried out some “Video How to views,” for you and am now returning to written steps formatting. I hope you enjoyed the Videos. Comments about the videos as an expession of my work are welcome. Did You like them or find them tedious? Let me know if you will.

I am working on a Pathways motif and today I have one I really enjoyed creating. I used various programs and tools as you will read about here.

I opened the “Open Gate Pathway,” in Picasa and began by applying an HDR effect with the Radius set to Medium and the Strength set Low. I saved the image. Still in Picasa I adjusted the Highlights and Midtones of the piece, saving again. Then I increased the Saturation slightly, saved.

Next I opened the large image in Corel Painter Essentials 5 (PE5). Selecting the Watercolor Sketch set with clone colors from the image picked. I chose the Pencils, Pens, and Markers Grainy Cover Pencil Brush and Digitally painted the piece in this style. After this completed I picked the Soft Cloner Brush to hand paint back in some details on the Gate and Pathway and Trees/Brush. I saved this iteration with a different name.

I opened the piece in PhotoPaint and used the Curves to lighten the depth of color. Next I increased the Saturation of the color by 13 (from 0). I opened my signature file and copied to the clipboard, closed it, adding it as a layer to the main image. I used the property Add for transparency. And I merged all layers. I saved the large file then Resampled for display, using a differing file name.

I listened to a listing of Joe Bonamassa Vids in the background while I worked on this image. I just bring up YouTube and select a list of songs and play them one after another. I especially enjoy his Acoustic versions of Blues/Rock tunes as I work. Nice to have a desktop PC that allows that to take place.

I have a new song coming out in February 2016. It is an Acoustic 12-String with vocals tune. I used little special effects and tried a lead track, but I did not like the result. So it is just myself playing live into the microphone and recording. Keeping it simple, the song's name is “I Still Remain.” Look for it's release!

"Foggy Autumn Path" PainDotNET - Picasa - Irfranview

Foggy Autumn Path

I opened this photograph of a Foggy Autumn Path in Paint.NET. Here I played around with the Oil Paint Effects, adjusting the value and coarseness of the brush application. I also used the Curves and Saturation for a boost and depth to the colors, bringing out the Autumn trees in the background through the Fog.

I added my signature as a layer and am still learning how to resize it to a proper size for my images. I flattened the layers together. I opened the piece in Picasa and applied the Museum Matte for the framing.  I selected a light green for the Matte to enhance the greens in the mid-ground.

I experimented with Windows 10 Photo editing program. I enhanced the image. Then I increased the Ocher colors a tad for some interest on the Path and the main Tree on the right.

That program is limited in it's functionality but was worth the experiment with it.

I used Irfranview to resize the image for display, as the other programs saved my large views as large files.  Smaller files load more quickly. Be sure to click on the image for a larger view.

I noticed in my Stats that I am getting interest from both outside the US and other countries. Simpler posts seem appropriate for now. Thanks for your interest!

"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.