"How to: Street Musician Classical Guitar" PE5 Plus

Street Musician Classical Guitar

From an online free photography site, I saw and chose A "Street Musician Playing a Classical Guitar." I saved the original photograph to my computer and opened it in Corel Painter Essentials 5 (PE5.) 

Here I selected the picture for digital painting. I used the Watercolor Sketch setting with some Grain. I chose the Opaque Acrylic Brush and painted it. After it completed the digital painting I used the Soft Cloner Brush to add back in some details to the face, hands, and guitar. I then saved the large file as a bitmap image file.

I now opened the piece in Paint.NET. I found and selected a painted wood texture file. I added this as a new layer resizing it to fit the whole image. I applied the property Lighten to it while reducing the Opacity to 88%. It added a complimentary touch to the image. I also added my signature as a layer sizing it and placing it in the lower right-hand corner. I merged all the layers and saved this iteration.

Next, I resized for display. 72dpi, 1220 X 813 pixels, with compression set to 90%. I saved this file as a JPG with a new name.

I have been endeavoring to learn a new song from Joe Bonamassa (Bad Company's tune,) "Seagull." I played it on my Martin DRS1 and sang along. One stanza in the song is odd to me, that is where the Seagull gets shot down. I don't own guns or shoot anything, so I, for myself, sing it "I'll Never Shoot You Down!" Seeing that I will never record the song for publishing, I did not think that the authors would mind so much. It is just a small change for my taste.

I continue to practice on the Martin and have let my 12-String set for a while. I will bring it out after I get more used to playing my newer 6-String.

"How To: Double Embarrassment" PicsArt Plus

Double Embarrassment

I began today's image with a photograph of a Young Lady with her Guitar. Her hand is covering her face in a gesture of embarrassment. I opened it in PicsArt Photo Studio on my computer. I applied the Effects tool HDR2 to it. This gave me a base image to work with.

I opened another image of a Group of Trees for Texture and adjusted the property and opacity of it to allow the main image of the Young Lady show through. I merged these together. I used the Curves Tool to add some depth. Next, I used the Mask Border Tool for a border to the image. It was coming out as a Sepia toned visual.

I added the clipart of an old Camera in the corner. Then using the Clone Tool I duplicated the Young Lady, thus the title, "Double Embarrassment."

I added the image of my signature and date in PicsArt. I merged all layers and saved the large piece.

I used Corel Painter Essentials 5 (PE5) next. I chose the Watercolor Sketch setting with a Dry Brush and painted the scene. I used the Soft Cloner Brush to add back in details to the face, hands, and guitar. I saved with a new name.

Now I reopened the image in Paint.NET to Adjust the Saturation to about 175. This brought out many additional colors in the image. I saved again as a large image.

For display size, I used Corel PhotoPaint and resampled the image. 96dpi, 1220 X 813 pixels, 75 Compression, 25 Smoothing, saving the smaller image with a new name.

I have recently found out that when viewing my blog page on my Android Tablet, using the Chrome browser, I can no longer play any of the songs on the CDBaby Kiosks. This may be Adobe Flash Player related, as I can play them with no trouble on my computer using Firefox, and I have an updated version of Flash Player. So I apologize in advance if you also have similar problems with playing the songs Full Previews. (May also be a JavaScript problem.)

I looked for HTML5 music player code on CDBaby's site but they haven't changed any of it. If you have any difficulty please leave a note on the blog about this issue. Thank you.

"Digital Watercolor Acoustic Guitar Player" PE5 Plus

Digital Watercolor Acoustic Guitar Player

Continuing with a series of Acoustic and Electric Guitar Player images I share this one today. I believe that I did get the original photograph through Pixabay, free to edit.

I opened the photo in Corel Painter Essentials 5 (PE5.) I first applied the Equalize tool, setting the Black to 18% and the White at 100%, with the Gamma upped to 62%. This action gave me more color depth and fullness.

Next, I used the Watercolor Sketch settings with the New Simple Water Brush. I digitally painted the photo and saved the large iteration. I examined the results of this, and I found it pleasing to the eye.

I now opened it in Paint.NET, and here I increased the Saturation to 110. I also added my signature as a layer. I merged the layers down. I saved that image.

Opening it in PicsArt App on my Smartphone I used the Tools Enhance at 92 with Saturation set to 20. I applied the Effects FX, HDR1 blur at 25, unsharp at 1.0, saturation at 0.46 with the fade set to 25. I saved that iteration.

Simply saved the image for display, 72dpi, 1220 x 813 pixels, at 75 compression, giving it a new name.

A few simple steps to create a nice looking Digital Watercolor.

"The Lone Street Musician" PE5 Plus

The Lone Street Musician

Another photograph of "The Lone Street Musician." I liked the image from the beginning. A Street Guitarist, possibly a singer as well, presenting himself in a corner of a plaza.

I opened the file in Corel Painter Essentials 5 (PE5.) I began by applying the Pen and Ink Drawing settings. I tried one brush but it was not very clear, and I wanted a clean, bright Pen and Ink look. So I set the Brush to the Dry Ink and painted again. This gave me a better drawing.

To add to the Ink Drawing, I selected the Detailed Watercolor setting. A soft light brush was chosen the New Simple Water Brush. I digitally painted again. This gave me a Pen and Ink Watercolor image.

The next step was to increase color depth of the piece. I selected Equalize from the Effects. There I set the Black Point to 21.2% and left the White Point at 100%. I altered the Gamma to 60%, and this punched up the color. I saved this large file with a new name.

Next, I opened the file in Paint.NET. I selected the Line Brush at 3 points, with a Backwards slash setting. I hand painted a light border with the brush. I opened my signature file, copied it, and added it as a new layer. Using the property Multiply, I then merged the layers. I saved this file at 100% compression.

I now only needed to Resize the piece for display. I adjusted it to 72dpi, 1220 X 1049, with 75 as the compression. I saved this file with a new name.

"You Won't Get Away With That With Me!" PE5 Plus

You Won't Get Away With That With Me!

I grabbed some very nice photographs from UnSplash recently, free to edit and modify. I had some time on the computer enjoying working on this post. I have done many Older Men images. So I thought, when I saw this photograph with so much personality I had to work with it. A classic Older Woman with Glasses and a Bright Hat.

I opened the photograph in Corel Painter Essentials 5 (PE5.) I began by applying the Effects: Equalize to increase color, then added the Woodcut effect. I minimized the heaviness of the woodcut for a better image. I saved that and used the resulting image to digitally paint. I selected the Watercolor Sketch, admittedly one of my favorites. But instead of using a watercolor brush I chose a Photo Painting Brush: Bristle Oils Cloner Brush.

This gave me a wonderous image. I next used the Soft Cloner Brush to brush back in by hand, some details. Clearer Eyes, eyebrows, glasses and her fantastic wrinkles. I saved that large iteration at 72dpi.

Now I went into Paint.NET and added my signature layer and merged it down. I used the Curves to add some more depth to the colors. I also Upped the Saturation of the colors set at 110. I saved again this time at 150dpi.

I used Corel PhotoPaint to resample for display. I selected an Optimized JPG at 150dpi, 1220 X 915, Anti-aliased, and Maintained the Aspect ratio. My compression was set to 75 and the smoothing to 25, I saved the display image with a new name.

I have been enjoying working on my art on my Tablet. I use a Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4 tablet. I like the PicsArt App and the Autodesk Sketchbook App for creating art for blogging, Facebook, Google+ and, Twitter. Still learning to use the tablet for artwork, but having a great time doing it.

I have been jamming with my Martin DRS1 6-String Acoustic Electric Guitar. I found some great Jamming Backtracks on YouTube through QuistTV called QuistJam. First class jamming backtracks, I did subscribe to their feed. I am not a lead player yet, but I am working on learning scales like the Pentatonic Scales and others by ear. By myself and headsets I don't disturb too many in the neighborhood. I really enjoy the A minor tracks a lot, as I can fit the Pentatonics in and practice the scales, and try Improvising around the backing. Now to get an amplifier for some real action!

Digital Watercolors Visual Art by Kirk Mathew Gatzka

"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.

"Street Musicians Three" Painter Essentials 5 Plus

Street Musicians Three

“Street Musicians Three,” is one more of my Music Themed images. I first used Picasa 3+ HDR tool on the photograph, Radius Medium and Strength Medium High. I saved the beginning iteration.

I opened that in Painter Essentials 5 and used the Watercolor Sketch set with a Dry Wash brush. This gave me a good watercolor image. I hand painted with the Soft Cloner Brush and added back in the faces, instruments, clothing and the guitar case and bicycle details. I smoothed out some of the Clouds and blue Sky, I added some detail to the trees, and the Red Building in the background.

Saving that iteration, I used Picasa, which was still open to add a Black Border to the piece. Saving that I opened in PhotoPaint and added my signature layer. I merged the layers and increased the Saturation by 21 then saved again. I had about an 8.3MB file at 120dpi.

For display here I Resampled the file to 1220 X 861, 75 Compression and 25 Smoothing, still at 120dpi, an Optimized JPG file, with a new name.

"2016 Time to Re-String Your Guitar" Hand Painted Painter Essentials 5 Plus

2016 Time to Re-String Your Guitar

“2016 Time to Re-String Your Guitar,” began as a free to edit photograph I selected from my Guitar and Music Folder this morning. I began by using Paint.NET's Effects, Artistic, Ink tool and created a digital Pen and Ink image to work with. I saved the large file.

Next I opened the file in Painter Essentials 5 and using varying Digital Watercolor Brushes, I hand painted this piece. I varied from brush to brush changing sizes and strokes. I did not take notes today I just wanted to paint by hand without interruptions. I have an older Wacom Tablet that I use to paint digitally. Hand eye coordination is very important, plus a bit of artistic abandon is freeing.

I selected the colors from the basic palette from Essentials 5, and tried to make the image colorful but consistent. I did later pick a Dry Ink Brush for some details I wanted to add, with a distinctive color of my choice. I saved the large file again.

Then I opened the file in PhotoPaint and adjusted the Tone Curve and Saturation for punch and depth. I brought up my Signature file for 2015 and cloned out the copyright symbol and the date. I used an Arial font for the new copyright symbol and new 2016 date. I did this on my Black and White signature file, I still need to alter the inverted signature file.

I added the signature layer to the piece and sized and placed it, using the Property Add for transparency I merged the layers. I saved once again.

Picasa 3+ was opened so I used the Warmify tool for additional depth to the colors. I added a Black and Brown Border here as well. I uploaded the image from Picasa to my online Picasa Albums.

Back in PhotoPaint I Resampled the file at 120dpi with 75 compression and 25 smoothing, I saved that file for display with a new name.

I have a Seagull S12 Cedar 12-String Guitar, so it takes much time to re-string it when I do that. I love the full-bodied sound of the 12-String and really enjoy playing it. It was built in 1990 and is still going strong. It needs a bit of fret work to freshen the sound. We will see what the budget allows soon for that.

We also have a used Violin for my wife that needs work to bring it up to playing worthiness. That is in the new budget for this year as well.

"Bonamassa and Friends - Slow Train Acoustic" Painter Essentials 5 Plus

Bonamassa and Friends - Slow Train Acoustic

"Bonamassa and Friends - Slow Train Acoustic," is from a screen capture I took watching a video of the performance. I opened in Picasa 3+ and used the Pencil Sketch tool on the image. Saving that I opened the black and white piece in Painter Essentials 5.

I Hand Painted on the Canvas Layer using the color palette in Essentials. Brushes used were the Chalk and the Diffuse Water Brushes set at varying small sizes and Opacity. I painted each Individual with my choice of colors and the same for the Lighting.

I saved that and then created a second layer, filling it with a Light Gray color. I used the property Multiply on that layer for transparency. Then I dropped all layers and saved the Large file again.

Next I opened the file in PhotoPaint and Hand Painted more of the background, using the eyedropper to select colors. I used the Light Turin Cover Brush to hand paint. All color choices were mine, not from the original screen capture. I used the Tone Curve for depth to the colors and increased the Saturation by 15 for a punchy view. I saved this iteration.

As Picasa was still open, I used the Museum Matte for the matte and framing, saved again. In PhotoPaint I added my signature layer, sized and placed it using the property Add for transparency. and I saved the Large piece again.

I resampled the file in PhotoPaint for display at 96dpi, 75 compression, 25 smoothing, saved as a JPG. Be certain to click on the image for the Larger view of all the details and textures! Thanks!

"Violin Close Up" Painter Essentials 5 Plus

Violin Close Up

Continuing in a Musical frame of mind, a free to edit photograph of a "Violin Close Up," was used. As you can tell from my last couple of posts I like Musical themed images, and I like Digital Watercolor with variations of Brushes used.

I opened the photograph in Painter Essentials 5, selecting the Watercolor Sketch set. I picked from the Acrylic and Oils Brushes the Wet Oily Brush and Digitally Painted the piece. I added back in details of the strings, bridge, and sound hole using the Photo Painting Brush Soft Cloner, painting by hand.

I hand painted the surrounding background using first the Digital Watercolors Brush - Wash Brush. I continued to paint using the following: the Spatter Water Brush, the Pencils, Pens and Markers Brush Dry Ink, for the Ocher-like hatching. I also used the Photo Painting Brush - New Simple Water to tone down the Blue watercolor a tad. As you can see a Paper Texture was used during the entire process.

Saving that large file, I opened in Paint.NET and added my signature layer with the property Multiply for transparency, and merged the layers. I saved that iteration to Post.

My notes here are incomplete, but I am certain I used Irfanview to Resize/Resample the piece for posting size at 72.dpi JPG.

As always I encourage you to click on the Image for the Larger view to see the details and textures clearly.

If you haven't listened to any of my songs listed in the CDBaby Kiosks below they are Full song Previews for you to have a listen. Just scroll to the Kiosks below and select a song you haven't listened to yet and sample my Independent Alternative Folk/Rock Music.

"Street Musicians Two" Painter Essentials 5

Street Musicians Two

"Street Musicians Two," began as another one of the Guitars and Music, free to edit, photographs I found recently. I opened the photograph in Painter Essentials 5 and applied the Effect Sharpen first, this brought out details that were slight.

I next selected the Colored Pencil Drawing set, using Pencils, Pens, and Markers Oily Variable Pencil and Digitally Painted the image. In the enlargement of the image you can see the lines of the Pencil used. Just before it completed I stopped the effect. I then selected the Watercolor Sketch set, with the Oily Variable Pencil as the Brush setting still. This was a good combination of styles and lead to lines as well as watercolors added.

I then selectively hand painted back in some details to the Instruments and the Musicians using the Photo Painting Brush Soft Cloner. I saved that large iteration.

Now in Paint.NET I selected some Adjustments namely the Saturation boosting the colors from 100% to 110% for a punch. I also added my signature layer and merged the layers.

In Irfanview I added a Black Border, and saved that, then Resized/Resampled at 72dpi for display.

"How I Did This: Cabin in the Forest" Painter Essentials 5 - PaintDotNET -Irfranview

Cabin in the Forest

The "Cabin in the Forest," began as a photograph from Unsplash Free Photographs. I opened the file in Painter Essentials 5 and used Effects Tonal Control - Equalize for brightening the colors.

I selected the Watercolor Sketch set, and used an F-X Brush called Glow to Digitally paint the image. I then added back in some details using the Photo Painting Brush Soft Cloner by hand. Using Effects, Apply Surface Texture I chose 3D Luminance to add Texture to the piece. I added back in some details with the Soft Cloner Brush lightly.

I saved the large 3000 X 2000 pixel image at 72dpi, with a new name. Next I opened in Paint.NET.

Here I applied some Adjustments, first in Curves I lightened the image depth of color, then using Saturation I increased colors by 115% from 100%. I added my Signature Layer using the Property Lighten and merged the layer down. I saved that iteration with the same name.

I needed to resize for display here on the blog. I opened the file in Irfranview. Here I resized the piece and resampled the compression for a smaller JPG file. Please click on the file for a larger view and notice the details and texture.

My CDBaby Kiosks are still lower down on the page for you to sample Full Previews of my music. I encourage you to listen to my Independent Music which I call Alternative Folk Rock. All ten songs are for sale at only $0.99 apiece, with the exception of, "Hello, Hello!," which is a shorter song, reminiscent of the Beatles 70's era. Click on the arrow on the second Kiosk to select a new song to hear and the image and titles will change. Remember Full Previews of all songs are available for your listening to all ten songs. Have a click or two!

"Lead Guitar Player" PaintDotNET - Painter Essentials 5

Lead Guitar Player

I have been thinking about Music lately, my own and others. I decided to do a post about Guitar Playing. I found a really nice "Lead Guitar Player," photograph from UNsplash.

It was actually a very dark piece color wise so I opened in Paint.NET and used Adjustments, Curves, lightening the colors. I then went to Effects, Artistic, Ink. I lowered the number of Ink pen and upped the color to allow the modified colors to show through. I saved that large file.

Opening in Corel Painter Essentials 5 I selected the Detailed Watercolor set. Using Digital Watercolor Dry Brushes I Digitally Painted the piece. With the Soft Cloner Brush I added back in some details, as is my custom.

Going to Effects, Tonal Control I Equalized the Colors, as the painting as a watercolor had dimmed them. This brought the colors back to a balance I liked. I saved that iteration with a new name.

I returned to Paint.NET and applied my signature layer with the property Multiply for transparency. I merged all layers and saved again. I resized the image right in Paint.NET for display.

I recently recorded the song "Good Riddance - Time of Your Life," by Green day with my singing and playing my 12-String. For effect I doubled the singing and playing, on a second track. I used Reverb on both. So I have a experimental Echo sound to the song. I enjoyed doing it but it's not for everybody as the Echo effect is quite pronounced.

It won't be for sale as I do not have the resources to pay fees for a Cover of Green Day's song. But I have been actively seeking others songs to play and record for fun and mixing experience.

"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: Young Woman's Digital Watercolor Portrait" Corel

Young Woman's Digital Watercolor Portrait

I liked yesterday's Image quite a bit, so I found another Young Woman's Portrait on Unsplash Free Photos. I began adjustments in Picasa 3+. I first did Auto Contrast then I went to Brightness, there I increased the Highlights a bit, decreased the Shadows, and Increased the Color Temperature. I selected Saturation and increased the color some. Then I used the HDR tool, Low Radius, Medium Strength, zero Fade, and applied that. I saved the Large image.

Next I loaded the modified piece into Corel Painter Essentials 5. Selecting the Detailed Watercolor, I Set to Digital Watercolor Brushes, Diffuse Water Brush, Size 4.7; Opacity 100%; Grain 30% with Concrete Paper. I Digitally Painted the Young Woman's Portrait.

Still in PE5 I selected the Watercolor Sketch set with the same settings for Brush, Grain and Paper. I applied those settings to Digitally Paint over the Detailed Watercolor. Next I chose Photo Painting Brushes, Camel Oil Cloner Brush, Size 24.2, Opacity 72%, using this I retouched the Eyes, Ear, and Lips for some detail enhancement. I saved this iteration.

Using Corel PSP Pro X3 I opened that painted file and applied the Adjust, Smart Photo Fix. I set the Brighter to +28; Shadows to -30; Highlights to -10; and More Colorful to +20 with Sharper to +60. I added a Signature Layer, sizing and placing it I merged the Layers. As I wanted to mirror yesterday's image I went to Image, Picture Frame, and selected a Moss frame, outside image and merged that layer. I also used the Saturation Vibrancy set to 33 to punch up the colors one more time. I saved the Large iteration at 72dpi, RGB, 8 bit, JPG.

Per usual I resized the image for display here online.

It's time to ask again what format for my Workflow do you like better? The Outline Style or Narrative Style? One thing I haven't tried yet is combining the Styles using the Outline for the detailed settings and Narrative for explanations. I may try that if I get some feedback from You my Readers. Which do you prefer? Leave a Comment to reply.

"How This was Done: Digital Watercolor Woman's Portrait"

Digital Watercolor Woman's Portrait

Grabbing a Woman's Portrait from Unsplash Free Photos I began adjusting it in Picasa 3+. I applied the Ortonish tool and was surprised to find a Textured, Vignetted, image. I saved that Large piece and opened it in Corel Painter Essentials 5.

There I selected the Detailed Watercolor setting, Rough Paper, Digital Watercolor Broad Brush, and painted it. I saved that iteration. I loaded it into Corel PSP Pro X3. Here I applied the Curves to add depth to the colors, also ran the Saturation Vibrancy at 33 on the image.

In PSP Pro X3 I loaded a Watercolor Paper from Stockvault's Friday Freebies, which happened to be the same size and portrait shape as the Digitally Painted Woman's Portrait. I copied the Portrait to the clipboard and Pasted as a New Layer to the Watercolor Paper. I had adjusted the Watercolor Paper with Curves as well, more depth to the color. I selected the Portrait and applied the Property Multiply to it. This allowed the Paper to show through with some transparency on the Portrait.

I opened my Signature file and copied and pasted as a New Layer to the two other layers. I sized and placed the signature, applying the property Multiply for transparency. I merged all Layers to one. Still in PSP Pro X3 I selected Image, Picture Frames, and picked a Rose colored frame with the setting outside the picture. I merged that as well.

I saved the Large iteration, then resized for display a 300dpi RGB 8 bit JPG.

"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: Two Images Digitally Painted in Painter Essentials 5" Corel

Old Boat

Red Escape Stairway

I went ahead and purchased Corel Painter Essentials 5 at 30% off. I welcome it into my arsenal of Digital Visual Art Programs. It will accomplish much as I create new Digital Visual Artworks. And it is a Current Version supported by Corel Corporation. A big plus as much of what I use are Legacy Corel Programs, which sometimes work wonky with Windows 10.

I perused Morguefile for Free Photos this afternoon and discovered a few photographs I plan to Digitally alter and display here on gatzkART!. Take for instance this image I worked on today. An Old Boat no longer in use, beached for a while it seems. I opened it in Painter Essentials 5 and digitally painted as a Watercolor Sketch, a Wet brush, and regular paper. I used the color palette from the original photograph. After it was painted I selected Apply Surface Texture, using an angular texture. I saved that large iteration.

I opened this in Corel PSP Pro X3. Here I applied the Smart Photo Fix, brightening it, increased the color, and shadows. I then used the Curves to add depth to the colors. I upped the Saturation Vibrancy by 33 for that punch I like. I added my signature, which I finally placed in it's own folder to find the black or white one easier. I fit and placed it using the property Lighten for transparency. I saved this large file again.

I resized for display and then adjusted the Curves again as some depth was lost in downsizing. I saved that file at 150dpi RGB 8-bit JPG.

Still testing Corel Painter Essentials 5 I used a Building with Red Escape Stairs for my subject today, also from Morguefile Free Photos. I used the Watercolor Sketch setting, Tapered Camel Brush, Worn Pavement Paper and I also added back in some details. I used the Acrylics & Oil Glazing Round Brush for that. I upped the Saturation in Essentials 5.

I then opened in Corel PSP Pro X3 and added Saturation Vibrancy for the pop to the colors. Here I also added my signature file as a layer, sizing it and placing it, applying the property Multiply for transparency. I merged all layers and saved the large file at 150dpi, RGB 8-bits.

I saved this almost square Digitally Painted photograph for display by resizing it still at 150dpi and RGB 8-bits, JPG.

I am thoroughly enjoying using Corel Painter Essentials 5 and it's diverse selection of brush variants and settings for creating Digitally Painted Visual Artworks. I would recommend this program to those who would like to create great paintings digitally. It is still on sale at 30% off until midnight October 22, 2015, that's tonight. Search for Corel Corporation and Painter Essentials 5 for the sale.

"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.