PC and M

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PC and M

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FREE CD INSIDE

ISSUE EIGHT 6.00ISSN 1753-3155

9 7 7 1 7 5 3 3 1 5 0 0 0

0 8

PAINTER X DEMO | TUTORIAL FILES | STOCK PHOTOSCollages

Use the composite methods to create a digital collage

Sci-fi landscapeSee how one artist went about creating a futuristic landscape

Art classDedicated pages that answer your art and software questions

Art class

Issue eight Visit us online w

ww

.paintermagazine.com

Of cial Corel Painter TM M

agazine

Work with Chalk brushesLearn vital art techniques

Tips for using Corel Painter

digitally today!

www.paintermagazine.com

Drawing eyesAchieve realistic eyes with

this step-by-step guide

Airbrush toolsAn intro to the Airbrushes and how to use them FEATURED

IN THIS ISSUE

Tree studyQuick and easy methods for

painting believable trees

Learn to PAINT

Official Magazine

Over

40pages oftutorials

Discover how you can create better artwork with our in-depth tutorials

Special feature! See page 20

masterpieceDiscover how you can create better masterpiece

Discover how you can create better masterpiecemasterpiecemasterpiecemasterpiecePain t your own

Improve your portrait skills! Experts reveal the key ingredients involved in planning and painting exquisite portraits

portraitsThe art of painting

001_OPM_8_COVERfinal.indd 1 21/8/07 16:44:07

Imagine PublishingImagine Publishing

5

Jo Cole, Editor in Chiefjo.cole@imagine-publishing.co.uk

WelcomePortraits are simultaneously the most popular and most frustrating things to paint. They are attractive because they allow you to bring a sense of personality to the painting either in the person

being painted or the way they are painted.Since portraits are both revered and feared,

we thought they would be an excellent topic for a feature! Turn to page 20, where we talk with three very different Corel Painter portrait artists, and discover how and why they use the program in their work. Weve also got them to share their best tips for working on portraits, and weve even persuaded some of you to reveal your personal tricks!

Leaving portraits behind us, we turn to painting scenes with a limited colour palette (page 34). This is an interesting experiment that really forces you to think about colour and how it affects an image. In direct contrast, our Paint Like this issue is Edvard Munch (p40). We re-create The Scream, which is a riot of colour and emotion.

Have fun!

This is THE magazine for anyone wanting to further their Corel Painter skills or learn how to become a better artist

ISSUE EIGHT

Visit our website!If you find that the magazine isnt enough to satisfy your Corel Painter appetite, you can always visit our website. Pop on over to www.paintermagazine.co.uk and register as a user. Once this is out of the way, explore the pages and enjoy great content such as: Downloadable resources Online galleries to share your work Special forum for meeting other Corel Painter users

Program guides

Pg 32Learn about the Chalk brushes and how to use them correctly

Paint like Edvard Munch

Pg 40

Use surface texture for a truly 3D painting

Drawing 101: How to draw eyes

Pg 68

The eyes so often elevate or extinguish the soul of the painting

005_OPM_08_welcome.indd 3 23/8/07 16:57:19

Regulars in every issue

pg 20

08 Subscriptions Take out a subscription to

the magazine and you can save up to 40% on the cover price!

10 Corel Painter community The best sites, services and

resources for creatives, plus see what other readers have to say on the Letters pages

30 Painter showcase The rst in our special pages

dedicated to outstanding Corel Painter art

74 Art class Another merry gaggle of artistic

problems sorted out

92 Readers gallery Discover more about what a

fellow reader is getting up to in our gallery section

Reviews

6

96 Readers challenge Havent entered one

of our challenges yet? Turn to this page and get started

98 On the disc A full breakdown of

the content on this issues free CD

82 Olympus E-410 It promises to pack a powerful

punch, but does the E-410 deliver when it comes to quality? We tested it to nd out

84 Backups4All Protecting your artwork is

important for any digital artist, so we were intrigued to see what this online back up service was like

85 Panorama U Laptop Bag Find out about this bag that can

handle your laptop, camera, phone pretty much anything you can throw at it

88 Bags of Love Looking for the perfect present?

Check out this review of one company that can take your digital les and turn them into all sorts of attractive products

WIN!YOUR WORK

PRINTED TO CANVAS

pg 96

Regulars

Pg 20 PORTRAITSLEARN HOW COREL PAINTER ARTISTS ARE USING THE PROGRAM TO CREATE PORTRAITS AND LEARN FROM THEIR

VALUABLE ADVICE

Pg 56 TREE STUDYIMPROVE YOUR LANDSCAPE PAINTINGS WITH OUR QUICK GUIDE TO PAINTING TREES. LEARN ABOUT COLOURS, BRUSHES AND TREE SHAPES

ON T

HE F

RONT

COV

ER

Collage pg 46

company that can take your digital les and turn them into all sorts of

Another merry gaggle of artistic

fellow reader is getting up to in

issues free CD

Original artwork by Sue Stevens

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pg 20pg 20portraits

pg 20portraits

pg 20portraits

pg 20

The art of paintingFea ture

Talented artists share their secrets for stunning portraits

006-007_OPM_08_contents.indd 6 23/8/07 16:05:32

pg 50 Futuristic cityscapes

7

68 Drawing eyesAs a complement to our portraits feature this issue, the Drawing 101 section deals with drawing eyes a vital skill to master if you want engaging paintings

34 Limited colour palette Strip away colours for

dazzling effects

40 Paint like: Munch Re-create one of the most

iconic paintings of our time

50 Futuristic cityscape Use composition tricks for an

alluring image

56 Tree art study Learn how to quickly and

easily paint trees

62 An intro to airbrushing Make friends with the

Airbrush tools

PrimersGet up and running32 Brushes: Chalk Beautiful texture is easy with the

Chalk brushes

Feature focusGet to know your tools46 Create collages Merge your photos, text,

backgrounds and paintings into one good-looking collage. We examine the tools that help you do this

Traditional artistic techniques

Drawing 101

14 Jeff NentrupJeffs work takes viewers into strange new lands with intriguing creatures and strange beings. We caught up with him to discover more

Inspirational artInterview

Jeff Nentrup pg 14

www.painter magazine.co.uk

Visit ourwebsite now!

tutorialsCreate inspirational art

68 Drawing eyes68 Drawing eyes68As a complement to our portraits feature this issue, the Drawing 101 section deals with drawing eyes a vital skill to master if you want engaging paintings

Traditional artistic techniquesTraditional artistic techniques

Drawing 101

pg 40 Paint like: Edvard Munch

Original artwork by Jeff Nentrup

portraits

006-007_OPM_08_contents.indd 7 23/8/07 16:06:20

news even ts resources even ts resources even ts letters websites websites websites letters websites lettersTutorial xxxx

10

orel Painter has attracted a hard core of artists who are dedicated to educating people about the program and how it works. One

of these Painter evangelists is Marilyn Sholin, who has also contributed to our Art Class section this issue.

TEACHING

news news Tutorial xxxx

Commun ityNEWS EVENTS RESOURCES LETTERS WEBSITES INFO FORUM

Works can be finely tuned in the private

community with help from other membersfrom other members

Marilyn Sholin

Garner professional and friendly advice on all aspects of digital art from this subscription-based online community

Sholin hosts the Digital Painting Forum, which has thousands of international members and over 50,000 posts about Corel Painter, Essentials, and Adobe Photoshop. The various forums include useful topics such as tutorials, brushes, digital painting, art and the business of creating, marketing and selling digital art. While theres plenty for Corel Painter fans, the forum deals with all forms of digital art, so you can see how other people are using different software, maybe picking up a few tips along the way.

In addition to the actual forum areas, one aspect of the forum that we really like is the Featured Artist area. Each month a member gains their time in the limelight as the featured artist, where their work is given prominence on the home page, complete with interview. You can easily access previous featured artists and this is a great way to get a quick overview of the standard of work on the site.

This forum has a small subscription fee that is well worth the education and friendship gained. One of the members favourite features of the forum are the gallery where members can post their paintings and keep albums of them, while getting feedback from other members. The forum also has contests and challenges for prizes like full versions of Corel Painter X and other software.

You can visit the forum at www.digitalpaintingforum.com and take the Sneak Peek tour to see what it holds. Membership fees are set to rise from 1 October, with a years membership costing $49 and two years costing $75.

Digital Painting ForumDigital Painting ForumDigital Painting ForumDigital Painting ForumDigital Painting ForumDigital Painting Forum

business of creating, marketing and selling This forum has a small subscription fee This forum has a small subscription fee

Digital Painting ForumDigital Painting Forum

Jan David

Chris Price

Michael David

Alan Davis

Carrie Woeck

010-011_OPM_08_news.indd 10 23/8/07 11:02:43

websites websites websites info news even ts resources even ts resources even ts letters website letters website letters info news even ts

Model behaviour

sing photography as a basis for your Corel Painter projects is an excellent way of capturing scenes

you may not otherwise be able to paint. But for truly limitless possibilities, take a foray into the world of 3D.

You wont have to learn a complicated program, because lots of kind souls have provided base models. One such soul is Rita Marfoldi. Her deviantART account is full of stock resources, available to download and turn into digital paintings. She offers individual iles for free as well as special packs, a mass of high-res iles, costing only a few dollars to download.

Take a worthwhile look at her gallery at http://sadestock.deviantart.com

Merge free stock with Corel Painter for outstanding results

ere very excited to report that one of our readers is getting her very own art exhibition. Cheryl Blanchard,

who was featured in issue ve, is going to be exhibiting her work at Studio 33, New London, CT 06320, USA, from 7 September for one

month. Visitors to the gallery will be able to view 20 of Blanchards works. Digital art has typically been frowned upon in the ne-art world but things are starting to change and shows such as Blanchards is proof of that. If youre in the area, be sure to drop into the gallery to show your support and if you have your own show coming up, let us know and well be proud to include details in the magazine.

Digital art exhibit

he Plugin Site is a great resource for free goodies and Corel Painter users will ind a great

collection of Papers on there. Harrys Papers is a collection of over 50 paper iles that can be loaded and used for free. Arranged into groups, all you need to do is register at the site and then wait for an email conirmation. Once you have this, click the link back to the site and then download the papers. Pop over to http://thepluginsite.com and see what else is of interest.

Free papersCorel Painter Magazine reader gets own digital art show EXHIBITION

RESOURCES

Marfoldi specialises in fantasy art, but there

are also sketches, colours and textures

RESOURCES

else is of interest.

The site has a vast array of plug-ins and freeware, as well as galleries, news, reviews and tutorials

Popular free resource site offers over 50 papers

Cheryls self portrait (top) and street scene (above) are representative of her expressive and arresting style

Digital Painting ForumCT 06320, USA, from 7 September for one

month. Visitors to the gallery will be able to view 20 of Blanchards works. Digital art has typically been frowned upon in the ne-art world but things are starting to change and shows such as Blanchards is proof of that. If youre in the area, be sure to drop into the gallery to show your support and if you have your own show coming up, let us know and well be proud to include details in

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010-011_OPM_08_news.indd 11 23/8/07 11:03:17

12

news even ts resources even ts resources even ts letters website letters website letters info news even ts resources resources resources even ts resources even ts

Colour swatchI dont usually write in to magazines (and I promise Im not saying this just to get published), but I wanted to say how much I enjoyed issue seven! I am very impressed with the variety of styles and was particularly happy with the seascape feature. Ive always wanted to paint the sea but end up with a blue mess. Im looking forward to trying the techniques out.

But on to why I am writing. One thing that I found really helpful in the sea feature was the colour palette at the

our Lettersbeginning. I know people describe what colours they are using, but it is so much more helpful to see the hues. Now I can refer to this and then get painting. Im probably in the minority with needing this, but can you do this regularly? I do ind it much easier and there may be others who want it too.

Simon Lakeland

Thanks for your kind words, Simon. Its always the best route to take if you want anything published! We enjoyed the seascape feature as well and am pleased that you did too. Its

interesting what you say about the colour palettes. It is something we do now and again and agree that it makes things easier. What do others think? Do you want defi nite colour palettes for every guide or do you prefer to make up your own swatch? Let us know.

Sell your waresI have got a few pieces of art that Im quite proud of and wondered if you or any other readers had a suggestion for what I can do with it? Ideally Id like to try selling it, but havent got a website or any means of taking payments. Is there a simple way?

Keith Burnes

Welcome to the part of the magazine where you can come

and share your thoughts on anything you fancy!

Featured galleryOur favourite readers gallery this month

Eric Schranzwww.paintermagazine.co.uk/user/tuxxonEric is no stranger to the Painter software he rst it way back in version two but abandoned the program for a while as his computers werent powerful enough to cope with it! He returned to the fold with version IX, and 2006 saw him start using the program in earnest. We were really struck with how Eric introduces texture into his work pay a visit to his gallery and you will be treated to rich brushstrokes and thick paint worked into colourful and intriguing creations.

Featured galleryOur favourite readers gallery this month

software he rst it way back in version

returned to the fold with version IX, and 2006 saw him start using the program in earnest. We were really struck with

work pay a visit to his gallery and you will be treated to rich brushstrokes and thick paint worked into colourful and

Eric Schranzwww.paintermagazine.co.uk/user/tuxxonEric is no stranger to the Painter software he rst it way back in version two but abandoned the program for a while as his computers werent powerful enough to cope with it! He returned to the fold with version IX, and 2006 saw him start using the program in earnest. We were really struck with how Eric introduces texture into his work pay a visit to his gallery and you will be treated to rich brushstrokes and thick paint worked into colourful and intriguing creations.intriguing creations.intriguing creations.

Eric Schranz

Eric Schranz

Of cial Corel Painter Magazine, Imagine Publishing, Richmond House, 33 Richmond Hill, Bournemouth, Dorset BH2 6EZ, UK

If youd prefer to contact us via email, send your message to opm@imagine-publishing.co.uk

Send your letters to...

Let us know if, like Simon, you found the inclusion of a colour palette useful, or

if you prefer making up your own unique swatch

Eric Schranz

Readers tip

Keith Burnes

Readers tipShare your Corel Painter wisdom

Random brushesIf you nd it dif cult to think up new brush variants, the Brush Creator will do it all for you! Open up the Creator, and then pick the Randomizer function. Pick a brush category and variant and then click the Randomize Current Selection button. Youll see various variants appear. Barbara HaimerThanks for that, Barbara. The Randomizer is among those functions that are rarely used but that give great results.

012-013_OPM_08_letters.indd 12 23/8/07 11:04:11

13

The latest from our forum and website

resources resources resources letters website letters website letters info news even ts resources letters website letters website letters info

Hello Keith, there is indeed a simple way. You might like to check out the CafePress site www.cafepress.com. This service allows you to use your images as the basis of a wide range of products, from T-shirts and baseball caps, through to ceramics and other fun items. You can set up your own shop, so visitors can come and visit and then get your images printed onto product. CafePress will create the products, take care of the payment and also ship the good worldwide all you do is pay a small commission. Maybe try and talk to a few of the people who already have a store and see how they have got on.

Photos for allHello, I love the Oficial Corel Painter Magazine and am trying my hardest to understand the program and all its particulars! I have an account with Stock.XCHNG and would love the chance to

share my photographs with other readers. You can see them from www.sxc.hu/proile/cynthiab.

Cynthia Berridge

Thanks for that, Cynthia. You have a great collection of images, a lot of which lend themselves beautifully to Corel Painter projects. We were particularly impressed with your fruit still-lifes. They would make great reference photos for sketches or full-blown paintings with the Oil brushes. We have a feeling that a lot of readers will get use out of your images and thank you for offering them up to the community. As a small aside, Cynthia has got us thinking. If you get caught up in the spirit of sharing, pass it on to us! We could run a regular section where we print details of your content and either include it on our CD or have the link for people to download!

CafePress is a great way to sell your images on various merchandise with no hassle

www.paintermagazine.com

By the time you read this, our website challenge will be over and another set of images will have been revealed for you to download and create art mayhem with. But we thought it would be nice to bring you another small selection of entries received so far, so you can have a nose at what others have been up to.

For your enjoyment this issue, we have three very different but equally lovely images. First up is Apryl Bachettis work. We loved how the original photo had been totally transformed into a dramatic fairytale-esque piece of art. Hugo Pataos piece caught our eye as he re-created a traditional art study perfectly. And last but not least, Kathy Pilgrims mosaic treatment of the carnival horses worked very well. You can see who won by visiting the website www.paintermagazine.com.

Website challengeSome of the best so far

CafePress is a great way to sell your images on various merchandise with no hassle

Reader Cynthias photographs are on display on the Stock.XCHNG website, so feel free to have a browse and draw inspiration

Dont be shy everyones welcome to enter! Go to www.paintermagazine.co.uk/competitions.php

ENTER THE WEBSITE CHALLENGE

012-013_OPM_08_letters.indd 13 23/8/07 11:04:39

Interview Jeff Nentrup

14

hile artists wielding the weight of Photoshop claim much of the spotlight when it comes to showcasing

their work, artists like Jeff Nentrup can go by undiscovered.

Growing up in Thousand Oaks, a town just outside of LA, the illustrator moved to Pasadena to complete his BFA in Illustration in 2000 and has been there ever since. Starting his creative journey in traditional media, most particularly in oil painting, Nentrup admits before 1997 he had never seen a digital painting before. However, that all changed during his last semester at college where the artists took an advanced concept course

From standing start to the biggest film of the year, Jeff Nentrup has had a roller-coaster career and its only just begun!

Jeff Nentrup

taught by Painter Master Ryan Church. I remember him saying that Painter was the quickest way he could communicate his design ideas and I was hooked. Lord of the Rings had just come out and Ryan was working on these little prequel ilms called Star Wars. It was very exciting for me and I quickly added some cinematic samples to my graduating portfolio. I was fortunate enough with them to land work on the Harry Potter ilms right out of school. We found out more about this intriguing artist.

What techniques do you use? At irst I would scan in pencil drawings before I could draw well on the machine.

Before long, Id usually open a new ile and start with a black scratchboard tool to line it out. When Im happy with the basics, Ill tone the whole image down to get rid of the white. From there I use Painter to mimic my paints and brushes, blocking things in and softening edges with the blending tools. The real advantages digitally are the speeds of masking, cloning, drying and glaze the things that slow you down at the easel. A lot of ilm directors and production designers are now used to the photographic look of using photo elements, even in the pre-production phase. Its understandable because it ends up looking like the ilm theyre trying to make. However, it can be

14

An interview with

their work, artists like Jeff Nentrup can go by undiscovered.

From standing start to the biggest film of the year, Jeff Nentrup has had a roller-coaster career and its only just begun!

Jeff Nentrup

014-018_OPM_08_interview.indd 14 22/8/07 14:56:56

15

website www.jeffnentrup.com, www.basamatic.comjobtitle Designer/illustratorclients Warner Brothers, Paramount Pictures, Dreamworks SKG and more

[ABOVE] Black Sabbath Resurrection This was a rebrand campaign conceptualising the mythical Ironman character for the band led by legendary front man Ozzy Osbourne

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[right]Cyber Punk A character for Wizards of the Coasts dark role-play game called Hecatomb. He was born out of a two sentence description of a techno-thug

014-018_OPM_08_interview.indd 15 22/8/07 14:54:32

16

Interview Jeff Nentrup

overwhelming when an artist is expected to crank out a near-matte painting per day.

How do you come up with the concepts? I like to think through the concept before I start drawing. Ill go over design briefs or reference photos if a client provides them. When Im in full creative control Ill do my own research. Then I rent movies or put on good music. When I start drawing I keep it simple until I know its working. If its not working at all, Ill walk away for a while. Maybe ride my bike, pick up an instrument or something. Then go back to my desk with a fresh eye.

Why do you like/use Painter? I think of Painter as a kind of magic sketchbook. No mess or fear of ruining a painting. Ive used it almost every day for the last ive years. At irst I was very

aware that because of the freedom to try things or undo them, it was speeding up the learning curve of my painting and design skills. I use a lot of custom paper textures to get a more natural look in my work. Im also a bit of a sucker for the Sargent Brush.

What system do you use? I have a fast desktop Mac running two large screens so I can have all my reference material in view or watch a ilm while I work. My mobile rig is a 17-inch MacBook Pro. I use my 9 x 12 Wacom tablet for both machines, a variety of digital cameras and a basic scanner.

Who/what are your in uences? My greatest inluences have always come from the museums. It was during a trip to Paris and Amsterdam when I was 20 that I realised I was an artist. I did my irst

painting at 21 and then immersed myself in it completely. Before that it was mostly ilm that I remember making an impact on me creatively.

What excites you about your work? Art history and new artists keep me motivated. I love people and ind a lot of my inspiration there. Im interested in humanity and the distance between our moments of dignity and ugly limitations. I have to be grateful that I can make a good living with my imagination. There is a lifetime worth of it to explore.

What has your artwork been used for? My clients include Warner Brothers, Paramount Pictures, Dreamworks SKG, Disney, Sony Pictures, Universal Pictures, Hewlett Packard, Activision Games, EA Games, Sony Online Entertainment, NIKE, COKE, LEGO, Hasbro, Simon & Shuster

I m interested in humanity and the distance between our moments of dignity and ugly limitations

[ABOVE] Drift Shadow and Twisted Visage (aka: ice zombie) These were card illustrations for a Magic the Gathering series called Coldsnap

THE GREENMAN ENCOUNTER This was a personal concept piece that Nentrup created for a disbanded film adaptation based on characters from A Princess of Mars

014-018_OPM_08_interview.indd 16 22/8/07 14:54:52

17

D&D CityscapeWithin this full-wrap

cover for a Dungeons and Dragons book

called Cityscape, there are actually tiny characters on the cathedral top

battling gargoyles

Books, Random House Books, Walker Books, Bloomsbury Books, Black Sabbath, My Chemical Romance, BT, Bloc Party, Estee Lauder, Adidas, Wizards of the Coast and some others

Do you have any current projects youre working on, or any projects lined up for the future? Right now Im doing some pre-production paintings for a Zach Braff and Cory Edwards ilm. I was just commissioned to do a book cover with Candlewick Press called Kaimira and continuing a series Im doing with Wizards of the Coast.

How would you describe what you do? I wear the hat of either designer or illustrator. As a designer I use the speed of digital painting to rapid sketch ideas for a client. As an illustrator Ill go all the way from thumbnail sketches to inished

artwork on the computer. Im almost 100 per cent digital for commercial work. The speed allows me to take four or ive jobs in the time it would take me to actually draw out or paint any one of them. It also makes things more easier to edit for you and the client. While working on Dreamgirls, director Bill Condon stood over my shoulder with both the production designer and art director while I pulled colour sliders around. We composed three or four shots like that completely on the ly. That wouldnt happen in any other medium.

How do you keep yourself from becoming run-of-the-mill with so much competition out there? I love other artists work so much, as do we all, so I have to ight the tendency to use techniques or signature moves of other well-known artists in my ield. I

think that the more you paint and draw, you deinitely become more aware of your own tendencies.

What advice would you give someone trying to follow in your footsteps? I think one of my best moves professionally was being open to new ideas. As an oil painter I never cared about the computer or thought of it as a tool. As a student, mileage is the key

[ABOVE LEFT] Ironman

Jeffs work often retains loose brushstrokes

that give the feeling of fluid images

Forgotten RealmsThis is a book cover called

The Gossamer Plain, the first book in a series for regular clients Wizards of the Coast, called The

Empyrean Odyssey

014-018_OPM_08_interview.indd 17 22/8/07 14:55:18

Interview Daniel Conway

18

to building skills and I think knowing traditional mediums is a must. One of the best pieces of advice I heard as a student was a simple insight good work opens doors. And then realising that I dont have to like something to be inluenced by it.

Would you like to try another area? Im a professional musician by night.

What do you enjoy the most about your work? I love the variety of jobs I get called for. Ill do a lot of quick sketch concept work for a ilm or videogame, and then turn around and do a tight rendering job. However, there is nothing better than selling an oil on canvas.

What is your proudest creative moment so far? I think designing a campaign for Black Sabbath and then getting a big hug from Ozzy at the launch party was priceless.

Do you think the market has changed its perception of digital art? In business, everybody is on a computer. The average person knows about a JPEG or PDF Beyond that theres no denying the amazing work being digitally created. Its exciting to have been involved with a medium that is still in its infancy.

Sometimes people outside of the industry have a hard time understanding what I do. Ill tell them I use a computer to paint and theyre lost. Often people will assume the computer uses a lot of tricks and theyre right on one level. But its deinitely not easy. I have a word processor but I cant just sit down and expect to write a good novel with it.

[TOP] The Tepaphone This is another Hecatomb card. This one was described as a mental telepathy weapon, using a technology of lenses and conductors

Bright Eyes This was a sketch created for the Fightstar album booklet. It was also used in the Corel Painter X promotional material

Sometimes people outside of the industry have a hard time understanding what I do

Is your personal art work different to your professional commissions? And, if so, in what way?Its a completely different process when you get an assignment. The clients needs are everything. By the time I get to my painting studio Ive usually got a good idea germinating in my head. Ironically enough, Im so comfortable with my Painter rig at this point that I end up sketching ideas out on the computer before reproducing them as oil paintings.

What is your favourite piece of Painter work that you have created? There was this one that got deleted. You would have loved it.

Interview Jeff Nentrup

doors. And then realising that I dont have [TOP] The Tepaphone

[ABOVE] Green Jasper A full wrap-around book cover. The knight and castle are on the front cover

014-018_OPM_08_interview.indd 18 22/8/07 14:55:47

Feature The art of painting portraits

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Original artwork by Helen Yancy

A picture may paint a thousand words but a portrait can stir a multitude of emotions. Nick Spence meets three accomplished portrait artists

Experts panel ts not dificult to see why portrait painting has endured despite a wealth of artistic movements and inspirational subject matter. The human face, with its ininite arrangement of eyes, nose and

mouth, is unique. Central to our ability to feel empathy, love, passion, anger and hate, it stirs the most extreme emotions within ourselves, deining both the way we look and how others see us.

Long said to be the windows of the soul, the eyes particularly attract attention. The best portrait paintings offer another view behind the eyes, revealing something that a snapshot cannot. Artists have long tried to capture the essence of the subject as well as revealing something of themselves. If all fails to inspire, add a mirror to your studio or desktop and you have a subject that will sit patiently and subtly change over the years.

Corel Painter is ideal for portrait painting, offering an exceptional range of natural-media painting and illustration tools. If you have a particular expression

in your mind that you want to convey, the program has the techniques to transfer what starts off as an abstract thought, to the canvas as a detailed inished product. Varied and versatile, the program is able to reproduce the look and mood of both classic and contemporary portraiture by utilising the right tools.

For the enthusiast portrait painter, Corel Painter offers some useful tools to ensure a likeness between your subject and painting. The Quick Clone feature allows you to use a guide, particularly photographs, to maintain a resemblance and make sure facial proportions dont veer into caricature. The introduction in Corel Painter X of the Underpainting and Auto-Painting palettes, and new composition tools based on divine proportion and the rule of thirds offers further possibilities for more established portrait painters.

We spoke with three portrait artists to discover how they use Corel Painter in their work and to pick their brains for juicy tips. Whatever your style, theres advice here.

Mayrhosby Yeoshen is an animation student enjoying a reputation far beyond her college campus. A favourite on many online communities such as deviantART, her work has gained many fans by displaying a maturity and craft far beyond her years.

Mayrhosby Yeoshen (www.mayyeo.com)

Ryan maintains an excellent sketch blog and illustration portfolio, with an emphasis on comic books, caricature and Corel Painter tips and tricks. He graduated from the Savannah College of Art and Design in 2006 with a Bachelor of Fine-Arts degree, majoring in sequential art.

Ryan Cole (www.ryancoleart.com)

Vanessa is co-founder of Studio 2nd Street in Encinitas, California, with her husband Ron. She has worked in several different arenas of art, from representational and fine-art to illustration and entertainment art, and works in both traditional and digital media.

Vanessa Lemen (www.vanessalemenart.com)

view behind the eyes, revealing something that a snapshot cannot. Artists have long tried to capture the essence of the subject as well as revealing something of themselves. If all fails to inspire, add a mirror to your studio or desktop and you have a subject that will sit patiently and

Corel Painter is ideal for portrait painting, offering an exceptional range of natural-media painting and illustration tools. If you have a particular expression

and make sure facial proportions dont veer into caricature. The introduction in Corel Painter X of the Underpainting and Auto-Painting palettes, and new composition tools based on divine proportion and the rule of thirds offers further possibilities for more established portrait painters.

We spoke with three portrait artists to discover how they use Corel Painter in their work and to pick their brains for juicy tips. Whatever your style, theres advice here.

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Feature The art of painting portraits

ayrhosby Yeoshen, nicknamed May, creates striking wide-eyed portraits of friends and fantasy friends, armed with

only an old copy of Corel Painter, Photoshop and a Wacom tablet. Buying her irst graphics tablet ive years ago while still a teenager was something of a turning point, having worked as a traditional artist from an early age. Bundled with the tablet came Painter Classic, a stripped-down version of Corel Painter that hinted at the potential working digitally had to offer. Yeoshen began picking up commissions and as a freelance illustrator, worked mainly as a portrait artist creating fantasy characters.

Although her work has a strong fantasy element, her style is not easy to pin down. I would describe my style as a mix of digital and traditional art, since I work in a very detailed way to avoid giving that smooth feeling that most digital artists obtain, explains Yeoshen. I am a huge fan of old master paintings and therefore I try to apply the same old touch into my paintings, be it adding to my canon or applying the colour palette.

Central to Yeoshens meticulous work is the face. Portraits real and imaginary dominate her personal website and best showcase her talents. As a lover of the human face, I must admit that portraits have a charm that cannot be compared to other painting topics such as landscapes or still-life studies, insists Yeoshen. Its the proportions of the different features of the human face, the expression depicted and so many other things that keeps portraiture as my irst choice.

Corel Painter is now central to Yeoshen creating her portraits, offering a range of tools and natural media that rival the real thing. I really enjoy the way Corel Painter grants you possibilities to make your illustrations look more alive and less fake due to the nature of the digital media. With a wide range of brushes that mimic the ones

Mayrhosby YeoshenOriginally from Venezuela, and now living in Ottawa, Canada, Mayrhosby Yeoshen is an animation student currently basking in a deserved reputation extending far beyond her college campus. Her work has gained many plaudits after cropping up and appearing on online communities in recent years

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used in real life, and several other tools like rotating the canvas freely, it certainly gives you the feeling of nearly painting in real life.

Yeoshens favourite Corel Painter brushes include the Camel brushes, Artists Oils, Pastels and many other custom brushes that she either creates or downloads from other artists websites and communities. Creating and customising your own brushes can give you a subtle edge over artists, adding a touch of originality to your work while signiicantly expanding your creative options. For maximum detail, the Pencil tool is also a must for Yeoshen.

Working digitally doesnt mean you can abandon traditional drawing skills, although with its cloning tools, Corel Painter does allow you to work from photographic sources with ease. Yeoshen likes to get the balance right between working from photographs and from life. I use more photographs than still-life studies to help me in my process. The fact that I cannot rely on models forces me to use photos. However, when possible, I bring the laptop and the tablet with me and ask

my friends to pose for me, being as fast as possible so as not to bore them. For clothes I just need a mirror.

Yeoshen will develop her painting in a traditional way, starting with some basics and reining the image over time. To start I draw the line art, which can be done with a real pencil on a real paper sheet that is then scanned. Then I drop the basic colours for background, skin, hair, clothes, etc. From then its just a matter of divide and conquer. I usually start with the skin and everything involved, eyes, lips, before moving onto the hair and clothes. Its a matter of constant reinement, as everyone knows. For a more organic touch, I use a cross-hatching technique that creates the feeling of realistic skin and can only be noticed when zooming the canvas in its original size.

Corel Painter grants you possibilities to make your illustrations look more alive and less fake

AboveYeoshen based this portrait on Anne Rices famous vampire Lestat, the second in her Vampire Chronicles, following Interview with the Vampire

This striking portrait by Yeoshen was heavily inspired by the film Final Fantasy VII: Advent of Children and especially Yazoo

Feature Feature Feature The art of painting portraits The art of painting portraits

Mayrhosby YeoshenOriginally from Venezuela, and now living in Ottawa, Canada, Mayrhosby Yeoshen is an animation student currently basking in a deserved reputation extending far beyond her college campus. Her work has gained many plaudits after cropping up and appearing on

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I use more photographs than still-life studies to help me in

my process. The fact that I cannot rely on models forces me

to use photosPortrait of Nathan by Yeoshen is another example of her fan-based artwork, the creation of fellow deviantART regular Ingvild-kun

LeftYeoshens self-created vampire Coltrane Holland; another example of her fantasy-based artwork much admired by Yeoshens peers

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Original

Quentin Tarantino sequence After the initial sketch, Ryan sets about building up the layers of detail. An avid believer that you must study anatomy in order to paint it, he uses his knowledge and exaggerates it to achieve the caricature effect

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or someone so youthful, Ryan Cole draws his inspiration from traditional sources, citing the Impressionists as inluences,

particularly Renoir and Degas. John Singer Sargent is another favourite, especially his portraits that, in Coles view, capture all thats appealing about portraiture painting

I think a lot of artists just prefer to draw the human face over anything else, says Cole. Its a real challenge to capture not only a likeness, but also the personality of a subject, and the whole process is just fascinating from the artists end. I think that comes through in the inished product; people can see the artists fascination with his subject, and that fascination is infectious.

For Cole, painting a portrait should be more than a simple exercise in producing a photo-realistic image. I like to give my portraits something you cant get with a photograph, so I tend to exaggerate the colours and I dont smooth out the brush strokes. I also like to leave in some of the little mistakes; I think that sort of thing keeps a portrait from feeling stiff and lifeless. I also really like to do caricatures and comic-book-style portraits, which are usually black-and-white line drawings. I follow pretty much the same idea with those, though they do tend to look better when I tighten them up.

For ink drawings, Cole begins with a sketch and then converts it to a light blue colour before he begins inking. I ink with a custom inking brush on a layer set to Multiply. This way I can erase simply by switching to white. I use the Fit To Path feature a lot in my ink drawings, and recording and replaying strokes is very handy for things like feathering and hatching. Learning new ways of working digitally can also have a positive effect on your traditional skills. Theres no one to stop you from taking techniques youve

developed in Painter and applying them to traditional media. Personally, though, I doubt Ill ever go back to paper.

Recently Cole has become something of an advocate for Corel Painter, enthusiastically explaining his working methods on his website blog. The most compelling reason is its a lot of fun. A program like Painter opens up all kinds of opportunities to explore and experiment. For most artists, its the process that were in love with, and working digitally gives us all these great new things to try.

Ryan ColeIts hard to imagine that someone who produces this contemporary and stunning art only graduated a year ago, but thats what talented Ryan Cole has done, coming away from the Savannah College of Art and Design with a Bachelor of Fine-Arts in sequential art comic books to the layman

Despite a lifelong love of drawing and painting, Cole found traditional portraiture both frustrating and time-consuming, but discovering Corel Painter and working digitally brought new creative opportunities. I never inished one traditionally painted piece. With Painter, not only do I get a huge variety of options from different brushes and types of media to papers and textures, which would be cumbersome and expensive in real life, but I can edit and tweak indeinitely with no chance of ruining a piece, enthuses Cole.

This intuitive intimacy offers Cole a level of control over his portraits that he found dificult to reproduce in Photoshop. I tried painting in Photoshop before I tried Painter, and it was just too counterintuitive for me, explains Cole. I spent too much time tweaking the brushes and using ilters and effects to get my drawings to look a certain way, and not enough time just drawing. Painter lets you get the look you want right away, and no additional adjusting is required. Its more about drawing and less about technical expertise.

Painter lets you get the look you want right away, and no additional adjusting is required

All of Ryans work begins with an initial sketch, letting him organise the features and prepare for the application of colour

Colour is applied to the main face. Ryan favours exaggerated colours and will leave his brush strokes as they are

In keeping with his colour needs, Ryan has introduced a contrasting background hue to the tones in the face

The final details are applied. Notice how the brush strokes are still evident, which give an extra texture and depth to the image

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Feature The art of painting portraits

or an artist working in predominately traditional media like Vanessa Lemen, Corel Painter offers a level of experimentation

and freedom that is hard to reproduce elsewhere. When I work digitally, Im very experimental in terms of procedure. I enjoy the digital medium because it allows for a different kind of freedom, explains Lemen. I can scrape and scratch, and smooth and blend, and drip and smear. I can crop the image, or expand it to try different compositions. I can save several variations of the same painting. I can throw layers in the trash or look at them in a different coniguration and see if one way works better than another. So the most helpful aspect is the freedom that it gives me, which allows me to experiment and to not be hesitant about trying different things.

With artists materials increasingly expensive, Lemen will use Corel Painter to help plan her work. Its a cost-effective, time-saving and environmentally friendly

way of working. I can also utilise Painter to help me work out a strategy in a traditional painting Im working on. I sometimes shoot a photo of the painting, and open it up in Painter and experiment with it and problem solve. Its also a great way to do thumbnails and igure out a composition ahead of time, or brainstorm and work out a concept, doing value and colour comps, and piecing different elements together, etc.

Lemen and husband Ron also have a solid and extensive background in art instruction. Art classes at their studio are a culmination of the wide-ranging knowledge they have gained through their experiences as artists, with a strong attention to classical foundation. Lemen has found a good balance utilising her communicative nature to be a very altruistic and dedicated instructor, while she feels that her personal work is done best when alone and speaks from what she calls the strength of solitude.

AboveCorel Painter allows Vanessa to try our ideas before moving onto her traditional canvas and paints

Vanessa LemenArt is such a subjective medium, so it should come as no surprise that some artists plan their work differently to others. Vanessa Lemen will often utilise Corel Painter to help her during the planning stage of a traditional painting

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Lemens creative process is displayed on her fascinating blog (http://vanessalemenart.blogspot.com), detailing both the painting process and the stories and inspirations behind each work. With much of her best work portraits either commissioned or self-initiated, including a striking self-portrait its clear each portrait holds a powerful appeal. Maybe its because a portrait painting is an iconographic image of that moment, and at the same time its evidence of the artists connection to that thing thats beyond themselves, and their ability to objectify what they are responding to, says Lemen. And as far as the viewer goes, its very subjective and thats the beauty of it. A portrait painting gives everyone the beneit of the doubt and the permission to make their own interpretation.

When working digitally with Corel Painter, photos can be an important part of the creative process, again helping to look at traditional painting with fresh eyes. Im

open to working with Painter in a lot of different ways. When I work from life, the process is very much like direct painting in oil. When I work using photographs, its mainly for textures and incorporating them into my work in such a way that would be like glazing transparent layers over each other and building up the image atmospherically, incorporating portrait painting into the layers and building it up, which is similar to how I would create an indirect painting in oil. I also take photos of paintings and work on them in Painter sometimes to work out a problem.

In keeping with the experimental nature of her digital work, Lemen doesnt have a typical Corel Painter worklow. Its best features allow Lemen to remain lexible and expect the unexpected. The way I work with Painter is pretty experimental overall. The process of the image might change with the subject matter or situation. Its a lexible and forgiving tool to create with.

LeftIn this image titled KoiSelf, Vanessa exhibits her love of textures and slowly building an image up, layer by layer

The most helpful aspect is the freedom that it gives me, which allows me to experiment

This piece, titled Autumn, capture the subjective beauty that Vanessa attributes to the portrait form

Feature Feature Feature The art of painting portraits The art of painting portraits

Vanessa LemenArt is such a subjective medium, so it should come as no surprise that some artists plan their work differently to others. Vanessa Lemen will often utilise Corel Painter to

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A portrait painting gives everyone the benefit of the doubt, and the permission to make their

own interpretation

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Feature The art of painting portraits

Pay attention to anatomyAnatomy studies dont hurt anyone. Examine the distance from one eye to the other, how many noses long a common head

is, where the end of the jaw is located and so forth. Just

practise and study to perfect your skills.

When working with portraits, study the subject in detail. How this person is, the personality, what he or she does, the age,

environment and so on. This will help you

greatly when deining the mood of the piece.

Top portrait tips

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Thirsty for more portrait tips? We quizzed the featured artists in addition to readers of this magazine to put together a compilation of the top ten tips for creating stunning portraits in Corel Painter

01 Mayrhosby Yeoshenwww.mayyeo.com

Stretch it outI never draw the same thing twice if I dont have to. Take eyes, for example. I usually just draw one eye, choose the Lasso tool to make a selection around the eye, and copy and paste it in the same location in a layer above the original. Then I go to Effects>Orientation>Flip Horizontal and nudge it over by holding Shift and pressing an arrow key. (Holding Shift changes the nudge increment to ten pixels, whereas the arrow keys themselves nudge by one pixel.) You can also hold down the Cmd/Ctrl key to change your cursor to the Move tool and move your duplicate eye that way (Cmd/Ctrl+Shift will constrain the movement to straight lines or 45 degree angles).

02 Ryan Colewww.ryancoleart.com

Use layersI like to use digital layering on my inal paintings. Its like the glazing techniques the old masters used to add depth to their paintings. Here, I used images of old antique

Monica Saulmonwww.iconportrait.com 04

Optimum conditionsWhen I use a photograph that I am going to clone, I use the Layer Adjustment tools to adjust the contrast, lightness and so forth, prior to the actual cloning process, in order to highlight the effects on the photograph. In this case, I added a Screen layer for the image to make the image a little lighter overall, giving the subject more emphasis.

03 Carver Shiverswww.paintermagazine.co.uk/user/Carver Shivers

furniture surfaces and antique paper in the Overlay layers mode at 20% Opacity in Photoshop. It can really add the inal polish to your Corel Painter portraits.

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Clone from a photoA good way to practise your skills is to clone from a photo. Begin with an interesting photo and whack up the shadows and highlights. I set up the cloning with Artists Canvas as the texture and illed the canvas with a light warm grey. I used mainly my own custom brushes on this which are derived from the wonderful Sargents brush, some Bristle brushes and some Chalk brushes. As you can see, the background of the last version is much more vigorous and has some shape framing the head and joining up the edges of the canvas. This was an easy picture to do because the photo was so interesting to start with. It was important for me to capture the warm, low evening sunlight and this meant warming up the whole image and saturating the colours; it is the natural light that makes the picture. Though this was a colour cloned picture, there was substantial free hand-brushing along the way.

and has some shape framing the head

David Colewww.paintermagazine.co.uk/user/davidc05

Using colourPortraying emotion in a portrait is very important to me. When I know the emotion that I want to portray, I choose a colour palette that I think matches the intensity and lavour of the feeling. For example, here I had to reproduce some shy colours and thought to mix dark yellow, blue and the most important: purple and red! This exercise is very useful think of a feeling and imagine which colour it is linked to.

Base coatI quite often use a coloured undercoat perhaps a dark, unsaturated red brown for portraits to paint onto, and use messy, large strokes to begin with. The Sargents brush, and the Bristle Brush from Artist Oils work fantastically for this purpose.

10 David Colewww.paintermagazine.co.uk/user/davidc

Giovanna Gazzolowww.paintermagazine.co.uk/user/Giovanna06

Stephanie Thibaudeauwww.scenicdesert.net

Perfect hairI love to use the Oil Fine Camel 30 brush for dog hair. I usually set the Opacity to around 30 and give nice long strokes in the direction the hair grows to give the hair a soft, lowing appearance. To make highlights in the human hair, get your Color Picker and touch the hair with this. Then, once the colour is selected, move the slider on the Color Wheel to choose a lighter shade and use that colour to stroke in beautiful highlights. The Fine Tip Soft Airbrush tools are great for this!

In a flipWhen the painting itself starts, do not forget to always lip the canvas horizontally. Mistakes that couldnt be seen before can be identiied easily this way. The Rotation tool also comes in handy.

07 Mayrhosby Yeoshenwww.mayyeo.com

Marcelo Chiarellawww.paintermagazine.co.uk/user/chiarella

No res? No problem!Dont throw out an old low-resolution photo. It could render a great work of art! First of all, resize it to the desired inal size, Quick Clone it and begin your brushstroke work. The canvas texture and your brushstrokes will take care of recreating the interest and the sense of resolution. Now you no longer have to disregard using your old photos!

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08

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showcase

STARR SHAW TITLE Police Dock WEBSITE www.starrshaw.com JOB TITLE CG artist

After last issues seascape spectacular, we couldnt resist including Starrs gorgeous watery scene. We highly recommend you visit his site and drink in the artwork, from intricate sketches to loose and expressive paintings.

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nless youre extremely young and have only ever seen interactive whiteboards, for most of us growing up, chalk

was the artistic medium that we had the most contact with, calling out to us as it did from the classroom blackboard, day in, day out. Not that it was often used in a particularly exciting fashion of course, but do you remember how great it looked when the boards were freshly blackened,

and a bright streak of pink or orange made its way across? It may have only

been making its way across to the end of another equation, but still, they were the good old days

Anyway, thank goodness for the digital Chalk brushes in Corel Painter, because you can now utilise

all the great aspects of drawing in chalk, such as the sharp colour, the

smudginess and texture, and all without creating the dusty mess that detracts from your masterful piece of artwork.

You will be able to get the most from these brushes if you also try setting a paper texture, as that is when the Chalk brushes truly behave like the real thing. As you can see from the main image, they lend themselves well to observational studies, partly because they give you great texture for large soft areas, as if rolling the chalk on its side, but also because they are perfect for sharper edges and highlights too.

Get the most from this months featured brush category, without getting chalk dust all over yourself!

You can open the Paper Selector by going to Window/Library Palettes/Show Papers. From here you can browse all the different surface types that you can incorporate into your work, ensuring that your work mimics natural media just that little bit closer. And you can adjust the scale, contrast and brightness of the texture too. By making the scale larger, you will have obvious paper texture, and a smaller scale will give a more subtle look. Basic Paper is quite a good choice for chalk, as is the Rough Charcoal and even the canvases.

Chalk

Always go for textureSearching for the right paper

Experiment for the best effects

Applying the paper textureApplying the paper texture

Once youve chosen the paper you want, go to Effects>Apply Surface Texture and a new palette will appear. There are numerous options for you to experiment with here, from the softness of the texture, through various depth controls that affect the bumpiness of the paper texture, to numerous lighting settings. You can select the direction of the light in addition to the brightness and exposure. You can even choose a colour for the light as well. Essentially, the variations are endless and you can use the technique effectively for both subtle and extreme effects.

Primer Chalk

BRUSH CATEGORY

in, day out. Not that it was often used in a particularly exciting fashion of course, but do you remember how great it looked when the boards were freshly blackened,

and a bright streak of pink or orange made its way across? It may have only

been making its way across to the end of another equation, but still, they were the good old days

Anyway, thank goodness for the digital Chalk brushes in Corel Painter, because you can now utilise

all the great aspects of drawing in chalk, such as the sharp colour, the

smudginess and texture, and all without creating the dusty mess that detracts from your masterful piece of artwork.

You will be able to get the most from these brushes if you also try setting a

PRIMER

CHALK BRUSH PALETTEThe array of chalk brushes gives you a full range of creative possibilities. They allow you to produce sweeping, textured artwork in addition to more detailed sketches.

CHALK BRUSH PALETTEThe array of chalk brushes gives

possibilities. They allow you to

CHOOSING THE RIGHT SURFACEThe chalks truly come to life when theyre used on textured paper. The Rough Charcoal Paper was perfect for the look we wanted to achieve here, but there are many variations to choose from

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Primer

Chalk

Find the right balanceResat levelsResat levels

Adjusting the Resat levels of your brush when needed is crucial, especially when working with the Chalk brushes. The higher the level, the less the brush variant will blend with the surrounding colours. Anything above 50 and you wont notice it blending too much, but as you decrease the level, its a great way to smudge your colours without having to use the blenders too much. Once you get below 12, the effect is extremely noticeable, so learn to use it at the right setting for the job.

FEATURED HIGHLIGHTSThe Tapered Artist Chalk was used to add the highlights that fall within the main edge outlines. Its just perfect for adding that little bit of de nition without overstating it

SOFTLY DOES ITWhen you rst start to esh areas in with colour (sorry!), the Dull Grainy Chalk is ideal as, with big, soft strokes, it leaves the paper texture showing through

Not too much

If youve gone to the trouble of setting up some paper texture, be sure not to overwork your chalk drawing, just as you would have to bear in mind with real chalk. Leave some of the texture showing through here and there if everything is flat because youve built it up too much, then you wont get as convincing an effect. Also, starting with a coloured background means that those gaps in the chalk are actually adding depth to the drawing.

Finally, some added depthNot too muchNot too much

Primer

Chalk

Blunt Chalk

Dull Grainy Chalk

Large Chalk

Sharp Chalk

Tapered Artist Chalk

Tapered Large Chalk

Variable Chalk

Variable Width Chalk

The chalks on offer and their various strokesKnow your chalk brushes

Square Chalk

SHARP CREASESWe used the Sharp Chalk for the wrinkles in the skin and any of the smaller details. As you would expect, you get a really crisp line, which makes it an important Chalk brush dont let everything get too soft

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Tutorial Limited colour palettes

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hile the old masters painstakingly ground their own paint pigments from rare minerals, we have an

ininite array of colours at our ingertips and when painting digitally, there isnt even the issue of using up precious tubes of paint; digital paint wells never run dry.

There is a lot to be said for artwork that is splashed with colour, but limiting your choices to just one or two basic colours can yield fantastic results, as the image above shows. It allows the creation of a unique atmosphere, a bit of drama or it can lend itself to the story the artist is seeking to tell in one moment in time.

If you try limiting your colour palette in Corel Painter, youll be pleasantly surprised when you discover how much can be achieved with just a few hues

Limited colour palettes

Artist

Time needed

Skill level

On the CD

Cat Bounds

2 hours

Intermediate

Starter photo

Tutorial info

This type of painting is unexpected, often doesnt incorporate local colour and may entice the viewer to tarry a moment longer. We relate to life by means of colour. You know what a grey day feels like. We equate certain shades of red with passion or love or anger. Some rooms are painted in colours thought to be soothing. Colours in advertising are often intended to grab our attention. A painting wrapped in one dominant colour may make a powerful statement.

When planning a painting, we ought to consider colour theory, and then do our own thing. That way, it doesnt rule our paintings, it just resides in the

subconscious, making suggestions. Most of us make up our own rules anyway! For example, some artists never paint with pure black, because they think it sucks the life out of their paintings. An excellent alternative is to use deepest blue or brown or charcoal, which read as black. Another good tip is to include what can be known as mouse colours. These are unexciting, drab shades, but serve the vital purpose to balance out the more vibrant hues.

In this tutorial, we will explore limited palette possibilities, how to choose the right colours and how to whip up some great colour palettes in the Color Mixer.

READERS TUTORIAL

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Youre not limited to a predetermined swatchUse whichever colour you like

01 Start off with the Color Wheel Traditionally, a limited colour palette referred to painting with the three primary colours (yellow, red and blue) and mixing secondary and tertiary colours from these. If you have come to digital art from traditional media, you may want to still use your colour name charts because you think in terms of those names.

02 Lets begin Were not going to begin with primaries though. Where to nd the beginnings of our limited colour palette? Theyre all around us. For example, you might scan a swatch of wallpaper because it has the muted colours you want. From your scan, create a New Color Set from Image. Remove or add colours using the + or symbols.

Tutorial

Use whichever colour you like

Limited colour palettes

More colourful paint strokesSelect the Sample Multiple Colors tool at the bottom of the Mixer Pad and move the slider to the desired sampled area size. Click inside the Pad to pick up your colours and then begin painting, as if you were using a traditional brush dipped into several colours. Mixer colours are sampled left to right, so laying out your colours top to bottom will give you a wider range of possibilities. This technique works well with the Artists Oils brushes, and when set to a lower Opacity, you can achieve some nice colour blendings for both backgrounds and textures.

04 Original photo The image were using is a painting of a park in North Little Rock in Arkansas, USA; a favourite spot of photographers and painters any time of the year with an atmosphere of home, heritage and permanence. Currently it is painted using local colours. Now lets try using limited colours and create something entirely different!

05 Photo prep Load the image from the disc. Lower the desaturation and add contrast to bring out plenty of detail. If painting on a black-and-white version, there is less temptation to paint any of the local colours. Make a cloned image, save and its time for the fun part playing with brushes.

06 Heres the setup For this painting, create a custom brush palette. From the Oils palette, choose Thick Wet Oils 20 as your main brush. Select the Soft Cloner to reveal edges. In addition to this, use the Just Add Water blender to soften some of your brush strokes, and a Dry Palette Knife.

03 Thats a lot of colour! Corel Painters Color Set creates colour swatches from within an image. What might have looked like two or three colours will be divided into hundreds of hues, and we can customise them even further by bringing them into the Mixer, combining them with the Dirty Brush or Palette Knife and then create a new Color Set from these.

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Using a different Color Set can transform your painting, bringing out many different emotionsExperiment with other colours and hues

07 Sun-lit version Begin by laying in a quick outline of the images elements by choosing a Main Color and an Additional Color and setting Color Expression to Direction. Now, depending on the direction of your brush stroke, you will see variations of the chosen colours; much more interesting than just one colour. Just Add Water lends softness and begins building a background.

Experiment with other colours and hues

Tutorial Limited colour palettes

10 Et voil! A Color Set is born The mouse colours mix so well with the new hues that in no time at all, youll have lots of pleasing smudges on the Mixer Pad. Load it as a new Color Set so you can save it for another time. Save it with your other Color Sets, although you could save it in the Old Mill folder.

08 Time to decide The painting is coming along nicely, but it may be a bit more colourful and cheerier than you want, so save it and begin again. This time choose the mouse Color Set and mix additional colours to go along with them. This is all part of the process. Sometimes you may have several versions, but never discard anything.

09 Searching for new colours Load the mouse Color Set. These are your base colours. To conjure up a quiet atmosphere, choose a cool blue and a deep lilac. There are cool and warm hues of every primary, secondary and tertiary colour; mix warms with warms and cools with cools, and you wont end up with muddy colours.

11 Brush settings Brush Expression still set on Direction, begin with big, loose strokes. For now, turn off Depth, giving you just enough bristle de nition. You can always come back later and add a layer of added Depth strokes. Use 50% Opacity for a transparent, wet acrylic effect. Vary the brush size and transparency throughout the painting.

12 About brush strokes and light Were already beginning to think about highlight and shadow, as well as colour. Try zooming in close to paint and returning to normal repeatedly. As you zoom in, each area of the painting stands out as a tiny abstract of dark and light and of pleasing brush strokes, set apart from the overall painting.

The real dealCorel Painter has the ability to produce wonderful painterly effects, but how do you know youve got it if youve never painted in traditional media? Give your digital painting a boost by buying or borrowing a couple of basic fine-art brushes, paints and paper or canvas, and spend a few hours, or days, playing with them. How does watercolour paint react on wet paper? When you sprinkle it with salt? How does camel hair interact with oil paints? Learning is never wasted, and the discoveries you make will definitely come into play in your digital art life.

The real deal

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TutorialLim

ited colour palettes

It is the time spent over little details that make a painting greatThings to take into consideration

15 Begin to re ne You will want detail in the areas that will de ne the painting, like this crooked rail fence. Use a smaller brush and an increased Opacity, and youll begin to nd highlights and shadow, lending dimension to shapes. Oh, did we say the beginning was the fun part? This is the fun part. Okay, its all fun.

16 Matters of colour Theres nothing more boring than a big area of canvas thats all one colour, and this holds true in your limited colour palette paintings. Zoom into each of these dark window and door openings to make sure that there are colours and interesting organic shapes within each of them.

Things to take into consideration

13 Finding big shapes Look for pleasing shapes, big, rough shapes that may stay as they are, or may be de ned later. Again, each magni ed area becomes a small abstract. Think of it as a good painting if you could cut it up into several pieces and still have worthwhile paintings. Your soft colour palette will become more important from this point.

14 Rough strokes Our painting is rather rough, but the shapes and hues are nice. You could stop here, but you can go on to re ne it a bit. Some say thats the hardest part of painting, knowing when to stop. If youre having trouble deciding, leave the painting for a day and come back to it with fresh eyes.

17 Strokes matter By the same token, every stroke matters. Painting these roof shingles all sketchy and messy will make them read as shingles, though dont take pains to delineate them. You may even want to come back and capture this roof as a texture for another painting. Everything we do is but a facet of something greater.

18 Soft detail For the surrounding branches and leaves, reduce your brush size and think in clusters rather than individual leaves, working quickly and constantly changing colours. Keep the buildings walls fairly colourless, and wrap it in soft clouds of teals and lilacs. Toward the front, paint with a greater Opacity, softening as you move to the back.

Colour temperatureColour temperature creates mood and a spatial effect: cool recedes, while warm goes forward. How do you know if a colour is warm or cool? Look at where it sits on the Color Wheel. Begin with blue; blue hues that fall closer to the greens will be cool while blues closer to red will read as warm. How about red? Red hues closer to blue will be cool while reds sitting closer to gold will be warm. And so it goes around the Color Wheel. This is handy to know when you want to create depth and dimension in your painting.

Colour

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Tweak your painting as much as you like until youre satisfiedAn endless supply of options at your disposalAn endless supply of options at your disposal

19 Casting light on the subject Though no light source has been designated yet, experiment with the light, maybe moonlight, shining on the front of the building. If you back away from it and squint your eyes, the overall shapes should be evident and pleasing. You could use the Glow brush to highlight, but you can also select that area and raise the contrast and brightness.

20 Make those all-important nal decisions The beauty of digital painting is that there are always more options. You could still raise the colour saturation, play with the Hue slider, increase the drama by lowering the brightness or add a surface texture. The atmosphere is one of tranquillity, thanks to the subdued, cool colour palette and gentle brush strokes.

Tutorial Limited colour palettes

Why use many when two will do?Using limited coloursWeve seen in this tutorial how a limited colour palette can still result in very inviting images and also how setting yourself the challenge helps you look at things in a slightly different way. When you are so dependent on a speciic colour theme, the choice of colour is so important in conveying a mood or emotion. Heres a quick look at some other examples of limited colour.

Ghost ShipGhost Ship uses a limited colour palette that works well transparently, and creates a deserted atmosphere with hints of gold, as of the sun trying to peek through fog. The absence of colour equates with the absence of movement and life. It began with some colour smudges on the Mixing palette and developed into a very limited colour palette. With one photo and one set of brushes, but varying the colour palette, we can create many paintings. If rose hues were chosen instead of taupe, this painting might well have been about the dawning of a new day.

This painting began with a fairly detailed pencil drawing, without a great deal of shading, and the introduction of a colour palette; but limited colour palettes need not always be about low saturated colours. Geisha uses a palette made up entirely of vibrant blues, some of them warm and some of them cool with a touch of rich violet. The resulting Color Set is reminiscent of jewel tones. Bristle Oil Brushes and Palette Knives were used to move the paint around like soft butter

everywhere except the girls porcelain white skin. You can see the larger image at http://www.pbase.com/catbounds/image/62614114, to get a real feel for how the tones work together. By combining both cool and warm blues for the background, this gives the illusion of movement within the painting. However, this painting didnt begin with an atmosphere or mood in mind and neither need yours just see where your imagination takes you.

Geisha

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Tutorial Paint like Edvard Munch

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dvard Munch is Norways most famous painter. He was a troubled, multi-talented artist whose dream was to create art

that gives something to humanity. Art that arrests and engages.

With The Scream, Munch managed to fulil his dream to an extent even he would have dreamt was beyond reach. This iconic painting has become one of the most recognisable works of art ever created, with a passion that transcends time and geographic boundaries. To many, it is a truthful rendition of human angst, suffering and the human condition in general.

A particularly strong image, it lends itself clearly to a multitude of uses. From commercials and ilm, to childrens TV, not many works of art can include Beavis and Butt-Head as well as Wes Cravens Scream, Looney Tunes and Courage the Cowardly Dog in their credit list.

Munch has created several colour versions of the piece using different media. He also produced a striking lithograph in an attempt to generate extra income.

The original title given to the picture by the artist is The Scream of Nature. The ominous name goes some way towards explaining the story behind its creation.

It is set in the scene of the erosion of Krakatoa, and most possibly inspired by the powerful volcanic eruption there in 1883. The ash ejected from the volcano is

The Scream is an iconic image of modern life, referenced in highbrow and lowbrow culture alike. We reveal how to recreate this artistic epitome of human angst

Edvard MunchThe Scream is an iconic image of modern life, referenced in highbrow and lowbrow culture alike. We reveal how to recreate this artistic epitome of human angst

Artist

Time needed

Skill level

On the CD

Hannah Gal

3 hours

Intermediate

Sketch

Tutorial info said to have created a red tint in the sky that was to last for months. I sensed an ininite scream passing through nature, Munch has said.

Munchs troubled personal life was a source of inspiration. The paintings are disturbing, a touch twisted, unusual and telling. They are emotionally charged with a unique and unusual sense of colour.

The ability to transfer feelings to canvas with such great accuracy is perhaps Munchs greatest gift and the reason he remains a source of reference to contemporary artists.

Munch is considered to be a key inluence on the Expressionist movement in Europe. This particular piece is part of the series The Frieze of Life, in which he delved deep into the human psyche with the themes of love, fear, death, life and melancholy.

The artist has attributed his preoccupation with these themes to a childhood laden with sadness. As a child, he experienced the loss of his mother and older sister to tuberculosis. Troubled adulthood followed with alcoholism and unhappy relationships.

1892 was an important year for Munch when the Berlin Artists Association invited him to exhibit his work. The

paintings caused such an outrage, that the exhibition had to close. The entire episode, however, brought with it a wave of publicity, which beneited Munchs career and he chose to remain in the country. This is where he started work on the monumental The Frieze of Life, exhibited for the irst time in 1902.

In 1894 Munch began printmaking, bringing the work to a greater audience. Motifs for this more marketable art derived from his original paintings. In 1908, Munch suffered a nervous breakdown and a year later returned to Norway for what was to become an isolated and proliic life. He passed away in 1944 leaving behind 1,000 paintings, a staggering 15,400 prints, 4,500 drawings and watercolours, and six sculptures.

We will create The Scream using a combination of media including Acrylics, Oil Pastels and Colored Pencils. We start with a drawing and continue to create a lithographic effect using Charcoal. The application of paint is important in any work of art, but doubly so with The Scream. The piece is made of long strokes that would be best applied in one, without lifting the stylus. We will mix long, bristly strokes with gritty texture and use surface texture for a touch of 3D depth.

Paint like: The Scream is an iconic image of modern life, referenced in highbrow and lowbrow The Scream is an iconic image of modern life, referenced in highbrow and lowbrow

Paint like:

[BELOW]Grainy textureInstead of using a filter or texturiser for the texture in this painting, a highly textured brush is applied to add realism, as in the Grainy Hard Build-up from the Oil Pastels seen here

Multi-tone faceBesides drawing the features on the face correctly, we need to place shading and highlights in the right place

DirectionThe stroke application varies throughout the piece. Different areas call for different length and pressure

This iconic painting has become one of the most recognisable works of art ever created

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TutorialPaint like Edvard M

unch

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Museum and art historyThe Munch museum was created as a tribute to Norways famous artist. Besides information on the artists troubled life, it takes an analytical look at his work. Go to www.munch.museum.no/ and delve deep into the life and workof a particularly prolific artist.

Under Life and Work is a section called On Munchs Paintings. It looks at different paintings including The Scream in detail, speaking of the inspiration to the piece, when it was created and what its importance was in the greater scheme of the artists life.

It also highlights influences on Munchs life that have inevitably had an impact on his work.

Follow this guide and you wont be screamingTake a deep breath and begin

01 Layers Open a new image size and copy the provided scream drawing as a separate layer. For reference, we kept a small copy of the original piece as a layer that could be turned on and off. A third layer seen here is of a Munch lithography, which well get on to.

Take a deep breath and begin

02 Lithography effect To familiarise yourself with style, create a lithography. Go to Brush Creator>Choose Charcoal >Dull Charcoal Pencil 3. Make black your Main colour and set Expression to None. With the Drawing layer visible and the Charcoal layer selected, cover the blank image with this solid black medium. Adjust the brush size according to your need. You dont have to do this, though.

03 Acrylics Select Acrylics from the Brush Creator. Real-life acrylic is fast-drying and can be diluted with water. It can tend to look like oil paint or watercolour, depending on the level of dilution. Now choose the Dry Brush 30 category.

05 Build up Zoom in and apply brush strokes in the direction of the original. Make these strokes as long as possible and try to keep your stylus on the tablet from the start to the end of each stroke. Pay attention to changes in lightness and try to re ect that in your application from this early stage. This all contributes to a more sensitive and less rigid look.

06 Fill Create a new layer and open the Color palette. Sample a light brown/dark mustard colour. Click on the new blank layer and Select All. Go to Effects>Fill in the main menu and select Fill With Current Colour with the Opacity set to 100 per cent. Place this layer beneath the Colour layer.

07 Build up close Keep the Acrylics brush at a maximum Opacity of 40. Continue to slowly build paint. You could choose a prominent shade like orange, cover one area, and use the Grabber to move the next area to apply all strokes of that colour. Or you can concentrate on just one area. The colour builds on previous strokes beautifully.

Tutorial Paint like Edvard Munch

Museum and

04 Application Create a new layer called Colour and make it the top layer. Use the Color Mixer or Color palette to create the colours you need and apply strokes of black and light brown. The strokes are long and should look bristly and airy. Set the Opacity between 10 and 12 and set the Expression to None.

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TutorialPaint like Edvard M

unch

Color VariabilityIn real painting, colour is applied using brushes loaded with paint. This paint mixes with colours around it and you often get a single stroke made of two colours.

To mix colours this way, open Brush Creator, select Stroke Designer and choose Color Variability.

Now select in RGB and apply a stroke of your clean paint onto the pad. Drag the R slider to 50 and see the effect; then to 100 and see how the new colour blends in.

Try this with other colours and even two together. Apply your stroke and drag the magnification level at the bottom of the Brush Creator to 200% and see the stroke close-up.

10 Blending oils Create a new layer and name it Oil Pastels. Set Method to Cover and Subcategory to Grainy Hard Cover. With a 10-12% Opacity, and Expression set to None apply light strokes over the previous Acrylics. The two textures should blend together well.

11 Oil Pastel sky The sky in The Scream is nothing short of amazing. It is made of a multitude of shades of orange, mixed with turquoise, cream and yellow. The strokes here need to go horizontally from one side of the canvas to the other. Sample a shade, apply your brushstrokes, sample the shade next to it, apply and move on.

Monster Munch anyone? (Sorry!)Fill in the persons detailsFill in the persons details

08 Drop The basic strokes throughout the painting should be in place now. Before moving to a different media, zoom out and look out for any overly bare areas accidentally missed. Go to the Layers palette and choose Drop All. You should now have