OK, now bear in mind that I'm still learning my way around this program and don't have total control of the brushes yet so don't laugh. :D
With the exception of the grasses which I did in Photoshop 7 using the dual color grass brush, every single thing was done by hand in Painter 7. There were no photos in this one as you will tell by my crude birds and boats so pretty much it's just my imaginary world here. I'm having fun but I still have a long way to go. They don't work like real brushes and paint no matter how advanced these programs are. But here goes nothing.
DJ

Somehow, from the buildup you posted, I was more expecting something like a child would draw on the wall with a crayon. What a pleasant surprise it was to see a work of art instead. If this is your first attempt, I can't wait to see what you do when you feel like you know what you're doing with the program. Anyone who can make a flying bird look like a bird (instead of an M-bird like I always end up with) is an instant artist in MY book! Good job!
:wavey:

this is quite good DJ. I like the exicution, as well as the color and tone choices. The foreground birds are nice, as is the H2O. I have a bit of a prob with the mountains though, almost too blurry. They can be far away, and still have better edge definition. Clouds are great. For anyone who has PSP, the tubes can be used to do birds, grass.
P7 is a real challenge to run. I can't even remember what brush I used for an effect, because there are so many of them.
Over all, good job, you have talent.

Blacknight,
Thanks for the high praise. If you look closer you will see some flying M's too. :D My only regret is when I started to play around I started it as a small resolution image. Then as I got into it I wished I had started bigger. Your're actually seeing it at about 100%.

Greg,
Appreciate the critiques and kind praise. I know you've done alot in Painter so any help is greatly appreciated. As for the mountains. Well, they weren't exactly supposed to be there in the first place. It was an accidental smudge that grew out of hand and alloted deletes. I went in to clean up with the squeege tool and they became some distant mountains. At the time I decided to cut my losses and leave them alone cause they were stuck on a layer I didn't want to ruin any more and couldn't fix at the time. So I decided they were shrouded in mist. :D Yeah that's it. :D If you can't dazzle them with brilliance baffle them with bull sh... I always say :lol:
I know there were nozzles with images but I decided to go it alone so I could get my brush strokes better refined and see what was available. Did use alot of impasto brushes though. Love that grass brush in PS 7. It's the realist looking part of the whole image.

Thanks again both of you. I'll keep working on it.
DJ

Looks great DJ! I especially like the grass and the colors you used. ...I kind of like your "accidental" mist covered mountains! :)

Thanks alot Greg. :) In a previous thread on Painter there was a discussion on how to get PS to paint 2 colors so in folowing the example someone gave I found this cool grass brush and then just used a soft green and a dark green and clicked the dual brush option then played around with the size adjustment and let PS do the rest. It really makes some cool looking grasses that I couldn't reproduce in Painter. Actually, I was looking for a place to use that brush once I found it.
DJ

(And the crowd cheers, "D-J, D-J, D-J"...)

Wow! Terrific effort for your first time at bat with Painter 7, DJ. As Phil said (in effect), if this is just the beginning, can't wait to see what develops in the future. Great things to come, I'm sure.

I hope your "daring" to post an early effort inspires others to do the same.

Two thumbs up.

~Danny~

Very nice DJ. It looks like you have been using this program for a long time..

Did you paint this freehand or start with a line drawing or something else. The outline of the sailboat is so sharp that I can't imagine drawing it freehand.. Talent is a wonderful thing..

Thanks for showing it to us
Jerry :D

Somehow I missed this thread until now. I too was ecpecting something naieve when I looked, but instead was confronted by a really accomplished piece. I love the water and the grasses, love the clouds too and the boats have loads of detail in them.

Really impressed as you are a mere stripling in the painter world:D . Goes to show that talent always shine through

Danny,
Thanks for the rave reviews. :D Yes, it would be nice to see what others can do. I know I was inspired to give it a try by your Photo Art area and all the talent I see there and by some of Greg's Painter renderings as well. I also thought it was a good way to show some of Painter's potential. It's really a great tool if one knows what they're doing. :D

Jerry,
Thank you for those sweet comments. No actually I didn't draw out anything. I started painting a sky which lead to a water scene and then the beach just fell into place. After that I added things on layers just to see what would work. The only drawing was to sketch in some boats.

Mike
Thanks for the inspiration. For the boats, I downloaded some images to go by and thought the detail would help give a more realistic appearance to them. When they first went in they looked like a comic book coloring so I really had to punch them up to get them to look full of wind and the details helped shape the sails for me. Plus I always see numbers on sail boat sails. Don't know what they mean but I put them in anyway. :D
DJ

Beautiful painting DJ.

I have Painter 7 but I don't know what to do with it. :(

Are you using a step by step instruction book to learn the program?

Sharon:)

Thank you Sharon. No instruction book but I did find this site for some real good online tutorails. You get the first 3 chapters free to check out. Check out this thread page (http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3496) for more information. I took the full course and was totally impressed with all I learned. For the cost vs what you get I think it's well worth it. Plus when you consider how much you paid for Painter and don't use is because you can't find good tutorals on it.
DJ

WOW, It's a great job and it looks like you handled the software very well. Love the colors.

DJ....WOW! That's a very impressive first attempt! You are quite the multi-talented lady. I love it all, the detailed sailboats, the soft clouds and of course the amazing grass. You have to love PS7's dynamic brushes! They just make you go wow...NEAT! Painter looks like a very fun program too. I have been enjoying viewing Greg's work and I hope your thread encourages more people to play.

-T

DJ thanks for the link to the tutorials.

Sharon:)

Sharon,
You're welcome. Hope you can get some good pointers out of it.

Hydia,
Thank you so much for the nice comments. I am suprised it turned out that well considering the trouble I had learning to paint with digital brushes. It's so completly different than actual paint. But it was fun.

T,
Your comments are very incouraging. Thanks alot. I think next time I play around I will start on a larger canvas incase I end up liking it. :D It would be nice to incourage others to give some of these painting programs a whirl. What I like best is I don't have to clean the brushes and palettes when I'm done. :D
DJ

Not having to clean the brushes or having to wait until the paint dries to continue working on a piece makes the digital way the fun way to go!

My biggest problem with digital painting is unlearning the way real paint works. Alot of what occured in this picture I realize was accidental and I played on those accidents. What I'd like to achieve is intentional brush strokes not accidental ones. :D It's a whole lot better looking at a finished work of art saying "Yes, I've achieved my goal" as opposed to saying " Holy Cow, how'd that happen?" :lol: I'm at the Holy Cow stage.
DJ

Felt my ears burning, so I bopped on over. For those who really want to learn Painter well, there are books, called Wow Book, and they are great. I have th P6 wow.
They retail for about $50. I got mine thru Powells Books on line for $42, as a damaged item(a small wrinkle on the cover) These are very popular in the CG community.
They also have one's for PS. It's as good as any class you'll find.
Thanks for the nice talk behind my back, not used to it.
greg

Fugitive, thanks for the WOW book tip for Painter. But I haven't even made it through HALF of the manual that comes with the program...I still don't even know what it CAN do let alone learn advanced techniques. I feel overwhelmed by this program, and wish I knew enough to start learning, if you know what I mean. How long did it take you to get comfortable with Painter?

Phyllis

Originally posted by pstewart
Fugitive, thanks for the WOW book tip for Painter. But I haven't even made it through HALF of the manual that comes with the program...I still don't even know what it CAN do let alone learn advanced techniques. I feel overwhelmed by this program, and wish I knew enough to start learning, if you know what I mean. How long did it take you to get comfortable with Painter?

Phyllis

I haven't yet! I got Painter last yr some time. Since there are easier proggies for photo or effects or editing, I only use painter for it's fabulous brushes. I don't even know that this would be popular with folks on art you distribute, but it sure looks good on screen. I like to get funky with the texture brushes, i.e. Impasto, the WC is good too. If there is anything I can help you with, feel free to PM or email me.

DJ- That is really a great picture (first try or not)!! Don't try too hard to figure it out, you don't want to loose anything along the way. Perhaps this is your "style".

Awesome image, DJ. As others have already stated I expected far less and was blown away when I saw the end result. I'm really impressed. You clearly have talent and experience with traditional media. Would love to see more of your work.

FYI... to all, there is online training available for Painter 7 at:

www.eclecticacademy.com for $20 per course for 6 weeks of instruction. The initial class is taught by Christine Frey who was an excellent instructor. They also over special classes in watercolor, pastel brushes etc.

There is also another good set of tutorials etc at:

www.pixelalley.com

Earl

W-W-W-Wow Debbie! I haven't been online much the past couple of days, and I just saw this thread. Excellent work. I didn't think you had that in you, but now that I've read all the posts, I seem to remember a challenge (Halloween?) where you said you used a painting you did a few years ago. Is that right, or am I losing it? :) Anyhow, you seem to surprise me fairly often. That's a great piece.

Ed

Vikki,
Thank you for those inspiring words. I think you're right. Don't analyze just do and things will work out in the end. I tend to be a perfectionist and analysis tends to be critical sometimes. I know what I want but most cases I end up settling for what I got. Yes, I suspect that is my style. :)

Estudivan,
Thanks for the great praise and the cool links. I found the Pixelalley one but the online course is a new one on me. Looks great. I have done things in alot of different art media and did some airbrushing for awhile before I discovered Photoshop. I've always loved art and had an eye for it but never felt I was as good as I wanted to be. And usually inspriation came very sporatically.

Ed,
Thanks buddy. :) You're always there to give me an encouraging word. Yes, you did remember right. I did do a pumpkin Manipulation challenge using an airbrush painting I had done years ago for a Halloween haunted house sign. I also played around with a drawing of my son as a child looking through a concrete bridge. I added some PS artistic filters to it and uploaded it in my Gallery area. This one was totally done in digital media, no real paintings or images used. I'm just used to seeing physical paint on my brush I guess. :)
DJ