My First Painter Project

[Swampy]

I just got Corel Painter (thanks to all you folks that do such beautiful work in Painter, I just had to have it )

When I get a program of this magnitude, the first thing I do is go to Lynda.com and pay the $25 for 1 month's free access to anything that's there and start watching the QuickTime movies. It's the quickest and easiest way for me to get a handle on what the program can do. Anyway, Lynda's tutorials are very good and the $25 for a whole month of perusing the site is a bargain (I plan to pick up some tips on CS2 on this "E Ticket" ride)

Anyway, a couple hours exploring just the auto sketch and auto clone features brought the following result. The original photo is one that I took during a digital camera class offered by the local art league. I love pen and ink so that was my first area of exploration (and trial and error.)

Aren't new toys fun?

[Xaran]

Well done, just one comment - I think I would have removed the hose pipe etc. first.

Christine

[Swampy]

Xer...

I just cloned the hose out in Photoshop, but ya know... it kinda looks bare now. LOL. The arches in the structure just caught my eye. I didn't even notice the hose when I took the shot.

The house is rather interesting. It is part of the Art League property and under renovation. It is one of three old homes (circa 1920) that are being renovated. They are referred to by their color, so this one is "Yellow" house. As in, "The digital camera class will be held in the "Yellow House". They all occupy prime lakefront property in the heart of our cultural district (which also includes the library, civic center and little theater).

[1STLITE]

Swampy, that sounds SO awesome. I wanna live there! lol And great painting btw!

[Kraellin]

swampy,

very nice!

i'd have removed the hose, the extension cord (or whatever that orange thing is above the hose), and that little shovel or sign on the left. then, simply crop off the bottom part of the picture to remove that bare area look. always look for the 'real' picture. what do you really want to see and and not see. always ask that second part when taking a pic or working with editing.

nice picture and nice work, though.

Craig

[Swampy]

Thanks, Craig

Would love to see your version, but you didn't post it. :-(

[cazubi]

A little hose clean up would help, but I love the picture anyway. I am also learning Painter and now I want to play with the pen and ink. I have been mostly using oils and acrylics.

Cathy

[Swampy]

1STLITE...Come on down! LOL

Cathy... Trust me, I am not an artist. Couldn't draw a straight line on a piece of graph paper if you handed me a pencil and ruler!!! I can visulize what I want to create, but I just can't translate the vision to paper. Enter the computer. The illustration programs (FreeHand & Illustrator) and pixel pushing programs (Photoshop & Painter) allow me to do some pretty amazing stuff that would otherwise remain dormant in my brain. :-)

I've been so busy putting a 28 page book together and selling ads that I really haven't had time to explore Painter, but just touching the surface it is an amazing addition to my arsenal of digital "tricks".

[Neve]

A terrific effort....I haven't tried Pen and Ink yet in Painter, so much to learn!

[Kraellin]

She tasks me! (sorry, old star trek reference)

swampy,

ok, the renos are done cleaned up the yard, finished painting the house, fixed a couple shingles, removed the house in the background (the neighbors werent too pleased either), cleaned the sidewalk after fixing the crack there, and cleaned some of the brickwork. my bill's in the mail oh, and i watered that plant on the porch; it was almost dead.

Craig

[Swampy]

Thanks, Neve... yes! Lots to learn

Craig... Beautiful. It is much cleaner! Thank you for the input!

[DannyRaphael]

I think you're doing the right thing by seeking a little education instead of trying to figure out Painter without same.

And may I say your 1st creation came out a whole lot better than mine.

I, too, am learning new Painter tricks all the time. Here's something I learned the other day that might work well on this image (hose or not). It's based on a suggestion by Phyllis Stewart:
* In Photoshop, get rid of the hose
* Open file in Painter
* File > Clone
* Choose brush Artists > Impressionist
* Window > Show Colors (to show the Color Palette if it's not visible)
* Window > Show Color Variability (" " " Color Variability " " " ")
* Color Palette: Click clone color button (it looks like a rubber stamp)
* Color variablity palette: Set the H setting to 10%-15%
* Lower brush opacity to about 50%-60% or so
* Start painting on the "Clone of xxx" image
* Use larger brush size for large shapes, small size for detail
* Cloner > Soft Cloner - use this to restore a little detail if needed
* Blender > Grainy Blender 10,20,30 - use this to smoosh some of the strokes

BTW: I'm probably among the few who actually knows the origin of "E-ticket ride," a great bit of Disney trivia. Got a chuckle out of reading that one.

Keep having fun!

~Danny~

[Swampy]

Danny... I've printed out your short tutorial and will give it a try soon. So much to do, so little time.

(heeheeee.. I thought someone might know what an E Ticket ride was. You're showing your age and so am I... LOL)

[cazubi]

Oh...I also know what an E-ticket is. I think I still have one in an old ticket book kept as a souvenir.

I am also going to try your tutorial, Danny. Thanks.

Cathy

[DannyRaphael]

You're showing your age... LOL

I'm only 12; I read it on a Trivial Pursuit card. (OK... I'm not 12!)

Here's an example... It lost some quality in the resizing to 100 KB game, but you'll get the idea. (Hope you don't go ballistic like BobUSA did on my suggestions for his. )

You can make it as detailed or loose as you like (this is pretty loose). I also used Colored Pencils > Oil Colored Pencil 5 to clone in a few strokes here and there.

In Photoshop I sharpened a big and added some satuation to give the colors a little boost.

My fav Disneyland rides (I'm a West Coaster): Matterhorn & Monorail

[Kraellin]

thanks, swampy

ok, i cant keep calling you 'swampy'. i keep thinking of an old black and white B movie and that just wont do. what's your first name and why the name 'swampy'?

and, that house is well worth the restoration effort. it's got some very good lines, i.e. the arches. and a great picture also.

and yes, i've enough years under my belt to know what an e-ticket ride is also. go Pirates of the Carribean! though, the matterhorn was also fun. i've been to both disneyland and disneyworld and the kid in me wouldnt mind going back to either.

danny, very nice. one of these days i'm going to have to upgrade to photoshop just to catch up to you guys.

Craig

[Swampy]

Lots of Disney fans here in RTP. My son works for Disney in the DVD division out in Burbank. He's been with the mouse for 15 years.

Danny... LOL on the BobUSA. That was some post, huh? I like what you did with the oil pencils. I know it will come, but I just can't get "loose" enough to work with the true media brushes yet. I used to design needlepoint and cross stitch where everything was "on a grid". I hope to learn though.

Cathy... Hang on to that E Ticket. It's a real collector's item.

Craig... My real name is Dee Dee, but I've been "Swampy" online since 1983 with my first modem (300 baud coupler modem!! ) Compu-Serve and Genie. I took the screen name "Swamp Witch" from the start because it was my CB (radio) handle back in the 70's. Friends online shortened it to "Swampy" to save on the typing and I've been "swampy" ever since. "Swampy" is also kinda neutral and safe for a woman (if you get my drift?) I used to tell the young drooling "panters" I lived in the swamps and looked like a witch <wink>

[Kraellin]

lol. ok, swampy it is then

ah, 300 baud and cis and genie. boy, that brings back some memories. i'm afraid i have to admit that i was addicted to the game, Island of Kesmai, first on cis and then on genie. later on, it was air warrior on genie and dragon's gate. boy, if i had all the money back that i spent then, i could retire in luxury. and dont be too hard on us, er, those panters; they only drool a little

Craig

[DannyRaphael]

Dee Dee:

re:

Danny... I used to design needlepoint and cross stitch where everything was "on a grid". I hope to learn though.

I know exactly what you mean. As a certified, type-A, always color-inside-the-lines kind of guy for so many, many years, it's taken me a while to get comfortable with things like off the wall colors, not all the detail, etc.

- - - - - -

Craig:

re:

...one of these days i'm going to have to upgrade to photoshop just to catch up to you guys.

Dee Dee and I have be horsing around with Corel Painter. Most people who have Painter also have Phothshop, with which it's easier to do some common tasks. It's not uncommon to open a file in Photoshop, tweak it, close it, open it in Painter, tweak it some more, and go back/forth as needed.

Just want to make sure you spend your $$ on the right program!

~Danny~

[Swampy]

Craig... I was the Roundtable (forum) manager for the Mac area on GEnie for a number of years. Met my significant other in the GEnie chat room in 1987! Imagine trying to explain to people in the "swamps" how you met someone on your computer back in those days! They didn't know anything about email, let alone chat rooms. I've always been a "geek girl" and my son calls me "Techno Mom" :-)

Danny....Been using PhotoShop since the middle 80's. I have CS2 sitting on the shelf waiting to get installed, but have a huge project underway (4 color process 28 page book for our Chamber's annual Caladium Festival-also doing their ads, t-shirts, poster and brochure) using CS1and don't want to change horses in the middle of the stream. Just found out yesterday that as soon as I put this project to bed they want me to start selling ads and setting up their 72 page Chamber Membership Directory/Visitor's Guide. No rest for the weary.

[Kraellin]

danny,

great, now i have to get painter too. i think i'm going to go back to paint shop pro 4.12 ... or maybe i'll just buy some crayons thanks, danny

Imagine trying to explain to people in the "swamps" how you met someone on your computer back in those days! They didn't know anything about email, let alone chat rooms.

yup. i recall the first couple i knew of online that got married from meeting and dating online. most folks back then thought 'online' meant talking over the phone...or something. one of them lived in washington (or oregon) and the other was on the east coast. they eventually met personally, married and ended up in washington. great stuff, but far outside the norm back then.

Mac forum, eh. ok, that's why we never met

Craig

[Swampy]

Craig... I found Painter IX on Ebay for $179. It was a Buy-Now deal and about the best price I've seen. The CD comes with both Mac and PC versions.

[Kraellin]

thanks dee dee

for now, i'm going to stick with what i've got. my next move will prolly be to upgrade psp 7.xx to 9.xx. i do see some value in switching to p-shop now, but i also hate the idea of starting over in an even more complex program when i havent finished studying the one i've got. i've been using psp on and off since version 4.12. and just recently i've gotten more serious about doing something with it. there's no sense in buying a jumbo jet if you cant fly a piper cub

actually, i do see some sense in it. most of the tutorials, around here at least, are for p-shop and these dont always translate to psp, so learning this technique or that is a bit difficult at times and in that regard i do see the need to switch, or if not switch completely, at least augment. but the price, off the shelf for p-shop, makes that one pricey augmentation. add another $180 for a painter augmentation and it's hard to justify the expense without some commercial revenue coming back from all this, which just doesnt exist at the moment.

but, i am drooling a bit and i do see the move happening at some point

Craig

[DannyRaphael]

No doubt: One big advantage of Photoshop is the wealth of educational and tutorial offerings available.

One strategy to consider for getting into Photoshop without taking out a loan on your house is to find an older, legit, unregistered version on eBay (5.5, 6.0 or 7.0 will do). If you shop around, you can get really good deals.

Here's an example.

Only get 5.5 if you're going to upgrade to CS or CS2; 6.0 or 7.0 would be a good place to get started learning the basics (books very cheap; 70%-80% of the features/functions of the latest versions) if you wanted to hold off on CS, CS2 for a while.

When the time's right, spring for another $139 for the most current Photoshop upgrade. All legal and aboveboard.

Then shop for a Painter 8 upgrades on eBay. Special packaging on P8 "upgrade" only: No prior version of Painter required as long as you have Photoshop installed = you can get into Painter for about $50.

So, for $150-$200 you've got PS _and_ Painter.

Food for thought.

~Danny~

[Kraellin]

danny,

i have checked out e-bay once or twice for PS, hoping to find some frustrated person who no longer wanted it and would sell it at a discount. didnt find any. but, i did find just about exactly what you're talking about. there were several ads for earlier versions of PS plus the upgrade to CS. the package ran about half of what the full current version would sell for.

i wasnt aware of the painter 8 deal though. that is considerably less. so, thanks

Craig