Brush behavior like watercolor

[dws2434]

I'm a watercolorist who has switched over to digital. I have bought Trimoon's watercolor tutorial and it is really close to my old style of painting. I'm trying to find a brush or tool that will imulate lifting off of color with a wet brush or pushing it so that the wet pigment will stay in front of the brush and the brush body will lift in it's path. The finished stroke will be a gradated effect and the outside edge will have more pigment as the water dries and the brush gets drier. An example might be old barn boards. You would push the pigment up towards where the boards meet to help form the shadow under the board.

I used to paint on hard surface illustration board and would lift color to help get my textures. The color doesn't soak into the board like it does with paper. I tried some of Trimoon's color mover brushes from his tutorial, but they don't quite do the trick.
Doug

[Xaran]

It depends on what software you are using - Painter is the best for natural media effects.

Christine

[DannyRaphael]

Hi Doug:

Welcome to RetouchPRO and thanks for posting your question. You didn't specify what version of Photoshop. I'll assume 7 or CS.

Here's my 2¢...

As tremendously functional as Photoshop is, including the new brush engine that was introduced in PS7, I believe in the long run you'll be disappointed with PS when it comes to trying to simulate watercolor effects. As it was explained to me one time, Photoshop's underlying purpose is photo editing, not duplicating traditional art methods. Since then its been my observation and personal experience that for certain styles, watercolors among them, the results obtainable in this area from Photoshop come up short for those who have traditional skills and high standards.

But there is hope on the horizon...

Have you looked into Corel Painter 8? It's purpose is to provide digital tools that very realistically simulate traditional art in just about any style you can image... pencil, pen & ink, crayons, oils, pastels, acrylics, watercolor, chalk, charcoal, etc. From what I've seen if you have a tablet it does watercolors better than any other program on the planet. The brush options and controls are practically unlimited, including (for example) such things as at what rate digital watercolor strokes should run (due to amount of paint applied + gravity) as though painted on paper mounted on an easel. The learning curve for Painter isn't trivial, but functionally it's in a league of its own.

If you do look into Painter (www.Corel.com), I believe Corel is still offering the version 8 upgrade that will install properly as long as you have Photoshop installed. You don't need a previous version of Painter for this less expensive upgrade nor do you need to get the standard (more expensive) version.

Although I didn't have any brilliant suggestions on the brush settings, I hope this gives you some food for thought.

~Danny~

[dws2434]

Thanks for the reply. To answer some of the details I left out... I do have CS. I also have Corel Painter latest version. Killer learning curve. If there are experienced Painter users in the group that might point me in the right direction for a brush that might be used to do what I was asking, I'd be grateful. The unlimited variants available in Painter is almost overwhelming.
I also have Deep Paint version 2. I'm a good photographer and a good artist, but when you put those in a pot and try to mix them up, they are quite obstinate.

[DannyRaphael]

You're right about the learning curve... Too many options, too little time. Regarding getting advice on the brush effects you're trying to achieve, here's a couple resources you might look into:
* The Corel Painter news group (if you go to the Corel site and navigate through the Support path, you'll eventually end up with a link that will take you there)
* Yahoo Painter group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Painter-Novitiate/
* Wetcanvas digital imaging forum: http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=96

There are folks who participate in these venues who know Painter inside and out. I'm not trying to "shoo you away" from RetouchPRO... just point you in a direction where there's a boatload of targeted expertise.

Hope this helps.

~Danny~