My first Painter 7 painting

[DJ Dubovsky]

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.
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

[Blacknight]

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!

[Guest]

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.

[DJ Dubovsky]

Blacknight,
Thanks for the high praise. If you look closer you will see some flying M's too. 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. Yeah that's it. If you can't dazzle them with brilliance baffle them with bull sh... I always say
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

[G. Couch]

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

[DJ Dubovsky]

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

[DannyRaphael]

Painter 7 first time effort? I would have never guessed.

(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~

[jerry]

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

[Mike Needham]

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 . Goes to show that talent always shine through

[DJ Dubovsky]

Danny,
Thanks for the rave reviews. 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.

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.
DJ

[Sharon]

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

[DJ Dubovsky]

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 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

[Hydia]

DJ don't sell yourself short

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

[T Paul]

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

[Sharon]

DJ thanks for the link to the tutorials.

Sharon