New Sketch Using Painter
17/August/2009
You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.
Jack London
Painter Sketch
The piece above was created in Corel’s Painter from the sketch I used in my previous blog post. I’ve also posted a scan of the original sketchbook page that I worked from. As you can see I ran out of room on the first page and had to tape another sheet of paper on the side.
When it came to painting the sketch, I decided that I wanted this to be a “light” piece. Rather than a fully rendered background, I wanted lots of white space, the type of painting that might be designed for text to wrap around. The characters would be supported by an indication of the background rather than a fully realized setting. I wanted the floor to be an indication with just enough weight to ground the figures and provide an area for the shadows to play up the light source. I think it wound up working pretty well.
Sketchbook Original
I’ve been asked recently, by other illustrators, what it’s like to work with Painter, a program that specializes in simulating a natural, or traditional, media experience. The answer, I have to confess, is that I found it a slightly intimidating program at first. It’s a media application that comes preloaded with a mind bending array of features and material. Photoshop, is of course the default graphics program, but Painter delivers a rich media experience that Photoshop doesn’t easily provide. It creates a virtual art studio in your computer, and a very well equipped one at that. The depth of the program is impressive, to the point where it can be overwhelming at times, something that can put off a casual user. In fact, if you want to go behind the curtain, and explore all the options Corel provides, you better pack a lunch. Then again, the quality and presentation, of the natural media the program is based on, is so well done, and has such a realistic feel, that most artists, even those with a traditional media background, should be fairly comfortable right out of the gate by just sticking to the “off the rack” supplies and not fooling with all the optional settings. In the mood to use pastel? Hey, there it is, grab it and go. Fat bristle brush, loaded with oil paint? No problem, here’s one ready to hit the canvas. The array of prebuilt media sets is great, even if you never do decide to tinker much with settings. My opinion, if you’re looking for a graphics app that conjures up a traditional media look and feel, I think it’s hard to beat, for both the Sunday painter and the serious pro user.
Jack London
Painter Sketch
The piece above was created in Corel’s Painter from the sketch I used in my previous blog post. I’ve also posted a scan of the original sketchbook page that I worked from. As you can see I ran out of room on the first page and had to tape another sheet of paper on the side.
When it came to painting the sketch, I decided that I wanted this to be a “light” piece. Rather than a fully rendered background, I wanted lots of white space, the type of painting that might be designed for text to wrap around. The characters would be supported by an indication of the background rather than a fully realized setting. I wanted the floor to be an indication with just enough weight to ground the figures and provide an area for the shadows to play up the light source. I think it wound up working pretty well.
Sketchbook Original
I’ve been asked recently, by other illustrators, what it’s like to work with Painter, a program that specializes in simulating a natural, or traditional, media experience. The answer, I have to confess, is that I found it a slightly intimidating program at first. It’s a media application that comes preloaded with a mind bending array of features and material. Photoshop, is of course the default graphics program, but Painter delivers a rich media experience that Photoshop doesn’t easily provide. It creates a virtual art studio in your computer, and a very well equipped one at that. The depth of the program is impressive, to the point where it can be overwhelming at times, something that can put off a casual user. In fact, if you want to go behind the curtain, and explore all the options Corel provides, you better pack a lunch. Then again, the quality and presentation, of the natural media the program is based on, is so well done, and has such a realistic feel, that most artists, even those with a traditional media background, should be fairly comfortable right out of the gate by just sticking to the “off the rack” supplies and not fooling with all the optional settings. In the mood to use pastel? Hey, there it is, grab it and go. Fat bristle brush, loaded with oil paint? No problem, here’s one ready to hit the canvas. The array of prebuilt media sets is great, even if you never do decide to tinker much with settings. My opinion, if you’re looking for a graphics app that conjures up a traditional media look and feel, I think it’s hard to beat, for both the Sunday painter and the serious pro user.