All Things Painter Happy Accidents and Safety Nets by John Derry

Some accidents are bad. A graphic accident, for instance, can force you to start an image over again. Other accidents are good, such as when an unexpected turn of events pushes your image beyond the original intent. Corel® Painter™ can make accidents your creative ally. If you want to add some serendipity to your work, read on.

The medium of watercolor is difficult to control. It produces a visual record of a complex set of physical interactions. First, brush-applied colorant suspended in water migrates over the surface of an absorbent, textured watercolor paper. This color migration is in turn influenced by both the rate of paper absorption and the rate of water evaporation. These interactions are further influenced by tilting of the surface as the medium dries. The result is the delicate, yet complex, wash of color that is the hallmark of watercolor.

An artist controls watercolor up to a point - then watercolor does what it wants to. This intention and randomness combine to create the happy accident. A good watercolorist learns through experimentation how to balance artistic intent with the mercurial nature of the medium.

We can borrow from the watercolorist's technique of incorporating accidental and unexpected results into our work. Just as a brush stroke or pencil line can be an expressive mark, the decision to leave an errant mark in a piece can be equally expressive. Yes, it can be difficult to allow imprecise marks to remain in a piece, and in some situations, accidents have no place. But why not allow a bit of graphic spontaneity to enliven an image? You'll never know if you don't try.

If you're afraid to loosen up, try using a safety net. One of the greatest contributions of desktop computing to the world of creative image-making is the Undo shortcut: Command-Z (Mac OS®) or Control-Z (Windows®). I have used this shortcut for so long now that when untoward things happen in my real, noncomputing world, I find my hand forming the "Undo claw." Whenever I draw with a traditional pen or pencil and produce a stroke that I wish I hadn't, I absentmindedly begin to reach for a phantom keyboard, my hand forming the clawed fingering position used to execute an Undo. Unless I'm drawing in Corel Painter, I can't undo.

Corel Painter offers up to 32 levels of Undo, allowing you to work with a safety net. You can make 32 paint strokes, pencil lines, or chalk marks with no fear of commitment. Once you use it, multiple Undo is quite liberating. It emboldens you to experiment and try new graphic expressions.

Working with multiple layers in Corel Painter is another form of safety net. By building an image in layers, you have ultimate control. Not only can you undo marks painted on a layer, but you can also move those marks compositionally. You can even adjust the order of the painted layers, which lets you visualize an image in new ways, and you can consider any arrangement final. Working in this way takes you far beyond the constraints of traditional media.

Corel Painter makes it easy to visualize alternate designs. When I first started using the computer to design, I tended to rely on my previously developed compositional instincts, but eventually I began to experiment. I was amazed to discover that a design I had deemed unworthy when I only envisioned it mentally would turn out to be the superior design. What a liberating tool!

With the freedom to let accidents occur and the ability to undo them, Corel Painter users can create with confidence, so that spontaneity remains a part of their work. Corel Painter offers the best of both worlds: happy accidents and safety nets.

John Derry
Somewhere in Kansas

John Derry is a pioneer of digital painting and one of the original authors of Corel Painter. Since 1985, John has used his background in drawing and painting to simulate on the computer the experience of using traditional art-making tools. John has a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in Fine Art and is a practicing artist and photographer. John is the Art Director at Strauss Peyton Imaging, a fine art printing company.