Creating a digital watercolor from a photo with Corel® Painter™ IX.5
By Tanya Lux - Corel Product Specialist

With Corel® Painter™ IX.5, you can create a digital watercolor painting from a photo. This tipwill show you how to turn a photo into a pencil sketch that will become a digital watercolor painting.

The first step is to choose a photo with high-key lighting. This means a fairly light photo with mostly white and gray tones.

From the File menu, choose Open. In the Select Image (Windows®) or Open (Mac OS®) dialog box, locate the photo that you want to use, and click Open. On the Underpainting palette, choose Lighten from the Style pop-up menu, and click Apply.

Depending on the lightness of your original photo, it may be necessary to repeat the Lighten effect. Remember to click Apply each time you want to use the effect.

Still with the Underpainting palette, use the slider to set the Smart Blur Amount to 30%, and click Apply.

Next, we'll choose a color for the canvas. From the Toolbox, click the Dropper tool. Move your cursor over the color that you would like to use for the canvas, and click it. You'll notice that the front square of the Toolbox's Color Selector updates to display the color you've chosen. The Colors palette also updates to display the new color.

From the Canvas menu, choose Set Paper Color.

Next, we'll apply a decorative edge to the photo. From the Underpainting palette, choose Jagged Vignette from the Edge Effect pop-up menu. Use the respective sliders to set the Amount to 25% and the Smart Blur Amount to 30%.

The next step is to adjust the canvas size to increase the border space. The amount of border space that you add will depend on the photo that you are using. As a general guide, I'm working with an 18 x 22 inch, 72 dpi photo and have added 100 pixels to all edges of the canvas.

From the Canvas menu, choose Canvas Size. In the Adjust Size area of the Canvas Size dialog box, type a value in each of the Add boxes.

At this point, you may want to smooth out the edges of the border. On the Brush Selector bar, choose Blenders from the Brush Category selector and Just Add Water from the Brush Variant selector.

Now, let's save the file in RIFF format with a new name. From the File menu, choose Save As. In the Save Image As (Windows) or Save (Mac OS) dialog box, choose RIFF Files (*.RIF) from the Save as type list box. Type a new name in the File name box, and click Save. On the Underpainting palette, click the Quick Clone button.

Next, we'll add two new raster layers. On the Layers palette, click the New Layer button twice.

Select Layer 1, right-click, and choose Layer Attributes from the pop-up menu. In the Layer Attributes dialog box, type "DWC" in the Name box, and click OK. Repeat this procedure for Layer 2, naming it "Hand Sketch"

With the Hand Sketch layer still selected, choose French Watercolor Paper from the Paper Selector in the Toolbox.

On the Colors palette, use the Ring Hue to select a gray color. On the Brush Selector bar, choose Pencils from the Brush Category selector and Thick and Thin Pencil from the Brush Variant selector. Use the property bar to adjust the following pencil settings:

1. Size - 6
   
   
2. Opacity - 17%
   
   
3. Grain - 17%
   
   
4. Resat - 55%
   
   

A Grain setting under 25% results in more significantly expressed grain. The Resat setting controls the amount of color that is replenished during a brush stroke.

Next, we'll turn on the tracing paper and start sketching. In the upper-right corner of the document window, press the Toggle Tracing Paper button.

Alternatively, you could use the shortcut keys: Command + T (Mac) or Ctrl + T (Windows).

On the Layers palette, select Gel from the Composite Method pop-up menu. Then, select the Hand Sketch layer and adjust the Opacity slider to 44%.

You can use the original photo as a guide to create a loose sketch. For a more natural angle while sketching, you can rotate the page by pressing E and dragging the page to the desired angle. To continue sketching, press B to retrieve the Brush tool.

We're now ready to start painting with digital watercolor, but first, select the DWC layer on the Layers palette. On the Brush Selector bar, choose Digital Watercolor from the Brush Category selector and Soft Broad Brush from the Brush Variant selector. Use a small brush for detail and a large brush for blending of colors.

While painting, toggle the tracing paper on and off to see your results on the canvas. You can adjust the opacity of the tracing paper by clicking and holding the Toggle Tracing Paper button, and then selecting a percentage from the pop-up menu.

With the majority of the background painted, I decided to add more blue to the sky.

To evaluate your results, toggle the tracing paper off. Alternatively, you can use the Layers palette to turn off the visibility of the Hand Sketch layer. On the Layers palette, click the Eye icon next to the Hand Sketch layer name.

As one of several finishing touches, I lowered the opacity of the Hand Sketch layer by using the eraser on the Wacom® stylus to erase portions of the sketch that were too heavy-handed. Then, I selected the DWC layer and used variants of the Blenders brush category to further blend in the watercolor. I also saved another RIFF version of the file in case the need arises to make additional changes to the layers.

Next, we'll drop all layers and increase the size of the paper texture. From the Layers menu, choose Drop All. On the Papers palette, adjust the Paper Scale slider to 150%.

Finally, let's reduce the depth of the paper's surface texture. From the Effects menu, choose Surface Control > Apply Surface Texture. In the Apply Surface Texture dialog box, choose Paper from the Using pop-up menu. Then, in the Appearance of Depth area, adjust the Amount slider to 19%.

Depending on your results, you may want to further tone down the effect of the paper texture. From the Edit menu, choose Fade. In the Fade dialog box, adjust the Undo Amount slider and click OK.