Melting into Watercolor with Corel® Painter™ IX.5
by Cher Threinen-Pendarvis

With the Watercolor layers in Corel® Painter™ IX.5, a painting or photograph on the Canvas layer can be melted into a watercolor painting. The Watercolor layers and effects provide an enjoyable way for you to transform your photographs.

In the technique that follows, I share the artistic inspiration and process that I used to create the Quiet Morning image, shown below. Inspirations for my art include studies drawn on location, photographs, and occasionally a combination of the two.

The final Quiet Moment watercolor image created with Corel Painter

Step 1. Choosing an image and making adjustments. For best results, choose an image with a strong center of interest, and with broad areas that you can envision being watercolor washes. For Quiet Morning, these areas would be the broad expanse of beach with the intriguing reflections.

To capture the warm early morning light and the long shadows, I scheduled my photo shoot for just after dawn. I used a Canon® EOS® 5D at 800 ISO and a fast shutter speed. In addition, I always use the Adobe® Photoshop® Camera Raw format for shooting photos, so that I can take advantage of its preprocessing features. Next, I open the image in Photoshop® to increase the saturation and adjust the shadows.

The photograph with adjustments made

Step 2. Posterizing and making a layer. Open your image, and ensure that it has good value contrast and color. To build broad areas of bright color that can help simulate watercolor paint, choose Effects > Tonal Control > Posterize. Choose a setting that complements your photo. (I chose 12.) Now, give your image a soft vignette. (For information about building a vignette, see my description on page 188 of The Painter IX Wow! Book.) Next, put a copy of the Canvas on a new layer by choosing Select > All, pressing Alt/Option (Windows®/Mac® OS), and then choosing Select > Float. Hide this layer by toggling its eye icon closed on the Layers palette.

The posterized photo with the soft edge added

Step 3. Creating a watercolor effect. Now, select the Canvas, and from the pop-up menu on the Layers palette, choose Lift Canvas to Watercolor Layer. Choose a natural-looking watercolor texture from the Paper Selector in the toolbox. (I chose French Watercolor Paper.) Now choose a Watercolor brush whose characteristics you'd like to apply to your image when you "wet" the Watercolor layer. For this image, I used the Diffuse Grainy Camel variant of Watercolor.

To melt the image with watercolor, choose Wet Entire Watercolor Layer from the pop-up menu on the Layers palette. On the Layers palette, when the animated water drop next to the Watercolor layer name stops dripping, the watercolor effect is complete. For Quiet Morning, I wanted a brighter, high-key look, so I dragged the posterized photo layer under the Watercolor layer and then opened its eye icon. Because the default composite method of the Watercolor layer is Gel, the image looked dark. To lighten it, I changed the composite method for the Watercolor layer to Screen in the Layers palette. To complete the image, I lowered its opacity to 80%.

In this detail of the final Quiet Morning image, you can see the photograph melted into watercolor.

Content and images: © 2006 by Cher Threinen-Pendarvis

An award-winning artist and author, Cher Threinen-Pendarvis has always worked with traditional art tools. A pioneer in digital art, Cher has created illustrations with the Macintosh® computer for two decades. She has been widely recognized for her mastery of Corel® Painter™, Adobe® Photoshop®, and the Wacom® pressure-sensitive tablet, and she has used these electronic tools since they were first released. She teaches Corel Painter and Photoshop workshops around the world and is the principal of the consulting firm Cher Threinen Design.

Cher is the author of The Photoshop and Painter Artist Tablet Book: Creative Techniques in Digital Painting and all seven editions of The Painter Wow! Book. The Painter IX Wow! Book is the latest edition of this highly praised volume of techniques and inspiration.

To learn more about Cher, please visit her Web site at www.pendarvis-studios.com