One of the strongest features in Painter in my opinion, is its amazing capability to Blend! Not only can you blend the new paint that you apply to the canvas, and blend the pixels in the image, but you can blend the paints with the pixels together as well, resulting in the transformation of the photo into a beautiful fine art Painting!

Photo by Don Blair

In this tutorial, I show you how I use the brush variants from the Blenders category to blend those pixels away! You will see how I use the Blender brushes for my underpainting, and how my workflow includes the Photo Painting Palettes, a new feature in Corel Painter IX.5.

A lesson in traditional art
Everything that we have today in the digital world simulates the tools and workflow from the traditional world of painting, which is based on the work of the Old Masters. Blending In traditional Oil/Acrylic painting, the Blending Brush, which is nothing more than a clean, dry brush, served the purpose of smoothing out paint, blending colors and producing a harmonious effect on the overall painting.

Blending
In traditional Oil/Acrylic painting, the Blending Brush, which is nothing more than a clean, dry brush, served the purpose of smoothing out paint, blending colors and producing a harmonious effect on the overall painting.

Blending is the art of making a line disappear. The way to take two very similar colors and blend them into one or blending them until you achieve the transition of colors that is seamless.

In Painter, I use the Blender Brushes to achieve the same goal, to blend my pixels and my paint, and start to give dimension to my painting. The first function of blending, is to give myself a good Underpainting. My main goal is to start to blend away the pixels, and thereby seeing a painting start to emerge.

Underpainting
In traditional art, an underpainting is an initial layer of paint applied to a canvas, which serves as a base for subsequent layers of paint. Underpaintings are often monochromatic and help to define color values for later painting. In the underpainting, you build the foundation of your painting. It really can be classified as any paint that has dried and is again painted on, the foundation on which the painting details are going to rest.

In the digital world of Corel Painter, the underpainting is based on the same concept, of building a foundation. In Corel Painter, the underpainting can be classified as any area that you paint and work in more than once, by blending with blenders and then building up detail with other brushes.

Corel Painter IX.5 introduces us to the new Photo Painting Palettes.

The Photo Painting Palettes help you turn a photo into a piece of art. Three palettes form a photo-painting workflow. The three Photo Painting Palettes are the Underpainting palette, the Auto-Painting palette, and the Restoration palette.

The underpainting is the preparation stage. The Underpainting palette lets you prepare a photo for painting, either directly on the image or by cloning. You can adjust a photo's contrast, lightness, or saturation. You can also give your image a special edge effect, by adding a vignette, in different styles.

The new Photo Painting Palettes give me a tremendous head start in preparing my underpainting for a watercolor effect. I will discuss these palettes later in this tutorial.

Blend Those Pixels Away !!!
Most of the Painter Brushes apply different styles of paint media in limitless colors to the image. The Blender Brushes, however, do not apply paint color. Instead, they make changes to the paint that is already in the image. The brushes in the Blenders category effect underlying pixels by moving and mixing them. Using a Blender Brush on a blank Layer has no effect, you must use it on an area with information.

What determines if a brush will be a Blending brush or Painting Brush that adds color?

The Resat. value in the Property Bar. is the secret recipe !

The Property Bar is docked horizontally below the menu bar by default. You can move the Property Bar anywhere in the application window, dock it under the menu bar again, or close it. The Property Bar displays options for the tool that is currently selected in the toolbox. You can access and change tool options and settings. Tool settings are retained when you switch from one tool to another.

Any brush that has a value of Resat in the property bar allows you to control the saturation level of your chosen paint color. A value of 100% in the Resat box indicates that the current brush will paint at 100% of the saturation level of the color you've chosen from the color wheel. If the Resat value is 65%, then you will paint with that amount of saturation applied. A value of 0% in the Resat box indicates that the current brush is a blending brush - it has no color at all. When you apply a brush with 0% Resat to your image, the paint and pixels begin to blend in the direction in which you use your brush. Imagine that your image is wet, and you are painting on it with a dry, clean brush. You are creating beautiful strokes and texture on your painting.

When you open a new document and create an image, your work appears on a background layer, called the Canvas layer. The secret to getting amazing, realistic results from your Blender brushes is to paint on a blank layer above your Canvas layer.

• Open your layer palette and add another layer above your canvas layer (which is your image), and name it "Painting". To create a new layer click the palette menu arrow and choose New Layer, or click the third button from the left on the bottom of the layers palette.
• Check "Pick Up Underlying Color" in the Layer palette. By checking this box, you will be merging colors from the photo, with the colors that you will be applying to your new layer. Once you start to blend them, the Underlying Color, will appear on your new layer.

Note: Be careful to work only on the new layer, and not on the Canvas layer.

The Blenders category contains 33 brush variants, 18 of which have 0% Resat applied to them on the property bar. Brushes that do not have a Resat control on the property bar cannot pick up underlying color - they can only blend on the Canvas layer or on another layer that contains paint.

The brushes that have a 0% Resat setting on the property bar give you the most flexibility, and when you blend with the Pick Up Underlying Color check box enabled, your painting really begins to take on depth!

More magic
Any brush that has a Resat control appearing on the property bar can be turned into a Blender brush.

I look for the Brushes that have the most texture or bristles. Then, I lower the Resat setting to 0% and use the brush as a Blender brush. By blending on a separate layer with a brush that has lots of texture or bristles, I can turn pixels into beautiful brush strokes without adding any color.

The Magic Of Grainy Water !
Grainy Water is one of the Blender Brushes. I use it the most because it has amazing blending capabilities. The secret in using this brush, is to use it very gently, without too much pressure applied to the stylus pen. I use Grainy Water on the face to give me a good foundation, and to have what to work into when i start to define the shadows and highlights. When I work on the face , I barely touch the tablet, and I'm still affecting the pixels underneath.

Painting the hair Hair requires brushes with more bristles on them. First, I apply my paint, so that I can blend the pixels in the image with the new paint applied. I apply paint with Chunky Oil Pastel 10 from the Oil Pastels category. Chalk variants adds nice texture to hair as well. I add strokes of highlights against the darker hair strands, and darker paint strokes against the highlights. After applying color, I begin to blend it.

For blending hair, I like to use Medium Bristle Oil 25 from the Oils category. I change it into a blender by lowering the Resat setting to 0%. Any brush that has bristles, such as the one in the image above, is great for blending hair, once you lower the Resat setting to 0%. The trick is to use a small brush size. Reduce the size until you see only a few bristles (dots) in the image representation of the brush tip.

Blend the paints in the direction in which the hair flows. A blender with bristles is perfect for blending hair! Use it the way you would a hairbrush.

Choose the Grainy Water variant from the Blenders brush category to get a good underpainting. Start by just blending the pixels that surround your portrait subject in the background. Remember to blend on a separate layer with the Pick Up Underlying Color check box enabled. Work with a small brush size, and work in very short circular strokes; otherwise, you'll see nothing but a messy smear.

As you continue to blend and apply color to develop shape and dimension, ask yourself, What shape or texture am I trying to paint? Is it flat, round, smooth, rough? We have different blending brushes to address different surface textures, and we paint in the direction of the shape we are blending in.

Here are some examples:

Detail Blender - This brush is great for blending in very small details.

Grainy Water - This brush is good for the underpainting, especially for the foundation of the face and skin.

Just Add Water - This brush is for thinning out a color. It is not recommended for the skin because it tends to become streaky.

Pointed Stump - This brush creates a good foundation for a chalk or pastel effect. Use at a low opacity, and at a 50% Grain setting.

Round Blend Brush - This brush is perfect for the Oil underpainting. It blends with a nice oily stroke.

Smudge - This brush is great for a chalk blend effect. It is the perfect blender for the underpainting on a bride's veil or any transparent fabric.

Blending tips

1. Try to achieve a seamless transition of colors.
2. Don't be afraid to add more highlights or shadows with your brushes, and then reblend an area if it doesn't look right. That is how blending is done in the traditional art world.
3. Use your Blender brush as you would a brush with paint applied to it.
4. Use the blender in the direction that the object is in. Follow the object's contour.
5. You have more control of your blending when you work in one small area at a time.
6. Look out for a dark pixel when you blend; otherwise you will pick it up and the area you paint will become messy. Make sure the face in your portrait has been retouched to remove blemishes before you start to lay down the blending foundation.
7. When working on clothing, start first in the folds of the cloth. Then add in the highlights and all the seams before you start to blend. Otherwise, you might cover them up, and lose the details. Use the Grainy Water variant to blend in a foundation. Lay down some of the light tones, and blend it into the midtones, making sure that the transition is seamless.
The blending process can take some time, and your paints may start to dry out. Just add a drop of water or blending medium when you feel that your paints are getting too thick. Oh, wait - that only happens in traditional painting! Take your time.

This is digital painting, and you can keep on blending without having to worry that your paints may dry up too fast. You might run into buildup, however, or your blending might become muddy. If this happens, just use a very light touch on your stylus pen, and blend out the colors gently with the Grainy Water and Just Add Water variants. If your blend takes on too dark a color, add in some lighter color and blend it gently, to break up the muddy look.

Corel® Painter™ IX.5 - The Upgrade for the Photographer !

It has never been easier to create beautiful works of art from your photos.

To get a head start with my Photo Painting workflow, I use the new Photo Painting Palettes, the main new feature in Corel Painter IX.5. Three palettes form the workflow: the Underpainting palette, the Auto-Painting palette, and the Restoration palette.

In the New Underpainting Palette I have access to several options for beginning to build a foundation for my painting. I can adjust the contrast, lightness, or saturation of my image. If it is a watercolor effect that Im after, I have a choice of adding different decorative edges to my image, such as a rectangular, circular, or jagged vignette, giving me a beautiful white soft border.

The Auto Painting Palette is where the creativity begins ! In this palette Painter automatically applies random paint strokes of a brush category of choice, that vary in stroke type, direction, and pressure. Even if the strokes are generated automatically, they are totally controlled by the user, which is where all the creativity begins ! Choose a brush and a specific stroke, and then adjust the preset options to determine how the brush strokes will interact with the Canvas. Then with a click of a button, watch as Painter starts to create a beautiful work of art, based on your specifications! I use this palette to give me a head start with blending my backgrounds.

The Restoration Palette is where I touch up my paintings manually with one of two special brushes that "Restore" areas of the image - that I want to bring back from the original, like detail that was lost during blending.

I use the Photo Painting Palettes to give me a good underpainting and a good foundation for my watercolor backgrounds.

• Choose File menu > Open, choose an Original image from the dialog box, and click Open.
• Clone the original image. (Always clone the original image instead of working on it; it is your safety net.)
• Rename the clone to "painting 01".
• From the Window menu, open the Underpainting palette.
• Choose Lighten from Style pop-up menu. You can preview how the style will affect the image, but the effect is not set until you click Apply.
• If you want to add a decorative border to your image, choose an option from the Edge Effect pop-up menu, and adjust the Amount slider. I chose Jagged Vignette. You can preview the edge effect in the image, but the effect is not set until you click Apply.
• In the Smart Blur area, adjust the Amount slider. The range is 0 to 100. Moving the slider to the right increases the amount of blur. More detail is maintained in high contrast areas than in low contrast areas. Adding a blur helps you achieve a better blend. I can restore the areas that I don't want blurred in the Restoration palette.
• Click Apply to set the options that you have chosen. If you want to work in this image (painting 01) rather than in a clone of it (and in this case, I do), do not click Quick Clone.

I use the Auto-Painting palette to apply my blending foundation with my favorite blending brushes. I apply it to the entire image, although later I will restore the center in the Restoration palette.

Auto-Painting palette Choose a brush stroke, and adjust the preset options to determine how the brush strokes will interact with the canvas. The Auto-Painting palette lets you choose the brush that will paint automatically.

Using the Auto-Painting palette:

1. On the Brush selector bar (in the upper-right corner of the application window), choose the Grainy Water variant from the Brush Blenders category.
2. On the Auto-Painting palette, choose an option from the stroke pop up menu. I choose Size/Tilt Modulate.
3. Adjust the Pressure slider to set the amount of pressure for the brush strokes. The range is 0 to 200, which is a percentage of the present pressure for the stroke option.
4. Adjust the Length slider to set the length of the brush strokes. The range is 0 to 200.
5. Adjust the Rotation slider to set the rotation of the brush strokes. the range is 0 to 360 degrees.
6. Adjust the Brush Size slider to set the size of the brush strokes.
7. Click the Play button. Brush strokes are automatically applied to the image.
8. When you are satisfied with the results, or if you want to adjust the settings further, click the Stop button.
9. I stop the auto-painting after a few seconds and choose the Squeegee brush from the FX brush category. Then, I restart the auto-painting.

Restoration palette
I use this palette to restore the detail that I lost in the center of my image.

Using the Restoration palette:

1. On the Restoration palette, click one of the following buttons:
   • Soft cloner Brush - activates the soft Edge cloner brush variant, which restores detail gradually.

   I choose the Soft Edge Cloner brush. It gives me a nice, soft transition between the background and the image when I restore the image from the original. Make sure that your original image is open and selected as the clone source.

2. Adjust the Brush Size slider.
3. Paint over the area in which you want to restore detail - in this case, the center of the image. You can paint beautiful background effects this way. Experiment with different brushes and strokes!

Another way to use the Photo Painting Palettes is to create a quick clone.

I chose a nice nature scene for this painting exercise.

1. Choose File menu > Open. Then, choose an original image ("Yellow trees") from the dialog box, and click Open.
2. Clone the original image. (I always clone my original image. Never work on your original image - it is your safety net.)
3. Rename the clone "Yellow trees 01." We now have two images: Yellow trees - the original image Yellow trees 01 - a clone of the original
4. From the Window menu, open the Underpainting palette.
5. With "Yellow trees 01" selected, choose an option from the Style pop-up menu. You can preview the effect of the style in the image, but the effect is not set until you click Apply. I choose "Intense Color," which begins to give my image a painting effect.
6. If you want to add a decorative border to your image, choose an option from the Edge Effect pop-up menu, and adjust the Amount slider. I choose Jagged Vignette. The edge effect appears in the image, but it is not set until I click Apply.
   
   Note: If you are not happy with the results from your selections, you can return the photo to its original state by clicking Reset before you click Apply. You can then choose another style and edge effect.
7. Click Apply to set your chosen options.
8. Click Quick Clone. A Clone of "Yellow trees 01" is created.
9. Rename the clone "Yellow trees 02."

We now have three images:
Yellow trees - the original image
Yellow trees 01 - a clone of the original
Yellow trees 02 - a clone of Yellow trees 01

Make sure that "Yellow trees 02" is selected. (You can turn the Tracing Paper on or off as you paint.)

Using The Auto-Painting Palette:

1. On the Brush selector bar (in the upper-right corner of the application window), choose a Cloner brush variant from the Brush Variants selector.
   
   By default, Corel Painter selects the Cloner brush and variant that were last used, but you can choose any Cloner brush variant. I start with the Impressionist brush from the Artists category, set to Clone Color. (You can choose any brush and use the Clone Color option to get the same effect as cloning.)
2. Make sure that the clone of the image (Yellow trees 01) is open, and choose an option from the Stroke pop-up menu on the Auto Painting palette. I choose Size/Tilt Modulate.
3. Adjust the Pressure slider to set the amount of pressure for the brush strokes. The range is 0 to 200, which is a percentage of the present pressure for the stroke option.
4. Adjust the Length slider to set the length of the brush strokes. The range is 0 to 200.
5. Adjust the Rotation slider to set the rotation of the brush strokes. The range is 0 to 360 degrees.
6. Adjust the Brush Size slider to set the size of the brush strokes.
7. Click the Play button. Brush strokes are automatically applied to the clone.
8. When you are satisfied with the results, or if you want to adjust the settings further, click the Stop button. I ran a few different brushes to get the effect that I did. You should experiment with the different cloners and brushes. The trick to getting amazing brush effects with the Auto-Painting palette is to change brushes and sizes every few seconds until you get the desired effect.

You can view the progress of the cloning at any time by clicking the Stop button and choosing Canvas menu > Tracing Paper. You can resume cloning by clicking the Play button.

You can randomize the pressure, length, and rotation values of the brush strokes in the clone by enabling a check box next to the corresponding slider and adjusting the Randomness slider. The settings in the slider determine the range of randomness. For example, if the Pressure slider is set to 32% and you set the Randomness slider to 64%, the pressure for each stroke is between 0% and 32% with a variation of 64%.

On this image, I used the following combination of strokes and brushes:

Stroke: Size/Tilt Modulate
Brush: Impressionistic Brush set to Clone Color

Stroke: Hatch
Brush: Chunky Oil Pastel set to Clone Color

Stroke: Short Dab
Brush: Artist Pastel Chalk set to Clone Color

After I got the effect that I liked, I proceeded to bring back some of the details that I lost. For example, I wanted to define the lake and trees. I used the detail Airbrush to paint in some more detail, in black, on the trees and black branches.

In the Restoration palette, I used the Soft Cloner to bring back the little stones separating the trees from the lakes and reflection of the trees. I also used it on the edges of the tree branches to bring the image back into focus.

Restoring photo detail in the Restoration palette:

1. On the Restoration palette, click one of the following buttons:
   
   1. Soft Edge Cloner brush - restores detail gradually
   2. Hard Edge Cloner brush - restores detail quickly by using a few strokes with the Straight Cloner brush variant
   
   
   I like to use the Soft Edge Cloner brush; it gives me more control in my restoration.
2. Adjust the Brush Size slider.
3. Paint over the area in which you want to restore detail.

The New Photo Painting Palettes has opened up limitless possibilities of what can now be created in Painter!!! Definitely worth the FREE upgrade !

Happy Painting!

Fay Sirkis is an Internationally recognized Portrait Artist, Photographer and Instructor. She is a New York based Contemporary Digital Artist, with a background in traditional fine art. Fay is a Beta tester for Corel Painter, and was instrumental in the launching of Painter IX. Her work is featured in Corel's Painter Masters Art Gallery, as well as their numerous ad campaigns. Her commissioned portraits and paintings are held in private collections internationally, and also exhibited in museums and art galleries. Fay is the founder of "Fays Art Studio," a high-end commission portrait painting studio, as well as a Digital Art Training and Consulting firm based in New York. To see more of Fay's work, please visit www.faysartstudio.com