Feature Focus:
Artists' Oils Painting System

The Artists' Oils Painting System is a milestone in the evolution of digital art. This new painting system lets you apply paint blends created in the Mixer palette directly onto images in the document window. Each brush dab loads the brush variant with a finite amount of oil. As the oil runs out, the brush stroke becomes fainter. Brush strokes interact with any paint already on the canvas just as they would with natural media.

© Cher Threinen-Pendarvis
(Click to enlarge.)


The Artists' Oils Painting System has four components:

1. Artists' Oils Brush Category and Variants



2. Artists' Colors – is based on the color measurements of real-world oil paints



3. Integration of Artists' Oils with the Mixer palette – includes a new multicolor eyedropper



4. Artists' Oil Brush Controls – provides the ability to control the amount of oil, viscosity, blend, bristling, clumpiness, brush trails and dirtiness

(Click to enlarge.)


Brush variants from the Artists' Oils category let you mix paints as though you were working with traditional oil paints. You can use colors mixed on the Mixer palette and apply them directly to the canvas. You can then blend the colors with the oils already on the canvas. You can also load multiple colors from the Mixer palette on an Artists' Oils brush variant at the same time. Each stroke you create with an Artists' Oils brush variant loads the brush with a finite amount of oil, which is then transferred to the image. As you apply a stroke to the canvas, the Artists' Oil brush loses oil and the brush stroke becomes fainter. Because layers don't have the oily properties of the canvas, brush strokes applied to a layer don't fade as rapidly. Some Artists' Oils brush variants are palette knives, allowing you to mix paint directly on the canvas.



Artists' Oils Brush Tips
Six brush tip profiles are designed specifically for Artists' Oils brushes.



Mixing Artists' Oils Paint
On its own, the Mixer palette mimics the traditional experience of mixing colors on a palette. When used in tandem with an Artists' Oils brush variant, the Mixer palette offers digital artists as much color-mixing flexibility as its traditional counterpart. You can create a color on the Mixer palette and apply it to the canvas. You can also sample and paint with multiple colors.



Artists' Oils Brush Controls
The Artists' Oils Brush Controls are divided into three critical components: Paint, Brush and Canvas. You can vary the size and opacity settings of Artists' Oils brushes in response to changes in stylus pressure and speed by using tablet expression.

Paint



Artists' Oils brushes hold a finite amount of paint. As the paint runs out, the stroke becomes fainter.
  • The Amount slider determines how much paint is loaded before each new brush stroke. The more paint you load, the longer the brush stroke lasts.
  • The Viscosity slider controls the rate of paint transfer to the canvas. The higher the viscosity, the faster the brush runs out of paint, creating shorter brush strokes.
  • The Blend slider controls how the paint color mixes with paint already on the canvas. High blend levels allow paint on the brush to blend easily with existing paint.
Brush
  • The Bristling slider controls the amount of bristling at the tail and tip of a brush stroke. The farther to the right you move the slider, the more irregular the bristling.
  • The Clumpiness slider controls brush bristle fineness. The farther to the right you move the slider, the greater the amount of brush hair variation, or clumpiness.
  • The Trail-off slider determines the length of a brush stroke tail when the brush is running out of paint. This doesn't change the length of the brush stroke, just the look of the end of the stroke. The farther to the right you move the slider, the longer the trail-off of the brush stroke tail.
Canvas
  • The Wetness slider determines the wetness of the paint on the canvas. This affects how paint from a brush stroke interacts with paint already on the canvas.
Painting in Dirty Mode
Painting in Dirty Mode allows you to further replicate the experience of using artists' oils paints in the real world. In this mode, any paint remaining on the brush upon completion of a brush stroke is left to interact with paint loaded for the next brush stroke. When you select another color, the brush is cleared of remaining paint.

The Grain Control
The Grain slider affects the look of Artists' Oils by controlling the level at which paper absorbs paint. When the Grain slider is set to 0%, the paper absorbs a very limited amount of paint; no paper grain is visible in the stroke and the paint color appears lighter. When the Grain slider is set to 100%, the paper completely absorbs the paint; no paper grain is visible and the paint color appears darker. Grain is visible with Artists' Oils when the Grain slider is set between 1% and 99%. As an Artists' Oils brush runs out of paint, paper grain becomes more visible, so the Amount slider also affects how much grain appears.

Give it a try!

Download the Corel® Painter™ IX Trial from this Web site, and experiment with Artists' Oils by following these steps:

Painting with Artists' Oils
  1. Open the Brush Control Palette:
    Choose Window menu > Brush Controls > Show Artists' Oils.
  2. Choose File menu > New, and select a white paper color.
    • Artists' Oils blend with all colors on the canvas, including paper color. This is useful when painting on a photograph or using a color wash as an underpainting. To prevent Artists' Oils from blending with the canvas color, create a new layer exclusively for the Artists' Oils. (Choose Layers menu > New Layer.)
  3. From the Brush Selector bar in the upper-right corner of the application window, choose Artists' Oils from the Brush Category selector. Then choose the Bristle Brush from the Brush Variant selector. This is the default setup when Corel Painter IX is launched for the first time.
  4. If the Artists' Oils palette isn't displayed, choose Window menu > Brush Controls > Artists' Oils to access all controls for the brush category. This palette can be ungrouped from the Brush Controls by clicking its title bar and dragging it to a new location.
  5. In the Artists' Oils palette of the Brush Controls, adjust the Amount slider to about 5% and make a horizontal brush stroke. The Amount slider governs how much paint is loaded on the brush before each stroke.
  6. Choose a different color on the Colors palette, then go back to the Artists' Oils palette and move the Amount slider to about 20%. Make another horizontal brush stroke below the first one. Note the difference in length of the trails of the brush strokes.
  7. From the Brush Variant selector, choose the Blender Palette Knife.
  8. Drag vertically over both brush strokes to mix the paint.
  9. Try some other Artists' Oils brushes to see the wide range of effects you can achieve.
Mixing Artists' Oils in the Mixer Palette
  1. Open a new file open, then choose an Artists' Oils brush variant from the Brush Selector bar.
  2. Click the open triangle on the Mixer palette, which is grouped below the Colors palette. If these palettes are not displayed, choose Window menu > Color Palettes > Show Mixer. Dirty Brush Mode is enabled by default. If it has been disabled, click the Dirty Brush Mode tool.
  3. Click the Apply Color tool in the Mixer palette, and create three horizontal brush strokes of different colors, blending them as you paint.
  4. Paint on the canvas. Note that the color you created in the Mixer palette is applied to the canvas.