Corel Painter 12 Using Paper Textures To Enhance Your Paintings

Using Paper Textures Creatively

The beauty and texture of your painting  is determined  not only by your choice of brushes  but your choice of paper texture as well.  I  enjoy creating paper textures.  I created several recently and decided to show you how this works in Corel Painter. this gives you yet another creative tool in your work.  In Painter, go to Window, select Paper Libraries.  Select a paper of your choice and from the fly out menu, select Paper Control Menu. This gives you the controls which determine the size of the paper grain, the degree of contrast and brightness.  These variables determine the look of your texture.  Below is an example of a variety of texture looks which were determined simply by the selection of paper. With each stroke made,  the brush was the same.

Simply by changing your choice of papers you can obtain this variation of results with a single brush.

Some brushes are more effective in adding grain and texture than other.  The Chalk and Pastel Variants as well as many others are very effective.  Chosing a brush which has “grain” in it’s brush controls is a good idea.   Some brushes require the grain setting to be at 100% for best results, others are more effective at 7 % – why this is, I have no idea.  But it is important to know that if it is not one way, it is the other.  I find this to be a great feature in Painter. Play with it.  Open a blank document as I have and have fun. I made a little video so you can watch me go through the steps.

Using Paper Texture Video

Corel Painter has made available Extra Content for it users.  This includes extra libraries of papers, gradients, patterns etc. You may access the

Extra Content Here

You may then import them as a “legacy library”.

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Corel Painter 12 – Making Custom Paper

Making Custom Paper

In this video tutorial, I will demonstrate how to create paper textures for Corel Painter 12 as well as for previous versions.  I will focus on 2 or the 3  most popular methods for doing this.  We will create paper from fractal patterns in another tutorial I will create a texture from an existing image file.  I will  then create a  simple black and white custom painting  in Corel Painter which I will capture as a paper texture.

I selected this floral image to use to create a  paper texture.

Please feel free to download both of the above images to use in your paper library.

Sorry, I could not get the video to play on this page – click link above to go to Youtube.

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Winifred Whitfield Host Webinar – X-Rite – Nik Software

Winifred Whitfield Host Webinar Sponsored by Nik Software and X-Rite

I am passionate about the creativity and quality I bring to my images. However, I cannot accomplish this through sheer will alone. Color management is critical to producing images which have the color and density which I envision and can see on my monitor.  X-Rite for all of my color management  needs. Likewise it is essential to use  software which supports my creativity.  I use Nik Software.  I use Nik filters to  enhance paintings and photos alike.

Photo with a Custom Blend of Nik  Filters  Applied

By using X-Rite color management tools, I am able to create custom white balance for my camera,  a custom camera profile consistent with specific lighting conditions to optimize the colors in my images. For this, I use the Colorchecker Passport.  I use the i1 Pro Photo to calibrate my monitor,  projector and printer.  If I am traveling, I use the ColorMunki Display to calibrate my laptop or a projector if I am conducting a workshop. The ColorMunki Display is a simple to use wizard driven device and it is indispensable.  If you print, I would recommend the ColorMunki Photo as a simple way to create custom profiles which will match your display to  your printer.

On November 16th, I will conduct a  live webinar  sponsored by Nik software and X-Rite to discuss how I use Color Management and Nik filters in my workflow.  I will post the webnar link as soon as it becomes available.

A 15% discount is available if you purchase  Nik Software online.

Enter the Code: wwpainter

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