Artistry Painting for Photographers Tutorials

Oil-Painted Portraits in Painter

Painting by Karen Sperling, photo by Scott Stulberg

Photographers know that they can turn photographs into oil paintings with Painter, but
they wonder why their paintings come out looking like photographs. The answer has to do
with knowing some basic art concepts in addition to knowing which Painter tools to use.
In this tutorial you'll find both.
Some of the concepts and tools covered in the tutorial include:
Creating the underpainting;
Identifying lights and shadows;
Using cloning and tracing paper;
Knowing what brushes to use;
Editing brushes to get the exact effect you want;
The secrets to getting a painterly vs. a photographic painting.
You don't need an art background to do this tutorial, and if you're a photographer looking for tips
about what makes a cloned photo look like a painting, this tutorial is for you.

Painting Watercolor/Gouache Landscapes in Painter

Photo and Painting by Karen Sperling

In this tutorial you'll see the steps for turning photos into watercolor/gouache
(opaque watercolor) landscapes in Painter.
Included are all those Painter techniques you always wondered about including cloning,
tracing paper and layers, in addition to art techniques such as underpaintings and
complementary colors. This tutorial will help you get a painterly effect for your
photographs, even if you don't think this particular painting is your "style."
Learning techniques in a tutorial is like studying a language. When you learn a
new language, you learn examples of how the foreign words are used so that you
can form your own sentences with them. It's the same thing with Painter tutorials.
You may never in your life want to paint a painting of a pink and green restaurant. But the
techniques described in this tutorial are the words that you can apply in any Painter sentence.
You'll see how to turn a photograph into a painting and
you will be able to apply the techniques to your own photographs.

Some of the topics covered in this tutorial include:
Cropping
Preliminary pencil sketches
Using Painter's Tracing Paper
Cloning and cloners, both from one image to another and within one image
Composing your image
Editing and creating brush variants
Painting value paintings and creating and working with Color Sets
Getting watercolor and gouache effects
Painting details, cleaning up images and rearranging things using selections and layers
Adding paper textures

Painting Oil-painted Backgrounds for Portraits

Photos by Scott Stulberg, painted background by Karen Sperling,

Sometimes painting the background and keeping the portrait as a photo is an effective way to
get a painterly effect for portraits.
In this tutorial are steps for painting an oil painting from a photo as a background and then
adding a portrait to it.
Some of the topics covered in this tutorial include:
Using Tracing Paper
Using Painter's brushes to create oil painting effects
Using Painter's layers to composite images

Painting from Composited Photos in Painter

Adding Painterly Effects using Painter IX, IX.5 and X's Digital Watercolors
Click the thumbnail to see large versions of the photo before and after being painted.


Photo by Scott Stulberg, painted effects by Karen Sperling

Order Information

Order Artistry Painting for Photographers on CD

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Artistry Tips and Tricks Read Artistry Tips and Tricks ezine to turn photos into paintings in Corel Painter

Artistry Corel Painter Retreats Take a trip to Malibu, CA and learn to turn photos into paintings in Corel Painter

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Painting for Photographers Is Now Available for Pre-Order Karen Sperling is working on a new Painter book and is inviting you to help her publish it!

Artistry Backdrops for Photographs Add an unusual painterly touch to your photos and painted portraits with unique Artistry Backdrops (both the backgrounds on the book cover above and in the image at right are Artistry Backdrops).

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