One of the biggest complaints I heard from my students is that their digital painting does not show the brushstrokes and look painterly when it’s printed. There is an easy little trick to control this and “pop” the brushstrokes.

Step One:

Here is a group brushstrokes painted with my Mar Soft Sarg settings. It looks a little dull and flat.

Step Two:

Go to EFFECTS>TONAL CONTROL>EQUALIZE

Step 3:

See the Equalize box comes up and has sliders in it. See the difference in the color and brushstrokes?

Step 4:

The black and white sliders and the brightness slider can be moved to taste.

Step 5:

If you have done too much to the painting, don’t go back to redo it. Instead go to EDIT>FADE

Step 6:

Edit>Fade brings up the percentage slider of how MUCH to fade the effect just applied. If you put it to 100% the effect would be totally removed. Watch the box for the preview of how much you want to fade the effect. Once it’s where you want it, click OK.

Step 7:

Now compare this to the first painting we started with. The brushstrokes are stronger and have more contrast and if you check out their “edges” there is a much stronger painterly feel to the brushwork.

This was a simple Sholin Painter Quick Tip! Hope you liked it. Comments are welcome!

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 2nd, 2007 at 5:03 pm and is filed under Learning Corel Painter, Painter X Quick Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.