Here is a quickie for today. We already talked about EQUALIZE, but there is another way to “pop” those brushstrokes easily and quickly. When your painting is done in Corel Painter X, go to EFFECTS>FOCUS>SHARPEN. Raise the value above the default of 3.0 and click okay. Again, to finalize and tweak it, go to EDIT>FADE and fade the sharpening to taste. This is a great way to have your brushstrokes stand out. Most go to Photoshop to sharpen after they leave Painter and mistakenly they use USM (unsharpmask) over the entire image. A better way to control the sharpening is to use NIK Sharpener. The reason I love this plugin so much is that it is on a layer, creates a mask and I can paint the sharpening in where I need it instead of applying to the entire image. Gives me complete control. And anyone who knows me, knows how much I love Control!! Okay…now go Sharpen and Control your paintings!!

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 16th, 2007 at 11:09 am and is filed under 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.