Karen Sperling’s Blog

I just got an email that not only just made my day, but also just made yours, if you’ve been trying to paint photos.

The email brought the news that my new fast and easy Corel Painter brushes WORK!

My idea was to create brushes that cut to the chase. With my 20 years of Painter experience, I thought I’d make up a bunch of brushes for painting portraits and landscapes that were basically pick and paint. The only adjustment needed would be brush stroke width to fit the size of the space that you’re painting.

In addition to the brushes are tutorials that list step-by-step which brushes to use where. My thought was that the tutorials would be a work flow cheat sheet. Need to paint a portrait? Use these steps and these brushes. The theory is kind of the idea behind Photoshop’s filters. However, unlike the filters that are easily recognizable, my quick and easy brushes would still provide unique results because you’re still doing the painting yourself.

My other idea was to make the process quick. I’ve done elaborate tutorials where you get sensational results, but they do take awhile. These new tutorials are intended to give you great results quickly.

And now, for the email I just got. Here’s the vote:

Karen,

In response to your brushes and tutorials. I have spent the last couple days working with them all and I can attest that they are amazing in achieving the results I desire. You have made these brushes intuitive and extremely responsive. I especially love the oils for creating beautiful portraits! The tutorials are easy to follow allowing you to create a masterpiece with minimal effort and in a short amount of time! Thank you for taking the time to produce this cd.

Sincerely,
Linda Wehler
Digital Fine Artist

Now that’s exciting!

You can get these 25 magic brushes and 50 pages of tutorials on the Artistry Bonus CD that either comes with the hardcover version of Painting for Photographers or is available separately.

Click here for an overview of the Artistry Bonus CD and click here to order.

Painting by Karen Sperling with the brushes on the Artistry Bonus CD from a photo at http://www.sxc.hu/.

Detail of oil painting.

Tags: Artistry Bonus CD, Karen Sperling's Corel Painter brushes reviews by Artistry
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Here’s a look at the images covered in the extra tutorials available on the bonus Artistry CD that comes with the deluxe hardcover version of Painting for Photographers.
Alternatively, you can purchase the bonus Artistry CD by itself independently of the hardcover book as well.
I created all of the following images with custom brushes that I designed exclusively for this bonus Artistry CD.
In all, there are about 25 new brushes on the CD.
And after spending 20 years writing about, teaching and painting with Painter, I can say that the bonus brushes revolutionize painting in Painter, for both hobbyists and professionals.
I say that because I came up with a way to make painting in Painter fast and simple.
I invented my new brushes to match their function, including painting eyes and painting hair in the style of watercolors and oils.
The only adjustment you’ll have to make with these brushes is to change the size to fit your image. I’ve made all the other adjustments for you such as the right opacity for painting faces. All you have to do is choose a brush and paint.
Another way in which my brushes speed up the process for you is that many of them paint multiple brush strokes, so with a scribble, you have a section of your painting filled in.
The accompanying tutorials give you the easy steps for using these brushes that will simplify the process of painting photos.
There are about 52 pages of new tutorials for using the custom brushes on the bonus Artistry CD, covering the images and techniques below.
What’s really cool about using these new, simple brushes is that you’re still painting in Painter. Unlike filters that, though easy to use, create recognizable results, using my custom brushes will result in paintings that will be uniquely yours because you’re still painting them with your own hand and touch.
Here are the images that are covered in the bonus Artistry CD. All the original photos are included on the Artistry CD in addition to the source photos used in the tutorials in the Painting for Photographers book.
Painting Landscapes



Painting by Karen Sperling from her photo.

Detail of painting.
I painted this painting with a texture brush that I created and Auto-Painting, a simple technique that will give you great landscape paintings quickly from your own photos. Rather than paint one stroke at a time, this and the other custom texture brushes provided on the bonus Artistry CD allow you to add multiple strokes with each application, speeding up painting.
Painting Portraits



Painting by Karen Sperling from her photo.

Detail of painting.
Here’s another example of the texture brushes, used in the background of this new portrait from a photo I took of John Stamos. With a few swipes of the stylus you can get some great painted results from your photos with my new brushes. I painted the face with another new custom brush included on the bonus Artistry CD and explained in the accompanying tutorials.
Painting Foliage



Painting by Karen Sperling from her photo.

Detail of foliage brushes.
This painted landscape and source photo are covered in Painting for Photographers.
On the bonus Artistry CD I include extra custom foliage brushes that let you paint in the styles you see in the above image. Like the new texture brushes, these foliage brushes paint with multiple strokes so you don’t paint every leaf. You sort of scribble and you’re done.
Use these brushes to paint Impressionist landscapes either behind your portrait subjects or as standalone landscapes.
Painting Watercolor Portraits



Painting by Karen Sperling from a photo at http://www.sxc.hu/.

Detail of watercolor painting.
Painting a watercolor portrait becomes a possibility with the art lessons that you learn in Painting for Photographers and my easy-to-use custom brushes included on the bonus Artistry CD.
You can take one of the watercolor variants for a free test drive.
Click here to download the SperlingWC brush.
To install the brush in Painter:
Shut down Painter, open the zip file and put the .jpg file and folder in the following location, depending on your operating system.
When you move the file and folder inside the Painter Brushes folder, the brush will become a part of the current library in the Brush Selector.
Mac
Users -> [User Name] -> Library -> Application Support -> Corel -> Painter (X or 11) -> [Workspace Name or Default] -> Brushes ->Painter Brushes
Windows
Documents and Settings -> [User Name] -> Application Data -> Corel -> Painter (X or 11) -> [Workspace Name or Default -> Brushes ->Painter Brushes
Windows Vista
Users -> [User Name] -> AppData -> Roaming -> Corel -> Painter (X or 11) -> [Workspace Name] -> Brushes ->Painter Brushes
Painting Oil Painted Portraits



Painting by Karen Sperling from a photo at http://www.sxc.hu/.

Detail of oil painting.
And the grand finale is this oil painting I did with even more, new, easy-to-use, custom brushes, found on the bonus Artistry CD.
The tutorial on the Artistry CD tells you which of the new custom brushes to use when for both the portrait and the background, and the Painting for Photographers book tells you the art concepts behind the work.
Using Painter to turn photos into paintings was never easier.
Click here to read a rave review of the Artistry Bonus CD brushes!
To order the bonus Artistry CD either with the deluxe hardcover version of Painting for Photographers or as a standalone Artistry CD, click here.
Happy painting!

Tags: Artistry Bonus CD, Karen Sperling's Corel Painter brushes by Artistry
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