With Corel® Painter™ X, you can use Liquid Ink to realistically depict muscle tissue. Liquid Ink brushes create liquid paint effects that simulate traditional ink-based media. There are three main types of Liquid Ink brush variants: those that apply ink, those that remove ink to create the effect of resistance, and those that soften edges. In addition, the Liquid Ink palette allows you to perform smoothing effects to the ink, and to blend colors by using different features. You can also adjust the Liquid Ink layer attributes.

Like Watercolor brush variants, a new layer is created automatically when you first apply a Liquid Ink brush stroke. On the Layers palette, you can also create 3D effects by double-clicking a Liquid Ink layer and adjusting the Threshold and Amount sliders.

The first step for depicting realistic muscle tissue is to select Liquid Ink from the Brush Category selector, and Smooth Flat from the Brush Variant selector. Next, I adjusted the Color palette to show RGB colors and selected a reddish color with the values of R – 245; G – 25; and B – 15. This will provide the red that's necessary to simulate the color of muscle tissue. Before painting, I used the property bar to adjust my brush size to 30.

With the Liquid Ink brush, I painted a profile of a rather muscular right arm. To enhance the depth and dimension of the arm, I then adjusted the Liquid Ink layer.

Adjusting Attributes of the Liquid Ink Layer

You can experiment with the settings in the Liquid Ink Layer Attributes dialog box, which let you control the appearance of depth and adjust the threshold of the edges of the ink.

To adjust Liquid Ink layer attributes

1. On the Layers palette, double-click the Liquid Ink layer you want to modify.
2. In the Liquid Ink Layer Attributes dialog box, do one or more of the following:
   • Type a name for the layer in the Name box.
   • Adjust the position of the layer in the Top and Left boxes.
   • Type layer information in the Notes box.
   • Adjust the Threshold slider to increase or decrease the width of the brush stroke.
   • Adjust the Amount slider to increase or decrease the height, or three-dimensional appearance, of the brush stroke.

You'll notice that a portion of your image will either shrink or disappear. This effect is dependent on the values you choose with the Threshold and the Amount sliders. Don't worry about the shrunk or lost portion of your image because you can now use the Smooth Flat variant to paint in a 3D or depth view. As you paint, you'll notice that your brush has a directional and bearing expression to the brush stroke. Experiment with slightly turning your stylist pen as you paint to get either a thick or thin expression. Once you get the hang of this, you'll notice that you can create build-up and directional striations which resemble muscle tissue.

At this point, we can add more muscle or tissue depth by painting over and over in areas of the arm that normally have more mass.

Before Layer adjustments.

After Layer adjustments with top portion of arm built up.

Arm with all muscle mass completed.

Now it's time to add color for tendons and bones. On the Liquid Ink palette, I chose Color Only from the Ink Type pop-up menu. Then, I used the same Smooth Flat brush to paint on some white areas that represent tendons and bones. After that step, I used the Liquid Ink palette to switch the Ink Type to Soften Color Only. Finally, I gently brushed over those white painted areas to blend in the white paint and make it look more realistic.

Feel free to experiment with this effect. Depicting muscle tissue is just one example of the depth you can create by adjusting the Liquid Ink layer attributes.