Creating a custom RealBristle Watercolor brush
By Cher Threinen-Pendarvis
With Corel® Painter™ X, you can build a custom RealBristle Watercolor brush for painting washes that adds subtle bristle marks and tapered ends to your strokes. Both the standard Wacom® Intuos® 3 Grip Pen and the Wacom 6D Art Pen let you take advantage of this custom brush.
Petunia (a detail of which is shown here) was painted with custom RealBristle Watercolor brushes on Watercolor layers.
Step 1. Open a new file. To test your brush as you are building it, create a new file. Choose File > Open, and make a new file that measures 500 × 200 pixels. As I made changes to my brush, I saved a new version of the file so that I could see the progression of changes in my strokes. You can use File > Iterative Save to save numbered versions of your file.
Step 2. Choose the brush, and make a stroke. You can build your own custom RealBristle Watercolor brush by choosing settings that give the brush RealBristle capabilities. On the Brush Selector bar, choose the Wash Camel brush variant of the Watercolor brush category.
Now, use your stylus to paint an expressive, curved stroke with this default Watercolor brush. When you begin to paint with the Watercolor brush, a new Watercolor layer appears in the Layers palette.
Step 3. Add the RealBristle settings. The RealBristle section of the Brush Controls contains settings for RealBristle brushes. Open the RealBristle section by choosing Window > Brush Controls > Show RealBristle, and turn on the Enable RealBristle check box. Make a stroke, and see the changes that the default RealBristle settings make to the brush.
The default RealBristle settings give the Watercolor brush a broader stroke, more noticeable bristles, and a drier look.
Using subtle bristle settings for painting watercolor washes, I designed an elliptical wash brush that would paint tapered ends on the strokes when I tilted my stylus. I used the following settings in the RealBristle section of the Brush Controls: Brush Tip Profile, Pointed Profile; Roundness, 31%; Bristle Length, 4.08; Profile Length, 100%; Bristle Rigidity, 50%; Fanning, 10%; Friction, 50%; and Height, 50%. The decreased Roundness setting makes the brush elliptical. The Bristle Length and Profile Length work with the Tip Profile to add tapered ends to the stroke when the stylus is held at a tilt. I named my custom brush Wow! Real Water.
The RealBristle section of Brush Controls, showing the settings for my Wow! Real Water brush. Note the Pointed Tip Profile and the decreased Roundness setting.
I wanted the brush to have a more watery feel, so I adjusted the settings in the Water section of the Brush Controls. Open the Water section by choosing Window > Brush Controls > Show Water. In the Water section, increase the Wetness to 1000%, and turn on Accurate Diffusion.
My settings in the Water Section. Note the increased Wetness and Accurate Diffusion settings.
Now, make a stroke with your new Wow! Real Water brush, and notice the realistic bristle marks in the watery wash.
Stroke made with the new Wow! Real Water brush and a gentle tilt on the stylus.
Stroke made with the new Wow! Real Water brush and the stylus tilted far to the right. Notice that as the stylus tilts more dramatically, the pointed end on the stroke becomes more prominent.
Step 4. Save the new brush. To save your new custom brush, choose Save Variant from the pop-up menu on the Brush Selector bar. When the Save Variant dialog box appears, name your new brush. Your brush will appear as a brush variant in the Watercolor category. To return the original Wash Camel brush to its default non-RealBristle settings, choose Wash Camel from the Brush Variant selector, and then choose Restore Default Variant from the Brush Selector bar.
Good work! You have created a new, custom Watercolor brush with realistic RealBristle settings to use on your paintings.
Happy painting!
An award-winning artist and author, Cher Threinen-Pendarvis has always worked with traditional art tools. A pioneer in digital art, Cher has created illustrations with the Macintosh® computer for two decades. She has been widely recognized for her mastery of Corel® Painter™, Adobe® Photoshop®, and the Wacom® pressure-sensitive tablet, and she has used these electronic tools since they were ?rst released. Exercising her passion for the artist tools in Corel Painter, Cher has worked as a consultant and demo-artist for the Corel Painter developers. Her artwork has been exhibited worldwide, and her articles and art have been published in many books and periodicals. Cher holds a BFA with Highest Honors and Distinction in Art with a specialization in painting and printmaking, and she is a member of the San Diego Museum of Art Artists Guild. She has taught Corel Painter and Adobe Photoshop workshops around the world and is the principal of the consulting firm Cher Threinen Design.
Cher is the author of The Photoshop and Painter Artist Tablet Book: Creative Techniques in Digital Painting and all eight editions of The Painter Wow! Book. The Painter X Wow! Book is the latest edition of this highly praised volume of techniques and inspiration.
To learn more about Cher, visit her web site at www.pendarvis-studios.com.