Digital painting software
Corel® Painter™ 11 is the ultimate digital art studio for anyone ready to expand their definition of creativity. Working with the most advanced digital painting and natural media tools available, you can create the art you’ve always envisioned.
Also available: Corel® Painter™ Sketch Pad and Corel® Painter™ Essentials 4
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All Things Painter™
Wanted: Artists to Collaborate With
Pssst! Hey, you artist types...want a hot tip about a potential money-making opportunity? Yes? OK, what follows is the straight dope...and keep this info just between us!
The digital revolution has forever changed the face of professional photography. Consider the fact that studio photographers used to send their film to a pro lab for processing and printing-the photographer was only responsible for the capture of imagery.
Jump forward to the current digital era and photographers are often "developing" their images in Photoshop and printing the results with inkjet technology. In other words, the photographer's job description has expanded.
Digital era photographers, desiring to add Painter to their toolset, compose a major percentage of my Corel Painter workshops' attendance. And more often than not-once they see the artistic skill set that goes hand-in-hand with Painter-they'll say, "In addition to being a photographer, I've already had to learn to be a retoucher and printer. And now you want me to be an artist? I don't have time!"
Another effect of the digital revolution is the expansion of products offered by photographic portrait studios. Inkjet printing technology enables the creation of large-format prints on canvas and fine art papers. Photographic portraiture interpreted into a hand-rendered painted result is quickly becoming an attractive high-end complement to traditional photo prints. As you can see, this situation proffers a collaborative opportunity for Painter artists.
Even when utilizing a photographic portrait as an underlying image source in Painter, there still needs to be an understanding of the artistic techniques of well-known portraits artists such as Sargent and Rembrandt. Good brushwork is essential. These skills are as intuitive to the artist as lighting and exposure are to the photographer.
As a Painter artist, you may want to take the time to investigate the offerings of photographic portrait studios in your area. Some studios specialize in a style that emulates the look of traditional painted portraiture (families, individuals). Others go for a contemporary MTV-style look (high school seniors). Still others opt for a fairy-tale storybook look (babies, children). In each case, the addition of a painted interpretation of these styles can serve to add value to the studio's product.
Find studios that complement your style of painting, or do some tests to work up images that will complement these studios' style. The next step is to make contact. Provide some examples of your work and express your interest in doing interpretive painting. You may be surprised by the response you get. Most studios are aware of the cachet and profitability painted interpretations can offer....they just don't know how to do them.
A bit of detective work on your part could yield a pleasurable source of income. Collaboration between creatives can often lead to a sum-is-greater-than-the-parts result. As Humphrey Bogart said to Claude Rains at the end of Casablanca, "I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."
John Derry
Somewhere in Kansas
John Derry is a pioneer of digital painting and one of the original authors of Corel® Painter™. Since 1985, he has leveraged his background in drawing and painting to advance the look and experience of traditional art-making tools on the computer. John has a master's degree in painting from Cranbrook Academy of Art, has co-authored two U.S. patents relating to expressive digital mark-making, and is a practicing artist and photographer. John is a regular contributor to AfterCapture Magazine, Rangefinder's publication focusing on photographic post-production work. He is currently serving as Corel's Painter Ambassador-at-Large. John's web site is at www.pixlart.com.
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