How to add a Watercolour Texture Layer that remains as you paint Updated and Revised

This technique will add so much to the finished look of your digitally painted watercolour

Before I used this method I was adding the texture at the very end (or what I supposed was the end) of my paintings. It made it difficult to really assess how it would all look in the end. I frequently used to clone my doc and apply the texture just to have a look at how the finished painting might look.

Skip Allen taught this method to me, and he said Karen Bonaker of Digital Art Academy and PainterTalk Forum is credited with this method. There are links to these places in my blogroll in the sidebar up and on the left.

 

 

1. Open a new layer making sure the Preserve Transparency Colour Box is not checked.
2. Set your colour at R 128, G- 128, B- 128.
3. Click the Paint Bucket Tool in the toolbox and fill this new layer with the neutral grey.

 Adding a Watercolour Texture to Your Paper - Illustration No. 2

1. Open the Paper Texture Palette, chose Italian Watercolour and set the sliders at: 81 %, 119 %, and 50 %.
2. From the Effects Menu chose Apply Surface Texture, set the sliders at:  Softness - 0%, Amount 11%, Picture 100 %, Shine 0 %, Brightness-1.20, Concentration - 4.00, and Exposure - 1.41.
3. Click okay. You will see it completely cover your canvas and you'll wonder..."what's the point of this???' Don't stop now, the next step is crucial.

 Adding a Watercolour Texture to Your Paper - Illustration No. 3

1. Chose Overlay from the Layer Composite menu.
2. Add a little colour and blend it in with the Soft Blender Stump and you'll see that the texture remains.  It's a good idea to lock the texture layer so that you don't accidentally drop it when you are dropping other layers. You can add it again, but doing this too many times can screw up the look of your texture. Better to keep it locked.  

1. Add a texture from the Effects Menu Apply Surface Texture (same Italian Watercolour Paper Settings), blend an area with the Soft Blender Stump and you'll see that you have blended in the texture too. Not so great, you want your paper to remain the same no matter what you do in the rest of the painting. This is the way to keep the texture there while you are painting. The advantage is that you can really see how your paint is reacting to the paper and how it will really look in the end.
2. You can still Lift Your Canvas to the Watercolour Layer and Wet the Entire Watercolour Layer with this layer intact. Just keep it locked and above the Watercolour layer.

 

Beginner's Tip When and why to lift the canvas to the watercolour layer.

When working with Digital and Watercolour variants they will always be on different layers, until you drop them. When it comes to the point that you like what you have so far, but want to go on to add some wet effects to some of your digital strokes, it's time to drop and dry the layers so you can lift them to a watercolour layer. You don't need to wet this layer any further as it is already wet, even the digital watercolour strokes you painted earlier.

You can do some beautiful wet brush strokes that will soften edges, blend colours, and add diffusion among other things to your painting at this point.

Some of this information was included in an earlier post. The name has been changed so you may not have the link if you saved it prior to this.

 

 

 

 

Posted in Beginner's Tips for Corel Painter 11 and 12 Digital Painting. Updated January 21st, 2011. 3 comments so far. Share on StumbleUpon, Delicious or Digg.

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