[COREL PAINTER] HOW TO USE COREL

2015-11-23. AM 10:29
WeeklyTIP
  • Hi, I am kstar.

    Corel Painter is truly the best painting tool available for PC.
    Corel also released a mobile version of that tool.

    It seems that the release of the mobile version has been quite delayed for its reputation.

    Moreover the initial release was criticized for its similarity with Infinite Painter.

    But since its comprehensive update in August, it has become a powerful drawing app with distinctive characters.


    Today I want to introduce Corel Painter Mobile briefly. If you launch the app, you can see a screen like below.

  • When you suddenly see a large color, and if you drag to the left hand side, you can see those works you did, and on the right are those works done by others using Corel Painter.

    Drawing on your own is the most important, but reviewing others' works will certainly contribute to your discernment.

    So it is a really exciting thing to have a community where people all around the world share their pictures done by various apps like PEN.UP

    In the center you can see the three menus.

    If you click on Photo paint, a window to retrieve pictures in the gallery will pop up like below.


  • If you get a picture from the gallery, that picture with an artistic filter applied appears on the canvas.

    Even a picture with a simple filter is artistic enough.

    You can add some touches on it, but using a filter is not so exiting.


    Clicking on the second menu "Trace" will also show a window to get pictures like Photo paint.

    Again if you take a picture, you can see a screen like below.



  • The transparency is automatically set to 50% and a layer is added. "Layer" is like a transparent sheet of paper.

    If you don't know about layers, refer to the screen below.

    * What is layer?

  • On the right part of the screen, you can see two white sheets of paper added with each titled either 1 or 2.

    If you change the order of these transparent sheets of paper, the letters on the sheet below can be hidden.

    Each of these sheets of paper is called "layer" and you can change the order of them by moving a layer while pressing it.

    Pressing + button will add layers as many as you want.


    This layer function is used for most drawing apps, so once you get to know about this, that would be very useful.

    While putting some touches on the layer of the picture you got, you can see the work already done.

  • Using Trace function of Corel Painter, you can do tracing with any picture you want.

    But it is regrettable you can change neither the position of the picture nor the size of it.

    Clicking Blank, not Photo paint nor Trace, will show a white canvas. Now let's take a look at those brushes which have changed most in the update.

    Yes, Corel Painter has a variety of brushes.

  • In fact in the previous version you could change settings because each brush has a detailed option.

    But now all those detailed options disappeared.

    It is probably because the target has been shifted from professional users to the beginner or medium level users.

    If you have a full version you can use all those brushes, but most brushes in the initial download version are locked except for some.

    You can create pictures beautiful enough by using the free brushes only, and you can buy them if you want after trying them.

    The screen below is for changing colors and the size of brushes.

  • For color palette, select the colors on the outer circle, and select brightness and saturation on the center triangle.

    On the size option, you can change the size of brushes.

    If you don't want to open a brush setting window, just dragging up and down with your three fingers will change the size.

    The second button from the right is for creating symmetrical pictures.

    You can adjust the right and left or the top and bottom so as to create interesting pictures.

    Now let's get down to drawing itself.


    Clicking a layer once will open the setting window.

    By clicking Import Photo, you can get the pictures in the gallery.

    I would like to import a picture of cosmos I found while commuting to the work and plant it on the beach.

  • You can rotate the picture or change the size by using your two fingers.

    After adjusting as much as you want, and click the confirm button.


    Now you can draw freely.

    Selecting the brush at the left end of Painter and apply it on the background.

  • Just roughly applying the brush will properly blend the colors with an automatic blending option.

    In the previous version, you could decide what percent should be blended, which was not so often used though.

    If you are done with the background, add a layer and plant stalks of cosmos.

    They are in full bloom, so just plant them freely.
    And you can add layers for petals as many as you want.

    And then you can see a hidden menu on the top left.
    They are for color selection, filling colors, transformation, and cropping.

    If you select pipette and an area with it, the palette shows the color of the area selected.

    If you press the round button on the top center and move it to another screen so that you can use pipette function.


  • While doing with stalks, the foreground area has been deserted.
    Select the fourth brush and fill it with a color.

  • Using other layers, fill the empty space.

    With your two fingers, you can magnify an area and fill it in detail.
    If you take a look at the settings, there is an interesting option.

  • Among several options for the setting, you can touch a finger on the screen and select "Move canvas" to make it bigger or smaller with two fingers while moving it with another finger, which is quite convenient.

    Let's give some touches to the petals.
    If you put a yellow color on them, they look different, don't they?

  • Once you have done drawing as much as you want, remove the picture you imported.

  • Click the layer of the picture, and clicking the eye icon on the top of the option window will make the layer inactive.

    If you click that again, it will become active again.


    Lastly, let's change the settings for canvas.

  • By clicking the round button on the bottom of the layer menu, you can change the settings of the canvas.

    You can change the color and texture of the canvas.

    You can select proper settings either for water or for oil painting.
    Voila, cosmos blooming on a beach are done.

  • You can continue to make it better probably by adding a boat in the background or a whale in the far ocean, or several seagulls in the sky.

    Once you have completed the work, don't forget to share it on PEN.UP.

  • Corel Painter has added a convenient function to share works on PEN.UP.

    After adding a proper name and tags, clicking "OK" will upload the work onto PEN.UP.


    It has been quite a long explanation because I wanted to introduce many functions at one time.

    If you spend some time to review the contents in the drawing tips and do it yourself, you can create great works on your own.

    Happy drawing!
    Thank you.