Corel Painter 11 box.
© 2009, Corel Corporation.

The wait is over – Corel® Painter™ 11 is here – that’s right 11, not X1! Packed with new features and increased functionality, this is going to be the best version of Painter yet. The new features look great – and it looks like a lot of user-submitted feature requests from over at the Painter Factory community site were included. See – our feedback is important. Congratulations to the Painter Team on the release!

Now onto the stuff everybody wants to hear about:

What’s New?

• Brushes – Adding to the already rich set of brushes available to digital painters, Painter 11 introduces RealBristle™ Dry Media, which includes Rendering Markers, new dynamic Pens and Pencils and Chalk that respond to the tilt of your Wacom stylus!
• Selection Tools – The selection tools of Painter have been improved with a new Polygonal mode for the Lasso tool and improvements to the Magic Wand and other selection methods.
• Color Management – Color management in Painter just got easier. Manage your colors in a familiar dialog window with clearly labeled dropdowns. Get color management right the first time, every time! There is also improved color management support between Painter and Photoshop.
• Colors Wheel & The Mixer – Both the color wheel and the mixer palettes are completely resizable. If the color wheel is too small for your tastes, just make it bigger – same goes for the Mixer – mix more colors at once.
• Transformation Controls – Resize, rotate, move and skew layers quickly with the new Layer Transform tools. No more jumping to Photoshop to resize or adjust a layer only to hop back into Painter to continue painting.
• PNG Image Support – Save your Painter creations as lossless PNG files to share. Also allows opening PNG images to composite into your paintings.
• Performance – Painter 11 is the fastest version of Painter yet with an up to 30% gain in performance for brushes from Painter X.1.
• Of course, I haven’t gone over everything. There is more sprinkled throughout the whole program, but I’ll leave it up you all of you to find the goodies. Go check the Painter 11 page at Corel for more information.

Where to get it?

• ESD (Electronic Software Download) versions and trial versions will be available directly from Corel on February 25, 2009.
• Preorders for the boxed version are also being accepted and are set to begin shipping on March 18, 2009.

Your Thoughts

What feature (or features) are you most excited about in Painter 11 – what do you look forward to using the most? Leave a comment – Corel pops in for a visit every once in a while.

It has been an exciting month and a half getting the new office ready. At this point, all of the major projects (except one that will wait) have been completed and the fun part has started – the decorating! I promised some updated photos, so here they are:

I’ll continue to move into my new, comfy office over time, but at this point, the space is completely ready for me to get started with new projects, courses and private tutoring. It really is exciting!

If any of you are in the Greenwood, SC area and would like to stop by, give me a call or email to set up an appointment and I’ll be glad to show you around! I’ll have my official grand opening on Friday, November 7 as part of Greenwood’s First Fridays. I’ll be in the office from 5pm to 8:30pm giving digital painting demonstrations and tours of the office and the rest of the building. Hope to see some of you there!

140 Maxwell Avenue · Studio 12 · Greenwood, SC 29646

Oh – and one additional note – NEW BUSINESS CARDS!

This Fall, Chris of Studio|chris will team up with Marilyn Sholin at the ASTA workshop to give a very special workshop on blogging in beautiful Asheville, NC! Come experience the fall colors, fresh autumn air and learn from two passionate speakers on the subject of blogging and promoting yourself through online channels.

The workshop will be open to 14 students and will cover all aspects of blogging, from start to finish, using the WordPress blogging platform. We’ll also cover how to integrate your blog with your current website (or link to your new blog from your website), if you have one, and how to get a website if you don’t have one already. By the end of the workshop, all attending will have an awesome blog to use for marketing, online journaling, and keeping the world up to date on your art! Take advantage of this fabulous marketing platform.

Workshop Basics:

• Dates
  • October 3 & 4, 2008
• Pricing
  • $299
  • Includes the workshop, one-on-one time with Chris, breakfast & lunch on both workshop days and light refreshments.
• Suggested Prerequisites
  • A web hosting plan that supports PHP & MySQL (capable of running the WordPress software). If you’re unsure if your current web hosting provider offers this, contact Chris with the name and web address of your host. Those without hosting plans may participate in the workshop as well – there are options!

Registration open now at the Digital Painting Shop.

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Painter Lab is the only “built as we go” class at Digital Art Academy where the course develops as a direct result of what students are creating and what the students want to learn about. We start with a set of resources and create! Along the way, tutorials and videos are created based totally on what is happening organically in the classroom.

Along with the normal classroom stuff, we have weekly challenges where students are given a specific task to perform. So far, we’ve drawn and painted sketches in the challenges this session. All of the created pieces from the challenges are added into the pool of resources to create even more!

The apple painting above started as a sketch from a student. Using different resources, and while creating a tutorial for the class on using photographic texture, the painting sprang from the canvas!

What else is being produced in the lab?

Here is a selection of images from students currently enrolled in the lab:

Artwork used with students’ permission.

How do I get in on the fun?

Digital Art Academy registration for Session 5, the Fall Session opened today! Join DAA and enroll in the next session of Painter Lab. The next class begins on August 30th.

How do I sign up for a course?

1. First register at DAA to create your general user account. Your information is private and will not be sold or shared with anyone. DAA takes your privacy very seriously.
2. After you have registered, sign in and find the class you are interested in joining.
3. If the class is open for registration you will see a PayPal icon located towards the bottom of the page. Simply click on it to enroll into that class.

General Information:

Take some time to read the Student Fact sheet located on the front page. It will get you off to a great start at DAA. You may also register and enroll in more than one class at a time. DAA’s website will keep track of all of your class information for you!

Marilyn’s new book is fast approaching! The Art of Digital Photo Painting, available for pre-order at Amazon.com, combines Corel Painter with other digital painting software and plugins to guide its readers through creating paintings from digital photos. By adding other software and tools into the mix, your photo painting process can be tuned to perfection and with great style!

As an aside, Marilyn gave me a peek at the inside of the book, and it looks amazing! If you order this book, or have already ordered it, take a look at pages 98 and 99 for my gallery and a small tutorial on portrait painting and learn what I use to embellish my portraits!

In the last post, we explored some of the license options offered by Corel for Painter X. In this post, we’ll focus on educational uses of Painter. Being an instructor at Digital Art Academy, which is an authorized Corel Training Partner, students often ask if they should purchase the educational version of Painter instead of the full version. In my opinion, most students (at least for DAA) should skip the educational version and go for the full version instead.

First and foremost, the educational version limits using the software for commercial purposes. Chances are, if you’re taking a class to learn Painter, at some point you may want to sell your work. To my knowledge, Corel doesn’t have an upgrade path from Educational to Full [if this is incorrect, someone please point me in the right direction]. This means that in addition to purchasing the educational version, you’ll also have to turn around and buy the full version at full price as well.

Also, as noted in the previous post, once class is over and you’re no longer a student, the educational licence is void (terminated), and by the license “You agree, upon termination, to destroy all copies of the Product.”

Make the Most of a Trial Instead

For students (or potential students) who have not given Painter a try and aren’t sure if they’ll be able to get the hang of it, download the free 30-day Trial and sign up for a class (use the money you’d pay for the educational version for actual education). For instance, classes at DAA are 4 weeks long (28 days). This gives you the opportunity to test out the software, find all the good features and use them, and most of all cuts through some of the intimidation that new software often brings. At the end of class, you still have two days to decide whether or not you enjoy Painter and want to treat yourself to the full version.

Of course, this can apply to other software as well.

If using this method though, be sure to not install the trial until the first day of your class. It is also important to note that once a 30-day trial has expired, you will not be able to reset the time limit or extend the time limit by installing the trial version again.

Moving Forward with the Full Version

After you’ve had a chance to finish a class, and properly evaluate the trial version of the software, purchase the full version (if you liked the software) as an investment in your happiness and move forward with your goals. Take another class to improve skills, start marketing a new service, enter your work into shows, or just continue to have fun with the software. Skipping the educational version and going straight to the full version, you’re not held back by the license in terms of what you can and cannot do with the software. This opens up a world of possibilities, even for students.

Selection of the beginning of Corel’s General EULA.
© Corel Corporation.

Are the different version of Painter X really different? Reading through the license provided by Corel, here are my impressions of the license and some helpful tips for those trying to decide which version is the right version for you.

We’ll start with the most limited of the three versions mentioned – the 30-day Trial version. With the trial version, in addition to the rest of the license, Section 3 applies. Section 3 basically states that you may use the software the software for a limited time (30 days for Painter X), then the license expires and the software is disabled unless an upgraded license is purchased. During the trial period, some parts of the software may be disabled, you may not be able to load extra content (like brushes) and any modification to the software, including trying to get around the trial period will void the license instantly. If you’ve never used Painter, but want to see what it’s all about, go download the trial and give it a spin.

Next on the list is the Educational version which is, again, the exact same as the full version (and the 30-day trial), but again, the license terms are different. Section 3 no longer applies because the software is not a trial version, but section 4 comes into play because it is an academic version. It gives more rights than the 30-day trial in that the license will not expire and the software will not lock itself after 30 days, but from my interpretation of the license, when a student is no longer a student, the license does expire and any usage rights are terminated unless the full license is purchased. Commercial, for-profit (no matter how inexpensive), work is prohibited by the license as well (section 4, part 4.2, item iii). If commercial work is to be done with the software, the normal, more expensive, license must be purchased to remove the academic limitations set forth by the license. You can also think of educational version as having a student discount at a restaurant. You get the same meal as without the student discount, but you pay less (though with software, the meal is a little different because the license has more restrictions for the educational version). Long term students (who meet the eligibility requirements) may want to look into this version of Painter, but remember – as soon as you’re no longer a student, you no longer have any rights to use the software.

Lastly, the “full/retail/commercial” version is again, the same software as both of the above, but the license allows the user more rights on how the software may be used, including the right to use it for commercial purposes. Sections 3 and 4 no longer apply because the software is not the trial version or the academic version. This is the least restrictive license and the one that most users should purchase.

As an important note to all license holders, from the license itself:

1.7 TERM:
This License shall remain in effect only for so long as you are in compliance with the terms and conditions of this License. This License will terminate if you fail to comply with any of its terms or conditions. You agree, upon termination, to destroy all copies of the Product. The Intellectual Property Rights, Limited Warranty, Disclaimer and Limitation of Liability provisions set out in Sections 1.6, 1.8, 1.9, 1.10, 1.14, 1.15, 3.2, 6.3 and 7.3 shall continue in force even after any termination.

Remember to read through the license when installing software as it does include very important information, like outlined above. If you have questions about which license terms you are governed by or questions about the license itself, Corel may be able to help.

Just a note: I am not a representative of, affiliated with or endorsed by Corel Corporation. For specific questions regarding licensing of Corel software (or any other software publishers’ software) please consult the publisher. I’m also not a lawyer. For legal questions, consult a lawyer.

In my previous post, I alluded to new goals here at Studio|chris, and one of my Twitter friends, Tina Mammoser (wonderful artist in London; go check her out) pointed out that I didn’t post the goals, so I edited the post — and here’s the follow up with a selection of the new goals!

Most of these are just reinforcements and expanding upon the 2008 “New Year’s Resolutions,” but there are a couple of new additions as well.

Continued dedication to clients.

Studio|chris is continuing to grow and has been an amazing journey so far. Over the past year — wow, next month is the official birthday — I’ve had the pleasure to help some wonderful clients accomplish their own goals, be it a new website and online identity for their business or a portrait painting to WOW a friend as a birthday gift. Studio|chris will continue to be dedicated to growth and providing great service to clients across all of the creative specialties available.

Local art community involvement.

Over the last few months, I’ve been involved with the Greenwood Artists’ Guild, and as an extension the Greenwood County Arts Council. Both of these organizations work together in the greater Greenwood area to provide artistic opportunities to both artists and the general public as well through various art education programs for all ages, public exhibitions and more.

In-person art education and workshops.

Live workshops are in the works! I’m sure some of you have read about the blogging workshop with Marilyn Sholin in Asheville, NC. We are still working with scheduling this during the summer, and it will be a blast!

Also, for those of you in the Greenwood, SC area, in September and October I will be giving presentations to the Greenwood Artists’ Guild. September’s mini-workshop will be on Online Art Marketing (September 13 – 10AM – 12Noon @ The Arts Council). October’s program will be a live demonstration of Corel® Painter™ X and Adobe® Photoshop® CS3 as fine art painting tools (October 11 – 10AM – 12Noon @ The Arts Council).

Meetings are open to Artist Guild Members (yearly dues are $15 at present, $25 per year starting in September) and all meetings and programs are FREE of admission charge for members. Come out an meet some of the other artists in your community!

Online and other digital forms of art education.

Digital Art Academy continues to grow its course catalog. I am already involved in the Adobe Illustrator program, but I will also be joining in as a Painter and Photoshop instructor in the coming sessions. On a side-note, registration for DAA’s third session of 2008 begins on April 28! Be sure to sign up for your classes early as the popular classes are filled VERY quickly.

I’ve also mentioned in a few places online that I will be producing a line of video tutorial collections for Corel Painter, and these are finally in production! A few new pieces of technology have enabled me to be able to create a final presentation that simply can’t be beat! More on this later — it is extremely exciting! As a teaser, here’s a screen shot of a work in progress:

© 2008 · Studio|chris

Here’s what student have been saying about the first session of Illustrator I over at Digital Art Academy:

“Your Illustrator class has been so good that you could have skipped week 4 and I still would have been more than satisfied!”

“You let use delve right into interesting creative projects rather than a whole bunch of boring little steps with each tool.”

“Chris’s clear explanations covered more ground than you would think possible in an introductory 4 week class. The stimulating homework assignments created results worth keeping and showing family & friends.”

“The lessons were just right – easy enough for a beginner, but challenging enough to make you think. I’ve had some prior training (years ago) with Illustrator, but still learned a LOT of new things/techniques I’d have never thought of otherwise!”

“Speaking for the one class I’ve taken so far (Illustrator CS3 Core) – I am eagerly looking forward to the next round of classes! The instructor for this class (Chris Price) is a genial artist whose enthusiasm for and knowledge of the program comes through very well, and his ability to convey a technique or a basic principle is outstanding. Best use of $32 I’ve had in a while. :)”

“I have never learned more in an online class! Please have Chris teach Illustrator 2!” – [Note from Chris: Illustrator II is expected for Session 4]

Registration is currently OPEN for Session 2! Don’t miss your chance to join in the fun! $32 and packed full of info.

Blogger, Blogsome, Blogspot or WordPress.com? What is the difference in them?

As professionals, the differences in the above do not matter because they all impose limitations on the type of content you can post without fear of your blog being deleted for misuse. As free blog hosts, the terms of all of these do not allow for selling work directly on your blog. The alternative is to use WordPress or any other blogging software installed on your own web server. This removes all the limitations, and you can use the software for absolutely anything you want to, including all of the features of the free blog hosts and adding in the ability to add plugins for more functionality, sell your work, and customize to your heart’s content!

If I have a website, why do I need a blog too?

Blogs are constantly growing as a way to get the word out about your art and what you do. Businesses are taking advantage of this wave of popularity and are using blogs for a number of reasons. To name just a few: a blog can help add a personal side to your business which can help build customer relationships, improve the customer experience, help establish you as an expert in your field, open your site to new search engines, tap into a user base of billions of people, make regular search engines visit your site more often for updates, and give you an easy platform to publish content (even outside of the blog area!). Even with those few, having a blog is worth more than its virtual weight in gold!

No one ever comments on my blog. Am I wasting my time?

Comments are only one part of a blog. Just because no one is commenting doesn’t mean people aren’t reading and taking notice. Regardless of comments, having a blog also opens up a whole new world of search engines – blog searches which may bring more visitors to your site and may help increase sales! As an artist, you should give as many people as possible the chance to see your work, even if they don’t make comments in the blog.

What is “hosting”?

Hosting is simply access to a web server that connects your website to the world wide web. A host will hold all of your website’s files, website software, images, email and more and make them accessible to users of the web. Without some sort of hosting, it is impossible to have a website or a blog. Some hosts are free, but generally place ads on your site, may not allow you to have your own domain name (both of which does not look very professional). Free hosts may also have extreme limits on the type of content that may be published. Look for a paid host that will allow you the flexibility to use your website to the highest potential in your marketing efforts.  

What is Windows Live Writer and why do I need it?

Windows Live Writer is a fully featured, free, blog publishing tool offered by Microsoft that allows offline blogging! If you’re ever in a situation where the internet isn’t available, but have a great idea for a blog post, fire up Windows Live Writer and write your blog post completely (or partially) and save a draft to your computer. When the internet becomes available, open the post and click one button to publish it to your blog instantly! Offline blogging isn’t the only plus though, it makes content publishing super easy! You can keep an unlimited number of drafts, add media, and more! Adobe Contribute CS3 is an alternative, though is not free software.

Can I sell things from my blog?

As long as your blog isn’t hosted by one of the free blog providers that prohibit selling through its User Agreement, you can do absolutely anything you want with your blog. Selling can be accomplished through links to your own e-commerce site, PayPal buttons, or any method you choose.

What are links and why do I need them on my blog?

Links are clickable hotspots on a website that transfer the user to a different website. You need them on your website because search engines, like human users, will follow links to help categorize your site, and as a result, your site may show up in search results. Links to your site on other sites are also important. They can help build credibility and give different users another opportunity to find your work.

I have tons and tons of pictures on my blog and Google never lists me, why is that?

Search engine spiders are programmed to read text, not images. Make sure your blog includes text so that the search engines can actually read through your blog just as people would. Of course, do not stop posting your images along with the text. While search engines can’t see them, your human readers will still appreciate them!

Does it matter if I have a MAC or PC to blog? Is one easier than the other?

MAC or PC, it doesn’t matter.  Blogs are controlled through web interfaces, so they are exactly the same on both platforms!

It would be so much easier if someone could set up my blog for me in person and teach me how to use it. I can’t understand all the information on the internet and need to shown. Are there any blogging classes I can take?

You’re in luck! Studio|chris offers complete blog setup and customization for your business needs using the WordPress platform all year round, taking away all of the frustration of having to learn how to do the technical setup and customization. From there, the platform is easy to use to control your entire website, even outside of the blog if you wish. Contact Chris for more details.

Also, later this year, Chris will be teaming up with Marilyn Sholin to give a wonderful blogging and online marketing workshops in Asheville, NC. If you’re interested in attending, contact Chris or Marilyn to be placed on the waiting list for the next one to be announced.