Idea:How to get most of the media prowess of Corel Painter for a lot less
Corel Painter is without a doubt one of the best natural and unnatural media paint programs around. Rakes, water colors dripping oozing over different papers - this is but a tiny sampler of what is available in Corel painter. But if you are uncertain of how much painting you want to do or you don't want to spend $200 plus or you want to tryout your skills in painting let me suggest ArtRage as a very novel Whitman Sampler of Painter.
The screen shot above, framed by some artrageous work gives a quick sample of what ArtRage is capable of doing. First it has the key elements of Painter. First the ability to take an image set it in the background at diminished opacity, and then use as tracing paper. The tracing paper will not appear in the final image. Users have the choice - they can import an image and paint over the top of that - then the parts of the original image not painted over will appear in the final saved painting - users choice.
The beauty of ArtRage is its simplicity. One gets painting very quickly. Start with a bare canvas with your choice of surfaces as shown in the screenshot at the left. Choose from papers and canvas of various grades - and then your are off painting.
Okay the second option, Tracing Image, allows you to choose an image set up on the background for tracing - I have chosen a PixofCanada.com image. But a tracing image is an optional choice.
Then users have a whole array of brushes at their command. Now one of the strengths of Corel painter is the two dozen brushes and the over two dozen attributes associated with those brushes which allows users to imitate the most subtle of painting effects and interactions between the brushes.
ArtRage has oil brush, pencil, chalk, crayon, airbrush, felt pen, glitter, and paint roller. Each has its own edge, carry/loading, and blending characteristics with the underlying paper, previous strokes and media. As you choose a brush, the controls for these attributes appear in the properties bar.
But instead of dozens of choices, users have 3 to 5 at the most. In short, the learning curve for ArtRage is much shorter. Yet with the opacity, blend and carry characteristics that ArtRage provides one can achieve a wonderful array of painterly effects.
In addition, ArtRage provides a number of unique tools including stencils, paint tube, and refs which add a unique set of finishing touches to your work of art. Users will have simple layers at their command but will be forgoing a wide range of image transformations, color corrections, and special effects available in Painter or other photofinishing programs. Below is an example of an ArtRage done on a Zion National Park Canyon in Utah.
In sum, ArtRage concentrates on the painting - making it simple to turn tracing paper and other brush effects on and off, charge tracing images easily (very useful for collages) and finish in unique ways. If you have considered refining your pictures and images with painterly touches, ArtRage at $25 (the starter edition is free and will allow you to save your work - but many advanced features are disabled) gives a splendid opportunity for doing so. With Corel Painter I never am quite sure I have gotten the most out of the tool because of its myriad options . With ArtRage I am concentrating on working with the image and media. Sometimes less is more.
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