Teaching people how to create paintings with digital brushes is one of my greatest joys!
I believe with all my heart that you can learn how to do it, with a teacher that truly cares about you and your progress with painting software.
This class will begin at the very beginning and progress to the point that you can take what you learn and create beautiful paintings. Concentration is on portraiture, but an introduction to paintings of pets and scenics will be part of the course of study as well.
Come and learn in my camera room, enjoy the lovely town of Plymouth, and return to your world with a part of mine - an ability to create paintings that only you can create! Sign up early and save - 4 days of study, Sunday morning until Wednesday afternoon, $1195.00 after April 15th, but only $1000.00 if you register before then with a $500.00 deposit. DEADLINE EXTENDED TO APRIL 15TH FOR EARLY REGISTRATION!!
Call Helen at 734-207-0398 NOW, and reserve your place in class!
Workshop equipment requirements are:
Mac or PC, which is loaded with:
> Photoshop CS5 or greater
> Painter 12.1 (a free trial download is available from Corel’s website)
> At least 1 Gig RAM. Remember Photoshop and Painter are memory grabbers.
> CD drive and media for file storage/transfer
> Plenty of clear hard drive space
> Pen tool with the software loaded, such as the Wacom Intuos Medium size; this is ESSENTIAL and REQUIRED. Graphire units will suffice, but are not recommended.
>Secure extension cord/power strip for your computer and equipment.
Laptops are OK for class use. (One monitor per student please.)
The class is limited to 8 students, and tuition is $1195.
To register (a $500 deposit is required). Call Helen at 734-207-0398
For any additional information on class curriculum, call or email helen@helenyancystudio.com
I am so excited about sharing Corel Painter with you!
When you arrive in the beautiful area of Deep Creek, Maryland you will enjoy glorious fall color everywhere! While the hills may not be alive with the sound of music, they will vibrate with the oranges, golden yellows and reds of autumn splendor.
Once you are registered, we will send you information about hotels in the area, and directions to Ann’s place. At this date, the Comfort Inn in Oakland is one of the places recommended, as it’s pleasant and reasonably priced, bit too far away from class. We are extending the early registration discount to August 31st - REGISTER NOW AND SAVE $195.00!
Wherever you decide to stay, try to arrive the day before class begins so we can set up computers early on the first day - around 8:30. Coffee, tea and soft drinks will be ready for you - snacks will be there too. Your balance can be paid at this time, with either cash, check or credit card. Once we are all ready to start class, we fly - so be prepared with your computer loaded with the software for Corel Painter, Adobe Photoshop, and the latest drivers for your Wacom tablet. It helps if you try them all before you leave home to be sure they are installed and running well.
Class begins with a brief review of tools and layers in Photoshop. We begin our first project, a portrait, in Photoshop with high-end enhancement of a face that is beyond the typical retouching. You will learn techniques that will raise the level of your portrait work even when you don’t sell a painting. These techniques are also a great preparation for working with Painter.
We will follow that, probably by return from lunch on that first day, with an introduction to Corel Painter 12 and explain some of the new features. This class is about working as a painter much more than it is about software, but it’s important to be comfortable with the brushes and media available to us. Once we “get into the paint” we will try many different brushes and various types of media. You will be delighted with how quickly you adapt to painting, immersing yourself in the principles of art as we work through our first project.
Each day after the first day will begin at 9:00 AM and end at dinner time, around 5:30 PM. There are several places where you can get lunch as a carry-out and bring back to enjoy together, so we don’t take too much time away from our class. It’s also a great time for a short walk on the country road. Ann says there are bears in those hills, but I’ve been looking for them for all these years and they are still hiding!
The last day class will end by 3:30 PM so you can make your travel plans accordingly.
Be sure to bring your smiles, your confidence, and a warm sweater for a walk to the lake. You can also bring your own images for critique and to work on after class hours if you would like. I will provide the class lesson images.
I look forward to a wonderful class - call me at 734-207-0398.
Teaching is truly a joy for me, and I have had the absolute best students anyone could have - thanks to all of you!
Join us for the next class at Ann Montieth's beautiful vacation home in the mountains of Maryland. Enjoy the gorgeous fall color, amazing learning atmosphere and life changing immersion in the art of creating paintings from photographs.
With some Photoshop and lots of Corel Painter,you can develop new techniques and improve your skills. Class is great for newcomers to Corel Painter software, and will be an excellent continuation to improve your skills if you are already painting. Instruction is clear and easy to follow, hands on all the way - and you don't have to be an "artist" to be successful!
Class enrollment is limited to assure lots of time and attention for everyone! We will have a great time, and you will love painting, even if you "can't even draw a stick figure" or "can't even draw a straight line"! (There are rulers for that, and hardly ever a call for stick figures!)
Learn classical Corel Painter preceded by lessons in advanced enhancement of a face in Photoshop, preparing an image for easier adaptation with painting software. Techniques you develop will be unique to you as you learn the delicious brushes and tools that will elevate your work beyond the capabilities of the camera!
The class includes 4 days of concentrated hands-on education, immersion in artistic concepts that will help you in every aspect of your image creation. Students that have taken the leap and plunged into painting their images have survived and thrived in this "everybody has a camera" world, and you can do it too! "I can't draw a straight line" doesn't matter here - you have your images, you have great tools, and you have an instructor that wants more than anything to see you succeed!
Join us - tuition is the same - $1195.00 for 4 days of immersion in the artistic world, but if you register early your tuition is only $1000.00. Questions? Call Helen at 734-207-0398 or email helen@helenyancystudio.com and do it soon!
Grainy Water (or Grainy Water 30, which is simply Grainy Water in the size of 30 pixels) is a wonderful blender in the Blenders Category (Media) in Corel Painter. I like it much better than a brush that simply melts the pixels, such as the Just Add Water variant in Blenders, which in my opinion makes mush - Grainy Water has character. That said, it also has circles, and I often don't like it when the circles formed at the ends of the strokes are too obvious. Therefore, I adapt Grainy Water using the Brush Creator, found under the Window heading on the top menu bar. (The keystrokes to open the Brush Creator are Mac, Command>B or Windows, Control>B).
Here are screen shots of the way I adapted to create my Grainy Water Brushy variant. I love that it has a "hairs of the brush" look rather than the circles, but I still keep both in my custom palette, and use both. Remember once you create the new brush (with the Brush Creator window still open) you will need to click on Save Variant under Variant in the menu bar above the Brush Creator, and then Restore Variant, also under Variant in that menu bar for your Grainy Water brush when you're finished. If you forget, and close Brush Creator, you can go to the Brush Selector, press on the little triangle on the far right, and you can click on those commands there.
When you adapt, you can change settings to suit your particular style, create and save your own brushes using the Brush Creator!
Click here to Download screen shots of this process.
HELEN YANCY 2010 SEMINARS, WORKSHOPS AND CLASSES
Don't miss an opportunity to learn Photoshop High-end Enhancement and Corel Painter techniques from Corel Painter Master and Master Artist Helen Yancy.
• Triangle PA Photography School – March 21-28, 2010- for more information contact Bill Penberthy - badkneesbill@gmail.com
• Texas Photography School – May 2-7, 2010- for more information contact Don Dickson - ddickson@lonestarbbs.com
• Plymouth, MI 4 day class - June 24-27 in Helen’s camera room, Plymouth Michigan. The class is limited to 10 students, and tuition is $1,195. Early registrants will receive $150 discount.
For additional information or to register (a $500 non-refundable deposit is required), call Helen at (734) 207-0398 or email - helen@helenyancystudio.com.
• Convention Seminar - Louisiana State Convention – August, 2010
• Carolina Artist School – August, 2010 contact Bob Henderson - bob@capsartschool.com
• Deep Creek, MD 4 day class in beautiful fall color MD mountains – October 22-25. The class is limited to 10 students, and tuition is $1,195. Early registrants will receive $150 discount. For additional information or to register (a $500 non-refundable deposit is required), call Helen at (734) 207-0398 or email - helen@helenyancystudio.com.
The Magical, Neglected Photoshop Tool
Helen Yancy, M.Photog,M.Artist,MEI,Cr. Hon.M.Photog, F-ASP, Hon.F-ASP, EA-ASP, Hon. EA-ASP,
I suspect you have had, on occasion, an area of detail in bright areas that is almost gone, and you have tried the Burn tool, just to find it created either a dirty looking color – or worse – turned the pixels red! Or, you have an area where the shadows appear to have blocked up all the detail and you tried the Dodge tool with less than happy results – reddish pixels, milky half-tones and shadow areas with a completely unnatural appearance.
The History Brush in your Photoshop tool box is an amazing solution that is not used very often because it’s not understood. Using it can add that detail to the wedding gown and pick up the lights in that dark area of the hair – or anyplace that needs a boost of light. Unlike the Dodge and Burn tools, when used in the correct mode it will only have an effect on the almost indiscernible lights and/or darks and bring them up in a pleasant and natural way without creating that milky or dirty appearance.
The History Brush will often come up with the “NO” circle with the diagonal line across it, so it’s thought that it can’t work – and it can’t when that happens. It simply means that the History source must be changed. Making use of Snapshots will be very advantageous for changing the History source, so every time you make a global change to your image – such as cropping, levels, curves, or any other adjustment, create a snapshot. That way, even if you lose some of your history steps as you progress with your image you will have a snapshot you can use.
The little square box just to the left side of each History step, and also left of each Snapshot is where you place your History source. Click on that box and you will see the check mark, designating that your History brush will work from that step. For example, if you have used any of the Adjustments such as Hue/Saturation, Levels, Curves, etc. you don’t want to use your History brush to pull back color or density from before those adjustments, so you want that source to be in the snapshot or step in the History palette list to be at or after that global change.
Use your History Brush in Screen Mode to lighten and brighten detail in dark areas, and watch beautiful highlights emerge from hair, brighten a face in a group that didn’t catch enough light, even brighten up foliage in a background that needs a lift without becoming milky.
Use your History Brush in Multiply mode for that face that caught too much light, add dimension to flat lighting by brushing over areas that need just a bit more dimension, and magically bring out details on that wedding gown!
When I use the History brush I use it at 20% to 30% opacity, because I would rather under-use than over-use, and then have to fix it. However, if you do too much – put your History Brush back in Normal mode and take it back a bit, in whatever percentage it takes.
Enjoy this amazing tool, and email me if you have questions.
Helen@helenyancystudio.com
