Beginner’s Guide to Painter Essentials
Have you ever wanted to paint a masterpiece without all the mess or the learning curve? The new Painter Essentials 5 is a virtual art studio filled with all the tools you need to create your own masterpiece. In this video tutorial you’ll learn:
- How to automatically create a painting from a photo
- How to create an original painting, sketch or drawing
- How to use the brush selector
- How to use the various tools in your toolbox
Thanks for watching! We hope you found this tutorial helpful and we would love to hear your feedback in the Comments section below. And don’t forget to visit our social media pages and show us what you’ve learned by sharing your photos, videos and creative projects with us.
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Comments (29)
I have just bought a Wacom Intuos drawing tablet and downloaded Corel Painter Essentials 7 which looks great but I can’t find a user manual anywhere! The videos are helpful but I need to be able to look up issues such as using layers and the various commands. Without this I am taking a long time getting not very far! Please could you tell me where I can find written instructions?
Thanks,
Val
Hello Val,
Of course! Here is a link to the Painter Essentials 7 Quick Start Guide.
Discovery Center Team
So I was just wondering if there is a way to change the color of my line art. I know there is a way in Photoshop, but I don’t know how to do it here. For example, if I drew something with black line art, but I wanted to make it blue, is there any way to color the line Art? (Besides using the paint bucket)
Hello Bella,
This is a pretty advanced function for Painter Essentials! While there are a few different ways to modify, blend, or composite colours in the full Painter program, Painter Essentials is designed to be a simpler, more introductory program and does not have these advanced features. The paint bucket or flood fill tool is indeed the best fit in Painter Essentials.
Best,
Discovery Center Team
If you right click on a layer there should be an option to “select layer content”. If you click that, it will select what you made in that layer, so you can either use the fill bucket for the entire line art or use a brush on specific parts without having to worry about messing it up. Hope this helps!
I don’t know if it’s just me or if everyone else experiencing problems with your
website. It looks like some of the written text on your posts
are running off the screen. Can someone else please comment and let me know if this is happening
to them too? This may be a problem with my web browser
because I’ve had this happen previously.
Cheers
Which browser are you using? We tested this page and a few others at random using Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer, and Microsoft Edge and did not have any trouble.
Does a forced full refresh help? The you can trigger a full refresh using CTRL+F5 when viewing a web page to completely clear the cached version and reload it. This will often fix errors caused by a partially loaded page.
Discovery Center Team
I’m completely new to digital art and I’m not sure how to open the art program to start drawing
Hi Akairoh,
When you launch the program, there should be a startup screen that gives you the option to “Start new drawing and painting” or “Start new photo art”. If you want to draw by hand, select “start new drawing and painting.” If you don’t see the startup screen when you launch the program, click on File > New and this will open a new blank canvas that you can start drawing and painting on.
For more info, this tutorial will show you how to use the pencil brush to sketch by hand.
https://learn.corel.com/tutorials/sketching-with-pencils/
Hope this helps!
The Discovery Center team
complete beginner, what computer / tablet is best? I have hand drawings that I would like to convert to digital and can’t figure it out
You may need a scanner to put your art into the program. No tablet is best, but getting a good sized one helps. You don’t want something too small to use. Tablets can have features that either show what you’re doing on the screen itself or only show on the monitor. You may need to experiment with both to find your fit. Monitor only displays are usually better for those with good muscle memory as you’ll have to look at your monitor while you draw instead of the tablet. I’m currently using the Intuos tablet from Wacom if that helps, which is a monitor display only by the by. Just make sure you have a drawing tablet that suits your needs and style of drawing. Have fun creating!
Woah! Awesome tool! Must give it a try. I have something to re-create and I hope this can do the trick. Thanks for sharing!
Where can I find the full manual for Essentials 5 please?
Hello Gordon,
You can find the Painter Essentials 5 guide here:
http://product.corel.com/help/Painter-Essentials/540233473/Main/EN/Quick-Start-Guide/Painter-Essentials-Quick-Start-Guide.pdf
Hope this helps!
Corel Discovery Center Team
Wow! This is a magic tool.. Very effect time loss tool … I just want to get it trial, first and I’m on the way!
I was wondering if with this program its possible to upload a new image on a separate layer (not separate document)?
yes you can.
I was just wondering if there was a line tool in the program. I have looked through all the menus (so I think) and I could not find any.
As Painter Essentials is designed to as closely mirror physical painting as possible, there is no straight line tool like you would see in a graphic design or photoediting program. The closest you could do is use a fine edged pen like the Quick Curve under the Pen flyout. You will need to move quickly and with a smooth hand for the best effect though! An unsteady hand will result in a jittery line.
Hope this helps!
Corel Discovery Center Team
I lay a ruler across the tablet screen and follow it with a fine point pen. Or, I have a collection of wood shapes that I purchased at the craft store — various sized circles and ovals, etc. that I can trace in whole or in part to get the type of line I need.
I know Im a little bit late, but I just got this program and there is an option to make straight lines. Not perfect, but it is there. For any brush you have selected, look on the properties bar. near the options, you will see to swirls, one smooth and one jagged. If you hover over the jagged one and select it, you can make a straight line, however, if you want to do two separate straight lines, you have to deselect and select it again, as far as I can tell. Just putting this here so others dont get thrown off by relatively false information.
In a way there is. When you pick a brush type you can decide to make straight lines with it. The way to do this is by making two pints on the paper and a line with the brush and choice of color will automatically appear. Really only three clicks needed
Hi!
I was wondering if I can make new brushes on Corel painter essentials 5?
And also, the selection tool used to resize things doesn’t show up. Is there anything I can do about that?
Hello Hannah,
Currently, custom brushes can only be made in the main Painter suite – Painter Essentials 5 does not have this ability. We are always on the lookout for what features really are Essential, and have passed your suggestion on to the product team. Thanks!
As for resizing, the options in the top toolbar are context-sensitive. Once you have the selection tool activated and a selection made, you can use the + and – keys in that top toolbar to resize your selection.
Hope this helps!
Corel Discovery Center Team
I don’t see + or – options in any top toolbar. The help section says that when the layer adjuster is used to select a shape, a selection rectangle will appear around the shape with handles on the corners and sides. It does not appear.
Solved: [I have Corel Painter Essentials 5]. I have to use the transform tool, which is next to the selection adjuster in the selection menu on the toolbar (on the left side)
how do i color over lineart in Corel painter essentials 5
Hello Ty,
Were you looking to cover the linework with color, or add color to your lineart while preserving the lines? In either case the answer is in using a new layer! There is a slight change in how you use the new layer depending on your goal.
If you are looking to replace existing linework with color, simply add the color to the same layer that contains the linework, or insert a new layer above your linework and apply colour there.
On the other hand, if you are looking to add colour and preserve your original lineart, you can add the colour to a new layer below the layer containing your lineart.
Here is a tutorial that demonstrates this in a little more detail:
https://learn.corel.com/tutorials/digital-watercolor-sketching/
Hope this helps!
Corel Discovery Center Team
I love this! Will save so can purchase it…..