Best translucent brush to use in P8

[Jinbrown]

There's no single "best" brush variant in Painter 8 or any other version. It all depends on what the artist likes and what works for a specific project.

Tell us what you want to do with the "best translucent brush".

Describe the image:

How many Layers

What will be on each Layer

Layer Composite Methods

Style of artwork

Whatever else will give us an idea of what you'll be doing and what to suggest.

[noelt]

Just laying down initial color washes, one layer, this is just for the initial stage of a painting. The reason i asked is just to try other brushes to see if i like the feel and look, just feedback like i said whatever someone uses is what i'm looking for. I guess the word "best" was not the best choice of words. Any brush that anyone can name is ok by me, i'm just trying to not go thru all the possible brushes one by one ..i'm trying to save time i guess. After trying different (suggested) brushes....i might use one brush for one type of painting and another brush for other types of paintings, so i guess my question is.... What Is Your Favorite Translucent Brush.

[Jinbrown]

I don't have a favorite translucent brush variant since I use way too many brush categories and brush variants, and for different situations.

You'll still need to do some experimenting to learn how each brush variant works, and how it works in each scenario, even if you get a dozen or more suggestions.

Also, you'll need to know that some brush variants that appear transparent, will darken when one brushstroke passes over another. Any brush variant for which the Method is Buildup will darken as you paint over existing brushstrokes.

Brush variants for which the Method is Buildup, when you begin painting on a New Layer, will automatically change the Layer's Composite Method to Gel. This will make the brushstrokes appear translucent, and darken any colors that are below those brushstrokes.


Digital Water Color variants may sometimes darken when painting over existing color and sometimes won't darken, depending on the brush variant. Plus, they'll darken when we paint over dried Digital Water Color paint.

In Painter 8, if you save the image, close it, then open it again, any Digital Water Color paint that was wet when the image was saved will now be dry.

The Tinting variants might be good ones to play with to see if you like them.

For painting washes, you could also use the Pastels variants and to make the paint appear transparent, paint on a Layer, then lower the Layer's Opacity.

There are oodles of possibilities and there's way too much to say about Painter's brush variants, so I'd strongly suggest that you bite the bullet and test all of them. Then you'll be able to ask specific questions.

Good luck,

[brenly]

I think I know what you mean .. its actually really hard to get a brush that puts down a nice even translucent color. I managed to tweak one of the airbrushes to do it in ver.8 but in ver.9 youll have to use another brush. Strangly enough I used one of the chalks, did some tweaking and got it working really nicely. Also be careful with Brush tracking, play with the sliders a bit. It has a big impact on how nicely the paint is applied to the canvas ..

[Jinbrown]

I'm interested to know what you're thinking of producing using "translucent" brush variants.

To explain, the word "translucent" means you can see through it to whatever is behind that "translucent" object or paint.

In real life, when something translucent and colored is placed (or painted) over something else translucent and colored, the colors are combined, just as they are in Painter when translucent color is painted over translucent color and the combined color is darker.

If all you want is a wash on the Canvas, it doesn't matter much if the color is translucent since it's being painted on a white Canvas and only that white will show through.

Maybe if you guys can explain in more detail exactly what you're trying to do, I can understand it better and possibly offer other suggestions.

[brenly]

what Im referring to is a brush that lays than a clean flat line with translucency depending on the pressure you apply. Showing little to no grain. Another colored line can be applied over the top blending in nicely depending on pressure applied. Water colors do this but can be a little dirty at times. They also tend to give a washed out look, which can be nice for certian things. THe brush Im talking about is really good for blocking in and rough blending.

[noelt]

I'll be using it to block in colors in the initial phase of the painting it help with visualizing, i liked how Ryan church uses translucent brushes to block in colors and so i'm trying to find differnet approaches to translucency.

[Jinbrown]

On Ryan Church's site, he says he uses the following Painter 5.5 brush variants:

square chalk
digital airbrush
frosty water
water rake (5.5)
camel hair (5.5)
glow
water color (5.5)
eraser

The equivalents, when they exist in the Painter 8 default Painter Brushes library, are:

square chalk - Chalks' Square Chalk

digital airbrush - Airbrushes' Digital Airbrush

frosty water - not in Painter 8 default Painter Brushes library

water rake - not in Painter 8 default Painter Brushes library

camel hair (camel hair brush) - not in Painter 8 default Painter Brushes library

glow - F/X's Glow

water color - won't work the same in Painter 8 with the new Water Color technology

eraser - Eraser's Eraser

On Painter 8 CD 2, you'll find the Painter 5 (not Painter 5.5) default brush library in the following location:

Painter8CD2 > Brushes > Painter 5

In that Painter 5 brush library, you'll find some of the missing brush variants:

Water's Frosty Water

Water's Water Rake

Brushes' Camel Hair Brush (You may find the Painter 8 Oils' Round Camelhair variant is much nicer.)

Since Painter 5 and Painter 5.5 used the old Water Color technology and since the Painter 5 Water Color variants will work like Painter 7 and Painter 8 Water Color variants (and not look at all the same as they did in Painter 5/5.5), you might either load the Painter 5 brush library and change the Water Color variants to use the Digital Wet Method (like the Painter 8 Digital Water Colors variants do) or just use the Painter 8 Digital Water Colors.

To control the amount of color with Pressure, go to the Color Expression palette and choose Pressure from the drop down menu.

To have more control over pressure, go to Edit > Preferences > Brush Tracking and paint a brushstroke on the scratch pad using more than your normal hand pressure, then click the OK button.

Lower brush Opacity too, to gain more control over how much color is applied.

If you don't want the appearance of Paper texture (Grain) in your brushstrokes, open a new white Canvas, make a small selection using the Rectangular Selection tool, and go to the Papers palette menu and choose Capture Pattern, then save your custom Paper with a unique name not already used by Painter. I named mine, "Blank White".

If you do want some appearance of Paper texture, choose the appropriate Paper and adjust the Property Bar's Grain slider until you get the desired result. You can also go to the Papers palette and adjust the Scale, Brightness, and Contrast sliders to change the effect.

After you've tried the above suggestions, and still have problems, let us know specifically what they are. Be sure to include your Painter version including patch/update number if one is installed, a clear description of your image, the exact name(s) of the brush variants you're using, and exactly what setting adjustments you've made to the brush variants, Paper, etc.

[noelt]

Thanks Jin & Brenly.

[Somhairle]

Hey Jin,

Having just read that, is there a way of saving MODIFIED papers? I can't see anything, just wondering if you have any ideas on it.

- Somhairle

[Jinbrown]

Hi,

If you mean changing the look of the Paper, the only ways I can think of are to:

• Create a new Paper texture, then use the Capture Paper command to save it to the current Papers library.

Or... (with possibly less desirable results... try it to see)...

• Open a large enough white Canvas to get a good tileable size, choose the Paper you want to modify, and use Effects > Surface Control > Apply Surface Texture, Using: Paper. Then make whatever modifications you want and use the Capture Paper command to save it in the current Papers library.

If the Paper texture is large, you might want to use the Paper Mover to create a new Papers library, drag the new Paper icon into the new Papers library, then delete it from the current Papers library to keep that Papers library in its original state and file size.

Hope this helps.

[Somhairle]

Thanks Jin,

Your second option worked pretty good! I wish there was a way to save an "altered" default paper as sometimes i like the texture a little bigger/stronger from time to time.

cheers,

- Somhairle

[Jinbrown]

Hi,

Yes, it would be nice if we could adjust the Paper palette controls, Scale, Contrast, and Brightness, then just save the Paper with a new name and retain those adjustments in the new Paper!

I think this has been requested in the Sticky thread at the top of the forum, but you might want to check and add the request if it isn't already there.

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