Japanese ink (Sumi-e)

[Lunatique]

My mom's a well-known Chinese watercolor painter, so I'm very familiar with the style. I've tried to simulate the bamboo painting in Painter before, and the brushes are not nearly good enough to pull it off.

There are plenty of natural medium effects that Painter cannot simulate yet. For example, scumbling of brushes in oil/acrylic, truly raised thick (and I mean big gobs of it) paint controlled by angle/strength of palette knife, thick gobs of paint that could be dabbed on (not just raised slightly like it is now)..etc. Those are far more important than having dozens of very similar brushes like they have now. Part of the magic of real painting heavily relies on effects like scumbling and thick paint, but Corel only scratched the surface of the issue so far. I suspect programming that kinds of complexity is extremely hard, that's why they haven't done it. Same with the Chinese/Japanese painting brushes. They feel more like a parody right now than something genuine.

[klingspor]

Thanks for the reply, Lunatique! Your answer confirmed my suspicion that it wouldn't be possible in Painter at all. Too bad!

I'll have to go on faking the effect then. :hmm:

[klingspor]

Another question: I currently use a Wacom Graphire 2 tablet for my work in Painter. Would an Intuos with its tilt sensitivity be any help at all in producing the effect mentioned or can I just save the money?

[Lunatique]

It would help, but the main problem is that Painter's designer/programmers probably aren't artist themselves, and they really don't understand enough about traditional Asian painting techniques to incorporate the proper dynamics into the brushes. They can't even get something like scumbling technique into the oil brushes--which is an extremely important painting technique in oils (or maybe they don't realize how important it is and just left it out altogether).

[Nicool]

Do some research on the internet. There is one (or more) little program project to paint like this in CG. I can't direct you to an exact adress, but be sure it exist. That a program which features a such as brush only.

N.B. there is even a programming skilled artist who has rendered 3d pictures in chinese/japanese style that are really good !

[womanonfire]

I just found such a Sumi-e program yesterday. well, i found where it is sold online in japan but it is a Shodo paint program that looks very beautiful.

Windows version
http://www.sourcenext.com/products/winshodo/

Mac version. There is a downloadable (very limited) demo
http://www.enzan-hoshigumi.co.jp/shohin_shokai/sansui.html

maybe you can find someone who knows japanese language to help you get a copy.
it is a rather old program but it seems very cool! wish i could get a copy here in europe :/

[klingspor]

Excellent, Winshodo looks very helpful. Thanks for the hint!

It's a real shame that Corel hasn't built these effects into Painter by now, as they do really apply to a broader range of techniques than just Asian watercolors.

[ATAHUALPA]

Hi there,


next to Painter I often use Project Dogwaffle, which is a cheap paint tool....but
has not the toolset of Painter. But it's cheap. I just tested some brushes to get a feeling what Sumi-e could be. Have a look.

Hey it's just a test.

Martin

http://www.cybersign.de/cybersign_prod_inhalt/WIP/ILLUS4/Brush_Test.jpg

[klingspor]

Too bad there doesn't seem to be a demo version of Winshodo available for download, I'd really love to try it before buying.

ATAHUALPA, I also checked out Project Dogwaffle, but it doesn't seem to do anything one couldn't do in Painter already - I may be wrong! The brushes you used in your sketch don't look any better than those shipped with Painter, maybe even less realistic. But thanks for the tip!

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