Digital Paintings by Judy Filarecki

Digital painting is a totally new experience in expressing yourself though your art. There are several paint programs that allow you to simulate all types of art media from pencil to inks, watercolors to oils and everything in between. There are a large variety of brushes, pens and other tools that enable you to accomplish some very effective images.

I have been experimenting with Corel Painter 11 and have included some examples of my early attempts at using it. There is a realist iris which I did following step-by-step instruction from Corel. The others are more abstract and were fun using all different types of tools.

There is definitely a large learning curve for using this program as well as other paint programs I have tried. You can do original paintings using the multiple layers that are available. I like this because I can do one layer and then make additions or revisions on a second layer to test it out over the original layer. You do this without any effect on the original layer. It is a lot easier than in real life where you risk messing up what you have completed.

Impressionism is somewhat easier because you have more freedom with brush strokes than in realist painting. Here again, using layers makes you less fearful about experimenting with an effect.

I tend not to do very well with abstract painting when I have an actual canvas in front of me, but in the Corel Painter program, there are so many fun brushes and effects to play with, that I really enjoyed trying it.

Digital painting has another benefit. There are no fumes to deal with, no waiting for it to dry, nothing to spill, and no worry about where to store it. Of course you do have to have a good mean to have it printed out if you ever want to display it or sell it as a physical piece of art.