Customer Reviews

Painter 8 Creativity: Digital Artist's Handbook

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I loved the program Painter from the start even though I initially felt intimidated and overwhelmed by it. Confusion turned into excitement after I acquired a set of Painter 4 instructional videos taught by Jeremy Sutton. I enjoyed his no-nonsense, hands-on and fun approach to teaching. He encouraged me to learn without feeling inadequate, to explore different avenues of self-expression and to experience Painter as a enjoyable adventure. Not an easy task to accomplish, but something that Jeremy does extremely well on a consistent basis.
Painter 8 Creativity showcases Jeremy's informative and playful spirit, which truly enhances the learning experience. He places the step-by-step learning process within a larger context, in which Painter becomes a medium that taps into self-discovery and releases the creative juices within us in fun, expressive ways. Painter 8 Creativity is written in clear, easy-to-follow language, with highlighted instructions and illustrated examples to enhance comprehension and allow for quick review and reference.
Through the teaching of Painter 8, Jeremy also addresses issues such as: tackling the working environment in an organized, uncomplicated way; learning the basics of portraiture; utilizing the amazing array of Painter brushes to enhance photographs; and finding ways to keep yourself motivated and inspired. After all is said and done, Jeremy invites you to leave it all behind and to have a ball with the art making process.
Painter 8 creativity stays true to Jeremy's basic rules, established at the beginning of the book:
- There is no such thing as a mistake.
- There is no such thing as a dumb question.
- Be bold and take risks-you won't break the computer!
- Have FUN!
If you have wanted to learn Painter, this book will be the best place to get started. If you think you know all about Painter, you'll be pleasantly surprised to discover that there is still room for learning, for this book demonstrates that creativity has no bounds.

Painter 8 Creativity is a wonderful book for anyone wanting to learn Painter! I received my book the other day and haven't been able to put it down.

First of all this is not just a `how to' book. Reading Painter 8 Creativity is just like being in the classroom with Jeremy and he is a wonderful and motivating teacher. You feel as if he were in the room with you.

All the lessons are based on portraiture and they cover a wide variety of material, from the basics: tips for getting the most out of Painter to the foundations of painting: using line, tone, colour, form and brushwork. He shows you how to paint from life as well as how to work from photographs and covers many different styles and ideas, including oil painting, watercolour, pop art, collage, serigraphy, working with scripts, how to express personality, how to tell a story, expanding your vocabulary and a great deal more.

But what's even more valuable, and makes this book a gem, is Jeremy's passion and enthusiasm, which come across so powerfully. Just reading this book will get you excited about your paintings! He shares much of his philosophy about painting and is truly an inspirational teacher. In very few computer based art books would you find a discussion on overcoming the fear of the blank canvas, of trusting yourself and finding your own creative path. But Jeremy Sutton tackles these issues just as well as how to put brush to canvas. If this book doesn't make you rush to your computer filled with excitement and desperate to start a new painting then nothing will!

This is a truly unique and wonderful book.
Highly recommended!

I just received this book and have looked it over thoroughly. It begins with basics, but not just a reiteration of the manual. Jeremy includes his own thoughts about how he works, sets up his workspace, etc. Then it progresses to more advanced ideas -- more advanced techniques in Painter 8 as well as lots of creative ideas for expanding your personal creativity. It looks to be a lot of fun for everybody, newbies to the experienced. It's intended audience is two groups: the individual working alone, and instructors for classes in Painter 8. I think you cannot go wrong with this one.

This book is great for certain excercises, but it is not what I was looking for. This book is great for those interested in expressive or moderately abstract work through painter. However if you are interested in a more realistic style this book is not what you are looking for. For example, the author talks briefly about how colors interact in natural environments and natural color theory, but spends a whole chapter on using colors in abstract methods. That is fine and dandy unless you wanted something to help you learn how to take advantage of things like Painter 8's mixer pallate to create accurate colors to life. Similarly, each chapter touches briefly on skills of observation etc but focuses on abstraction. For what I am looking for, the book has some good material, but has been a dissapointment overall. If you are looking to find your niche in creativity and style this book is for you. If you feel you have found your area of interest and that is not in abstraction than this book is not for you.

Painter Creativity - Digital Artist's Handbook
By Jeremy Sutton

This book written for version 8 of Corel "Painter" is exceptionally good. I am a user of Painter, but I feel had I never seen the program before, I could take this and work my way from beginning to end and know enough about the program by the end to be fairly proficient in its use. It is written from the student's standpoint and takes you through the basics carefully and gives a solid foundation. It is a "must have" for all Painter 8 users. In my opinion Jeremy Sutton is THE expert of this wonderful program and this, his latest book, is a joy to have in my library.

Jeremy Sutton's book is a readable, accessible guide to the special features of this very interesting and complicated program.

I've used Painter for years but there are so many bells and whistles that I've generally stuck to a few palettes and brushes. Mr. Sutton's book shows what else is possible, and I appreciate his taking the time to specify exact settings for the two major computer OS. This is an eminently practical book aimed at artists who have some computer ability but who are not intimately familiar with the workings of their machines.

I am a little mystified by some of these reviews; one who works in a photorealistic technique should need the same instruction on tool use as the rest of us. It's not an art instruction book. It's about using the program.

This book is highly recommended and I am glad to see this excellent program is now so much better.

If you are new to the tool but have any experience with graphics packages than this book is not the right one for you. It provides excrutiating step by step details of many different projects which is fine if you are learning your way around this class of program. But if you don't need the hand holding on each menu operation and are looking instead to learn what sort of things the tool can do and the basic techniques to do it, a book like the Painter Wow series is a much better investment.

Reading the other reviews, there must be a reasonable audience for people who like this approach but I caution people to consider just what type of instruction they are looking for before buying this.

To put it in perspective, this was the first book I purchased with Painter. I struggled with the format and content, finding it most unengaging and finally purchased the Wow book. After that arrived, the Creativity has been firmly lodged on the bookshelf.

I purchased this book based on a review and the blurb. I suspect that neither author may have seen the book. I gave it 3 stars for its suggested purpose but it is certainly 4 or 5 stars for the real audience. This is clearly aimed at classroom instruction although an individual could certainly self-tutor. Sutton lays out the basics of the program very well and that portion of the book is useful for a any user of the Painter program or Photoshop users. As far as transfering advanced skills in analog art to this program there is hardly a mention. There is no discussion of the digital painter brushes and how they relate to the analog of traditional art. Nothing about the digital paint and which of the programmed processes might relate to the real world of Windsor & Newton. In order to translate processes, the user must understand both worlds and this book does not address that. There is much play with effects and experimentation but only a copyist wants to recreate Paul Klee paintings. Certainly the creators of the program must have had in mind some analogy but finding a book that addresses that is nearly impossible. Understanding the tools is very important and it makes no difference whether it is a digital clarinet or sable watercolor brush if one is to achieve the best from the medium. Perhaps Sutton will pen a book that really addresses the switch from oil to digital and I'm certain it would be welcomed. This is for young beginners with little or no art or digital art experience . The book would be insulting to artists in its basic discussion of light and color and other matters. Those basics are presumed. I am not a fine artist but have had some art classes and know that this book does not address my interests or concerns. I have Photoshop to manipulate photographs. I will return it asap. I do recommend it for its intended audience --students in a classroom.

I am so excited that I picked up this book! It is VERY user friendly. I have been able to just follow the simple steps and it WORKS.
It seems that the author has thought long and hard about the "heart" that goes into the art as well as the detailed technical explanations of the program. I think anyone will become a better artist just from the lessons that are in the book.
It's simple,easy and detailed. It has total cross platform instructions which will help me in the the work that I do.