Watercolour

Quick overview of how to use the Real Watercolor brushes in Corel Painter. I'll follow up with a demonstration on how to create a painting using the watercolor brushes.

I'm using Corel Painter 2017. I've created a new canvas at 1920×1080. Don't use too big of a canvas with too high resolution because these watercolor brushes are very processor intensive and will be very slow.

I'll be using the Real Watercolor brushes. There are different kinds: Digital Watercolor and regular Watercolor, but those are older versions. Real Watercolor is the one you want for the best watercolor experience.

Select any Real Watercolor brush. In the Enhanced Properties bar, click the drop icon to show/hide the Real Watercolor panel. This gives control over all the different properties.

There are many sliders here. Hover over any slider for a tooltip explaining what it does. But first, let's talk about principles of Real Watercolor painting.

When painting with Real Watercolor, it flows and works like traditional watercolor. Depending on your computer speed, this might be fast or slow—generally it's on the slower side.

In the Layers palette, it creates a Watercolor Layer—a special layer type different from default layers. You can only paint on watercolor layers with watercolor brushes.

If you try to paint with a different brush (like Airbrush) on a watercolor layer, it will automatically create a new default layer. Select a watercolor brush to continue adding to that watercolor layer as if it were wet.

If you convert a watercolor layer to a default layer, it's no longer wet—like drying the watercolor permanently. It then acts like a normal layer that you can blend with blenders.

In the Properties bar, you have two important buttons: Pause Diffusion and Dry Watercolor Layer.

Pause Diffusion pauses the flow. You can see paint trickling and flowing—that's diffusion. Turn on Pause Diffusion to suspend it. When you paint a stroke, it won't flow until you unpause.

Dry Watercolor Layer instantly dries it. It's still a watercolor layer so you can add to it, and paint will flow and bleed together. This is different from converting to a default layer.

Generally, work on watercolor layers with watercolor brushes and keep them as watercolor layers. This gives you interactivity between paint where it all flows together naturally.

Next: Paper Grain and Flow Maps. We have the Papers panel showing the paper we're using, and the Flow Maps panel showing the flow map. All watercolor brushes can use paper grain, and many can use flow maps.

Change paper to Cold Pressed Watercolor to change the grain/texture. Try Small Dots for a canvas feel. Brush names indicate properties: "Flow Map" means it uses flow maps, "Texture" means it uses texture.

With Noisy Flow Map Fringe and Fine Dots flow map selected, paint flows between the shapes in the flow map. Scale the flow map up for bigger, rougher edges where you can see the dot patterns.

Try Horizontal Flow—currently vertical. Rotate the flow map angle to control direction. Paint will flow in that direction. Adjust scale for bigger or smaller shapes.

Work with very thin, light, transparent paint and build it up gradually. Keep pen pressed down for a stroke; when you lift, water flows and gets lighter as it dries. Paint over it again to build up darker tones.

Control opacity: choose a saturated color and reduce opacity for the same result as picking a lighter color. Pick up, let paint dry, then add to it—it builds up gradually.

Now let's dive into the sliders in the Real Watercolor panel. Start with Wetness (amount of water deposited). At 75% it's pretty wet. At 0% you get nothing. At 27% it's thinner, drier—like a dry brush.

Concentration sets pigment amount. At 100% it deposits lots of paint. Much lower gives faint effects that almost disappear, but building up makes it darker each time.

Viscosity adjusts water thickness. Lower viscosity = more flow (counterintuitive). At 0 it flows a lot; at 100% it doesn't spread much and doesn't look very watercolor-like.

Evaporation Rate adjusts drying speed. Lower = more flow and fringe. Higher = dries very quickly with less fringe—like using a hairdryer before it gets a chance to move.

Flow Area/Flow Resistance: Controls how much paper grain affects water flow direction. At 100% with flow map, paint flows into the flow map pattern. At 0%, no flow into the pattern.

Settling Rate: Amount of pigment deposited after water evaporates. At 100% you get thick concentration. At 0% it's like invisible ink—almost disappears. Middle settings give combinations.

Weight: Controls how quickly pigment settles. Lighter pigment flows longer; heavier pigment settles quickly. Low weight = flows a lot and almost disappears. High weight = thick, concentrated, less flowing.

Pickup: Degree to which water lifts dry pigment. With Light Fringe Jitter, painting over a stroke erodes and lightens the center. At 100% pickup it really eats away; at 0% it just covers up and gets darker.

Paper settings: Roughness affects flow resistance, dry rate, and pigment granulation. Lower roughness = deeper grain dents; higher = more shallow. Dry Rate = absorption rate (lower = more soaking in). Granulation = pigment settling into paper valleys.

Wind: Simulates paint moving across paper in a particular direction—like tilting the paper or blowing with a hairdryer/straw. Control angle (direction) and force (strength). Needs flow map enabled with flow resistance up from zero.

Maximize flow settings: Horizontal Flow downward (90°), angle 90°, roughness up, dry rate up, granulation down, settling rate high, weight lower, flow resistance 100%, flow map checked, viscosity and evaporation down, wetness and concentration up.

Some say hitting Spacebar repeatedly makes paint dry faster, though results vary. For long drips like Rebelle or Expresii, draw them manually or convert watercolor layer to default layer and use blenders.

Use Coarse Oily Blender (turn off Dab Stencil) to pull down drips. Hold Shift for straight lines. Then Drop All Layers and Lift Canvas to Watercolor Layer to make it wet and interactive again.

Free Flow is a blank flow map with nothing resisting flow. With wetness settings maximized, paint flows extensively. Add little spots for drips along edges.

Combine watercolor with Dab Stencil: Add dab stencil, choose Texture (like Deckle Paint), change paper to watercolor without dots. This adds lumpiness for organic texture.

Use Flow Map for Dab Stencil (like Clouds) to stencil off areas. Combine with Dynamic Speckle: Speckle Watercolor Drip spits out speckles that flow and bleed. Add dab stencil with paper (Chaos) for breaking effects.

Color Variability: Set Color Expression to Color Jitter. Choose main and additional colors (e.g., blue and red) to get combinations making purple with interesting splattery results.

Add Dynamic Speckles via General panel: Dab Type set to Speckle Flow, or other Dynamic Speckle settings. Try Watercolor Spring for funky results that flow when you stop painting.

Stick to "Real" subcategories: Real Wet Build-up, Real Wet Cover, Real Wet Replace, Real Dry Build-up, Real Dry Cover. Avoid Grainy or Wet (old technology). Keep Method set to Wet.

Erasing: Regular eraser doesn't interact liquidly. Use Wet Eraser watercolor brush, or paint with white for wet erasing that softens edges. Not adding opaque white—just adding water.

To mix colors: Convert watercolor layer to default layer, use Blow blender with textured flow map (Clouds), or Coarse Oily Blender, or Just Add Water for watery blending.

Surface Texture Overlay: Create new layer called "Overlay", fill with neutral gray (128, 128, 128 or HSB: 0,0,128). Choose watercolor paper (Cold Pressed), go to Effects → Surface Control → Apply Surface Texture.

Set Composite Method to Overlay—gray disappears, showing only light/dark valleys of texture. Reduce opacity for subtlety. This is on its own layer so you can show/hide and paint behind it.

Break up repetitive patterns: Add mask to overlay layer, select black, use Sponge to paint over it. This knocks back/eliminates areas for less regular pattern.

Tone the canvas: Before painting, select off-white color (yellow, orange, or gray) and fill canvas. Combined with texture overlay, this looks like real paper.

Save as template: File → Save As, name it (e.g., "WC Template"), save as RIF format. Important: Always save watercolor work as RIFF to keep layers wet and editable. Other formats convert watercolor layers to default layers.

Delete the watercolor, save again. Now you have a template. Open it anytime for watercolor painting—paint underneath the overlay layer for textured results.