How to Start Painting Digitally with Painter and Wacom

You’ve seen them standing there with their easels on windswept cliffs and windswept beaches and windswept botanical gardens, quietly capturing the scene with their paints. And you want to be them. Heck, who doesn’t. Or perhaps you are them (we envy you, windswept painter person!) But often the reality of painting (messy paints, awaiting the correct natural light, lack of a windswept beach) can stop even the most passionate painter in their tracks. If you’re a painter (or aspiring painter) with a vision in your mind and a paintbrush for a heart (call 911, if this is literally the case) but something keeps getting between you and the canvas, technology is here to help. Combining a Wacom tablet or display with Painter software allows painters of all stripes to create when the inspiration strikes. But how does one capture the muse digitally? We asked the team at Painter to round up their best tutorials so you can get your digital paintbrush primed to capture the windswept landscapes of your dreams. Read on for their favorite tutorials.

Getting to Know Painter 2019

This series of tutorials by Painter Master Elite Cher Pendarvis will introduce you to the Painter interface and tools, and teach you the basics of working with color and layers. Learn how to get started with photo art and freehand sketching, and fine-tune your painting with effects. Already an experienced Painter user? Explore the new features and enhancements in Painter 2019 with our What’s New tutorial series.

How to Set Up your Painter Canvas

Learn about the various options when setting up your Painter canvas: dimensions, color background, paper type, and recommended resolution for print or web.

Reviewing the Painter Toolbox

Do you know what’s in your toolbox? Painter Master Elite Cher Pendarvis reviews each of the tools in the Painter toolbox and what they can be used for.

Getting to Know Painter Brushes

Get a look at Painter’s Brush Selector library, its categories and variants, and learn how to configure Brush Tracking to optimize for your stylus.

Working with Color in Painter

Painter Master Elite Cher Pendarvis introduces you to the various color tools for selecting, adjusting, sampling, cloning and mixing color in Painter.

Understanding Painter Layers

Painter Master Elite Cher Pendarvis discusses the Layers panel and how layers can be used to organize your paintings and experiment with different effects.

Property Bar and Shortcuts

Learn how to adjust the settings of each tool using the Property Bar, and get some helpful keyboard shortcuts to speed up your painting workflow.

Painting your First Photo

Learn how to paint your first photo with the tools in the Photo Art palette for cloning, auto-painting and restoring some of the photographic details.

Freehand Sketching from a Reference Image

In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to set up a reference image for freehand sketching, and how to use the various tools in the Reference Image panel.

Fine-tuning your Painting with Effects

Painter Master Elite Cher Pendarvis shows you how to apply lighting and surface texture to your canvas to add that extra flair to your painting.