Corel Painter Essentials 5 Manual: A Free Digital Painting Alternative

As an artist, I've had the opportunity to try out various digital painting software, including Corel Painter Essentials 5, which came free with my Wacom drawing tablet. While it's not a professional-grade program like Photoshop, Corel Painter Essentials has its own unique features that make it worth exploring.

One of the things I liked about Corel Painter Essentials is the amount of blending you can do with many of the brushes. However, this feature didn't entirely win me over, and I found myself tolerating it more than loving it. The brush rotation option was a bit finicky at first, requiring me to use the shortcut Alt + Space to rotate the canvas without pausing between strokes.

Another aspect that took some getting used to was the inability to rotate individual brushes. However, this can be turned off with a single click if you don't like it. On the plus side, there are several options for different brush types, including the thick acrylic flat brush that I started with. As I continued to 'paint' with this brush, I noticed that the paint began to pile up and take on a slightly three-dimensional quality.

Corel Painter Essentials is not meant to be a replacement for Photoshop, but rather a free alternative for those who are new to digital painting or want to try out some of the features without committing to a more expensive program. As a traditional artist looking to transition to digital, Corel Painter Essentials offers a range of tools and effects that can help you achieve your desired results.

In my case, I didn't install Corel Painter Essentials immediately after buying my Wacom Graphire because I already had Photoshop installed. However, once I started using the software, I realized that it offered some unique features that were worth exploring. If you're looking for a free digital painting program to get started with, Corel Painter Essentials 5 is definitely worth checking out.

Corel painter essentials 5 manual