Marilyn Sholin

This is a very helpful tool to learn more about Painter and how you can bypass the hard work that drawing or painting a subject from blank canvas to finished creation can take by using a photograph. I have watched in amazement how over time the technology has gotten better to do this. Recently at an art show, a painter who took traditional photographs, produced them as Sepia and then placed just a smidgen of paint on them, was selling the originals for thousands.

However he could have (or did) use the techniques here in this book and was charging thousand for something that you could do in a few hours after spending time with Marilyn's book. The lessons are mostly clear, though on occasion trying to recreate exactly what she did had different results. Also some additional time of her instruction in basic Painter program techniques might have been helpful.

I felt like I learned a great deal following the lessons, but the examples of artists sections at the end of each chapter was lacking in that they did not really explore the steps they took to recreate their photos to art. A second minor complaint, and why I can't give this five stars, is the use of secondary programs that you have access to as demos for a few days, then would want to charge you $100's to purchase so that you could have them always. The software of Painter already is pricey, as well as a tablet. Let's try to learn Painterly technique without the added cost of additional software. Or let us try to find free filters that will work completely in Painter and not be so prohibitive.

At the end of the book I came to realize that a final gallery for quick reference was missing. How to show side by side the starting photo, and what it became. With a few key steps reprinted so that you can go to the effect you want. That possibly would be a great way to go onto Mastering the Art. Since Painter has so many hundreds of variations based on what Marilyn shows, a reference could save you countless hours of your experimentation, but that may be where creativity is born.… (altro)