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Corel® Painter™ X Curriculum

Digital Painting and Sketching with Corel® Painter™ X

This visual arts curriculum course is for students interested in developing more sophisticated skills while working with digital painting. The course develops art-related technology skills and includes discussion of aesthetics, art history, and critical evaluation of finished works of art. Designed in three parts for grades 10-11, the course requires three weeks of classes, 45 minutes per class.

Part One

In part one, students will create a painted seascape while getting an overview of the Corel® Painter™ X paints, tools, and brushes. Students will use transparent and opaque painting techniques, focusing on the operations of layers, color, and texture.

Time to complete: five 45-minute lessons.

Part Two

In part two, students will learn about about the new Divine Proportion tool in Corel Painter X, as well as new brushes and tools for creating self portraits. In addition to receiving instruction on painting a portrait from scratch, students will learn to use the Quick Clone feature and other tools — such as the underpainting and auto-painting palettes — that automate the creation of portraits from photographs. This section also focuses on painting backgrounds.

Time to complete: five 45-minute lessons.

Part Three

In the third and final part, students will learn about tools that can help them design digital characters. The focus will be on using the Layout grid, masks, and paint to add color to lined drawings.

Time to complete: five 45-minute lessons.

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Standards

Students will assemble and create paintings by manipulating art media and by organizing images with art elements and principles.

Objective

Students will create expressive paintings by using art principles — such as aerial perspective, color relationships, emphasis, and mood — to organize art elements, including value and form.

Supplemental Coursework

These tutorials are designed to maximize the student’s own creativity and self-exploration. Each tutorial includes starter files and step-by-step instructions.

Following each lesson, it is recommended that:• students be given the chance to have classroom discussions of

the tools and techniques used in the tutorials.• students participate in positive group critiques of student work.• students be given time to create their own artwork using the

tools and techniques learned.

Before starting these tutorials, it would be helpful to cover the following topics:

Color Theory

Understanding how color is created and how to use it effectively in painting is essential. Knowing the difference between a subtractive color wheel, or one that was created with paint or pigments, and an additive color wheel that is created with light gives students a better understanding of the relationship between colors and hues.

It is recommended that a lesson be given by the teacher which includes such topics as RGB, CMYK, Sir Isaac Newton, and color with light or pigments. Defining primary, secondary, tertiary, complimentary, and harmonious colors will help students define appropriate colors when creating their own artwork.

Art History

It is helpful to explore different historic painter styles, such as Impressionists, Renaissance, Abstract, and others. Exploration of the works of specific painters, such as DaVinci, Renoir, Picasso, and others will give students a broader understanding of styles, color usage, and technique.

These tutorials have been developed with the use of a Wacom® tablet and pen. If such tools are not available, you can scan in drawings and use the mouse as your paint brush. In such cases, please be aware that results may vary because a mouse doesn’t respond with the same sensitivity to pressure and stroke.

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Grading

The following rubric is a basic grading plan for use by teachers to assess knowledge gained by working through these tutorials. You may need to change it to suit your class. Critical thinking should be assessed as the student’s ability to connect color theory and design to a visual image.

Creativity Critical Thinking

1 • completes a visual image by using tutorials

• shows examples of different tools and paints

• contains essential elements: content, color, and form

• participates in discussion of finished images

• has a general sense of what looks good but with no explicit reference to specific theories

2 • completes a creative visual image by using tutorial

• creates own image following tutorial guidelines

• illustrates good use of tools and paints

• uses color effectively

• Illustrates a good working analysis of painted creation

• connects painting to a specific and appropriate theory with

teacher’s help

• demonstrates ways in which theory helps appearance of

painting

3 • goes far beyond tutorial guidelines to effectively

interweave design, color, and technique

• creates own unique painting by using tools in a different and

imaginative way

• demonstrates intentionality in use of tools to create elements in

painting

• uses color to change emotion or feel of painting

• uses tools to create special effects

• demonstrates knowledge of theory and adequate

understanding of how to apply to painting

• gives freely of their ideas and positive feedback to others to

enhance class participation

• has a solid understanding of what can be done to enhance

paintings by using special effects and other tools in Corel Painter