Corel Painter Essentials 4

If you want to do more than just edit and print your photos, Corel Painter Essentials 4 is the ideal way to get started with digital art. Create a painting from a photo in just 3 easy steps. Sketch or paint on a blank canvas to produce an original image, and add creative elements to any digital project. With handy tools, brushes, paints and effects, you'll find new ways to work with photographs and express your vision.

Create a painting from a photo in just 3 steps

Open the photo you want to paint in the Source Image palette. Your photo will be saved with the Painter Essentials file format, so it's easy to return to a project later.

Choose one of the preset painting styles from the menus on the Auto-Painting palette to get the look you want.

Let new Smart Stroke technology help you create stunning paintings with brush strokes that follow the natural lines and contours in your photo.

Features
Discover a completely redesigned workspace that improves color selection and helps you explore different brushes, media and paper.

Photo Painting

Redesigned Workspace
Work within a tailored environment that includes all the tools you need to paint your photos.

Smart Stroke Technology
Quickly achieve impressive paintings or sketches with intuitive tools. Built into the Auto-Painting palette, Smart Stroke technology paints with brush strokes that follow the shapes and contours in your original photo. It dynamically changes brush size, stroke length and pressure, based on the detail and focal areas of the original photo.

Updated File Format
Quickly return to a project for further editing. Corel Painter Essentials 4 now saves the source image with your painting so you can continue working at any time.

Drawing and Painting Tools

Brush Drawer
Easily select brushes by previewing brush stroke samples and quickly access your most recently used brushes. You can also easily add your favorite brushes to the Brush Drawer column.

Mixer Palette
Get the exact color you want every time. In addition to the traditional Color Wheel, the new Mixer palette simulates the traditional experience of mixing colors on an artist's paint palette, making it easier for you to blend colors and get precise results.

Colors Palette
Pick a color with a single click.

Tablet Support
Easily navigate with a tablet thanks to redesigned workspaces that feature larger icons, buttons and sliders.

Magic Wand Tool
Easily select specific portions of a photo or painting.

Paper Selector
Enjoy quick access to a greater selection of paper textures that accurately reproduce the feel of using traditional art materials. You can even control the texture of the canvas to achieve the results expected from using traditional media on a given surface, like pencil on watercolor paper, felt pens on cotton paper, or chalk on the sidewalk.

32 Undo Levels
Go back to earlier versions of your work to view or undo portions of your painting.

Online Print Services
Order prints of your artwork on canvas, watercolor paper and other fine art materials directly from the File Menu.

More Natural-Media Tools

RealBristle Brushes
Authentically reproduce the natural movement of your brush, right down to the individual bristles.

Pens
Expand your artistic range with Scratchboard and Smooth Edge Calligraphy tools, which are perfect for inking comic books or doing calligraphy.

Charcoal Brushes
Apply realistic charcoal drawing effects to your artwork with new brushes that range from pencils to hard or soft charcoal sticks. As with other dry media brushes, the opacity is linked to pen pressure.

Sumi-e Brushes
Create flowing sumi-e-style brush strokes. Sumi-e is a style of painting that is characteristically Asian, and has been practiced for well over a thousand years. Literally ink painting, it is an art form that strives to distill the essence of an object or scene in the fewest possible strokes.

Sargent Brush
Paint in the style of Master Artist John Singer Sargent.

Brush Ghost
Receive unprecedented visual feedback of brush stroke behavior and enjoy better control as you apply brush strokes.

Nozzles
Apply special images to your canvas with handy Effects brushes, such as Nozzles. These are special image files that work with Image Hoses to "paint" images instead of colors. Each nozzle file contains multiple images.

Pattern Pens
Apply unique patterns to your images, and vary the size and transparency of the pattern.

Learning Resources

Tutorial-based Guidebook
Learn to use Painter Essentials 4 while completing fun, instructional projects.

Video Tutorials
Access video tutorials from Painter Master John Derry directly from the application.

Sample Files
Quickly find sample files for the guidebook and video tutorials right in the File Menu.

File Compatibility

Universal Binary Support
Painter Essentials 4 is optimized for use with Intel processors. Enjoy improved performance with PowerPC processors and Mac OS.

Windows Vista Support

Support for Wacom Products
Use Painter Essentials 4 with any product in the entire Wacom line, including Graphire pen tablets, Cintiq 21 UX interactive pen display, the Intuos 3 pen tablet and the Wacom 6D Art Pen.

File Compatibility
Easily share files with major photo-editing applications, such as Adobe Photoshop Elements, Adobe Photoshop, Corel Paint Shop Pro and Corel PhotoImpact.

System Requirements

Windows version:

Windows Vista or Windows XP (with latest Service Pack)

Pentium III, 700 MHz or greater

256 MB RAM

Mouse or tablet

24-bit color display

1024 x 768 screen resolution

CD-ROM

1 GB of HD space for installation

Mac OS version:

Mac OS X 10.4.x (with latest revision)

Power Macintosh G4, 700 MHz or greater

256 MB RAM

Mouse or tablet

24-bit color display

1024 x 768 screen resolution

CD-ROM

1 GB of HD space for installation