Photographers and hobbyists have asked for years which software program they should use to paint based on photos: Adobe Photoshop or Corel Painter?
The quandary usually goes this way:
Corel Painter is known as the gold standard for turning photos into paintings, but we already own Photoshop. Do we really need to buy, and worse, learn, a new software program? Why can’t we just use Photoshop?
And who could blame them? Why shouldn’t the software they already own do what they want?
So here is my definitive answer to the question of whether Adobe Photoshop or Corel Painter is better for turning photos into paintings:
They are both good!
Let’s take a look at the way each program handles every day painting tasks.
Brushes
It’s pretty easy to start painting right out of the gate in either Adobe Photoshop or Corel Painter. You start a new image, pick a brush and a color, and paint.
It’s also pretty easy to select additional brushes and to continue to paint.
Where it gets a little complicated is in the refining of the brushstrokes.
With traditional watercolors, oils and pastels, there is tremendous control over how soft or hard you make your edges and how much you can blend them to taste.
How each software program handles the blending of edges, therefore, is critical to how useful it is for painting.
Photoshop: Mixer Brush Tool
Photoshop was a distant second to Painter in the blending department until Adobe added the Mixer Brush Tool to Photoshop’s painting arsenal in April 2010 with the release of Photoshop CS5.
The Mixer Brush Tool isn’t exactly plug and play. You have to learn the settings to get a good result, but if you put in the time, it really can do blending wonders.
Painter: Blenders
From day 1, Painter has had blender brushes that exquisitely blend edges as much or as little as you’d like. They have always had the extra advantage of blending with or without texture. As with Photoshop, adjusting settings leads to better results, so Painter’s blenders aren’t plug and play, either, but well worth the slight learning curve.
Verdict: Tie
Blending is an important part of traditional painting and both Photoshop’s Mixer Brush Tool and Painter’s blender brushes make blending possible when painting digitally.
Each program’s blending tools take a little study and practice to work their magic, but magic it is, once you get the hang of it.
The blending results are not identical in the two programs, and I can’t say one is better than the other. I find that they are both useful and both produce great results.
Painting Tools
Traditional artists use light boxes and tracing paper to get reasonable likenesses of their subjects in their paintings.
The Adobe Photoshop and Corel Painter software developers included digital versions of these age-old practices in their programs.
Photoshop: Layers
Using layers, you can hide and show a top layer to reveal the source photograph in an underlying layer to use it as a reference for your paintings based on photos.
Painter: Tracing Paper and Cloning
You can use a tool called Tracing Paper, which creates a ghost of the original source photo to use for reference when turning photos into paintings.
Verdict: Tie
I can’t say one is easier or better to use than the other. As with blending, using a photo as a source takes a little getting used to in both Photoshop and Painter.
Nor can I say one method produces better results over the other. You just learn to use the layers in Photoshop or the Tracing Paper in Corel Painter and go from there. Both work for painting based on photos, letting you see the source image for reference as you paint.
Extras
Adobe Photoshop and Corel Painter aren’t identical.
Photoshop has always been top-notch for image editing and Painter has always excelled for painting.
Photoshop: Image Editing
Your image editing wish is Photoshop’s command with its vast array of selection, color correction and generative fill tools compared to Painter. Painter does have some selection and color correction features, but there isn’t much you can’t do image-editing-wise nowadays with Photoshop. In fact, many times I’ll start the image in Photoshop and then bring it into Painter for painting.
Do you need all of Photoshop’s image-editing muscle? If you are just interested in digital painting, you could get by with just Painter. And if you come a little closer to the monitor I’ll tell you a secret: Many times painting solves a dilemma that would take three times longer to solve with a filter or tool. Take changing a color, for example. You can fiddle with sliders, layers and masks, but you can also just pick a brush and color and paint the change, instead.
Painter: Painting features
What Painter lacks in image editing tools, it makes up for with incredible painting features.
In addition to breathtaking brushes like Impasto, Thick Paint and Cloners, Painter has eye-popping features like Auto-Painting that allows you to click a button to lay down hand-painted-appearing brushstrokes automatically and the Image Hose, a unique painting tool that lets you paint with a continuous stream of painted or photographed imagery like from a virtual hose.
Do you need all of Painter’s painting bells and whistles? Not really. They’re great to have for that certain extra something, but if you can’t swing your own copy of Painter, then you have plenty of painting choices in Photoshop.
Verdict: Tie
I use the image editing and painting tools in both Adobe Photoshop and Corel Painter all the time and I recommend using both software programs to turn photos into paintings.
But if you just want to stick to one?
In my view, either one would suffice.
Photoshop may be better at image editing, but it is fine for painting.
Painter might be better suited for painting, but is fine for image editing for digital painting.
If you already own Photoshop and don’t want to add Painter if you don’t have to, then don’t.
You will still get a good result painting with Photoshop. But put Painter on your wish list.
Same thing if you are a Painter owner and simply haven’t gotten around to adding Photoshop. You can get by without it, but consider getting it in the future.
Conclusion
The answer to the question, which is better for digital painting: Adobe Photoshop or Corel Painter, is: They’re both good.
They’re not identical and I have found having both to be very useful. But if you could only choose one, either one would do and you could turn photos into paintings with either one. You don’t need both, but having both sure is fun!
One-Stop Shopping for Learning to Paint Based on Photos in Adobe Photoshop and Corel Painter
The ability to paint based on photos in either Photoshop or Painter or both is the reason I decided to offer instructional materials and custom brushes for both programs in my Artistry Academy of Painting for Photographers.
Instead of making budding digital artists choose a software program to follow their muse, I decided to offer lessons for turning photos of people, pets, landscapes, florals—anything!—into paintings in either Adobe Photoshop or Corel Painter or both and at no extra charge!
You also receive at no extra charge my custom Photoshop and Painter brushes to produce the results I show in the step-by-step lessons for painting images like the one on this page. And as with the tutorials, you’re welcome to use these custom brushes for Photoshop or Painter or both as part of your Artistry Academy membership!
Meanwhile, if you get stuck or need some guidance with your paintings based on photos, I also offer personal feedback in both Photoshop and Painter in live monthly webinars. So you receive custom-tailored guidance and answers to your questions no matter what software you use to turn photos into paintings.
Click here for information about the Artistry Academy of Painting for Photographers and to enroll.
Where to Find Standalone Corel Painter instruction for Painting Based on Photos
I also have instructional materials and custom brushes for painting based on photos in Corel Painter that aren’t included in the Artistry Academy at my artistrymag.com website.
Please click here to visit Karen Sperling’s Artistry website.
Happy Painting!
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