Practice painting I did today in Corel Painter
Sew my last couple of posts I’ve talked about the need to learn and practice your machine and quilting. I don’t know about you, but I also use a lot of software in developing my fabric art. This, too, requires a bit of practice (nice thing to do when I just want to sit down or am still mulling new ideas around)
I truly appreciate those of you who do everything with pencil, paper, or directly on your fabric. But one of the things that attracts me to fabric art are the related technologies, and also, I not only find I do a much better job of constructing my pieces when I sketch them all out and print a full sized picture or pattern, but it helps me with a wide variety of decision-making along the way.
I turned mostly to art quilting about a year after my dear Marvin passed in late 2002. So I’ve been at this now for somewhere around 15 years! This is astonishing to me. I have also been quite interested in the tech side of fabric arts for even longer, if you take in in-the-hoop embroidery and computerized machines which I have had now for longer than that. So I have been collecting software related to my fabric art for a long time, and, while it would be overwhelmingly expensive if purchased all at once, I got it over the years and kept it mostly updated, spreading out the costs.
It started small. I took a class online from the Pixel Ladies who used Photoshop Elements. I learned that I could print large patterns using Excel spreadsheets and tape them together. That opened up the idea to me that I could design my own quilts, quilting designs, and even fabrics using the computer and testing all the colors and placements and so forth without any fabric and stitching to undo or waste in the beginning (note that this saves a lot in the cost of fabrics and threads too).
I also bought Bernina design software when I got my Bernina 200E (I later traded it in for my 830 LE). I think it was v5 at that time, but not certain. I skipped everything until I got version 7.0. I am going to skip the v8 update to save some money because I don’t think the update has sufficient advancement that I use (this does not mean it wouldn’t work for you) on 7.0. It took me a long time to learn how to use that and very well. It has some remarkable functions. I did though, and even nearly finished a book I was writing on learning this program. It was very close to being done for self publication when they came out with the update, which points out why writing books on software is not particularly the way to go for me. I take too long to learn it before I can write it. LOL
From there, I bought Corel Draw, because I found the Bernina software uses a limited version and I wanted all the bells and whistles. I also added Electric Quilt somewhere along the way years ago. And then I bought a Wacom drawing tablet that came with a back version of Corel Painter.
Sew there you go….I was off and running and haven’t stopped since. I’m still learning all this software and probably will always be. I have found it cheaper to keep it updated at least every other version than let it get old and needing to buy the whole package. Besides, Corel, especially, gives you some really good buying opportunities once you become their customer, and if you watch carefully, you can often get the updates for much cheaper than the retail price.
Anyway, the point of this is that this year, the year I wasn’t going to buy any new software (heh heh), I ended up updating everything (except Bernina software), including my Wacom tablet (my old one was 14 years old and had just decided to retire…i.e., it became a paper weight). And then my son David hooked up his old smaller monitor for me so I have two monitors (really terrific advance and it was free). So now I have at my finger tips (and yes, I share it with some of my friends when they come over):
- Corel Painter 2019 (for painting and fabric design)
- Corel Draw 2018 (for illustrative drawing, pattern making, and digital work with Bernina design software)
- Bernina Design v7 (for in-the-hoop embroidery)
- Corel Paint Shop Pro (for photo editing similar to Adobe Photoshop…I like it better)
- Electric Quilt 8 (for figuring out how to use a pictorial piece with borders, for designing utility quilts)
- And several related smaller pieces that came with these items to make them work best.
- The latest Wacom Intuos Pro tablet with really nice artist’s pen that came with it. It works with all the above like having a pencil or brush that responds to pressure and turns in some of the programs.
I like Corel because you don’t have to subscribe to it. It also is very powerful, and I can use all the pieces together, and it has great webinars and other tutorials to help you learn it.
So to make a quilt design I might dress up a photo in Photoshop Pro and send it over to Corel Draw for turning pieces into patterns (maybe I liked a flower in the picture, but nothing else), and then to Corel Painter to use as inspiration for fabric pieces and concept design, then put it all together back in Corel Draw where I make a full sized printout or printouts (prepping a fabric file to send to the fabric printing company for larger pieces, for instance). Then I would maybe design embroidery elements (like lions on the vests in Pendragon or the small wall hangings on the wall).
Now that I have this terrific design setup, for which I am very grateful, I am working to learn it better and practice it more, because I have a ton of ideas how to use all of this.
- I am writing a book (or is it three books) on Fabric Art skills that covers everything from the design phase through the making skills, surface design and embellishment, and finishing. It includes patterns, samples, and quilting designs in it (them), and I am hopeful of getting it out by the end of September (but don’t hold your breath). I’m sure you can see the need for such a setup for this.
- In the process I have learned how to make to-size patterns you can print on your regular printer and tape together. So there will be some of those coming also.
- I have already started using digital painting printed on fabrics in my show quilts. Pendragon has a back castle wall and all the faces that were printed on fabric and used in the construction of the quilt (along with a plethora of other techniques). I also used a considerable amount of small in-the-hoop embroidery pieces that I digitized myself in Bernina software.
Pendragon, 34 x 45. This quilt has been selected for the juried show at IQA Houston this fall. I’m so excited.
- So I am currently working on trying to figure out a design for my next show quilt using this setup.
- And finally, well maybe only finally for now, I am thinking of developing a fabric run to assist pictorial/landscape fabric artists and submitting it to fabric companies to see if I can get someone interested in my ideas. Wouldn’t that be fun?
Sew what did I learn from all of the years working with these technologies? Learn the software, keep it updated more or less, you can skip at least every other update unless they give you a great deal and have a lot of improvements, practice, and use it to help you save money of fabric, thread, and accompanying items, and it can really help you improve over the years…you can keep your records of your struggles too for future reference.
Sew happy everyone! If you have design software, it can really open new ideas and opportunities for fabric art if you spend a little time learning and practicing them. Blessings everyone!