4 February 2010 Hi David, I recently joined the DPF and was blown over by your portrait of Marcella. I could look at it all day. I tore myself away from it to visit your website. I had already pre-ordered your book from Amazon, because of your tutorials in Painter mag, but I hadn't been aware of your work in watercolour, which is my main interest. I am so pleased to have found it. I am really looking forward to your book. I would like a DVD too... if you can... Next I shall investigate your online tutorials. Will you be doing any articles/tutorials in the new Digital Artist magazine? I'm borderline cancelling my subscription, but if you have been asked to do any more, I'll hang on in there. Thanks so much for your work and website. Hilary

Thanks for writing to me.  I'm glad you like my pictures - thanks for letting me know.  Watercolour is my first love and simulating it digitally is not easy.  I find Painter of little use for this and almost always turn to Photoshop.  Despite having a lorry load of Watercolor and Digital Watercolor brushes I have never found ways to make those brushes work for me really satisfactorily.  I continue to search for a process but haven't really found one - nor I have to say, has anyone else as far as I can see.  The watercolour approach I have grown started with the process set out in pages 212-217 of 'How to Wow, Photoshop for Photography' - by Jack Davis and Ben Willmore published by Peachpit Press.  I strongly recommend this as a place to begin - particularly if you are interested in simulating transparent watercolours.  Amazon sell it.  My picture of Marcella was made with Photoshop.

I just did three or four tutorials for Painter magazine - some time ago now - and have not been asked to contribute anything to the Digital Artist magazine.  I believe that the editorial staff of Digital Artist are the same as for Painter Magazine so I am not expecting to be asked - I seem to be out of the loop.  I haven't actually seen a copy of Digital Artist but in principal I like the idea of it being cross-software.  The reality is that most of us in this area use Photoshop and Painter in our pictures, as well as some filters and plug-ins, and it is good to acknowledge this I think.

No word on the book yet.  It was due out in December but it seems to have hit a rock and is still with the publishers.  No DVD yet either I'm afraid.  I must get round to it.  But do look at the Wow book I mentioned above - the watercolour technique is quite good. Good luck with your painting and best wishes. David

5 February 2010 Hi David, Thanks very much indeed for such helpful advice. I have ordered How to Wow and am now engrossed in learning Photoshop. I see Wow is for advanced users, not beginners, but having experienced the learning curve of Painter, I am starting PS with a beginner's guide to Elements 7! We have got CS3 - it looked a bit daunting, so I got Elements last year, but never got round to using it. About time I did! Next step, CS3, next step, Wow.

When my head is going round too much in curves and histograms, I watch the SAA's TV Anytime watercolour tutorial videos on YouTube. I think I'm probably going to have to get some actual paint as well.

I bought John Derry's watercolor brushes, and was interested that in the video tutorial, he goes into W&N watercolours, and suggests making a color set from that to create the authentic look. He probably needs to go even further. Painting from scratch, I suppose each brush needs to be limited to its appropriate hues - granulating or clear, transparent or opaque, or the choice of colour will still look not quite right. Let alone the traditional English way of mixing a few carefully selected colours for harmony, and depth and distance. Mixer palette, and some Really Real brushes to pick up subtle colour changes in the brushload, I think, and push the opacity slider right down...
This is an engrossing hobby! Many thanks for your help, Hilary

8 September 2009 David love your oils. .  Would you be doing any DVD's in the near future?    Are there any trainings or books or DVD you can recomend?   I have done your tutorials and can't get enough. Here [attached] is a new image emulating watercolor even though the file says oil.  I would like to master oils like I handle watercolors.. Thanks for your help!   Your work really enspires me. Your an amazing artist! Warm regards, Mitch

The cowboy is very well done.  The treatment looks to me like an oil with a lot of watercolorish texture effects like splashes and drops added.  You might try to get the actual look of dried watercolour which often has sediment fringes and granulation effects.  Of course, gouache is also a water based medium but is opaque so it looks more like oil or acrylics.  With gouache you don’t get the texture effects you get with transparent watercolour.

Here is a wonderful watercolour sketch by John Singer Sargent ["In Switzerland"] that illustrates how transparent watercolour often looks on watercolour paper; you should note all the watercolour characteristics [http://jssgallery.org/Paintings/In_Switzerland.html]. I liked your version of the boy’s portrait from my Painter Magazine tutorial you published on the Painter Magazine gallery.  A little heavy on the canvas texture perhaps – you were having too much fun with that Grainy Sargent brush!

I have a book coming out in December about digital painting – I assume the publication date is still December – I haven’t heard from the publishers for a few weeks.  It is advertised on Amazon now.  I am also hoping to make a DVD on oil portrait painting to sell from my website around the time the book comes out.  I’m still trying to find a suitable photograph and then I need to get my head round the software.  But it’s possible. David

20 August 2009 Hi David.. I am writing you from the states. Your digital paintings are awsome and  really inspire me!    Your portrait style is organic with wonderful  tension you create with color! I can use some help here with the tutorial in painter magazine..  Getting creative with brushes... I don't seem to pick up the texture that you create with the custom sargent brush.   I also having difficulty with the bristle brush as impasto is much too strong and looks artifical.  I am using Painter 11 and followed the instructions very careuflly.  I know the paper works as if I use a conte brush i get the desired texuture which is illustrated in your finsihed picture.  It just does not work for me with the brushes you explain in the tuturial. Would love to see more of your tututorials..  Are they published anywhere else? Much appreciated!! Warm regards, Mitch

Would you kindly share with me how you achieved these paintings.. Particualry the texture and the  brushes you used. Typically when i use the oily brush its much more wet and you dont see the texture of the canvas.  Not sure what to tweek.  Thanks in advance! Warm regards, Mitch

As I recall it, both pictures were made with a customised Sargent brush.  In the Brush Creator and on the General page, change the Method to Cover and the Subcategory to Grainy Hard Cover.  Then set the Opacity to 100% and the Grain to 11%. David

23 July 2009 Hi David, I'm brand new to digital painting, although I've been an artist and graphic designer for many years. In the past couple of months, I've spent many hours checking out websites and galleries of digital painters, and you are without a doubt one of the very best.  I first became aware of you through your cloning tutorials in Painter Magazine's bookazine "The Complete Guide to Digital Painting" Vol. 1. The painting of Josh in your advanced cloning tutorial made my jaw drop and my heart race. So it was possible (with a whole heckuva lot of practice and the blessings of the art gods, of course) to achieve a painterly style with digital tools! Since then, I've kept an eye out for your name and your work. I'm very excited to hear that you're planning a DVD (more than one, I hope). In the meantime, I would love to study some of your digital paintings at their original size. Is there any way I could do this?  I'm a member of Digital Painting Forum. Could you please give me links to your tutorials there? I wasn't able to find anything using your name as a search term there. And if you have links to tutorials of yours elsewhere online, I'd really appreciate those, too. Back in January of 2007, you said "so far I have not been able to get a decent watercolour effect from Painter in colour clone mode and prefer Photoshop for this." Have you been able to figure out how to achieve a satisfactory watercolor look with cloning in Painter since then? Although I like to do prep and post work in Photoshop, I prefer to do the actual painting in Painter X. So many questions! But you do inspire them, and me. Thanks very much!  Diana Sparks

Hello Diana Thank you for taking the time to write and let me know you like some of my pictures. Sorry I don’t have any full size versions of my pictures on my website or on the Painter Magazine website where I also exhibit – however some of the pictures are reproduced pretty large and you should be able to see quite a lot detail. I have not produced much new work for a while because I have been working on a digital painting book I have been commissioned to produce.  I’m still working on it but I think it’s due out through Amazon sometime in December.  This is not my book in the sense that it does not focus on my painting – it is about real media painting techniques and how you can try to replicate them digitally.  En route there will be many walk through demonstrations which show how I approach my pictures.  If I have time I will try to make a demonstration dvd to coincide with the book publication. There is a tutorial on my website, much of which appears in the book too.  Look under “Art Links and Tutorials”. No, I haven’t cracked Painter for watercolour yet.  I still reach first for Photoshop.  Maybe one day... Best wishes and good luck with your pictures. David 

30 March 2009 Hi David, I wanted to tell you that of all the artists' work I've seen, your use of Corel Painter is the most impressive to me.  You have incredible sensitivity to the use of the program and I'm so impressed with your work. I was a plein air painter for over 20 years.  I have since become disabled and I'm now learning Corel Painter X.  I have been following your PDF tutorial (the portrait of the young man) featured on the Corel website. I have a few questions since using the PDF tutorial and I was wondering if I could pay you to help me with these questions.  Is that a possibility? If you would be able to coach me a bit, I would try to zero-in on my questions so that I wouldn't take up too much of your time. Thank you in advance for any help you can give me. Cheers, Laurie

Hi Laurie I'm glad you like some of my work.  I'm afraid I can't take on any commitments at the moment because I'm working on a book I have been commissioned to write about Digital Painting Techniques.  I'm not sure when the book is being published - this year I think.  There will be a lot of material in there about the techniques I use. Having said that, do ask any particular questions you have.  Painter has a long learning curve - I learn new things all the time.  Just stick with it. Best wishes David

28 May 2008 Hi David, My compliments for your great tutorial on Charlie Gardening. I´ll try the steps with some of my pictures just to see the results I can achieve. I really appreciate watercolors and have tried lots of techniques trying to approach this feeling using Painter. Thanks for sharing your knowlege. []s. Marcelo

Thanks, Marcelo.  I’m glad you found the tutorial helpful.  Your message prompted me to add some links to the tutorials I have contributed to Painter Magazine.  I keep meaning to do a DVD and hopefully I’ll get round to it over the summer.  David

20 March 2008 Hi David, I've just looked through your website a little more thoroughly than last time I visited. I must say that your work really impresses. Do you share your methods? The portrait of Josh in Artwork 3 is amazing and I would love to know how you achieved the effect. I'm still looking for Buzz Simplifier. If you have any news on developments on that score, please let me know. Good luck with your amazing work. Ashley King

Thanks, Ashley. You're in luck with the Josh portrait. This was done for a feature on Colour Cloning in Corel Painter Magazine. The article was called "Get Creative with Cloning" and was in Issue 10. The detailed walkthrough tutorial on the Josh picture was the third tutorial in the feature. You should be able to get back copies of the magazine from their website - http://www.paintermagazine.co.uk . The cover and Josh article look like this:

Sorry, can't help you with buZZ. Should be out there somewhere. David

23 January 2008 Hi Just visited your site.  Your work is extremely well done.  It shows what can be done with professional digital manipulation with the right skill set.  You might want to take a quick peek at our site www.learndesk.com - nothing so great as what you have displayed here but some links and some examples of digital art that I have tried.  I can see that I have a lot to learn from others such as yourself Dave. Thanks for a most enjoyable visit! Cheers
Terry

I would like to provide a link from my website to yours.  Would that be a problem?

Thanks, Terry. It all takes time but it gets easier - and it's always fun. I don't mind if you want to add a link to my site on yours. Best wishes David

22 January 2008 Hi David, I came across your website while looking for BUZZ Simplifier. I am so impressed with your portraits. They are amazing. You are an inspiration to those of us who would like to do more than just take photographs. Do you know of an alternative to Buzz that I could use? Kind regards Ashley King

Thanks, Ashley.  Glad you like the portraits.  They are always interesting to do.  On buZZ – see my answer to Cindy on 2 Jan 2008 below.  I don’t know of any alternative to buZZ.  Some people on the Retouching Forum of the Digital Photography Review website say that they have, or know of, Photoshop Actions that do the same job.  I have never seen this myself.  You can get a very crude approximation – and an unsatisfying one – using filters like Photoshop’s Surface Blur and Dry Brush but they are no substitute and I don't recommend them.  What we really want is for Corel to buy the apparently failed buZZ company (fo2pix) and add buZZ to Painter 11.  David

21 January 2008 David, just discovered your fabulous website.  What a tremendous amount of talent.  I looked at your pictures and love your  work.  Do you teach classes? I would certainly love to learn some of the many things that you do.  I have been at Painter for about a year now and simply love it although not too much talent.  I find one does progress however! Thanks for your help.  Thanks too for so kindly sharing what you do on your website. Janet

Janet - thanks for getting in touch.  Apart from doing tutorials for Painter Magazine I am determined to produce a demo DVD for release through my website later in the year. I keep saying I'm going to do it but this year I mean it.  Painter is a great program that has so much depth you can spend years exploring it - and I intend to!.  Good luck with your painting and have fun! David 

2 January 2008 Hello David - I came across your site while trying to find some information on Buzz software.  I had the software years ago but lost it.  I have been trying to find another copy but the company seems to be out of business.  I would be most grateful if you could lead me in any direction to finding another copy.  Surely someone out there out there could make a copy etc... any help would be appreciated. Your art is just beautiful!! Thanks so much, cindy mc.....

Thanks, Cindy. As you say, the company that made buZZ seems to have gone out of business.  I can only suggest that you Google to see if you can find a free download of the buzz Simplifier – the most useful tool – somewhere.  Here’s a trial version of buzz Pro that still seems to work: http://www.download.com/BuZZ-Pro/3000-2192_4-7779052.html. David

16 November 2007 Hi David – just writing to saying I’ve had a quick look over your site – omg – amazing – absolutely amazing. I’m taking up illustration and digital art and I love your work. I got this site address from your Cloner tutorial in Painter magazine. I write because I just need a touch of advice/help in the second one with the boat scene if I can! At the set up at the start, 04 – I selected the original picture as the clone source, but as I start painting on the watercolour yellowed canvas, all I get, even with watercolour cloners selected, is yellow paint. Its like I have the wrong source, but under File/Source, I have the original image ticked.Any ideas or suggestions?? Keep up the fantastic work! thanks Frank Bradshaw 

Thanks, Frank.  I’m glad you like my pictures.  It’s always nice to get such positive feedback. Now, the boats picture from the Painter tutorial.  It sounds to me like you have not clicked and made active the Clone Color button on the Colors palette (this is in addition to having selected the Clone Source under File/Source).  If this button is not depressed and thereby made active, the brush will just paint with the Main colour – in this case the cream colour. Come back to me if this doesn’t sort you out. David

5 November 2007 Hi David, I just found your website through the dpreview forums and I must say that you are an incredibly talented artist! Sadly, that is exactly what I am not ;-) I've always wanted to create beautiful drawings or paintings from photographs, but since I can't draw I decided to create a computer program that could. The result is a small freeware called FotoSketcher (www.fotosketcher.com). Having seen what you can do, my goal will be to try and improve FotoSketcher in order to get as close as I can to your art. Thanks again for your beautiful images. David THOIRON (Lyon, France)

David - thanks. I'm glad you like some of my pictures. I had a look at Fotosketcher. I can see where you are going with this. It would be good if there was an option to simplify the image before applying the line creation element. Sketches usually, though not always, simplify an image into a relatively few number of lines - often following contours. The best filter for creating line drawing that I know of is the buZZ Simplifier Photoshop plugin. In fact, all the pictures in my Artwork 8 gallery are hand drawn. Good luck with it. David

29 October 2007 David, I just had the pleasure of viewing you gallery and am so impressed with your enormous talent. I saw your work at the Painter Magazine website after I joined and fell in love with it. It looks better than the real thing. I aspire to work such as yours and thank you for providing such magnificent work for us to enjoy. Sincerely Leah Schmaman

Thank you, and thank you for visiting! I was beginning to worry I might never get any more visitors! I enjoyed your pictures on the Painter Magazine website. David

30 July 2007 Hello David, I have been looking at your gallery, and some of the work is simply breathtaking. Especially liked the new tulips (black and white) in New Artwork - well, actually, too many to mention, but I saw that one first of all. Just thought would let you know. Wish I could do a fraction of this! Regards, Sonya

29 June 2007 Hi David Cole,...Everything in ur site ie paintings, color choice, font very fantastic and eyeful. Some times i browse ur site, it's really cool. many thanks kamal T

17 May 2007 Hi David .. excellent Website and Everything on it …Well done .. good Body of Work scarletjames………

4 February 2007 Hello David, we have emailed some long time ago when I was so delighted with your work - at that time particularly the watercolour simulation, that I wanted to comment on it. I wonder if you could advise me. I note that you have said [in DPR] "synthetik, the people who make Studio Artist, have been saying a pc version "...is coming out this year" for at least the last 4-5 years. I gave up asking them!". I do use Macintosh and so that software is available to me, but it is rather expensive, and i wondered what part of Studio Artist interests you. I have, and I know you also use 'Painter 9'. Is there an element within Studio Artist that you have not been able to do in Painter? I don't want to double up on potential.
regards, Barry

Thanks, Barry. I am not at all familiar with Studio Artist and have no specific reason to want to try it, other than that I am interested to know what it can do - particularly: how far it can abstract colour, create watercolour simulations, and prepare photos for oil painting in Painter. If you can try a trial version for a few weeks that would be good. You can then compare attributes. I don't know if that is available. Best wishes David

27 January 2007 Dear Mr Cole, So sorry but I couldn't email you the other way. Your work is fabulous. Have you ever done any type of caricatures? I love them, just wondering. Laraine Stuart

Thanks. No, I've never done any caricatures. There's a first time for everything I suppose! David

2 January 2007 Hello David, I have been looking seriously at your site and I fell your art is really fantastic. What I like particularly are the portrait of SteveP, Charles (with the clear suit and red tie), Pete laughing and also I like very much the very strong drawing that you made of yourself. I also like the landscapes and still life but these protraits especially appeal to me.  It is obvious to me that you are a true artist. But certainly to acheive what you have done there are number of hours to refine the methods...a lot of hours certainly... Concerning watercolours, you may like to have a look at the book of Katrin Eismann Retouching.

I am currently working at improving the eyes, skin defects , general tones, colours etc. In the past I have done watercolour (with real brushes pencils etc) but I like taking picures with a camera. When I discovered your site it was very important to me because I felt that pictures (and protraits) had much more appeal when improved by Painter 9, buZZ filter etc. I also feel I will be alble to do this very well ...(after many many hours of learning and practicing)

Question 1: I would like to know if you feel I also need (immediately) the LucisArt software and the Digital imaging suite (from MS) which replaces the Photodraw (discontinued). Question 2: the Corel Painter IX.5 certainly comes with a manual.  There are probably good books that I could have in addition to the basic manual of Corel. Could you recommend such a book ? Or some sites that offer tutorials. Here I am just guessing that the manual of Painter is like the manual of Photoshop.;Question 3: I would like to know what kind of simple exercises you could recommend I would start with to use both the Painter IX and Photoshop CS2.; Question 4: How long will it take to more or less be able to use Painter IX? - 6 months?  If you can take a few minutes to help me with these questions, it will help me greatly. Thank you, With best regards. Bernard Pirenne

Thanks for your steer on the Eismann watercolour technique. It looks complicated but I’ll explore it. From my quick glance, I think I prefer the PS “Wow” technique. Here are answers to your questions: Q1: You do not need LucisArt or the other software you mention yet. Q2: Two good books on Painter IX: “Painter IX Creativity” by Jeremy Sutton (good on painting techniques), and “Painter IX for photographers” by Martin Addison (good on explaining technical side of Painter IX). Q3: Can’t really suggest any exercises. Main things are to practice and experiment, get to know the Brush Creator in Painter IX so that you can tweak your brushes easily, and study carefully, and as often as possible, real paintings in the style you want to emulate. If you are not familiar with the look of the real thing you’ll find it difficult to emulate it. Q4: How long to use Painter? Impossible to say! – we are all still learning Painter. To see what a real master digital painter can do, have a look Craig Mullins work at www.goodbrush.com. This is not done in colour clone mode. He uses both PS and Painter I believe. David

21 December 2006 I originally saw your post on DPReveiw and went to your website Your work is absolutely beautiful and exactly what I am looking for. Unfortunately l am having a difficult time converting an image to look something of an oil painting, very similar to what you did for titog at dpreview with the butterfly on the flowers. I was wondering if you might share a down and dirty technique for me to use it link to a Photoshop tutorial. Either would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks Houston Brown

Thanks, Houston. I can't remember the exact steps I took on the butterfly picture. Each picture evolves as it goes, However, broadly it goes like this: I prepare the photo in PS - simplifying where I think necessary with the buZZ Simplifier so that there is a centre of interest and not too much distracting detail. I will also usually increase colour saturation. Then I take the photo to Painter 9.5 where I brush the painting in Colour Clone mode. I try to use the biggest brushes I can. There is a lot of additional hand painting by eye where I change colours or tone values to suit my taste. I like the Artist Oils, Oil and Sargent brushes but I use mainly brush versions I have customised. Then I take the picture back to Photoshop to add a little sharpness and further colour saturation and usually also do some brush work to further refine the image. I use some of the Natural, Wet Media and default brushes - I also use a handmade bristle brush which has a dry brush look. That's it really. I have come to the conclusion that your final painting will only be as good as the photograph you start with. This may sound obvious but I do think it helps a lot to begin with painterly looking photos which have interesting lighting and shapes. Good luck. David

20 December 2006 Hi..I really like the way you did your web site.. I am working on doing mine.. also your work is fantastic.. I love your artwork expecially artwork3 because it is a people art.. I am just trying to learn how to do this as I was a portrait photographer..I looked at all your work ..very well done. Mike Winn

Thanks, Mike. I am glad you like my website layout. I recently had to remake it from scratch using Dreamweaver instead of Frontpage. It was just a question of learning as I went. My site is straightforward to use I hope. I do wish I could implement a simple feedback form for my Visitors' Book instead of having to ask visitors to send me emails. On artwork, I'm sure that being a portrait photographer you'll be off to a flying start on making paintings from your photos. David

21 November 2006 Love your new web pages and it's format.   As you suggested, I purchased both the Painter IX and J Lyons book. I have been attempting to apply the software and instructions they provide,, having fun.. having some success.. but still struggling to re-create some of your techniques..with so many options available and so many directions to go. If you can share and start me off along in the right path, using the major steps of how you created - for example:Tulips against the yellow walls - Art Work 2 .. I would be really appreciate it.. Photoshop? Painter IX, clones, water colors? oils..Best Regards, and thanks again... your art is really inspirational ! Barry

Thanks. That picture was done mainly in Painter I think. I can't remember which brushes I used but they will have been quite large as I was unconcerned with detail. It was done in Colour Clone mode and I probably used a customised Oils brush. I can't remember if there is a brush which approximates my own - basically it was made in the brush creator with a Static Bristle dab in Single mode, and using Grainy Hard cover with grain set at about 24%. The texture I used was Artists Canvas. The trick is to keep your brushes as large as you can - the smaller the brushstrokes the more detailed and photographic the final look. Good luck. David

30 October 2006  Hello, These images are fantastic, where can I learn to do them??  Also, do you know how I can make the outside of an oval vignette transparent so that it can be transferred on top of another image to show just the oval?  Thanks again  Stuart Garfoot, England

Thanks, Stuart.  Have a look at my response to Barry, USA on 18 October.  I recommend a couple of books there.  I'm not sure I understand your question - if you make the area around an oval transparent and transfer that rectangle or square on top of another image, you will see everything below except the oval in the middle. If you want to take a rectangle or square and cut out an oval in the middle and have it (the oval in the middle) retain transparency that is very easy in Photoshop. Assuming you have Photoshop, just select your image, duplicate it into a second layer, fill it with whatever colour you want, and use the elliptical selection tool to make your oval vignette.  Then just "Clear" the selection in the middle.  You will see the original image only in the oval window.  You may have meant something different, if so, let me know.  David

19 October 2006  Hello David - thanks for the new pictures. It was a treat to see your version of Ms. Cole's photo of the hilltop town on the water. Most excellent. Got to say you keep getting better. And its a lot of fun working through Photoshop and other plug-ins to try to emulate your success. Have you worked yet with digital art versions of any High Density Resolution (HDR) images, that became possible with Photoshop 9?  Hope you make millions of dollars through all this.  Take care, John

Thanks, John.  I haven't done too much in the last week or so because I am having to rebuild my (Frontpage) website as a result of Microsoft and my web host ceasing to support Frontpage Extensions - these are bits of software MS provide to make things happen on one's website. Frontpage is disappearing and being succeeded by something much more complicated.  So I am having to try to replicate my site in new software, learning the software as I go.  This is taking time and so far the only thing that will flummox me is that I cannot - do not know how - to reproduce this little visitors' book on my new website.  Should be easy but it's not.  So will probably have to just gather comments by email and type them in here as now.  Anyway, not much painting being done but I'm glad you like the New Artwork page.

I haven't used the HDR facility in CS2 because I think it requires a number of photos shot at various exposures.  Haven't got sufficiently organised to do this.  I have experimented with a plugin called Photomatix which can do the full HDR type process but also allows you do something like it using a single photo at 16bit using Tone Mapping.  Frankly, I find the Shadow/Highlight feature in PSCS2 pretty good for widening exposure.  David