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Chalk Board Cloning Tip

A simple technique for doing nifty chalk board-style illustrations in Painter 4 or 5.

Overview: this shows you how to do a cloned sketch onto a page which is not white. If you fill your cloned page with black before you start sketching in the clone, and apply surface texture after you're finished, it will give you a chalk-board-style texture to emulate the illustrations on the menus and displays you see in restaurants and shops. It could also be used with other textures such as fabric or wood.

The source image I used for the sample illustration was a stock photo of a wineglass and grapes from the Painter 5 CD. I wanted to demonstrate how this technique could work well in a commercial setting (ie food and wine type-subjects). I know there are artists and signwriters out there who are commisssioned to paint permanent display signs to emulate the casual, chalk-board display. Well, with Painter, you can now do them digitally as well.

 

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Open your original, 'source' image.
2. Clone the image. Select File->Clone.
3. In the cloned image, select all and fill with black.
4. Turn on Tracing Paper: Either select Canvas menu->Tracing Paper, or click on the "Tracing Paper" icon in the top right corner of the page (above the gridded icon). This icon will toggle the tracing paper on and off as you need it. Once selected, you will see a pale version of your image overlaid on your clone page.
5. Choose a rough paper texture.
6. Choose a brush. You can choose either a standard brush type and then click on the "Clone Color" button at the bottom of the color picker, or choose a cloner brush type from the brush menu. I used the Chalk Cloner Brush.
7. Paint away! In my image, I have sketched with a small-sized chalk, but you can fill and colour with larger, softer chalks (or any other brush!) as you wish. Toggle the tracing paper on and off to check your progress.
8. Apply Surface Texture. When the image is finished, including any signatures or text, select Effects Menu->Surface Control->Apply Surface Texture. In the Apply Surface Texture dialog box, select Using: Paper (the rough texture), and set the Softness slider at 0.0, the Amount fairly low (say 50%), Picture 100%; Shine and Reflection at 0%. Apply, and Voila! Textured Chalk Board Images!

I hope this gives you some ideas. It's a simple technique, but useful for the right image. You could modify this technique to do a textured pavement portrait or landscape illustration. If you'd like to see my suggestions for a way to do this, click here.

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