With so many image-editing applications available, it’s sometimes easy to overlook software programs that, while straying from the traditional editing tools we’re used to, offer creative options that you won’t find elsewhere. Corel Painter is one of those programs. Don’t let the Painter designation throw you; Corel makes it easy to get painterly without ever picking up a brush in real life.

The recently released Corel Painter 2018 offers a number of new features that build on the program’s photo-art capabilities, along with additional painting tools that can be used for a wide variety of digital art applications.

Image courtesy of Corel. Photo © Heather Michelle

On the practical side, you’ll find new selection brushes that can be tweaked for fine-tuning selections. Then save the brush to have it on-hand whenever you need it.

Advanced cloning tools are available to create collages and composites. And, perhaps more importantly, the latest version of Painter offers texture options that are extremely flexible. You can take a small sample of a texture, enlarge it and, with Texture Synthesis, Painter 2018 will randomize elements in the texture to create a unique pattern. There’s also a new Texture Fill feature that allows you to fill the canvas with the texture of your choice.

Image courtesy of Corel. Photo © Karen Bonaker

There are lots of new brushes and content, so you can paint or adjust a photo or create your own backdrop. Let’s face it, purchasing and storing multiple backdrops for portrait and family sessions gets costly and takes up a huge amount of space. Even if you’re not a painter, per se, Corel Painter 2018 can be used to create your own digital backdrops to keep your work fresh and creative.

By the way, if you’re working in 3D, you need to check out Painter’s 2.5D texture brushes. It’s really quite amazing and all you have to do is import a 2D rendering of a 3D model to apply a texture to the canvas. You can adjust surface lighting, too.

There’s a bit of a learning curve with Painter 2018, but Corel has lots of tutorials available. Download a free trial to test out this powerful program’s capabilities and try your hand at creating some photo art. It’s actually kind of addicting, especially for those of us who are intimidated by paintbrushes in real life.

Available for download now, Corel Painter 2018 costs $429 (or $229 to upgrade). Boxed versions can be ordered now and will be shipped after July 18.

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