Thread: Corel Painter 11

When a program reaches version 11 it's sometimes hard to come up with exciting new features that take the program into completely new territory.

Strictly speaking this should really be Painter 12, as there was a strange experiment with Roman numerals along the way that resulted in the bizarrely named Painter IX.5 (9.5), released a few years ago.

Painter 11 doesn't introduce any radical new innovations. However, it does build upon the program's existing range of 'natural media' tools, which simulate the appearance of traditional paints and brushes with even greater realism than before.

The biggest addition to Painter II is a set of 40 new' hard media' tools. These concentrate on tools that can be used for drawing and sketching, such as chalk, coloured pencils and felt-tip marker pens.

Features such as the 'quick-clone' option, which is designed to help you make photographs resemble hand-painted artwork, are confusing. Having reached version 11, Painter is very much due for an interface overhaul, and this upgrade doesn't deal with that issue.

This means that Painter 11 remains a tool for the professional user or perhaps the more accomplished hobbyist who has the time and training required to master this complex software. It's also fairly expensive, so beginners and hobbyists might be better off considering the less expensive Painter Essentials or Painter Sketch Pad. More experienced artists, though, will find that Painter 11 is still unmatched in its ability to create artwork that looks as though it was painted by hand rather than by computer.