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pixieface — Open Canvas Tutorial, part 1
Published: 2007-03-08 18:17:04 +0000 UTC; Views: 40259; Favourites: 329; Downloads: 1075
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Description
The first of a few tutorials on my all-time favourite art program, Open Canvas 1.1.This is the boring technical, starting-out tutorial designed for noobs or people who don't know the program very well. It's also a vast file. I hope it's not too patronising, and at least partially helpful.
Part Two - Learning to Paint in Open Canvas - is now up and located here: [link]
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Comments: 107
Hey, no problem! Any time you wanna know a thing that I might know, don't hesitate to ask. I'm always happy to have conversations about shit like this.
Corel Painter really is a very good program, though. It just has its disadvantages, like anything.
Have fun with Open Canvas!
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I know this may sound weird -- but exactly how large ARE each of your pencil/pen and paint brushes? xD I don't want to sound like I'm going to copy you...... but for the time being, with your permission, I'd like to. Because your stuff is just so darn good and I have a nasty habbit of copying off of others in order to find my own thing... >__>;;
and FABULOUS tutorial! I'm really suprized only 130 people have favorited it....
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Okay, so, dude... I did this half-hour referenced speedpaint to remember OC 1.1: [link]
Tis amazingly rough, but remembered me the things I needed, I think. The original canvas size was 2000 by 3000 pixels, and I set the watercolour brushes to be 9 pixels, 16 pixels, 30 pixels, 88 pixels and 155 pixels - though this was fairly intuitive and might have taken some tuning had I messed around with OC a bit longer (possibly the smallest brush coulda done with being marginally smaller - but too small and it'll make very inconsistent marks). Mainly used the 16 pixel brush to be honest - and it was all watercolour, not inks. :3 I don't know if that'll help at all! I really think (on reflection) it depends pretty heavily on personal preference and on canvas size - which in turn depends on screen resolution since Open Canvas can only zoom out so far before you can't see all of the canvas at once...
Is that any help at all, or completely useless?
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I think it helped :3 thank you very much!
And I really like the painting you did -- it's a lot better than I could do, espeically for a bg >__>;;
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Reference. 
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I concur!
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Yay! A long comment. These make me feel happy and worthwhile. Lol!
In answer to your question... I'm not sure. But I can find out! (Or at least guesstimate). Not right now this second, but in a moment 'cause I'll have to shift to the other computer and mess about... see, the thing is I mainly paint in Corel Painter these days. I'm sure Open Canvas will come back to me, though - much like riding a bike.
I'd be perfectly happy to figure that shit out for you - I shall go attempt to do so directly - I don't give a shit about 'copying'! You must not think it is copying, either. Learning has a lot to do with figuring out what other people do and then adapting that to your own ends. That's exactly why I wrote this tutorial; so that other people could take the meager shit I'd learned and then turn it to more creative ends and do cleverer stuffs - so it's perfectly wonderful to hear you articulate it clearly. And you mustn't feel at all bad!
Thank you for the nice words about my stuffs. Please do bear in mind, though, all my recent shit is Corel Painter (oh, the sexy texture how I love it) so I hope you don't imagine I do that shit in Open Canvas. The program really is incapable of texture, sadly, which is why I eventually moved on...
And I'm glad you enjoyed the tutorial - really!
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Aaaw it's great that I made your day : D I see your point on the "copying" stuff.... and I know you didn't do most of your recent work on OC xD (I went through it) I used to have Corel, too. Then I lost the disk and moved to a different computer >_> I myself skip around media-wise, weither it be OC, oekaki, MS Paint, prisma markers, just ballpoint pen, ect. ^_^
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thanks so much! this was such a comprehensive tutorial! lol, i'm very much a noob at OC, since i just downloaded it abotu 15 mins ago...but this should help. suddenly everything seems a little less confusing XP
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Excellent! I'm glad it helped. Have fun with Open Canvas, won't you? 
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yes! yes, i will! XD 👍: 0 ⏩: 1
i'm really looking foward to getting to know it 
MAN did I need this.
This is a great tutorial, actually. ^_^ You're way better at using examples than I am. (The Ellipse Tool crescents from hell... )
You really helped me with the layers. I understood the multiply layers just fine, but the add/subtract layers were alien to me. I kept trying to relate them to Photoshop. Subtract is a very heavy color burn layer, whilst add is... I have no idea what add is... D:
Thanks for making this! It helped me a lot! ^_^
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I'm very glad you enjoyed it and found it useful!
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Random knowledge is helpful for the people who couldn't figure out the knowledge that well themselves. (A.k.a. me. I still can't figure out the add layer, lol!)
And any tutorial that's explained well and has great examples should be praised. Tutorials are actually really hard to make. ^_^ If you can make tutorials with ease, then you have a true gift!
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Well, maybe... except that I don't know much stuff to make tutorials about! XD I think a bit of Open Canvas is, sadly, my limit!
But still, I'm very glad they are helpful tutorials. That really makes it worthwhile!
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I have too many things I've been asked to make tutorials about, but don't have the skills to MAKE the tutorial. xD Which stinks, really.
They are helpful! I'm really glad you made them! ^__^
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Thank you so much! I know nothing about these digital art programs, but now I feel confident and at ease that I am going to learn a great deal in a pain-free way.
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Yay!
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When I first got OC, i couldn't make heads or tails of it... XDDD
Thankies for making this tutorial~
Twas very helpful!! ^^
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I'm glad you like it!
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thanks for the tutorials.. its very helpful to us begginers..... i well watch of ur other tutorials....
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Glad you liked it!
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Wonderful tutorial! The layers always confused me in that program.
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Glad you like it!
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I have read a LOT of Open Canvas tutorials, and this one is certainly the most informative and simple to follow!
I'm sure you've read some other OC tutorials out there - many of them are laid out like so: Step 1.) Draw something spectacular; Step 2.) Color it spectacularly.
It's so aggravating!! So THANK YOU for finally making available a coherent OC tutorial!
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Oh, thank you very much! ^_^ Lots of people do seem to like this tutorial - I was very surprised!
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For a program that comes with virtually no manual this is an excellent replacement.
Great work.
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Thanks! That's a really lovely compliment!
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No problem!
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Hey, no problem! Thank you for leaving the comment! I'm really glad this tutorial was of some help to you - that makes it all worth while.
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How do you save the colors in the palette? I used to know but I've forgotten.
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N/M I found the answer in a wiki.
Maybe you can make a tutorial on that too for other n00bs.
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Well, I don't make OC tutorials any more, since I don't really use the program any more.
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How come you don't use it anymore? Have you found something better?
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Yep. These days I'm using Corel Painter. Which is not free (or small) like Open Canvas - nor is it as simple to use. But it does have a number of advantages over OC, most notably texture. It was what I needed to move my art on. *shrugs* Nothing personal against OC 1.1, of course - I still love the damn thing with a passion! I've just moved on.
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Oh, I seeeeee. Now I understand!
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*grins* Really? Oh! Okay. XDXD
Enjoy the Open Canvas! Really, it is so intuitive and fun once you get your head around all it's little eccentricities!
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This tutorial is very useful! now i can use oc better! thankyou very much for this tutorial! :3
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No problem at all - I'm glad you found it helpful!
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thankyou so much!! I thought open canvas wasn't very good, but now i understand it! Its simple - just the way i like it!!! Now i can colour my linearts better!! thankyou!! I'm faving this because i'll probably forget most of it! and u must of spent a while making this tutorial! THANKYOU!!! ^^
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*grins* Thank you for the lovely comment! I'm glad you found it useful...! It makes the whole thing worthwhile!
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Thts ok! It was always worth while! lots of people appreciate ur tutorial, its so hard to find a decent OC 1.1 tutorial... infact i think urs is the only one!
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*blushes* aww, thank you so much! That's so flattering! XDXD
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great tutorial! I think people dont pay attention to this old, yet effective program.
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I meant the program was very good, not my tutorial.
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