User Guide

Academic Courseware: Chapter 5

Joyce Ryan

Chapter 5

The Write-on

Every animator at some point in his or her career is going to have to

create a “write-on.” A write-on is a word or an image being magically

written across the screen. In this chapter, we are going to explore several

techniques in Corel Painter for creating different styles of write-on.

We will create a write-on for the name of a radio station. My radio

station is called WHEW! 98.6 FM. I want to give the WHEW! a shiny

cloud-like 3-D effect that appears over a background of sky and softly

floating clouds.

Create the background

1 Open a new file, 720 x 486 at 72 ppi. Create a gradient from dark

blue to light blue for your sky and save it. Fill the canvas with your

gradient.

2 Choose Select > All, and then Select > Float. Name the new layer

Sky.

3 On a new layer labeled Clouds1, try using Airbrush variants to create

some clouds. I added some Motion Blur to the background (Effects >

Focus > Motion Blur) to smooth out my clouds and make it look like

there was a little breeze. You will be animating the clouds

independently, so make sure they are not cropped by the edge of the

image. You may want to be able to isolate your clouds as independent

selections for more flexibility.

4 On a new layer, create some smaller foreground clouds. Name this

layer Clouds2. Save your file in the RIFF format to preserve your

layers.

A write-on effect can be used

as an effective signature for a client’s

logo. It is also fascinating to watch a

drawing taking shape one step at a

time. This simple technique can be used

in a multitude of situations.