Great Things from 'The Deep'
If there was one Photoshop plug-in every digital artist should consider purchasing it should be Right Hemisphere's Deep Paint. If you have ever had the desire of being an oil painter or sketch artist but didn't want to deal with the mess or cost (canvas, paints, brushes, turpentine, easel, etc.) this vibrant program is a digital artist's dream come true.

For artists familiar with Corel Painter (formerly Metacreations Fractal Design Painter), another natural-media painting tool, Deep Paint simulates the three dimensional texture of natural media, such as oils, acrylic, watercolor, pastels, and others. The big advantage Deep Paint has over Painter 6 is its ability to function within Photoshop as a plug-in or operate as an independent program.

The Deep in 'Deep Paint'
So what can you do with Deep Paint? First and foremost Deep Paint is a natural media painting program. Simply choose among dozens of preset brushes (dry, wet, hard, soft, airbrush, etc.) and media types and start painting. Each of these can be edited and saved allowing artists to create new tools. As you can see from the sample below the 'Oil-Bump' brush really does flow like oil media. This pseudo paint can then be smeared and mixed with other media. Of course, unlike Michelangelo, I can press 'Ctrl-Z' and undo a brush stroke.

Standard Paint Tools	Example of Oil Paint Brush

Photoshop & Deep Paint - A Real Dynamic Duo
If you are familiar with Photoshop you can be up and running with Deep Paint in short order. After starting Photoshop you can open an existing file or start a new one. Then you go to your 'Filter' drop down menu and click the 'Deep Paint' plug-in. A 'Plug-In Manager' opens. This is the gateway between the two programs. You then select 'Send Mode' and click 'Send.' This sends the file to Deep Paint. At anytime you can send this file back into Photoshop if you wish to use a tool or capability not available in Deep Paint.

2D to 3D
Deep Paint simulates textures, depth, shininess and the interaction of various media using the 'Lighting' palette. By editing the light source in this palette you can create a 3D effect on your digital canvas. The image below was altered simply by changing the direction of the light source.

Lighting Palette	Same image with a different light source

Spray Art
Deep Paint is more than a powerful natural media paint program. It has a number of other features. One of the best is the 'Image Spray' tool. Simply select one of the preset textures, such as 'Ivy in Fall.' Now you can just brush ivy across your canvas. Very cool and very addictive. Additional presets are available when you register Deep Paint.

'Ivy in Fall' Spray

The Power of Cloning
My favorite feature in this superb program is the ability to 'Clone' or trace an image to create a stunning original digital work of art. The process is surprisingly easy. Open an image, turn it into a clone source and create a layer above it. Now select one of the 'cloning tools' and begin painting in the layer above the 'clone source.' As you can see from the image below you can convert any image into an acrylic, oil, watercolor or other media image. You can even combine media types to create a unique work of art. Really amazing.

Cloning Tool in Action

The Last Word
As you can tell I am very enthusiastic about this program. Deep Paint is very powerful and an absolute blast to use. I don't see the program as a must have for web designers but it is for digital artists. Corel's Painter 6 is the only other program that competes with Deep Paint but it does not have the flexibility of working inside Photoshop. If you plan on purchasing this vibrant and 'deep' program make sure you have invested in a 'pressure sensitive tablet' and a lot of ram. I recommend 256 megs as a minimum.

Media Types Available:

Oils Watercolors Pastels Charcoals Calligraphy Pens

Colored Pencils Felt Pens Acrylics Crayons Gouache

Suggested Price: $249.00

System Requirements:

Windows 95, 98, NT and above
Pentium Processor 200mmx or better (PII 266 recommended)
800 x 600 resolution (24 bit recommended)
64 megs (128 recommended)
CD-Rom Drive
Wacom Intuos or other pressure sensitive tablet