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How to control the illumination while drawing
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Message
Posted
Oh well done you Sarah...and welcomes.
Well done for DRAWING. . Might I suggest you get a nice soft pencil 4b upwards . Pop your egg on a light surface. E.g. A piece of white cloth . Observe your light source and really "go" for those dark shadows . Then you can even have fun and make highlights with a soft putty rubber . Enjoy.
Posted
Good advice from Sylvia, the essence is observation and practice. Keep at it and you will soon see improvement in your drawing. Try to keep a sketchbook with you, no matter how small, and in odd spare moments try a quick sketch of whatever you can see, large or small. It soon becomes an interesting exercise and it is great to look back and see how your drawing has developed.
Posted
I have made my will before stepping very cautiously into this minefield. 😆:hehe:
What is copying? Is plein aire painting not copying what you see in front of you? Is still life not arranging items in front of you then copying them? There isn't one single topic, item, animal vegetable or mineral that is unique in painting. All that is unique is our individual take on them all, and that's what makes the world not a place of five billion Mona Lisas' or Sunflowers paintings. Van Gogh wasn't the first or only person ever to paint a sunflower or the furniture around him, and Stubbs not the first to paint a horse (some prehistoric cave dwellers beat them both to it) , If you draw what you see, unless you are a Constable re-creation or a robot camera, you are presenting your own take on it all and thus producing a form of art. There is also the fact that skill levels vary so very much that unless beginners start off by copying something/someone, most of them would still be sat, thumb in mouth waiting for a Picasso gene to kick in and inspire them. If you're going to become a professional artist you'll never sell a thing that's anyone else's work anyway, but you can surely become very proficient by understanding how artists work and achieve the marvelous effects they do by trying it yourself. To be honest, copyright itself is a bit of a joke in art. Even in literature after all this time there are only thiry nine possible scenarios for plots, and that's a known fact, yet a million new books a week arrive in the shops and online. . Somebody walks down a street, sees a view of a bridge, hill, tree etc, and takes a picture of it then copyrights it? Come on folks. Five minutes later someone else can do exactly the same, so what then, a court battle? Just the same applies with painting; a class of students are taken to a location and told to "paint it" Only the artist and not the scenery stops the results from being a pack of cards. Thus, the Big Paint Challenge. I use reference pics regularly, but just put my take on them. I don't want to be told I can't paint a tree from the picture because Vincent Constable pointed a canvas or a camera at it. I thus state to anyone, paint what you will any way you will; if you're going to become an artist you'll soon find your own path...or not, as the case may be. Even painting a humble egg on your table is copying: Art is about artists ;not what's in front of them, but how they see it. No two are rarely alike. Copy on for me. hehe:
Posted
I've talked this subject over with my husband lots of times Jim and he has said exactly the same as you. When I started painting I copied a picture, then as I became more confident I combined different elements of different pictures and tweaked. My husband has taken up coloured pencils and started off copying but I have noticed recently, that he is gaining in confidence and beginning to add his own take. I have lots of photos which I have painted from and as I am not a great photographer (even with a digital camera) I tend to download from the copyright-free sites. I don't like plein-air painting - too many flying insects and diverse weather conditions. I've said before, and I will say again, THERE ARE NO RULES IN ART - only what works for you. Enjoy it all!
Posted
I so agree with Jim and Adele. When I started painting I naturally copied from books pictures etc., until I found my own way. I still use photo's most are my own but, like Adele, I download from copyright free sites. WHAT'S WRONG WITH THIS?? I support Adele in saying THERE ARE NO RULES IN ART!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's like cooking, give six people the same recipe and they will all turn out differently.
Posted
All points taken and accepted as just as good as mine, and no intent to cause agro, so please clarify for me: What exactly is copying? Some time back I painted a work originally done by Singer Sargent. I wasn't the same size as his work by far, my paints and paper were inferior to his and my skill levels about a hundred miles behind him. In effect, it wasn't very much like his at all. Was that copying or just curiosity as to how he achieved his results? I have tried painting in the styles of Monet, Turner and Van Gogh from admiration, hey, I've even done a version of L Giaconda, Temeraire and Sunflowers. I also paint from imagination (and believe me my imagination is a wonderful world), record things I see, make cartoons of hospital visits (not mine I hastily add), draw and paint from literature and use reference photographs where I fancy. These are rarely anywhere near size, quality or replica of someone elses's work, sometimes in colour where the original is black and white and not infringing any copyright (unless someone owns my home town or places I go or have been.) In short, I draw or paint just about anything I fancy. None of these things are for commercial gain (indeed it would be a poor judge who thought they were attempts at forgery (is that another word for copying, by the by? ) and give me boundless pleasure. I therefore reserve the right to "copy" at will, what ever my eyes see. With every respect for views other than mine, I hate rules you see, especially when they have no relevant reasoning other than personal opinion. That said, I always allow everyone else the same right. Do as you will with my works, I care not. Then again, I never regard myself as an artist, just a an enthusiastic user of pencil and paint, so I suppose there are differences. Amen. 😆
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