Thank you for your report!
We have received your report and it is currently under investigation by a forum moderator.
painting from your own photos
Welcome to the forum.
Here you can discuss all things art with like-minded artists, join regular painting challenges, ask questions, buy and sell art materials and much more.
Make sure you sign in or register to join the discussions.
Hang on Studio Wall
This is a Studio member-only feature!
Join our Studio membership and save your favourite Painters Online content, from gallery artwork to step-by-step guides, to your own online mood boards. Create your go-to place for inspiration and learning. Plus, members can also enjoy a range of exciting features including monthly art videos and a digital magazine library.
If you are already a Studio member, simply login to your account.
Not a Studio member? Why not try our free 30-day trial - no commitment, no credit card required
Showing page 1 of 2
- 1
- 2
Message
Posted
Some accomplished artists paint from photographs as opposed to painting or sketching landscapes. When one does the latter the painting or sketch becomes a two dimentional image which a photo has also. many artists sketch and take aphoto for colour reference and do a painting in the studio from this information . True ..that as you paint you dont have the fresh air around you and the photo can compress distance or otherwise but your sketch cant give you the depth you can see when you aresketching or taking a photograph. When painting say , a town scene you sometimes see a shape that you cant remember registering but does it matter? As advised by one artist you just paint the shape .You dont have to know that its a dustbin or whatever thats in the photo. Some artists say that they dont paint from photos and others do paint from photos and nobody can tell the difference between the two so why bother making out somehow that painting from your own photos is inferior to copying the scene by painting or sketching. A photo is just another method of copying whats there. As an artist you dont copy the photo but just use it as a reference and the painting very seldom finishes up like the photograph as L have found personally. I have painted from my own lousy photos for a very long time and dont need the cold , rain , midges and audience to accomplish the same thing...Syd
Posted
Well said Syd. I paint from photos but only to get the scene down on paper.
Once I have sketched the scene (the shapes) onto watercolour paper I then generally put the photo to one side and continue to paint the scene as I want to using colours of my own choosing. I really don't want to be influenced any further by the photo or by the actual colours which I find so restricting. Also continual reference to the photo makes my work tighten up which is something I try hard to avoid. Yes my work is fairly faithful to the shapes within the scene and can be recognised as the village or street which it represents but beyond this it is my painting done using my imagination.
The photo is the initial inspiration but it's only the starting point. For the same reasons I don't paint en plein aire - apart from being too influenced by what is in front of me I find it so uncomfortable and inconvenient - I can't relax and it shows in my work. It's the studio for me where I can relax, take my time and listen to decent music with plenty of fresh coffee and a toilet nearby. AAAh heaven. Strangely I am not affected when doing demos which I quite enjoy although I am doing less and less these days.
Posted
The problem with painting from photos is that the camera does not see as the eye does. The eye tends to see more detail in the shadows. Neither does the eye over expose. However they can be useful back ups to refer to for what you didn't get on the day and quite often it is not convenient to sit and paint, especially if you have an impatient spouse. but when I see manipulated photos passed off as paintings I do wonder why I bother.
Posted
I was given a projector by my son .he had used for presentations . ,looking on e bay to see how much he had paid for it a few years ago (expensive)
I was surprised at how cheap they are now (I don't use one for paintings )and I was told some of the paintings in the art section were in the yearly students show ,,mmm . done this way ??what!!!!,,,,mind you,, they don't say they are art classes ,, creative art ??.,no comment ..
Posted
I am mostly painting flowers and work entirely from photos, either my own or copyright free internet photos. The thing with flowers, painting from life, is they droop very quickly and you lose the freshness as sometimes it takes me from a few hours to a few days to complete my painting depending on what time I have to paint. For shading I look at the photo in black and white from which you can see the shadows quite clearly, although very often I replace the actual colour of the flower with my own choice of colour. I also like the comfort of being indoors with some music and coffee close at hand (and one or two chocolates as well).
Posted
I paint from photos because at my stage I cannot paint from imagination. I read somewhere a rather long article on imagination and why I cannot draw from it - it's because I imagine details that do not exist. For example, imagine a dragon. Go on, try it. Imagine a dragon. Imagine it's perfect form, it's fiery breath and green skin, it's neck and eyes. Now, without "looking", what colour were it's toes? How many scales down it's neck? You wont know because you imagine the detail was there - in other words, you imagined and imagined thing. You imagined you knew details, but you didnt. So now, I cant draw the thing because I havent got a clue what it looks like!
So, I paint from a photo of a dragon which has such details. In time of course I WILL be able to draw from imagination because I have practiced enough to have a good library of images in my head. The alternative is drawing from reality, which I also try to do, but the truth is I can use a photo faster and more conveniently.
D
Posted
Sound's like the next challenge Sylvia! but will it be a Japanese or Chinese Dragon or a Welsh dragon. Then there are those that St George slayed - I saw one of those in Berlin! then it could be a Komodo dragon, but they are more brown than green. Come to think of it I have two dragons in my lounge (one cast and one carved in wood). Go for it - not paint your waggon, but paint your dragon!
Posted
I have used photographs as reference in pretty much all of my work - I also use Photoshop to comp things together when I feel the need. I'd never write them off for the sake of it; I admire anyone that sketches their paintings but don't see it as a necessity. I wouldn't sketch purely because 'that's the way it should be done'.
Posted
I paint from my own photos. I use them more as a reference than copy from them directly: the first thing I do is crop them so all I have are the bits I want to include, then I de-saturate the image so I'm not trying to copy the exact colours. I take things out, add things in, change the shapes of trees, move people about etc. I sometimes use reference pictures from internet sources, but don't like doing this for landscapes as if it's somewhere I haven't been, I can't use my own experience to add anything to it, and if it's somewhere I have been, then why didn't I take my own photo? Having said that, Streetview is fun for doing landscapes.
I tried sketching outdoors while I was on holiday last week. I took the lid off my brand new pen and it rolled off the table and straight between the slats in the decking.
Kay Marriott
Posted
I am not very good at braving the elements now. I rely heavily on memory and imagination and that is wonderfully freeing.
The closest I came to outdoor work, before circumstances stopped me in my tracks, was to park the car , sit in comfort, get out my bits and pieces, and sketch what was in front of me. The result was always fresher and more immediate than what I subsequently produced from the sketch (IF I used it ) when painting later at home.
On looking back, I remember doing a painting, sitting on a milking stool, probably in 1944, in Poster Paint, of the gate to and including, the Dutch Barn on our farm in Lancashire. I have since destroyed the painting and regretted it. It was filled with sunshine and shadows, vibrant and amateur, done on the spot, and I will always remember it.
Showing page 1 of 2
- 1
- 2