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Using photos (1 Viewer)

dryslwyn

Well-known member
To carry the discussion on where it left off on Nicks thread - I use photos alot in
my landscape work but I am increasingly seeing the benefit of doing even quick pencil sketches on the spot. It takes say a minimum of 5mins to do a sketch that captures the essence of what you are looking at which is really useful to look back on when you are faced with all the detail in a photo.
For me it is the same thing with birds- just an outline even with a bit of background keeps the image in my mind which would be forgotten if I just took a photo.
I never feel guilty using photos. But I am looking forward to the time way ahead in the future when I can do a good field sketch or painting.
I need to get out more!
 
Great thread, Dryslwyn.

I think that the 'to use or not to use photos' debate/discussion is an interesting one. I personally think that it absolutely fine to use photos for practice BUT I do think that it should not be at the expense of field sketching. When I do use photos they are always my own and never anyone else's.
I know some artists - John Busby in his excellent book Drawing Birds is one - who think that using photos is the Devil's own work and wouldn't countenance the use of photos at all, but I disagree. I feel that using photos can be a great help (and, yes, a hindrance at times) and give the artist confidence to go on and do more work from life.
 
I think that yes, it is fine to use Photo's as referance but be very guarded
about there limitations. And never become a slave to them
 
If there's one thing field sketching has taught me, it's that my brain is pretty bad at interpreting what's really there!

People aren't cameras, and we'll always have the tendency to generalize what we see. I think photography and video are very good for filling in those gaps. Whether it's for checking plumage, or slowing things down to get a look at how feathers twist in flight, or capturing a quality of light that isn't going to last long enough to put down on paper, photos certainly have their place.

I used to draw and paint exclusively from photos, and I learned a lot from it. I'll still draw from photos on occasion, usually as an exercise in loosening up, and I frequently refer to them while completing a painting. I think the biggest issue with using photos is that they become a crutch -- I used to frequently get ideas for paintings that I really wanted to attempt, but without the needed reference material I had no idea how to approach what I wanted to do. At the end of the day, photos are still only two-dimensional, and they can't give you a complete understanding of how objects exist in three dimensions. Life drawing is tough, but that's only because you're stuck doing the hard part yourself -- flattening everything down to a two-dimensional page (with a lot less time to do it).
 
When it really comes down to it, people have to do what suits them best, and it doesn't really matter what other people think. I like field sketching as it adds another dimension to birding, but I also like drawing from photos.
 
I am a big fan of field sketching, and when the opportunity allows (ie when I've got birds in front of me constantly and I can sit down, and the weather's nice,) I like to do as much as I can in the field, it's the raw response to thigns that you personally have seen that attracts me, there are no constraints, you paint what you can see. I'll use photos as reference, but would never start a picture from a photo, I've no interest in doing this as my paintings are about showing things that I've seen, not what others have seen. There should be no guilt in using photos though, as the end result is still a personal creative journey, which at the end of the day is the result. I just find that using solely field sketches creates a more personal response and allows more freedom. If using photos, ie for reference, I look at them as and when I need them, decide how I'm going to draw or paint, and then put them away, so as not to slavishly copy the details.
 
If I can get the outline and placing of the eye right in the field, then I've got the hardest part done. I practice "getting faster" so I can capture poses that aren't as common. Most of the birds I draw, I've done them so much I know what the coloration or feathers should look like. I'm trying to better my photography so that I can take good reference photos for some winter studio work.
 
I think its a personal thing with photos. I use them all the time for my artwork, mainly because I prefer the comfort of my studio, and having everything at hand, to sitting out in the weather. I only use my own photos and use them as a reference rather than painting from the photos. Having said this I always get real satisfaction from working from life regardless what the results are, whether it be landscape or trying to sketch birds.Mind you I find sketching birds from life extremely hard and bloody infuriating, why do they always wait until you get the sketchbook out before flying away, why dont they f off immediately and save you the trouble.
 
I agree Phil it is dammed hard to produce anything much in the field but I'm sure it comes with experience. I'll tell you what though if I spend a few hours looking and trying to draw something I end up with a pretty good idea of what the bird looks like and do a passable drawing from momory which I couldn't do if I,d just been taking photos.
 
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