(no subject)

[telophase]

In case you ever come across the canard that real artists draw everything out of their head...

http://www.muddycolors.com/2019/03/20-artists-from-photo-to-final/

(Also note that Maxfield Parrish for sure, and perhaps others, would project the photos onto the canvas and trace them to start out with.)

Comments

[yhlee]

<3

I feel better about (a) smartphone pics (b) gridding the hell out of everything now.

[havocthecat]

Oh, jeez, no. (Which is the Midwestern U.S. equivalent of "Yes, feel better!") One of my best friends is an amateur artist and she uses reference photos and grids the shit out of everything and she says it's advice from art classes and professionals.

I mean, if the great classical artists did it (and they did!), why should anyone else feel guilty over it, right?

[telophase]

Exactly! I had a life drawing teacher--a professional artist in his own right--who'd say, regarding computers and Photoshop and photographs and all sorts of helper tools, "If the Old Masters had it, they'd have used it." They were concerned about the final form of the picture, not the methods by which it was produced.