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Certainly, there are pitfalls to making paintings from photos . One problem occurs when an artist thinks that a photo is magic and that he or she can turn a photo into a painting with a snap of the fingers. It isn't that easy, of course. And even if it were possible to easily reproduce photos as...
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Almost every artist I know who depicts people or creates portraits has spent time painting from photographs or drawing from them. It may not be how they develop a work foremost, but it is a useful method, especially when you want to capture a likeness and don't have the luxury of having your model...
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The winners of our Self-Portrait Cover Competition are featured in the September issue of American Artist, and they share advice about how to paint the figure and how to maintain a successful painting practice. When we asked David Tanner, the winner of the competition, to give his advice, he offered...
Posted to
The Oil Painting Blog
by
Austin R. Williams
on
12 Jul 2012
Filed under:
Filed under: color, oil painting, plein air, still life, landscape painting, portrait painting, how to paint, Figure Drawing, Drawing Basics, Photo Reference, Art, Artist Daily
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I feel so inundated with ideas from every single photo reference around me right now. Sometimes I am super inspired by them, but sometimes they make me want to put my paintbrush down because I get so overwhelmed by all the ways I can start painting from photographs that grab my attention! Today is one...
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Elton , 11 x 14, mixed media on gesso board, 2011. Yesterday was an interesting day for me. I thought I was near finished with a painting I had been working on for over three months, but when I sent it over to my agent in New York, who I call my third set of eyes, (hubby Matthew is my second) he called...
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Our contributing bloggers John Hulsey and Ann Trusty of The Artist's Road wrote a really informative blog about how to get the most out of a photograph of your painting or drawing, and I wanted to share it with you. Enjoy! Film holder frame attached to my light stand. Lexan/polarizing film sandwich...
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Some of the inspiration for the landscape in my painting, Leaves of Grass , came from found images of industrial areas along the New York waterfront. Sometimes in making a small study for a larger oil painting, an artist will sketch in certain areas very loosely. It's almost as if she says to herself...
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All works by Joel Kelly. Courtesy Coup d'Oeil Art Consortium. I’m from a card-playing family, so when it comes to discussions about artists using reference photographs, I always think in terms of watching for a “tell.” Like in poker—where players’ subtle mannerisms can...
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I normally work from plein air sketches or my imagination, but this scene I photographed while on vacation in Costa Rica was just too beautiful to pass up. As most artists do when working from a photo, I made adjustments to the composition to better suit my painting. I first changed the foreground to...
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The beach scene in Manuel Antonio. I normally paint with oils mixed with Galkyd fast-drying medium, so I assume I can make radical changes in the composition of shapes, values, and colors as I formulate the intended outcome of my pictures. But I had to exercise more thought, control, and restraint when...
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More than 5,300 artists entered one, two, or three works of art in the contest sponsored by American Artist and Utrecht art supplies, and I was one of the three judges that selected the award winners. It was both a challenging and rewarding experience, and I discovered some incredibly talented artists...
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I spoke with Calvin Goodman, the author of Art Marketing Handbook (Gee Tee Bee Publications, Los Angeles, California), just after finishing my blog post about capturing a likeness in portrait painting. He encouraged me to point out that most artists fail to convey their sense of passion for the people...
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Artists from across the country submitted their work for consideration in the 2009 American Artist Cover Competition. After an extensive selection process Suzanne Eisler’s Still Life With Butterfly was chosen as the winning image. It is presented here, along with artwork from the nine other finalists...
Posted to
Web Features
by
Brian Riley
on
20 Apr 2009
Filed under:
Filed under: plein air, still life, landscape painting, how to paint, Painting, Pastel, Oil Painting, Drawing Basics, sketching, Art, Photo Reference, street art, Artist Daily
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David Jon Kassan discusses Sam Ivie's Cellini Revisited. Cellini Revisited by Sam Ivie, 2000, colored pencil drawing, 8 x 10. Collection the artist. Looking at Drawings: Cellini Revisited by Sam Ivie by David Jon Kassan In this small colored pencil drawing, Dallas artist Sam Ivie mixed photorealistic...
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David Kassan comments on Katherine Sammons' My Mother . My Mother by Katherine Sammons, 2007, charcoal drawing, 14 x 18. by David Jon Kassan This piece is both a portrait of the artist's mother and a metaphor for the balance of opposites--light and dark, and strength and fragility. The intricate...