Painting from photographs

By: Fawn McNeill Barr ( View Profile - Contact )

Painting from photographs

The question that is most often asked of me is if it is Ok to use published photos to create paintings. The answer is yes and no.

Yes, if you are a student, learning how to paint, and giving away your art to loved ones, then you are free to use  photos to learn from. Always best to get permision from the photographer.  The goal is that you become better at creating your own compositions and paint from your own photos. 

If on the other hand, you are selling your work, the answer becomes "no." You have lost the status of "amateur artist" and are no longer free to use published photos.

Of course many artists do use published photos, and do sell their work. I don't agree with this practice. Artists should use them only for reference and not to copy from.  One way to do this is to work from three or four images. Mix and match different elements, rearrange things to suit your interests and change the colors.

Example: One image for the sky or background, one for the middle ground and one for the foreground. This is easily accomplished with landscapes and seascapes. Again it is always better to use your own photos.

If it is something more difficult, a person or animal for example, then you can use the head of one image, the body of another, change the colors, and change the background.

If I wanted to paint a wild cat for example, and I don’t have access to a zoo, or a natural habitat to take my own photos, then I may do some research, find as many images as I can that go with the idea I am after, and I will draw my own ideas. I do two or three rough drafts, then decide on the one I like the most. I will not trace, or copy any of the reference images, as this would be infringing on copyrights. This requires doing some studies of the animal, its natural settings, and of course practice in drawing. I buy how to draw books and do many sketches of an animal before I try to paint it. I also draw some of the reference images before I try to come up with my own ideas.

The best way to paint is from life studies. Set up a still life and practice on the real thing! Or go out and practice painting from nature en plein air, as the masters did. The next best thing is to take lots of photos! When using your own photos you can enlarge, trace, copy, grid, transfer or just draw from them. You can use them however you want.

Taking your own photographs and painting from them will help you remember the colors and the things that interested you when you took the pictures. Often the photos leave much to be desired and we wonder why we even took the picture to begin with! That is where you come in as an artist. You get to crop things, move a tree over, add extra water, or enhance the bright orange color you saw in the tree . . .

Having said all of that, I need to say that you should also be careful and take into account that photographs do distort things. When using your photos to paint, be careful to double check for correct proportions. If a persons legs look too small for the body, they are probably out of proportion. If buildings look like they are going to fall over, please straighten up the vertical lines!

 Essentially it is your painting. Make it better than a photograph. Be creative, give it a painterly feel, your own style, let the brush strokes show, and use your favorite colors. You want a painting, not a photograph!

Here is a painting I recently did from one of my photos of Lake Okeechobee at sunset  (see above).   I did this as a palette knife painting to show you how to use an image as a spring board, and then let your self go.  I stopped copying the photo after the first few colors of the sky were finished, then I went back and added more of what I liked.  My goal was not to make it look like the photograph, but to capture the excitement I felt when I watched the sunset!

Here is my wonderful mess, that is truly an expression of myself, and looks and feels very much like a painting!

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions!  Happy Painting!

	About The Artist
	Fawn McNeill Barr ( View Profile - Contact ) ( 3 lessons, ) Fawn as her BFA from Florida Atlantic University. Her major is in studio arts and painting. She is also a certified art teacher in Florida.