Glenn, 
I think that the OFDWs are, as you say, evolving, and I have thought a lot lately about how to structure them such that there is more emphasis on creative composition / etc. ~ how to create a new Workshop where the focus is on creating personal work.
I have reservations about this, however, for a few reasons.
Chief among them is that the original intent and purpose behind creating the OFDWs is to address the need for artists in our community to increase their observational skills ~ there are many beginners in particular who take as their starting point manga, comic books, and current digital art as their starting / reference points with respect to figurative art. As a result, I see many people making the same mistakes in their drawings repeatedly, and the OFDWs are incredibly successful to me because it puts artists back in the mindset of working from what the figure really looks like, vs. a cartoon / stylized representation of it.
While some have taken their work here in the OFDWs beyond the call of duty and created their own finished artwork with it ~ which I think is fantastic! ~ that is not actually the purpose behind these Workshops as they are now. The purpose is really to help artists increase their observational skills, and as such, yes, many pieces will closely follow the photographs ~ in a big way, thatās the point here.
What I think you and Ronnie are rightly picking up on is the fact that there needs to be another outlet here for the development of personal work / work that may use Reference as a starting, but not necessarily an ending point.
Having said that, however, I think that too often, beginners hear the oft batted about phrases, āYou must learn to draw from your imaginationā and āYou must draw from life / without Referenceā, and think that they must do that automatically! This borders to me on the ridiculous, because how can anyone draw from imagination if that imagination is not stocked from either drawing on a regular basis from life and / or from Reference?
As such, these Workshops must be taken for what they are ~ incredible opportunities for artists from everywhere to work together to improve their observational and technical skills. As I say, these Workshops can always evolve, with the potential to move towards an offspin Workshop where people create their own pieces, with or without Reference. However, I am not a fan of work in which people proudly proclaim that they have used no Reference, when the work could have greatly benefitted from the employment of such.
I hope that makes sense!
~Rebeccak
I donāt know how long it will take to arrive here, but it will take me a while to get used to it.
