Alexis Texas

#1

I did this painting for a friend. I use a photo reference. 4 hours of work with post process, lens correction, chromatic aberation etc… Hope you like it :slight_smile:

#2

Not really sure if that could be considered a personal paint work.

#3

I’m using the same technique of painting.

Good tutorial.
http://www.cgarena.com/freestuff/tutorials/photoshop/lukx/index.html

#4

I don’t think “paint by numbers” could really be called a technique when dealing with digital painting, just a cheap shortcut.
I don’t mean to be rude, I just think that there is nothing interesting in using such a poor method, I don’t see how it will improve your own technique and skills.
There is certainly more benefits in using the photo as a reference and trying to redo it your way (even if it is to be as close as possible) rather than just painting over it.
What really bothers me is it makes me think you were trying to fool me (or us) into believing you had mad skills at painting… just like the way the guy from the link you provided did!
By the way I found this on CGS, you may want to read it:

Important Notice - Commercial Derivatives If your artwork is a derivative of a commercial work such as a professionally photographed person, please do not post this on CGSociety.

                                               Derivatives are works  that reference existing commercial works               directly.                Your work needs to be original, and not bear resemblance to any                commercial               work in existence. In order to  protect artists, CGSociety reserves               the                right to remove any work that is found to resemble a commercial                work.
#5

Glad you appreciate my reproduction… It’s just my 3rd pratice paint hahaha

#6

And now a little caricature of the Mademoiselle. Have fun tomyhobo!

#7

so it’s a traced image after doing a tutorial on how to trace?

#8

Copy paste photo with a filter or two loll (joking)
To be clear, it’s an observation painting. It’s for me a training and I’m happy with the result.

I using the same technique: http://www.cgarena.com/freestuff/tutorials/photoshop/rihanna/rihanna.html

#9

Hey,
So I’m not sure why everyone has attacked you with out asking questions. I know how it feels, I have been on your end of this before. If you’d like to see examples of y portraits, check out my blog link below.

My question is, did you just look at the image side by side or did your trace? did you use color picking or chose your own colors?
I find nothing wrong with you looking at reference and drawing it. We as artist draw from reference over and over, so that one day we no longer need to.

I honestly dont even image this being traced because there are quite a few things wrong with it. Are you looking for a crit on the original, are you going for photo real, are you “done” or still working on it?

#10

@Williamwinkler: are you serious?

“So I’m not sure why everyone has attacked you with out asking questions.”

Maybe you should read more carefully my post, that doesn’t look like an attack to me, just an honest advise:

“There is certainly more benefits in using the photo as a reference and trying to redo it your way (even if it is to be as close as possible) rather than just painting over it.”

You should google for the original photo, change Burtong’s image proportion (surprisingly you will get a perfect match) then paste it into said image, and play with the transparency slider of the layer, you will have your answers about tracing, no need to ask questions when it’s so obvious!

#11

The reason why a lot of work posted in this forum, looks like it was traced or painted over is because too many key elements line up too well (when proofed by overlay), while other aspects of the piece are poorly handled, completely contradicting the observational skill required to pull off any precise aligning or proportioning of those elements by “eyeballing” the ref from afar (as in–NOT a document underlayer).
Painted over photos or traced photos are easy to spot. Like they say, a picture tells a thousand words and sometimes a picture just plain tells on the one who made it.

#12

Thanks for your advice guys, like I said I do it for fun. I take time to draw the lines (the trick is the liquify filter) to have good proportions. After I have the lines I put the original under my lines to compare with my lines then do some quick and rough corrections. The other step is to put the image side by side and start pick some colors from the photo and paint on the other side. So, for me the exercice is to blend the colors and reproduce the volumes. Maybe one day after 100 paintings I can do this kind of portrait without refs. Anyway I don’ think it’s a bad way to learn.

Mr Williamwinkler, I check your blog and the doctor is very well painted :slight_smile:

#13

There is absolutely nothing wrong with using photos as reference, but you should always be respectful of the original photographer’s copyright, and credit them when possible - I know many professional photographers, and they generally have no problems with students using their work to learn from.

The technique you linked is okay, I guess, but I would urge you to study anatomy and lighting and texture in the future. Art doesn’t have to be perfect, and the more experience you have with it, the more you can edit photographic sources to make it more your own. You can also use your own photos, too.

What is your goal, overall? Is art just a hobby, or are you looking into more serious study?

#14

Copying existing commercial photos is really just a technical exercise, training your eye-to-hand coordination and observational skills–nothing more. All the creative decisions were made by the original photographer–the composition, the camera angle, the focal length, the lighting, the colors, the pose, the expression, the makeup, including the creative vision/idea itself for the image. When you copy a photo, you are not making any creative decision–you’re basically a glorified copy machine.

That is why it’s so important to study the foundations of visual art, so that you will have the necessary knowledge and skill to actually portray your own ideas, without any limitation, using your imagination and your own creative decisions. It’s also far more fulfilling than copying other people’s images.

#15

Lunatique i’m not agree with you at 100 %. Maybe some points are ok but looks like you copy paste something from a book. My vision is: all kind of art copy or not is an evasive moment. Recreate something don’t mean you can’t change the color of light or the shape later or whatever you wan’t the camera angle … So yes you can when you copy something make your own decisions at the end or during the exercise.
The importance of studying the foundations ok, that’s what the reference use is for. Without reference no study …

" It’s also far more fulfilling than copying other people’s images " hhmmmmm I think it depends of what are you searching for, your goals: just for study, for fun or to become and be an artist, because you pratice more than others or have better skills or more imagination or …

Othervise thank you for the link of Art Techniques and Theories Forum
Have a nice weekend

#16

I teach art, and I’ve co-authored a book on digital painting, and written articles for magazines on how to improve as an artist–that’s why what I wrote reads like it came from a book.

The problem with inexperienced artists trying to deviate from photo references is that as soon as they do, they make mistakes, because they lack the knowledge and skill necessary to make authoritative decisions that make the deviation look correct and credible. It would require a mastery of the foundations of visual art and advanced skills in order to deviate from the references with confidence. I’m not just talking about technicality like anatomy and figure, but also artistic decisions like brushwork and surface treatment, color choices, lighting and manipulation of values, selective detailing, edge coherency/hierarchy, body language/expression, stylization choices, and so on.

Most members here at cgtalk are passionate aspiring artists or professionals. So when I give feedback, I do it with the assumption that the person has the desire to become an advanced artist. The reason why anyone asks for advice and critiques is because they want to improve, and if I were to give advice and critiques, I will do it with the intention of helping the person better themselves, period. It doesn’t matter to me if the person is just a hobbyist or have professional aspirations. To become a better artist is the same journey regardless if you are a hobbyist or an aspiring professional.

#17

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