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Originally Posted by Richard Monro
Many of my paintings are of children under the age of five. Without photos, trying to do a decent painting of any one of these dynamos would be almost impossible.
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Just another example of the many ways in which photography can do things that Frans Hals might have liked. And used. (We'll never know.)
I don't care if I'm the maverick point of view, I'm going to say it: I believe photography, if not relied on as a crutch, can be a valuable tool rather than an evil. I can't say how many times I've seen someone with light falling across their face in a certain way, or in a certain position or setting, that fills me with vision and a burning desire to paint. A lot of these moments can't be recreated later in a live pose for various reasons, but they can be recorded by my camera.
At the same time, photography is no substitute for learning to paint from life. And I believe this learning process should ideally never stop. We should not assume that we've reached the skill level at which we no longer need to paint from life.
There are many people on this forum who are learning to paint by copying photos. I don't see anything horribly wrong with that
up to a point. Who said you have to learn to paint from life FIRST and THEN you can paint from photos? Why can't people take different paths? There's a lot you can learn about edges and color mixing, using a photo. I don't think we should assume these artists are on the wrong track simply because they start out this way. In fact I have seen many of them get to a certain point in their work and then become dissatisfied, realize they need to go to the next step, and start working from life. Some of them do and they turn out to be amazing. They need encouragement, not criticism. I believe that those who are really determined to put in the work necessary to be REALLY good will take the leap. It's up to them. We should not assume that anyone's an automatic loser because they start out at a certain place.
I've seen many cases of the opposite problem: people who have excellent training from life, in a good art school, etc., who end up painting only from photos and lose the spark. So, as I said, it's how you push yourself all through your life that makes a difference.