Reference Photos
Montana Horse Gallery, Donna Allen Weber, Fine Artist
Your Basic Reference Photo
If you don't have a camera, find a way to get one! Once you have your basic camera, you're ready to go forth and find pictures for your paintings. You don't have to get the latest, fanciest, fastest camera there is. I've got great reference photos with a $40 digital camera from Shopko. What I want from a reference photo, is the idea for the painting. I like to do my composition with my camera.
Nowdays, you're ahead to get a digital camera. I paint directly from the image I see on my computer. I like the way the screen shines giving the image a light source that's almost like natural light. I have a g4 mac, powerbook. I take it everywhere with me. I did a quick draw at an art show and used it there also.
You've gone out with your camera and you took photos of every horse you could find. You bring them back to your computer and download them, and you've chosen the one you're going to work from. There are two ways you can go. 1. Choose to do a peice of photo realistic art and copy everything from the photo to your painting. I watched a show on television, where an artist projected large images onto canvas. The paintings were identical to the photos. There's a style of art where artists create paintings exactly like photos. The style is popular and people love these paintings. They say, "Wow, it looks just like a photograph!"
2. Another way to use a reference photo. Extract the idea out of the photo. Use the basic information that's in the photo, to create the best painting you can. I'm not saying you have to create a fantastic peice of art here. Just do the painting the best you can, using the skill level you're in. Remove houses, take out unnecessary fences, edit the color information, put color into black camera caused shadows. Turn the horses around if you wish!
This is my reference photo.
This is the painting that came from it. I pulled the idea I saw in the photo out and painted it onto a support. I turned the Appaloosa white, I took the blaze off the sorrel. I think I liked the shape the white horse and the snow created. I also liked the shape of the darker horse as he connected the darker areas of the painting.
There are two styles in these methods of using a reference photo. 1. Tight. Artist's call this detailed way of painting tight. Some artists love to be captured in the details, they delight in painting each item they see and including everything. 2. Loose. Some artists love to paint loose. They let paint do what it wants, they let the image do what it wants. There is no right way to do this. Let your own style shine through in your work. If you love painting "tight", paint that way. You'll naturally shoot the photos you need for working in the method you choose. Same thing if you love to paint "loose". You'll find what you need in your reference shots.
You might have noticed, my stlye is fairly "loose". I like to lose every detail I can and still make a painting. I don't want to have to paint every blade of grass if a squiggle can make you think there's grass under a horse's hooves. If I try to paint detail, I get so frustrated I want to scream. As you paint, your style will develop. The quality of your reference photos will grow along with your ability to paint what you see in your mind. The truer you stay to yourself and your vision, the better you will become.
Image Use-CopyrightThe support you paint on.Drawing your image.ValueHarmonious ColorComplimentary ColorMagical joy of creation.Criticism vs CritiqueYour Basic Reference PhotoMore on the Reference Photo Using a reference photo more than once.How I do a watercolor painting.
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