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'Cheat' - Like Mad!

As a youngster I was always irritated by the fact that my pencil and brush could never achieve what my imagination saw. Then I discovered I could trace an outline and fill in the rest - light and shadow and shade. I was very soon told this was cheating and forcibly discouraged.

DON'T BELIEVE THAT - BELIEVE THIS:

Tracing will teach you A LOT. Firstly because it's great training for your hand/eye coordination. Your mind gets used to 'the feel' of a line. Secondly, good results add great confidence in your own ability, and your freehand work will improve - and thirdly, we're not all Leonardo DeVinci's!

And by way of irrefutable proof ...

These images are a composites of original photographs from my own 'reference collection' superimposed on artworks published by professional artists as:

1) a magazine illustration,

2) a fine art work and

3) A well known piece of fantasy art.

To view the paintings
and the original photo for each picture
(and many others like them)

click the images ....

... You'll find an Aladin's Cave
of shocks and surprises!

And it works the other way too. An artwork can easily be a photographer's inspiration too ...

It's a lot rarer, but it happens - Photography imitates art ...
and then art imitated that photography ...

click the image to view what I believe to be an example:

... and where did Sigmund Fraud get his idea for the sketch below on the right? The one on the left is one I was lucky enough to acquire from my Grandfather's 'bottom drawer', and so will probably be a Victorian 'risqué' image. This very impressive version seems to be made up of four discreet ladies rather that one somewhat obvious one.

(For larger version - click either picture)

By now you should be feeling a little more relaxed about the simple matter of getting your edge lines down quickly and accurately

So - What should you look for (and at!) when taken by photographic inspiration?

Click the image set above to learn more

Here within the pages of Sensual Arts.com you will find hundreds of photographic images selected specifically for their potential as works of art. To take a look for yourself and imagine what you could create: click here

But please be mindful of this ...

I'm not advocating that we should all just copy each other's work, there would be no sense in that. But to take an image and SEE something MORE in it ... ADD something to it - That's a different matter. And if tracing an element helps you get it right, then why not? So, bit of advice number three - you got it - Cheat like mad ... but ...

Please, DON'T take someone's hard-earned concept and claim it for your own ...

Click a picture to view larger image set