Creating Your Own Reference Material

There is no time like the present to increase your library of reference material for your paintings.  Inspiration is all around us.  We just need to look.  Today it's even easier as most of us have a camera handy right in our own cell phones.  However, I do recommend a good quality digital camera to get the best shots.  

I encourage my art students as much as possible to take their own photos for their reference material.  It's tempting to do a painting from a photo you found on the internet, but this is plagiarism.  After all, the artist behind the composition of that photo is the photographer, not you, and she/he deserves the credit.  Instead, find what interests you as an artist and go exploring with your camera.  Plan a photography day and go out to a garden, the zoo, the beach, or even in your own backyard.  You will find lots of inspiration all around you. 

  

I have found through experience that it is important to make sure you have plenty of natural sunlight on your subject.  Sun and shadows add depth and interest to your reference photos.  They will make your paintings come alive.   Too many times I've seen other artists working from photos that are flat and have a small range of values.  This will almost always lead to a boring painting.  Another thing to keep in mind is that you are actually composing your painting with the camera.  Take different shots of the same subject by experimenting with cropping.  Get in some closeups, some with the subject centered, and definitely some with the subject off center.  

You can also play with composition once you've downloaded your photos to your computer by using some cool photo editing software.  I use a nice program called The GNU Image Manipulation Program which is totally free to download.  You can get it at www.gimp.org.  It is a really easy to use program and I've been using it for years.

So get our of your studio and plan a fun photography day.  You will come back with loads of new inspiration to paint from!

Aloha,

Marionette

www.kauai-artist.net

www.kauaiartclasses.blogspot.com