(from elsewhere) Constructive Advice: When working with colored pencil from a ph

(from elsewhere)

Constructive Advice:

When working with colored pencil from a photo, you may want to preserve the feeling of hand rendering by a simple technique of lightening the background shadows. Why? The eye does not see what the camera sees and it attempts to compensate for differences in light and shadow. The camera does not – we rely on post-processing (now photoshop) to reduce the contrasts. So if you want the ‘shock’ of the 80’s realists then you keep the strong shadows, and if you want to appeal to sensibilities of Durer then lighten them. Most line artists – Durer is my favorite example – will intensify shadow on the subject, and lighten shadows cast by it. Notice Chuck Close’s work, which is monumental – he ignores the background (largely). Or Robert Longo. But its better to just study the great masters. This technique allows you to combine the painterly feel with photorealistic rendering. On the other hand, maybe you want your work to scream “Photorealism”. But now that we know how Vermeer did his work there is no magic to photorealistic drawing and painting any longer.

Anyway. That’s how four years of art theory at an expensive private university will teach you how to critique art. lol

Cheers.