Re: Manipulating images in Photoshop as source for painting

In Reply to: Manipulating images in Photoshop as source for painting posted by James Morton on 08/21/00 at 10:19 AM:

James, as a former illustrator I kept a "morgue" of photo reference. No one's visual memory is THAT good and sending away for a panzer division or a herd of horses to pose becomes cumbersome (they don't take American Express) ;-)

Like you, I found the computer to be a great aid, and when I discovered Photoshop I went wild. After a while, I became a bit less sanguine about the prospects for using the computer to actually generate the final images. Perhaps, someday the technology will be there but it's not there now. The problem I encountered is that I can "smell" a Photoshop rendering (Just like I could tell the difference between press-down type and the real thing). All of the effects are designed by engineers, not artists, and they have a definite feel to them that an artist would not employ.

That said, I still find Photoshop valuable for experimenting with colors, contrasts and any number of other preliminary procedures that always took more time than they are worth. Sure, just as photography will give you masses of information. it's not very good at discerning TELLING detail. For that, there's no substitute for the human eye and hand. There's no substitute for paint sketches.

Another thing I've found over the years is that, for me, painting is MUCH faster than trying to render it on a computer (and we have some speedy computers).

I think that the computer, like any tool, is useful. But like those times when a poor draughtsman discovers the camera lucida or the opaque projector, it can be a very noticeable crutch. Give a man a crutch and he'll learn how to limp.
Re: Manipulating images in Photoshop as source for painting T. Newson   Posted at: 08/31/00 (1)
Re: Manipulating images in Photoshop as source for painting
 
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