Paintings From Photo

Article By: Bob Walton

Most artists like to view and look at the person and objects they want to draw or paint. But if an artist doesn’t have access to the actual person or object, they turn to a reference picture. Photos provided by customers are the easiest and best reference materials, whereas, reference books for objects are expensive.  So when it comes to references of objects, to be included in a portrait painting, the easiest, and cheapest, way to find reference pictures of what the portrait painting artist wants to paint or draw is to look on the internet.

Artists have to be careful, though. Many provided photos, and pictures on the internet are copyrighted. This means that you can’t copy it exactly and then call the end result their own work. That could get the artist into a litigious situation. To get around this, the portrait painting artist either has to change around things in their art, so that it doesn’t exactly reflect the image in the photograph, or they must find references that are unrestricted, that an artist is allowed to use. Regardless, references are critical for artworks, and proper use of those references is always necessary to remain above reproach.

In todays busy life, photos are the best means to obtain desired poses, frozen in time, that allow the artist to creatively express, on their canvas’ when the moment of inspiration strikes, without the constraints of time, distance, or “unavailable” live posing.

Ideally, it’s best for the artist to pose and photograph the subject his or herself. However, due to considerations already noted, it often becomes necessary to rely on the reference photographs customers provide, especially when the portrait painting from photo is to be a gift or surprise to a loved one, in order to paint the portrait masterpiece desired.

Why paint a portrait from photo? Because it simplifys the portrait painting process for both the artist and thier customers.

Are you looking for a personalized unique gift idea?  Have you ever considered a portrait painting? Too time consuming to pose in a studio? Not a problem; how about a portrait painting from photo to make it easy?  Just send us your favorite picture, with your suggestions & parameters, Anne Elisabeth does the rest.

There is lots of difference in the life expectancy, and keeping of a photo vs. that of an oil painting picture, by far it is more advantageous to own a painted portrait over owning a photograph. For one, paint lasts longer.  Just visit an art museum or art gallery to view re-known paintings; many paintings are centuries old. Paintings simply don’t fade out because they are made of a high quality media. The longest lasting paintings are those painted with oil paints. Portrait painted pictures are timeless keepsakes because they are truly works of art.

Anne Elisabeth is not just offering portrait paintings from photo as an expression of her creativity (as some artists understand). She creates products that fully satisfy her customers. She can customize her product in such a way that the oil painting pictures are preferred by the customers.  She can ensure full customer satisfaction by providing them draft of her works, and modifications if necessary, until the customer is fully satisfied.

Portrait painting from photo pictures are not only unique personalized gifts, they are timeless works of art from a real artist who makes the gift more valuable.

Now that I’ve finished the portrait commission, I have also started a few new paintings. Just little ones to help me further develop my acrylic technique, but thought you might like to see them in process:

Yay roses!  I’m going to work on the red one a little bit more before my first student of the day arrives, ’cause I won’t get a chance to play with them this weekend.

Why commission an artist? Well, there are plenty of reasons, here are some situations in which you may require a custom picture:

Perhaps you are an author, or roleplayer? I sure am! I find it nice to have a picture of my character to better help depict him or her to others. Or maybe there was a certain story you enjoyed and you would like that scene put into illustration?

Custom artwork also makes great personal gifts for friends and family.

Or perhaps you have a story, website, or other personal project that you may be working on and would like an illustration or graphic for it? I can do that too!

We ran and survey for “why commission and artist?”, and here are the top answers:

1) Because he/she is talented.

2) Because he/she is a friend of mine.

3) Because I love to have original drawing about my favourite characters.

4) Because I love to help people live from their art.

5) Because of their style or skill.

6) Because he/she is famous.

A portrait painting of one of my student’s Parents, the Waltons’

Completed in Acrylics.

The acrylic painting medium is a fairly new addition to the various painting mediums available to todays artists. It has been around since the 1950’s and has been continually under development and refinement ever since.

Acrylic paint is highly favored amongst artists because of its wonderful versatility. It can be applied thickly as an impasto having rich texture or in washes mimicking the characteristics of watercolor.

Another likable characteristic of acrylic paint is its permanence. Acrylic paint is not susceptible to yellowing or hardening with age. With acrylic paint, the artist does not need to be concerned with the order the paint is applied or other special techniques that ensure the paint film remains free from cracking. So it can be said that acrylic paint is much easier to use than oil paint.

Yet another characteristic that invites new artists to this medium is its fast drying time. Since acrylic paint dries so quickly, colors can be applied and overlaid quicker than with oil painting.

There are however a few downsides to the quick drying time of acrylic paints:

1) The paint will not remain workable for very long, so you have to work quickly.

2) The fast drying time of acrylics can also ruin brushes if the brushes are not cleaned immediately.

3) Acrylic paint is not the best medium for direct painting outdoors, especially on a bright sunny day. Whatever paint you put out on your palette will begin to dry quickly and form a skin over the surface of the paint making it very difficult to work with.

ACRYLIC PAINTING TECHNIQUES

Watercolor Effects

Acrylic paint works wonderfully as a transparent medium, similar to watercolor. Acrylics do have an advantage over watercolors. You can lay out a number of thin washes over one another without fear of disturbing the colors underneath. You must wait for one layer to dry completely before applying another of course. Once each layer dries it becomes insoluble in water. The only disadvantage to using acrylics as a watercolor medium is the difficulty in modifying the color. Once acrylic paint begins to dry it becomes rather difficult to work with. One of the biggest problems is the tendency for washes to dry with unwanted hard edges. You can avoid this problem in one of two ways. You can either dampen the paper before the paint is applied or you can use an additional brush dampened with water. Use one brush to apply the paint and immediately soften the edge with the other brush that has been dampened with the water.

Blending Opaque Colors

With watercolor effects, the acrylic paint is applied in transparent washes. With the opaque technique the paint layers are non-transparent. Blending opaque acrylic colors can be a bit tricky as you are kind of pressed for time. It is important therefore to only work on areas that you know you will have enough time to blend. To blend two colors, first paint a block of each color side by side on your support. Where the two colors join paint down that line with a clean damp brush to soften the edges. To blend the colors even further, move the blending brush from side to side or up and down, until the desired blending is achieved.

Sgraffito Technique

Sgraffito is a scratching technique. It got its name from the Italian word “graffiare” which literally means “to scratch”. Just as the name implies it involves scratching into the surface of the wet paint which reveals either the ground or layer of dry color underneath. There are a number of different tools that can be used for this technique. Tools like screwdrivers or the sharpened end of an old paintbrush handle should suffice. It really depends on the support you are using. For instance, a screwdriver may not be the best tool if you are using a panel as a support. The hard metal may damage the panel, so you would need to use a softer tool.

Using a Squeegee

A regular squeegee that you can purchase at any hardware or auto store can create some interesting effects when used with acrylic paint. First you would squeeze out some paint blobs directly along one edge of your support. You can layout whatever colors you wish. Then with one fluid motion you would drag the paint across the support with your squeegee, which will smear and mix the paint and create some very unique and interesting designs. You may need to alter your squeegee a bit as the rubber blade that comes with most squeegees may not be rigid enough to drag the paint. You can remove the rubber blade and in its place glue in a regular wooden ruler. This will give you a flat sturdy edge to manipulate the paint.

I hope you have enjoyed this article on acrylic painting techniques. Take some time today to experiment with these techniques and have fun. Happy Painting!

Article Source - Acrylic Painting Techniques For Beginners

Way before the camera and video camera were invented, portraits were painted by artists. As photographic technology developed, portraits were captured in any setting with just one click of a finger; unlike before where subjects sat and waited for hours until portraits are finished. While printed photos have an advantage in that they can be easily edited and printed. The computer world just doesn’t capture the magic of a created original painting. But you can take advantage of both worlds by commissioning Anne Elisabeth to create a painting from your photo.

Going from photo to painting is a multi-step process, which involves the following:

1) The Photo.

It all starts with an image, which can be any kind of photo. Photos can be presented as hard copy or digital images.

Although digital photos make the best choice for a photo, companies who do photo to painting understand that many clients have photos from the past that were taken when digital technology wasn’t available, so it is still possible to do so using old photos.

2) Painting Size.
Once you have selected the photo you would like turned into a painting, you will need to select the painting size.

Most companies who do photo to painting offer different painting sizes. The most common sizes are:
8.5”x11”, 14″x17″, 16″x20″, 18″x24″.

3) Painting Medium.

Next, you choose the style; pencil, acrylic, gouache, oil, pen & ink, watercolor.

4) Customizing Your Painting.

One of the many benefits of turning a photo to a painting is the possibility to do a custom painting. This means that the artist can make any types of modification to your painting. Here is a list of things which can be customized:

i) The background - If you do not like the background of the photo you have selected, or would like a plain studio background, then you can request the artist to paint it .
ii) The clothes - If the photo consists of multiple subjects, and has them looking perfect for an oil painting, maybe their clothes color or style do not match for a single oil painting. You can request from the artist to change their clothes so that they match in style and color.
iii) Combining photos - Let’s say you would like to have a family portrait done. However, you do not have a single photo of all the family members together. You could round up the best photo of each family member, and ask the artist to combine all the photos into one custom oil painting.

5) Choosing The Right Photo To Painting Artist.

Here at Portrait Paintings From Photo we offer uniqueness (a stylized and individual approach to recreating your special portrait). Anne Elisabeth imparts her spirituality to all her paintings; not an assembly-line approach.

Digital photos fade and the physical reminder of the happy event is gone. We, at Portrait Paintings From Photo would like to preserve your most cherished occasion, along with its physical memoir, thus we offer you portraits from photo. You choose the memory, we create the heirloom masterpiece.

This Portrait Painting is still a Work in Progress.