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.

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.

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.

Rain at night in London town.

This is an illustration from a story I wrote called, “The Littlest Dragon Hunter”