How to cheat at portraits.

[drzeller]

...or just run any photo through any one of dozens of painting filters in numerous programs (PhotoShop, Paintshop, etc. etc.) and have it all done in 3 seconds? Cheating at the speed of light.

There was a good discussion a year or two ago about people enjoying and appreciating different type of art and artistic processes. There is some skill involved in leveraging a picture to create a "painting," and some people enjoy the process and the results. As long as everyone is clear on what it being presented, there is no harm, no foul in any of these creative processes. "Re-stroking" is quite a bit different than running a filter (just as it is different from starting from scratch).

D.

[misterpaint]

Yesterday I tried this technique ... but.... I'm not able

... is absurd, but for me it's much easier to paint in the traditional way ... I never thought about this solution.

thx for share it.

[byroncallas]

There was a good discussion a year or two ago about people enjoying and appreciating different type of art and artistic processes. There is some skill involved in leveraging a picture to create a "painting," and some people enjoy the process and the results. As long as everyone is clear on what it being presented, there is no harm, no foul in any of these creative processes. "Re-stroking" is quite a bit different than running a filter (just as it is different from starting from scratch).

D.

That makes good sense. For everything there is a season, especially the "as long as everyone is clear on what is being presented" part. Meanwhile, MisterPaint's experience posted above is hilarious - made me laugh.

[dali]

Heh, I had to go back and reread your cheating lesson Fraser, I couldn't figure it out. I was trying to smear paint with the palette knife before I put it on the canvas. My bad!

[fraser_paice]

Well Dali and Misterpaint can't cheat properly... not sure if that makes me feel good or bad... I have played with programs like Virtual painter, that just convert a photo to a painting but this isn't about that. I use a lot of stencils, sometimes go out to take photos with that in mind.

Of course this is not the way to hone drawing skills but you can learn about shape and shading and get results that encourage you to continue and improve.

Didn't want to start a debate on the ethics or merits of this technique or what 'art' is... Just thought I'd share the idea.

[screenpainter]

Someonesane, wow, I would totally believe that portrait you showed was meticulously painted. I am shocked. It is really a beautiful looking portrait I must say.

Neil, thanks for showing how it is done using stencils. I think. I would hope that people would admit to using a stencil. I don't know if it is discernible or not. The final result looks pretty convincing. I suppose it is not unlike what Andy Warhol did with photos and serigraphy.

[jackie0109]

I am just learning how to sketch portraits and yet I already knew how to cheat them. That's great.

[JosepM]

Very nice play to learn... Here the shop of friend..

[arenhaus]

It's trickier than it seems. If you can successfully "cheat" this way, chances are that you don't need to.

That said, I can still tell you've used photos. In 95 cases out of 100, at least. It's not about presence of brushstrokes; it's about the lighting, color and perspective. I detect copied photos quite reliably, so there must be others who can, too. Your "cheating" won't quite work.

[JosepM]

This is a "cheated" photo I don't want pass this paint for a real paint, only testing the feature. I read someting is similiar with photoshop but never try it.

Salut,
Josep