Wetcanvas Live!

Handout class 1 from Johannes Vloothuis

Introduction Lesson 1- Summarized points.
General setbacks when using photos



It is frustrating that one paints for 10 years and there is that feeling that something is missing in the
paintings. I went through it. I always thought that the closer I got to the photo the better the result
would be until I realized the opposite was true. So what went wrong for so many years?
If you print out a photo and take it to the original scene and make the comparison, you are in for a
surprise. It will look like two different scenes.
Photographs are the artists Satan. They seduce the artist to copy it. This is due to the fact that there
are not enough landscape symbols stored in the artists mind memory bank. These symbols are
imperative if one is to succeed. The more appealing these symbols are the better the painting.
Photos can be a good tool when used properly.
Better not to print photos out. Displaying them on an HDTV or monitor will give you less of a distortion.

Where we can go wrong!
Photos will be true to detail and shape. Thats all you can trust. This is where we get our support because the
mind will not remember details easily.
But
Photos will lie about color and values.
Value 7 and 8 darks turn black. When printed out colors are muddy. Value 2 can end up being pure
white.
When huge outdoor scenes are rescaled to a mere size of the painting the scene looks artificial and
fake.
Photos will flatten a 3D scene, often repeating the same color temperature in other planes. We tend to
copy as we see it in 2D.
Nature seldom provides lead-ins.
Cropping and scaling down to just a few mere inches results into an artificial representation.
Everything ends up being hard edged which is not how the eye sees.
Lines can end up being straight.
Tree tops line up.
Ironically nature will produce many symmetrical shapes.
Nature will repeat shapes.
Areas in photos will commonly be under exposed or over exposed.
Greens tend to be too garish or neon looking.
All the detail that appears in an area of a football field gets scaled down into mere inches, thus
cluttering the entire scene.
Photos will average out colors rendering them quite monochromatic.
Photos lack the human poetic story telling aspect.


If an artist is not properly trained to know what to change or overlook in a photo he will
be subject to the photos mercy.


Criteria for Selecting Photos
Selecting what photos to use for art depends very much on each individual. We all have our own
vision.
A sense of esthetics is important.
Differentiate what excites you from what will excite others. Just because something is nostalgic to you,
does not mean someone else is interested, unless you paint just for yourself.
From my personal stand point, I use this criteria:
1. The scene must be exciting to me not just be a good picture. Somewhat like falling in love.
2. The photo should contain 75% of the necessary reference.
3. There should be a back ground, middle ground and foreground.
4. Preferably the photo should have a visual lead in. Provoke the viewer to navigate into the painting.
5. Take into account that some scenes make great photos not good paintings.
6. The photo should have a theme. Think about a story Hollywood would make a movie from.
7. Paintings with moods usually are the most successful.
8. If I have a second or third photo that can be combined with any of the missing points above then I will
use it. I dont tend to invent much, rather just interpret.