Photo-referencing in
visual art
The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, video, filmmaking, design, crafts and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual art, and textile arts ...
is the practice of creating art based on a
photograph. Art produced through this technique is said to be photo-referenced. The method is widely used by artists, either in their daily work, as part of their
training
Training is teaching, or developing in oneself or others, any skills and knowledge or fitness that relate to specific useful competencies. Training has specific goals of improving one's capability, capacity, productivity and performance. I ...
, or to improve their artistic eye.
Photo-referencing, rather than working with
live models, is useful for cases in which an artist seeks to realistically produce a work of art based on some subject that is not readily available, such as a specific person who is not available or a structure in another country.
Artists may use a
lightbox
A lightbox is a translucent surface illuminated from behind, used for situations where a shape laid upon the surface needs to be seen with high contrast.
Types
Several varieties exist, depending on their purpose:
* Various backlit viewing d ...
as an aid in photo-referencing.
In the
comic book
A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...
industry, photo-referencing is criticized by some as a technique used to disguise the weakness of the artist's technical capability. However, others argue that photo-referencing is a legitimate technique. Artists who have been accused of excessive photo-referencing by their critics include
Greg Land
Greg Land (born 1956) is an American comic book artist, best known for his work on books such as ''Uncanny X-Men'', ''Birds of Prey'', and ''Fantastic Four''.
Career
Greg Land first got a job with an independent publisher as the artist for ''Stor ...
and
Alex Ross, though others defend the quality of their work. Award-winning comic creator
Alison Bechdel
Alison Bechdel ( ; born September 10, 1960) is an American cartoonist. Originally known for the long-running comic strip ''Dykes to Watch Out For'', she came to critical and commercial success in 2006 with her graphic memoir ''Fun Home'', whi ...
also uses extensive photo reference, frequently photographing herself in the poses of the characters she draws in order to convey body language accurately.
References
Artistic techniques
{{art-technique-stub