Black-capped chickadees and working from photographs

Black-capped Chickadee
pen and pencil
small leather sketchbook
Original Photo

Most of my work lately has been from photographs, and often not my own photographs.

This is for a number of reasons.  I do not yet have the financial luxury of being a full time artist, and while I do consider myself a decent photographer (I promise that I'll get some photographs of my own up here eventually), I simply have not had the time to go out and take a lot of new pictures.  As I work towards developing my technical skills as a professional artist on a very limited time budget, and I find myself curious about different breeds of horses, different poses, and different species, this means I go to the almighty Google and see what the world has to offer me.  I would really, really rather be going out into the world itself, sketchbook and camera in hand.

As an art school graduate, I know that I'm capable of creating from my own personal observation.  This alleviates some of the sting.  The photograph undergoes some transformation under my pen and pencil, and so it is not like the original; I omit scenery or other details, or imagine what's under an overexposed highlight, or simply do not have the ability to create a photo realistic image.  I am supremely thankful to those people whose photographs have helped me to create new drawings.

I do encourage artists to use photographs.  They can help you see what you might have missed in a real life observation, or solve a drawing problem.  Some subjects are difficult to capture in real life, such as birds, horses and (awake) cats.  Franz Marc and other great artists used to go to slaughter houses or literally kill birds so that they could better observe their subject.  That's not always feasible in today's age.  Hence, photographs.  Drawing from a photograph does help to learn the subject and hone your observation skills.  I am working on not "being a slave to the reference," however.

Ideally, I would work from life and from my own reference photos, and I am working on putting myself in a place where I can do just that (i.e., not commuting 2+ hours every day on top of the eight hour work day and not relying on takeout).  I want to be a full time professional artist; this blog partially details that journey.  It may be as simple (and complicated) a matter of just taking the plunge and leaving the traditional work force.  I hope to build a large enough client/fan base to be able to do just that within the next five years, or to be able to find a different job that is not so restrictive or far from home (sorry bosses).  There's always tomorrow, I tell myself comfortingly.  But the other part of me says, "The time is now!"  For the present, I do my daily sketches, write my blog, and formulate my plans and dreams.

Anyway, black-capped chickadees are one of my favorite bird species, and are prevalent in my area at this time of year.  They are vivacious, curious little creatures, and sound so cute when they say, "Chick-a-dee-dee-dee!"  Seeing them takes me away to quiet, snow-covered fields and forests, walking through the cold beauty of winter.  Even with all of the gray and cloudy weather recently, a chickadee will reliably make me smile.

Chickadee Sketch- no reference
pen
small leather sketchbook

"Chickadee Study"
pen and pencil
small leather sketchbook