Wow! It's very good! It looks like a photo.

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98% of DA users draw arts because they want to be popular. If you're one of 2% who draw because of your own pleasure, copy it and paste to your signature.

Sorry for my English. *_*
The Lion fell in love with the Lamb - "Twilight"

It's beautiful! Amazing work!

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My Stock-Account [link]

"One of the secrets of life is that all that is really
worth the doing is what we do for others."

Breathtaking. I love the brushstrokes.

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♆ "When you first saw the seven candles you knew. You knew - but any Sidhe would have known in the magic of the reflections pulsing across the ceiling of the Elder's chamber,"♆

You rightly so should be very proud of this work -- art is art no matter how it is derived. And this is really great art. Congratulations on a great work!

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Popular Works [link] • Naturescapes Gallery [link] • Freaky-Weird [link]

*sigh*

If I could figure out over painting at ALL I'd jump on that in a heart beat. I've been looking for tutorials on it forever now. Care to share?

I've done the art director/set design thing for my own work as well. I am a reference fiend. Always have been, likely always will be. So that part of your process I could relate to and share. I also use 3d 'sitting models' when I cant shoot from life or the project is too personal. Have you tried that as well?

Will be happy to trade info if you'd like a run down. Working out overpainting would be a very handy thing to know, but finding anything on it is difficult because it's apparently a dirty little secret? *shrugs* My motto has always been 'whatever gets the job done'. Just because we know traditional methods doesnt mean that alternative methods shouldnt be explored. Nor does it mean they have no value of their own.

Creativity is the key. Know your subject matter and the rules that guide it, then when you have that down, dont be afraid to break said rules.

It's all about the art, damnit.

/end rant

Great work, by the way

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Just because perfection is impossible, doesn’t mean I've given up attempting to achieve it.

this looks lovely, personally i cannot abide people who complain when artists use photo textures, photo parts, or even references.

to think of calling someone unartistic (or whatever) because they use a reference? it's so absurd! if you look at something to paint it, it makes you less of an artist... so i suppose the most artistic person in the world would be a blind person because he's NEVER seen anything before and therefore cannot have used a reference LOL. Unless he is a sculptor, then he is just as unartistic as the lot of us painters.

I find it so silly that people get so upset over things like that, it is the end result that counts, and using photoparts isn't a guarantee for good art, it's not cheating, and that is proved by the number of awful photomanips submitted to DA~

Anyway, I digress, it's a lovely piece, the blues and yellows are both calming and lively and reflect her pose very well.

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katiedesousa.com

I think what matters most for an overpainted work is the art directing and photoshooting that was done before.
When you set up a good shoot with excellent light beforehand, you already have an almost finished piece of art once you're done, and have most supposedly lived out a lot of artistical freedom with that.
Painting just makes it flawless. It is also a wonderful way to experiment with new brushes.

Generally for painting something over I'd suggest you to use small brushes. Like you can see on my painting. Many little brush strokes. This is the best way to not destroy detail by accident. At least that's what worked best for this one.

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"The devil's best trick was making the world believe that he never existed."

Well people think it's cheating. While art history proves it's not. I would also say that I have done more of an artistical job by doing all the art directing and perfect shooting beforehand by myself than someone who just blindly paints over something that was shot by someone else - while he is free to do so, of course, but he will have less artistic freedom than I do.
Also, people have to experiment with photos to find out how hard it really is to do good painterwork with them. So I meanwhile find the whole cheating discussion immature anyways.

And this "so i suppose the most artistic person in the world would be a blind person because he's NEVER seen anything before and therefore cannot have used a reference LOL." is the ultimate truth behind it. I totally agree with you.

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"The devil's best trick was making the world believe that he never existed."

Looks great but Isn't it boring to paint over a photo?

I'd say only people who have never done any artwork dare to claim using references, photos, etc. makes the final less worthy of being called art. Having worked as a scientific illustrator I'm quite familiar with having people looking down on what I do because it's "too close to reality and not subjective enough" (actual words). My only words to them: go and paint something, I want to see how you do!

I love the pose and oil painting feel of this piece. So, good job!

--
_{'I love my dreams', I said, a winter morn
To the practical man, and he, in scorn
Replied: 'I am no slave of the Ideal,
But, as all men of sense, I love the Real.'
Poor fool, mistaking all that is and seems!
I love the real when I love my dreams.}