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| Reclining Dachshund |
There is a huge
difference between drawings taken directly from life and those from photographs. Sketching from a photograph is by far the
simpler process (objects do not move, the angles are predetermined) and there
is information the artist will never discover by any other means - no one knew
the exact positions of a horse's legs at the gallop or the air-foil movement of
birds' wing feathers until the invention of the camera.
But the artist's
eye looking at reality and looking at a secondary image will perceive totally
different priorities. Somehow a leveling
occurs with the photograph; not only is every detail visible but every detail
is equal. Viewing the photographic
image, the artist finds the corner of a man's collar as intriguing for pencil
or brush to reproduce as the corner of his eye.
When you are
looking directly at a living thing this lack of proper priority is far less
likely to occur. What was emotionally
important when you viewed your subject will, if you are careful, retain its
importance in the finished work. Indeed,
you may be forced to simplify to just those important elements in order to
finish your study before your sitter moves too drastically!
It is this
emphasis on the most expressive elements that gives a sketch from life its true
liveliness. Drawing from life is twice
the challenge of working from photography - it often results in twice the Art.
