scrobble.life
#art

What's behind the curtains

veryspider@veryspider (69)2310d

Hi friends, I was chatting with some friends yesterday and we got into a deep conversation about artists and sourcing their references. To make a long story short, at the end of that chat I was like, yeah okay each artist to their own, if they dont wanna cite their references and get found out later, it's their choice, no skin off my bones~

But now that I've slept on it, I think I realized a fundamental flaw in that thinking:

I forgot that photographers are artists too

It's really a shame, but I sort of bypassed the fact that a photographer would have to make artistic choices with regards to what his model would be wearing, the lighting of the shot, the composition for the shot, and even the model that he will work with for a specific piece. Not to mention, the framing, the editing, and other legitimately creative directions that will generate a beautiful photography.

Heck, I have tried to take pretty pictures with my camera. Shit is NOT easy. It isn't just click one button and a gorgeous shot comes out automatically! (In fact, most of my photography is shitty) (They will not grace the light of day at any blog because I have shame) (lol)

So, I think it's important to change the thinking that only painters or illustrators are artists. Photography is often overlooked or belittled as FREE SHIT. This is kinda bad practice since I know a lot of photographers would welcome the words of mouths to spread, so as to gain more business or even just to bolster their branding online. The more searchable they are, the more discoverable they are.

If I rely on primarily one piece of photography to make an art, I think it is good form to give something back to that photographer and cite my sources. The photographer's name would then be known to my audience and I will be giving back something to my sources instead of just taking and treating their work as freebies.

On another note, I was told that revealing the base photo can be like asking a magician to share their secret magic tricks. I was perplexed with this at first (I never use references that's why my drawings are terrible) but I can understand the desire to want to seem ... 'magical', for lack of better word. Well, for one, you can use your own photos if your own photography is good enough to be used as a base for your artworks. If not? There are a lot of free to use photography out there for this purpose, I think. Pixabay, etc. Sure they will be easily searchable by others, but at least this way we are not taking photography and photographers' work for granted?

But more than that, if someone thinks seeing the base photo diminish the 'magic' off an artwork, just ask the silly person to make one themselves.

It is virtually impossible to gain an artist's experience, training, skills, and artistic eyes, just by seeing the source of the artwork. As I did say in the conversation, TO ME, it is wonderful to see what an artist makes out of commonplace references. TO ME, it is actually magical to see an artist's creative choices that generates their own interpretations out of their base photos. It's like seeing a jumper knitted out of a yarn of wool. The process, the decisions, the artistry matters.

Just cuz we can see the original picture, doesnt mean just anyone can come up with the quality, polish, creativity, and originality that a given artist can bring out from a base photograph!

tl;dr photographers are artists, yo

in summary, photography is a legitimate art. and pretty photographs shouldn't just be treated like freebies for painters / illustrators without some give back. THIS IS MY OPINION, btw. I'm not enforcing this on anyone. Just was ...tossing and turning last night, feeling as if I was missing something and wanting to be a better person out of the brain curling session so this was what I come out with, that's all~

OKAY so because I dont like to make a post without images and I need to demonstrate my point, I DID pick a photo off pixabay and I DID make a sketch out of it to accompany this ramblings of a post... which, you can see in the banner of this post!

This is the picture I chose from pixabay:

And the result was as the top image of this post~ Here it is again:

As you can see it is not a 1:1 direct translation as my eyes and brain made their own "director's" choices as to how to frame the inspiration as my own artwork.

And I dont think ....I dont think NOT showing the base picture adds to the "magic" of my piece, to be honest. Besides, if you know me, ...I am very comfortable with adding my own flairs and stories as I go so that picture was only half of what I really ended up with. I added characters so that there is a story in the artwork :D

Here is the finished piece:

I was thinking ... Star Wars? XD And I was thinking, a long journey through a dry and arid land, where the traveler did not entertain a hope in their heart that they would still be waited for, that there were still people that cared for them. And then, they looked up, and saw their people upon the high rock... !

Didn't have any references for the characters or the beast, so anatomically they may be not quite perfect, but for me it is more important to tell a story than to get things photorealistic~

Anyway, that's MY ramblings and my struggles. I don't mean to pontificate or lecture others. I genuinely was grappling with the topic of citing references for artists and this is what I came up with at the present moment. As usual, all opinions are welcome, please say your piece in the comments if you have your own thoughts on the matter. I find myself always open to challenges, to dialog, to learning what others have experienced, as we all have our own blind spots and the only way to grow is to share and learn from each other... Dont you think?

As a final bonus, here's a video of my drawing the artwork in this post :>

Alrighty, that's all from me for now. Please excuse my stream of consciousness type of writing and I hope you are all having a good day :>

And I think I didn't say this in the last post, but if you are active on mainstream social media, always create a cross post of your hive post! Specially if your article has been well researched, or the art is eye-catching, or it has the potential to gather eyeballs and attract people's interest in joining HIVE :)

We gotta do our bits to help keep the HYPE alive so our new home's success gain strength from day to day, friends~ !!!

Until next time, see you o/

Websites used to make the art in this post

https://pixabay.com

Copyright (c) 2020 veryspider. No reusing elsewheres unless you got my okay to do so in writing!

https://discord.gg/suvDzUQ

Comments · 12

  • @hivebuzz(74)· 2298d

    @veryspider, sorry to see you have less Hive Power. Your level lowered and you are now a Red Fish!

    Do not miss the last post from @hivebuzz:

    The Hive Gamification Proposal
    Hive Revolution - Mission 1 - Communication
    Support the HiveBuzz project. Vote for our proposal!
  • @travelporn(36)· 2301d

    Oh definitely being cited feels good. you never know what other person is good at doing is an art itself.

  • @bdmillergallery(77)· 2310d

    Hey Spider!!! How have ya been? Getting to be winter there soon.. bundle up!

    I find I feel better citing my sources even if my finished piece looks nothing like the photo. If I get inspiration from it, I like to cite it. It's fun and like you stated, I feel like I am giving something back. Plus it's hard enough for me (a non-writer) to come up with material, to create a story about my work. More interesting for the reader I think.

    Anyhow, I can probably take a good guess which chat room you were having this debate in.. lol. Have a GREAT DAY!! Sorry it's been so long 😊

  • @trincowski(72)· 2310d

    So, I think it's important to change the thinking that only painters or illustrators are artists. Photography is often overlooked or belittled as FREE SHIT.

    Thanks for saying this! That is so true. It looks simple to take a photo but it's really not as simple as it seems! 🤗

    Nice work on that drawing!

  • @discovery-it(69)· 2310d

    Questo post è stato condiviso e votato all'interno del discord del team curatori di discovery-it Entra nella nostra community! hive-193212 This post was shared and voted inside the discord by the curators team of discovery-it. Join our community! hive-193212

  • @phage93(69)· 2310d

    thank you for this! !discovery 50

  • @silver.art(68)· 2310d

    Veryspider, you are so right about the photography. The photographers are also an artists. I like your drawing pretty much, because it is expressive and full of energy!You have a story with these two characters the girl and her horse! I admire you for this post! Keep doing the things with heart and joy!

  • @ryivhnn(73)· 2310d

    I remember there being some kerfuffle a hundred million years ago about photographers using the art tag, the non-photographers felt like they were being buried under the photos (there were a lot).

    Then there's the debacle about whether snapshots (like selfies or the kind you'd take of your family and friends and pets messing around the the lulz or the memories) should be considered photography never mind art.

    Now there's another can of worms to go with your can of worms post x_x lol

    Screenshot_20200504_172224.png

    On the referencing, I think if you're using one image for whatever reason (base for overpainting, drawing from reference, etc) then crediting is at least polite if nothing else. It gets slightly more insane when you're photobashing (that's grabbing various elements from numerous photos/references and smashing them together into one image and probably also overpainting it or at the very least editing it heavily for those who aren't sure) or have one of those mood/vision board things, and also starts to get to the point where it's fair use to merely influence.

    Photography is often overlooked or belittled as FREE SHIT.

    Seriously, who thinks that. +3 exasperation.

    I was told that revealing the base photo can be like asking a magician to share their secret magic tricks.

    That reads like a bit of an ego trip to me x_x but I have a strong preference to helping people where I can which is why I have process posts and progblogs (well that and if I didn't have the progblogs I'd be posting maybe monthly if I can stay on top of hs misc instead of weekly XD) so I guess I only kind of vaguely academically understand that mentality.

    And meanwhile I think you made good use of the reference the nice photo provided to make a great drawing. The pointy legs/possibly non-existent feet of the character with all those robey clothes have very Journey vibes XD

  • @sketchbook.bot(52)· 2310d

    👋 Hi @veryspider, I was flipping through the blockchain and stumbled on your work! You've been upvoted by Sketchbook / a community for design and creativity. Looking forward to crossing paths again soon.

    ✅ Join the Sketchbook Community

  • @manoldonchev(74)· 2310d

    Who Da Artist!

    You Da Artist!

    Who Da Artist!

    We Da Artist!

  • @siucatti(63)· 2310d

    Hi Spidey! You made an interesting point with this post but it's a very long discussion to take. I don't know any professional artist that doesn't use any kind of reference. Maybe they're selfish, but no one ever has shared or even mentioned what they use, maybe it should change, I don't know. For example, I've seen the creator of Jojo's bizarre adventure making an illustration on youtube, he kept going back and forward with books of sculptures and fashion magazines as inspiration for designs and poses for the characters, he made an entire story and character development but copied poses for that illustration, is he stealing?

    I remember seeing artists who posted daily copying almost everything of a painting I made to keep coming up with art, and of course, he/she didn't mention me, I considered it as inspiration, not necessarily a steal.

    It's different when you copy 1:1 other's work. It shouldn't be considered art, just a study, or practice, and mentioning the original artist should be mandatory. Analyzing it further, if it should be monetized, sold or however they think to use it, that's beyond me.

  • @sina-adventure(61)· 2310d

    I definitely appreciate my work (photographs) being cited. Though it depends on the category [and mostly true for nature/travel photography] but I think much of a photographer's work is finding a great subject. And I guess that's one of the main differences between photography and painting. It could be the reason that why photography is overlooked, all the effort is not in the photo, but I think for painting, most of the effort is seen in the painting. Though as I'm not a painter, I don't know how true is that.