Originally posted by Maniac
Artist?
Its nice and all, but its probably done on a photograph projection...
Not dismissing the talent, but...
Nothing unusual about using a photographic projection. Most professional artists use it as a tool in their bag of tricks, so to speak, when rendering realism. It is somewhat of a shortcut, but not as easy as you think to do right. Projections are unsuccessful without a knowledge of perspective and anatomy (for portraits, etc.) The first use of projection was the camera obscura, and used by Albrecht Durer when he set one up in his studio window to project cityscapes/landscapes in the 16th Century.
Composition is the most telling of an artist's abilities. That's what makes or breaks a drawing/painting. But as far as projections go, they are completely legit. The Old Masters used 'em.
So I would tend to agree that they (projections) shouldn't be used by students starting out. On the other hand, it is unusual to find a professional artist this day and age who doesn't employ this method, especially when rendering "photo-realistic" art work. The trade-off is a danger of the work lacking soul or spontaneity if the rendering is anything other than technical. Regardless of the technique used, it is the soul of the piece that makes it art.
Les
