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Old 08-10-2004, 08:19 PM   #11
Michele Rushworth Michele Rushworth is offline
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A lot of nice shots here! I suppose which one you choose would depend on the purpose of these photos.

Is this a commission? In that case, if you have a fairly sophisticated client they may choose the one with the arms draped over the chair and not mind that part of his face isn't visible. I think that this one is definitely the most interesting composition, artistically speaking. If it was my child, that's the one I'd paint for myself. However, I don't think any of the clients I've had would have chosen that shot of their son.

Because of that factor I would think twice about creating a painting from this photo if it was primarily intended as a sample for my portfolio. I study the portraits I see on the SOG sites of artists whose work I admire and I haven't seen any compositions as adventurous as this one.

There is another good reason, though, for painting from the photo with the arms draped over the chair: competitions. From what I've seen, the artist-judges for the major competitions consistently choose portraits that are more creative than what I think most clients would go for.
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