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Ngaire, there are a lot of issues in regard to photos. I will not care to get into the photo business or in the business of photo reproduction. So, I will try my best to advocate the things that one must have in order to be a good and professional artist.
Critiques can be given with or without the resource photo especially when human form, portrait is in question. The reasons the academies use models and casts, to teach students, is because the mistakes are easily spotted. The human form is precisely made. The knowledge of anatomy again a must for artists. Learning how to correctly use line, value and hue again is a must if one wishes to be a good artist.
One can copy a photo, many do and make a living. One can copy a photo and many are experts at it but sit them in front of a live model and the result is...well you be the judge.
To properly learn a kraft this takes time. My first year at the academy was exciting but quite difficult. After that first trimester was over and I was home for a brake, my thirteen year old son asked me to draw his portrait. I was honest and admitted that I did not know how. I told him that I was still learning the basics at that point in time. He would not hear it. He wanted me to draw his portrait and that was that. I did draw the portrait and it came out ok. I applied what I learn't. After I drew his, I had him draw mine and he, with a bit of instruction, did a good job as well.
Why do I share this with you. One must understand that it takes time, many hours of hard work, strain and pain to learn the craft of art.
Many on this forum are to kind with their critiques but a honest critique is worth more to a student than a hundred pats on the back. Whether one can accept the critique is another issue but we must be honest. Good instruction is important and many wish to be teachers. To be a teacher one must know ones craft well and just knowing does not make one a good teacher. To be a teacher takes time and hard work.
So, in conclusion. Each has a choice to make. Will I look to see what others are getting away with, by lying, or will I learn my craft well and stick with the truth? Discouraging issues are all around us and sometimes the people we most trust disappoint us but do not dispare. The narrow path of truth is the right path and will not disappoint.
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