[Michael Fournier]

Thank you, Marvin for starting a thread that I could not agree with more.

I think it is very important that beginners truly understand what planning means. I have posted several times in the Forum about doing sketches and studies before a finished painting, especially a very complex one.

For many artists, a lot of the planning that artists of the past (like Bouguereau) did has been replaced with the use of photography. Although I will not argue the advantages and timesavings this has. After all we are not in the 19th century anymore. I feel that in some ways we are losing some of the advantages that doing sketches and detailed studies has over photos.

I know that I am nobody compared to the many seasoned professional portrait artists here at SOG. Although I have been earning my living creating art for the past 14 years and have done more than a few commissions, I feel I am not yet accomplished enough to call myself a true portrait artist. So I am glad that someone with the credentials that Marvin has as well Chris and Michele have taken the time to post on this topic.

Maybe a post on the differences between a sketch and its goal vs. a study and its purpose. Some examples of both would help also.

I know that this is a Forum to discuss topics, and not a painting workshop but examples of how a painting is planned from initial idea (or in the case of a portrait, the first meeting with the client) to the final painting. It might help illustrate that you simply do not just pick a nice photo and do an enlargement of it in paint and call it a finished portrait.

I know that many of us look at the paintings of Bouguereau and Sargent and we wish that we could some day equal their skill. But at the same time how many of us do the work they did to get that good?

I have seen detailed studies by Sargent of drapery and hands used to work out these details before doing the finished painting. The work of these artists is so good because they left nothing to chance. Every fold of drapery, the placement and position of the hands and every shadow or reflected light was worked out.

I am sure that if they were alive today they too would use photos for reference. But, they would not be satisfied to paint a hand a certain way or in a certain position just because that was how it was in the photo.

I also feel that in doing sketches and studies we grow as artists and our skills increase with each one we do. So the more drawing and painting involved in your planning, the better not only will that painting be, but also every one that follows it. You gain something that no amount of planning that involves photographic reference alone will ever give you.