Using photos & professionalism; getted started

Hello, my name is William. I just joined this forum and would like ask a question. I work with oil pastels. To do most of my portraits I use a snapshot; it's easier plus I can finish usually in half the time. My question is, is this taking away from my professionalism? Am I not being a (true artist) by not using life subjects to paint?

My second question I guess would be a business based question. How exactly do I make a business from being an artist? Where do I start?

Any help is much appreciated. Thank you in advance.

William

[Cynthia Daniel]

William,

There are lots of posts regarding the subject of using photos for paintings. If you use the Search Messages function and search on something relevant such as "painting from photos", or "photos painting" or "using photos", you should get some results.

Look especially for a post by Karin Wells called "I paint from photos". In search messages, you can also search on a user name.

Your question about getted started is a second question and really should be a separate post.

Cynthia