Well, there is one really good thing about snow days – you get to just barricade yourself in and work on projects that you haven’t finished (on the computer at least). I was working on this digitally painted portrait of a picture of Melissa that I had taken in Elgin’s Western Days Parade. I thought she had a great smile, and the farm equipment (if you know Melissa) is really her! Anyway, I worked on it all yesterday and today, and finally have a finished version. I think she looks great!
Here is a cutout section of just the facial area to show detail. Sometimes it’s hard to even know this is a painted portrait on the Internet – especially with the smaller size in these posts. If you have an image you would like me to do for a holiday gift, just let me know. Each one takes about a week to do, so don’t wait until the last minute (not including printing, etc.).
How does this work? Well, I start with a photo that I like that I’ve taken (or that someone else has taken and given to me to work on). We decide what the best look would be for the final image. This means, an oil painting, watercolor, etc. I have not perfected my watercolor technique, so I really prefer the oil look on canvas. I then work on it in Photoshop and some other tools, to make sure that it doesn’t have any elements that should be changed, removed, modified, etc. I basically work on it to get it to the point where I think it is a really good photography. At that point, the image is taken into a program called Painter. And, it allows just what the name implies – you literally paint the image. You choose your brushes, colors, style, everything. There are literally thousands of possible combinations.
Once you’ve decided how it is going to go, you then start to work on it. There are hundreds of different approaches, so it’s just a question of perfecting a technique and then sticking with it. I think I have figured out one that works for me, and I am happy with the results. You select your brushes, etc., and just start to work. Hopefully, you come out with a great image a few days later! But, it’s just like anything in the art world, you never know until it is finished.
Landscape and portrait photographer, David E. Warner captures the breath-taking beauty of the Mohawk Valley and Southern Adirondacks region and its people with his mastery of color, composition & light. He shuttles between upstate New York and Texas for part of the year - working on portrait and film projects.
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