deviant rant

I am part of the wonderful online community of deviantart, a fantastic place for artists to share their work with other artists. You can comment and have favorites, join groups, and participate in contests. There is plenty of interaction between artists and lots of inspiration to be found.

As a portrait artist, I have joined several groups relating to drawn portraits, and by doing so receive updates of the artwork uploaded to these groups. Lots of portraits. Lots of the SAME portraits. I cannot count the number of celebrity portraits that show up in my inbox each day. Johnny Depp is a current favorite, along with Angelina Jolie, Lady Gaga, and, surprisingly, Emma Watson. There are some highly talented artists in this group, and their pieces are incredibly realistic. But when the next person uses the SAME reference photo found on Google, and copies it to the SAME level of realism, you would be hard-pressed to find a difference between their completed pieces.

I have a question: why celebrities? Is it simply because their pictures are easy to find? Or because other people will recognize them and be more likely to look at your drawings? Do they catch your eye because they look interesting? Or are you inspired by the actual person? I do not understand the obsession with famous people.

Why not draw people you know? So you won't have as much recognition on deviantart, but I'm sure your family and friends will be thrilled to see themselves in your sketchbook. You know these people personally, and are actually touched and inspired by your interaction with them. And to make it even better, no one else will have the same piece!

Okay, so maybe you don't have family or friends, or they are all boring to draw. So you look online for a reference photo. Do you realize that someone had to take that picture? "But it's just a photograph. And it's on Google, so no one owns it." How many artists on deviantart are photographers? Give credit where credit is due. You may have drawn the picture, but you were looking at someone's art to do it.

And another point: hooray for realism! I love trying to copy every little detail to make my drawing look like the photo. And if everyone is working from the same photo, everyone is going to have the same drawing in the end. So why not makes yours different? I've come to appreciate pencil lines, unblended scribbles and water splotches. Let's make drawings that actually look like someone touched pencil to paper and put some thought into it, instead of simply copying what is in front of them. At least leave the edges rough, or make the composition unique. Make it yours. When all the drawings are lined up from that same Googled image, make yours the one that stands out. Use different materials, colors, or shading techniques. I recall seeing one person's drawing of Angelina Jolie, but they added a really neat fantasy element so the finished drawing was less about "This is Angelina Jolie" and more about "I looked at a picture of Angelina Jolie to draw the face in this more complicated piece." Make your pieces unique!

I love to take my own photographs to work from. Then there is no question that each piece of art I create is MINE. If I do need to use someone's photos for reference, I add my own artistic touch to the completed piece. Maybe someday, if I ever meet a celebrity, I'll take their picture and draw from that. But until then, I'll stick with people I know and love.