Sketching on Location: Using Photographs

Filed Under Tutorials/Tips, Art and Design

Many times while traveling the camera becomes the main tool for gathering information. We all have stacks of pictures taken with the intention of one day turning them into drawings or paintings. The professional artist has organized scrap files of not only his or hers photographs, but also photos clipped from magazines and newspapers that could one day be of use in a project. Since its development, many artists, including Degas, Paul Gauguin, Alphonse Mucha and Maxfield Parrish, have used the camera as an integral part of their creative process. Many photographers have started out as painters. Keep in mind that the camera is a tool and, like any tool, there are practical as well as impractical uses for it. My objective in this manual is not to discuss the photograph as an art object in itself, but as a tool and resource for the artist who sketches on location.

The camera does a great job of gathering information if you know how to use it. First, the camera cannot be surpassed for speed and convenience in “capturing a location” for future use, but, with the speed and convenience, come certain pitfalls.

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