Is digital painting over a photograph, art? That was one thought I had as I was doing this. In general I don’t feel comfortable defining what is and isn’t art (especially the isn’t part), but yep, I’d have to say, sure, this is art.

Was this fun to do? It really was. Although, if I hadn’t taken the photograph, I don’t think it would have been nearly as enjoyable. And for me, it’s still not as enjoyable or as satisfying as doing the drawing as well as the painting. Digitally painting over a photograph does show the hand of the artist; in the brush strokes, in the color choices, etc.  But it also lacks the distortions and interpretations that my individual brain makes in defining the forms. It’s less personal and human I guess.

To me it feels a little like motion capture animation. With motion capture you still have visual artists defining the lighting, the texturing, the modeling, etc., but the actual motion is being driven by physical actors. I’m not saying that’s bad at all, it’s just different. So, painting over a photograph is missing me as an artist defining a very important element, the basic forms. The forms are defined by the photographer. An actor is an artist, and so is a photographer.  But motion capture and photography are both more direct external representations of the real world, being integrated into a final artistic expression.

So, what does all that mean? Beats me. I’ll probably do more digitally painting over my photos, it’s fun and it can be done really quickly.  But it won’t be replacing drawing and painting my own stuff any time soon.

So I finally saw the movie The Fall. And there was much to love (including the interplay of story and imagination between a grown man and a little girl). It has become one of my favorite movies. The imagery was so inspirational that I decided to write down some of my thoughts on the design, composition of shots, and the use of color. If you’d like to take a look-see, click on this here link or the image above. Remember, these are just my thoughts on stuff, and like, what do I know anyways? (Tarsem Singh forgive me.)