In this project, I illustrate the use of photographs as you learn to paint. Photographs are incredibly useful to work from for several reasons: 1.) they will pose indefinitely without getting tired or going bad and 2.) they have already been 'flattened' from 3-d to 2-d. This latter point is both a boon and a curse - using photos to paint from can become a crutch. You really need to learn to draw from life if you want to expand as an artist. Still, in your formative years and even beyond, take advantage of the benefits of painting from photos. Copying the Old Masters has long been a traditional apprenticeship exercise for artists, and you can usually find art students with sketchpads in most art exhibits today.

Keep our copyright issues in mind, however. The painting that I make in this project is for demonstration purposes only (and to expand my own skills). I couldn't sell it even if someone wanted to buy it from me - the statue that I portray here is the intellectual property of the sculptor, and even the photograph I'm working from is copyrighted by the photographer.

With that all said, I find the photo and this statue, You Can't Eat Gold, by sculptor Lorenzo Quinn, inspiring. I love shiny things, and this golden apple and the hand that holds it are well nigh irresistable to me. So I post the photo beside my easel and begin. (clicking on a pic will open a larger version in a new window.)

	Magazine photos are great for beginners to work from. Magazine covers are particularly good. They are professionally lit and composed, and are typically uncluttered and easy to sketch.
First cut at a sketch	Refined from previous. Altho' the second sketch looks okay here, it has major drawing defects that will become clear later.
	I can't wait to start on that apple. It's too tempting to put off another minute. (I'll talk about doing shiny metal in a later page) and green highlights on the hand.
I start coloring and shading the hand. the drawing defects are becoming more apparent, but I still haven't noticed and go cluelessly along with my work. I've decided to try to leave the background blank this time.
	I blend the colors and the drawing problems pop into high relief. The little finger is abnormally long, and the hand dimensions are distorted - from the knuckles to the heel of the hand is far too long for human hands. (See how to 'debug' your drawing problems.)
I start nipping away at the heel of the hand. I use a stiff bristle brush to scrape away the pigment powder, then a soft kneaded eraser to pull up as much of the pastel as I can. I also refine the colors on the apple to make it shinier. (See future article on shiny metallics.)
	I've cut away the part of the hand that doesn't belong, and trimmed back the pinky. More layers of color on the rest of the hand, and more shading on the apple. You'll notice a ghost of the error on the grey paper - you can never completely remove all the pigment.
I 'round' up the base of the thumb and the heel of the hand with highlights and add a ghost of a reflection of the pinky in the apple.
	some greens and reds for shading, and some highlights on the cuticles to shape the fingertips. The pinky has been repositioned a little bit lower than its original location. I cover up the early error with white.
I like the way the white makes the hand pop out of the background so I place white around the rest of the hand. It nicely delineates the negative space made by the pinky, ring finger and apple. More shading on the body of the hand and the apple's reflections of the fingers are improved.

The painting as it now exists. I'm not perfectly sure I'm finished with this; the wimpy wrist needs beefing up and the apple needs its stem. - some glazing of a soft blue on the hand might make it appear more like a statue. But let's call it done for now.