Reference stories.
Who takes too many pictures or not enough?
Do you take pictures? I almost never take pictures of cool or interesting things I'm doing. When I look at the photos on my phone, I seem to have taken many thousands of pictures over the years. I take a lot of reference photos for illustration projects, especially for comics. So many hands!
I do the driving down the highway holding my phone up facing out the side window and snap away hoping that a few will be good reference for a landscape painting. I'll take over a hundred or more photos per trip. Fortunately for my cloud storage I only go on a few car trips a year. I'll do the same if I'm taking the train but I can actually try to see what I'm shooting.
Some time I would like to rent a car or just go with a friend who already has one and spend a week or two on the road stopping wherever looked cool so I could either paint or take more photos. I've seen little photo essays of the illustrator, James Gurney's, little trips in the country. He'll whip out his little gouache set up and knock out a pretty tight painting of the scene in front of him. That looks fun!
I don't think I have any incriminating images on my phone of anything illegal... I think. Although I mostly paint my figurative work from photos. If I was going through customs in some country that was way into purity, I'd never be seen again. They would probably think I'm a pornographer or something. So many nudes on my phone. I am proud that none have ever left my phone without the model's permission. Well, I don't think it should be something that I'm “proud” of. It should just be a no brainer that they have never been seen by anyone.
I did a Spiderman poster many years ago. The photo reference for that was work. It was 1993 or '94. I went to a gym called “Jonny Lats” on West 17th st by Union Square. I recruited this dude who seemed very proud of his physique and wasn't a common 'roid monster that of course was usually seen at a gym called “Jonny Lats”. I forgot his name so I'll call him Doug. Doug was excited to be the body for Spiderman. He was black and there hadn't been a black Spiderman yet. I told him he was going to have a mask and costume on in the illustration but he was enthusiastic about it anyway.
Oh! Did I mention it was 1994? I was using a polaroid instant camera to shoot reference. I must have taken 30 or 40 shots of Doug in Union Square park jumping off a park bench attempting to strike the pose in the air that I had sketched out to show him. It was an impossible pose of course, but once I got the right one for the top half and then the bottom half, I paid him $20 and we went for coffee. The best part was Doug fully enjoyed the public spectacle we were creating and screamed more than a few times while leaping in the air. Great emotional facial expressions, most looked like he was in pain.
I'm wrapping this part up but the Paid Subscribers will get a few more images. Have a good Friday.
Wow! I stayed focused for the most part. I think the longer I rambled on the more it was going to be weird photo stories with an occasional reference to… reference photos. Anyway, if you guys are reading this far, I’m not posting enough art!
Thanks for looking and not calling the cops.