[Ditter]

I am an artist and I know a lot of artist use projected images to begin their work. I do not. It disturbs me when I see art students, who should be learning to draw, use a projector.

Then the non artist who looks at their work and marvels at their drawing ability, when in fact the non artists could do the same thing.

A number of years ago I signed up for a weekly water color class. I had never used watercolor and thought it would give me an insight into whether it was something I wanted to pursue.

The instructor said ‘all right class, let's begin”.

The whole class jumped up and went into a small room with their photos. That is where the projector was kept.

Needless to say, I did not go back.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

A friend of mine sends her canvas to a printer to get the photo printed on the canvas, then she paints over it.

I NEVER do that. All my canvases are hand drawn, then painted, then adjustments made when the first layer is dry.

[thecodont]

Watercolor is a demanding medium. If you are painting in transparent watercolor (no white paint or gouache) you can’t “correct” mistakes except by lifting color from the paper with a wet brush. This means the artist pretty much has to compose the entire painting (perspective, highlights, layout, values) in his head before touching brush to palette. It creates real focus and hones the abiity to “edit” a picture before reproducing it.

The mark of an amateur is heavy use of resist, as well as a projector.