Why Draw & Paint From Life?

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Recently I received an email in response to a part of the description for the Portrait Drawing from Life workshop, and thought it served as a good (if not entertaining) jumping-off point for a discussion about why you may want to study from life, even if you primarily work from photos.

Here's the email as it was sent to me:

Lacey

I am struck by your insistence that photographs are "flat".... and completely sidestep the fact that drawings are just as flat.

Maybe you should take a look at a piece of paper and see how much sculptural depth it has when compared to a photo print.

Photography is the single most important development in visual arts in the history of mankind.
perhaps you could come to terms with this fact by noting that virtually all art forms have been influenced by the lens since its development in the 14th century.
Most artists make use of all available tools and technologies.
and creatives are often on the front lines of experimentation in creating innovative ways of seeing and expressing themselves.

Putting aside the fact that the tone of the email is condescending: I don't feel the need to argue against what the author is saying. Photography has had a huge impact on art, it's widely utilized by artists and incredibly helpful in myriad ways. Yet, the author of the email completely missed why it's important to study from life as an artist, and assumed that I believe working from photos is bad.

I'll preface this by saying that it's understandable to make that assumption, because there was a trend among realist artists of the early 2000s to completely discredit any work done from photographs. In fact, I was personally advised by an artist I admired that if I wasn't able to work from life, I should simply not draw or paint at all. I didn't follow this person's advice, and thank goodness or I might not have become an artist at all!

On to what I do believe regarding working from photos and working from life:

Short Answer: Yeah dude... Photos are flat. Drawings are flat. BUT YOU CAN LOOK AT 3D STUFF WITH YOUR EYEBALLS.

Long Answer:

We See More Than 2 Dimensions When Working from Life!

When we work from life, we have exponentially more information to draw from than when working from photos both due to having binocular vision (as opposed to the camera's single lens) and because our eyes can constantly adjust focus and exposure. We get to make the decisions about how to translate a 3D world onto a flat surface rather than leaving it up to the camera.

We can illustrate the experience of being a human seeing something, which is categorically different than how the camera sees.

Aditionally, there's another dimension that so few talk about when it comes to this argument of live vs photos:

Time

Things shift as time passes. Muscles relax, flowers wilt, light moves and changes color. This creates a different kind of awareness of what it's like to be a human observing the world that can make its way into your work. It also gives more opportunities for decision-making as new shapes and colors appear.

Who Wins the Battle: Photos or Life

Now, is all of this stated above necessarily better than working from photos? No, not necessarily! Try getting a model to hold a laughing smile long enough for you to draw them, or a tiger to hold still long enough to study their form. A sunset moves and changes at astonishing speed, and a photo can help you avoid trying to chase an ever changing reality. It's also incredibly helpful to have the translation from 2D to 3D done for you when you're just beginning and a finite, definable reference you can draw on and measure is preferable.

Luckily, you don't have to choose between the two!

Studying from life not only gives you the opportunity for more decision making in the moment you're observing from life, but it also creates a file-cabinet of images and experiences in your mind that you can use when you are working from photos. The more familiar you become with how your own human eyes see the world, and the more comfortable you become translating what you see for yourself, the more you can impart these ideas in all of your work rather than simply being faithful to the photo in front of you.

It's not about labeling one as good or bad. It's about expanding rather than limiting the sources from which you gather information and experience, and putting more control as an artist in your hands.

Opportunities to Study from Life at School of Realist Art

For those who may be interested, we have a few classes geared specifically toward real-life observation coming up this year (2026... check the class schedule if you're reading this in the future.):