The Pepper Imp’s Lesson

The following article will be printed in the Color Pencil Society of America's (CPSA) biannual publication called To the Point this spring. I know that I revealed several levels of nerdiness with that sentence, but I am ecstatic that they are going to print it. I don't get paid, but seeing my words and art in a magazine will be reward enough. I know that most of the article is for the target audience, but I was so excited that I had to share it anyway.

I have always had this dim inkling that there was an aged argument against using photos as a basis for art, but, since I had no intention of being a professional artist, I ignored all the anti-picture “rules”. I happily used photos as reference for my art and modifying them as I needed. Since my topics tended to be fantastical in nature, I never worried about violating a copyright law. I like to draw dragons and fairies and seeing as no one has been able photograph them (despite numerous offered rewards), I was forced to rely on my imagination. In bliss, I happily scribbled along with my reference photo system. Then I joined CPSA and saw the amazing art others were creating. Gulp! Suddenly a new horizon had opened before me, but I feared to stray from my formula. Until last spring when I attended a mini demo at a chapter meeting and along came Nicole Caulfield with a photo of a pepper.

“Uggh!” I thought, “Who would want to draw a pepper?! It’s so boring.”

I already knew how to draw a pepper, but I reminded myself the demo was about the pastel board not the pepper. I consoled myself with the thought that I could add a “Pepper Imp” scaling the pepper later and so, bent to the task. Shortly, I learned I did not, after all, know how to draw this pepper. I became completely engrossed in the highlights in the picture and the attached shadow and even the little light ring on the pepper created by the flash. Oh, it was a heaven of technical exercise! When it was done, I had an exact replica of the picture. It looked like I could pick up the pepper and eat it. Friends could not believe it was color pencil (and we have all heard that before).

So I took it home and propped it up on my desk to admire it. I did that! All the while, I was mentally sketching my Pepper Imp. Then it occurred to me that because I had followed the picture exactly, I would never be able to draw a Pepper Imp out of my head to match the realism of the pepper. The shadows would be wrong and the highlights would be cartoonish. Everyone would know. Despair… Downers never travel alone, of course, and about this time I received negative reviews of my art to contend with. I had recently posted on line and had received some early reviews from one person, favorable in some instances, negative in others, but not constructive. (I consoled myself later with the knowledge he had “critiqued” almost everyone’s art on this very large website and was reaping the rewards of such an endeavor. I won’t say anything about his skill because … umm…something about being nice.) Somewhere deep in a bottle of wine, the pepper imp problem and one of his comments melded into a coherent thought. The critic had said I was better at drawing objects than animals (I am paraphrasing here, because I deleted the comments after they angered my father…good old Dad). I still maintain that my mythical creatures were just as well drawn, but I couldn’t ignore the fact that I had used pictures as a basis for my scenery, while my mythical creatures were entirely imagined. The critic picked up on a subtle difference, though poorly articulated. It was the same problem stalling my proposed pepper imp. I eventually gave up on my pepper imp and put another pepper behind the first one (working from another picture and equally fun.)

About the time I identified this area for improvement, there were several articles and conversations marinating in my brain on the use of photos. Old school artists reminisced about the days when the use of photos was shameful and artist would hide or destroy originals. Then there was controversy on copyright issues. I started to look on photos as bad things, concerned that working from a photo would reduce me to a glorified camera. I did a few more pieces without photos, then I took a picture of my dog swimming (well call it swimming if you must, because it was so funny the people on the beach were dying with laughter). It was a great photo and I only wished the tennis ball had been in front of him instead of behind. Then I thought…I could draw this with the tennis ball where I wanted it. So I did and it was just as much fun as last time I worked from a photo and it turned out fantastic. But it would be the last time from a photo, I told myself.

Fortunately, I have an extremely short memory. I took a wonderful picture of water lilies and I love it so much, I just want to live inside the picture. I had to draw it. This time, I am not using it as a mere model for a sketch and changing it to suit some other theme, but am drawing it color for color and highlight for highlight. I am learning so much! (I should say that I have taken a total of two college art classes and one of those was independent study, so my background is pretty much self-taught.) Previously if I wanted to draw a leaf, I would probably use four colors: red and 3 shades of a similar green. Now as I try to match the colors, I am using about 10 different colors for each little flower petal. Without the picture, I would have just picked a premade color and moved on, but now am creating colors. Also, I am learning to see color with my eye and not my brain. Leaves aren’t always green! I am including completely random highlights with no idea of their origin. For this project, I have taken my cherished rules of a specific light source, a complimentary color and no black pencil and thrown them out the window.

And I am so engrossed in the project that I am pining for it as I write this essay. At the same time, I am afraid I won’t capture the realism and it will instead look silly, but I also realize fear has been holding me back in previous works. Fear of weird highlights and how stupid they will look because no one will be able to explain them. Fear of not using the color compliment because it will look cartoonish. I have had to lock all these fears in a trunk and hide the trunk behind the vacuum (shudder) where I will never find it. Beginning today, I will revel in the joy of being a glorified camera, because it is my own picture after all. I will learn from copying pictures, in the same way actual, real live art students learn by copying a master. And someday, while walking woods, I will see that elusive dragon and be able to snap a picture…or not because dragons are wicked fast. Sigh… but I hope, by doing this exercise of copying my own photos, I will improve my artist’s eye. When I start drawing dragons and fairies again, the result will be somewhere in the middle, realistic but not real. So to all those artists on the fence about pictures, I say go for it (just don’t violate copyright laws). I say don’t listen to anyone who says not to do something because it is not traditional fine art. If I had followed that kind of advice, I would have put my pencils down long ago and would now be a pretty lousy painter.