Gavin McDermott

Q. How to make a reference photo better?

David C Phillips (photographer) has some ideas…

Q. Reference photo high or low key? This one is high

My cropping choice was to keep the children looking small in the world

Base colour yellow (could even be ) acrylic. Drawing with a Number 2 brush. Always best to work with less: just oil paint and not a lot of it!

Add green to skins tones to calm them down

Composition > Tone > Colour > Edges

The touch/feel of edges can be soft or ‘loud’ (Think Debussy!)

Example artists

• Edgar Degas
• Richard Schmid
• Ingrid Christianson
• Carolyn Anderson
• John Singer Sargent