Question for the board: which is the better, i.e. more ethical or aesthetic, approach to contemporary photorealism in comics?

i) Tony Harris-style life-drawing from posed and photoed models, where the artist's abstract style transforms the photo-reference?

ii) Alex Ross-style life-drawing from posed and photoed models, where the artist's eye overlays the photo-reference, but doesn't transform it?

iii) Greg Land-style photo-tracing, where the artist's eye overlays the photo-reference, but doesn't transform it?

iv) Any other style?

I prefer Harris's approach. His work on Ex Machina references his own photography of posed models but transforms those images by filtering them through his artistic consciousness. Check out the appendix to Ex Machina vol 1 to see what I mean.

Is there a sentence or two missing between those paragraphs?

When you trace rocks or trees you quickly learn there are many kinds of each. Just as there are many kinds of heroes, people, women, old people, kids, babies and ah babies. How many comic book artists can draw babies… really? A handful (and maybe less). Why?

(those who can't draw) Don’t trace photos. Don’t carry a sketchbook. Don’t do life drawing.

That's the way I read it anyway.

Darragh, I too have read drawing on the right side of the brain, but started drawing when I was still a toddler and consequently I have never had a problem representing what I see...I am a pretty good sketch artist on my day, and have always felt the subtle slip into a kind of altered state of consciousness that indicates the right brain's involvement....when putting down what I see I find that it's something to do with the depth and shade; that they are just too flat when I draw from photographs.

And for my 2c. there is just something wrong about this idea of artists tracing in this way...the enjoyment for me in looking at a well crafted illustration is based very much on my admiration of the skill that has gone into producing the image, and my admiration of said skill is hugely diminished by the idea that literally anyone with a lightbox could have done it...there is a big, big difference between using photos as reference tools and simply (what amounts to) photostating the images and calling them yours

Edit: Damn! 'Pretty good' by the standards of the other gentlemen on this board, is overstating it...but I am usually pleased with my own results, is what I mean

"I was surprised to learn that this happens at all!   "-Todd

I'm guessing you've never read the Ultimates or seen Nick Fury these days!

I think the key to this is -used- as a tool.

If, as the artist, you choose to make brick actually -look-like- brick rather than just a rectangle how do you do that without a reference*?

As an artist how do you make the photorefed brick look like art rather than just a photo of a brick that's been put through a photoshop filter?

It's experience! Skill, understanding, judgement and tecnique...then you get to read about a) non-artists feeling cheated because you used photoreferencing as a tool or b) fellow artist moan about the use of photorefs.

So what if Adam Hughes, Bryan Hitch or Neal Adams want to use photo referencing. Anything that works for them right?...you know for the sake of the art!

Now that's not to say that drawing 100% from your head isn't the way to go. Both have their appropriate skills and dicipline but if you think for a second that Because Adam uses photorefs it makes him any less an artist or because John doesn't it makes him any less of an artist then your mad.

It's all gradiations of realisim anyway. Starting with a cartoon mouse middling out to an imagined mouse finishing in a photo of a mouse. It your job at the start of a piece to decide where the slider needs to be placed for the gig!

Where Photoreferencing goes wrong is when it becomes tracing with no attempt at putting yourself into it or using any lessons you've learned about drawing. All the preson is trying to do is run a pencil over the contours and hope there's a cohesive result.

* Whether you take your reference to be, going outside and looking at a brick and using your memory. Taking a photograph of a brick and lightboxing it or because you can't afford to get a brick to model for you use a stock photo of a brick and then light box it.