Oil Photo

Oil Photo

All About Art From Photos

So you've decided to sit back and start thinking about a little something called art from photos. Now, you've heard about it and you're thinking it might be a good idea. However, if you haven't heard of it before, you might be wondering what on earth it means.

Think of it in this way—it's not like going from a photo to macaroni art of your photo (although that would be rather interesting). It's more along the lines of going from a photo to art/a portrait. This means that you can take your best photo and turn it into a grand painting—and all for a very moderate price.

First of all, you choose how exactly your art from photos are going to look. For example, if you have a picture of a dog, a family portrait, a baby in a bathtub, and a picture of a bird, you can choose a different method for each.

Watercolor would work the best for the dog since it will make it look light, airy, and impart a bit of surrealism to the portrait, while keeping it looking realistic. The point is that it is a light and happy photo, most likely and a picture done in watercolor helps to show that.

Then you have the family portrait. This is best done in oil paint, since it is longer lasting, bolder, and you can work with many moods when it comes to oil. If you have a sad photo that you want turned into a painting, painting in oil helps convey the feelings of the photo. If you want a happy photo, same thing. And more formal photos also work exactly the same.

Then you have pencil. This is best for the baby in the bathtub because it requires a lot of contrast and a lot of focus. This is great for those who have a photo where they want to really highlight the subject, especially if said subject is a small child.

Then you have color pencil. Color pencil is great for those who wants their art from photo to be bright and colorful. This is why the bird is best represented in this manner.

Make sure that you take the time to examine every choice before you finally make it so that you can hopefully find what works best with you art from photo. Look over galleries so that you have a better idea of what each and every photo will turn into. Keep in mind the lighting, highlights, etc.

Finally, enjoy your piece! Art from photos can be great for those who want to give a loved one a gift, show off their favorite photo or anything in between. While it may take some time, you can even have a whole scrapbook turned into beautiful paintings and portraits. It's up to you!

You can either shop online for painters or you can find a commission artist at a gallery. Keep in mind that they are both effective, but the gallery artist is more likely to cost more.

About the Author

<a href="http://www.yourartnow.com">Painting from Photo</a>, Photo to Painting - Turn your photos into beautiful portrait paintings. All our work is 100% handmade by professional artists. Great Christmas, Anniversary, birthday and wedding gifts. For details visit http://www.yourartnow.com

What photo painter software would you suggest?

I am a "Sunday Oil Painter" beyond a beginner stage. I would
like to work with transfering photos to my computer & then using oil painting computer technique to color.

What software program would you recommend & why?

How does a Wacom or similar box or tray apparatus fit into
this. Which one do you recommend?

for actual painting art, programs like Pianter are better for designing from scratch then programs like photoshop which is more for retouching and editing photos, but can still be used for artwork, you can try both, make sure you have system requirements for any, usually modern computer are ok,
Corel Painter X

http://www.corel.com/servlet/Satellite/us/en/Product/1166553885783

Adobe - Photoshop,

http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/index.html

there are other painting tools, and may be best to try them to find something you can work well with,
portalgraphics openCanvas

http://www.portalgraphics.net/en/

Paint tool SAI

http://detstwo.com/pub/saia5-eng/

Pixarra : TwistedBrush

http://www.pixarra.com/

other photo programs, and utilities,
Ulead PhotoImpact

http://www.ulead.com/pi/runme.htm

Corel Paint Shop Pro

http://www.corel.com/servlet/Satellite/us/en/Product/1155872554948

Portrait Professional

http://www.portraitprofessional.com/

PhotoLine 32: Image Processing

http://www.pl32.com/

freeware tools you can try and work with,
Gimp ~photo editor,

http://gimp-win.sourceforge.net/stable.html

ArtRage 2

http://www.ambientdesign.com/artragedown.html

Artweaver

http://www.artweaver.de/index.php?en_version

Pixia

http://park18.wakwak.com/~pixia/

as for wacom tablets or adesso , they do help user to convey their drawing by hand to screen more accurately then a mouse
Wacom Intuos3

http://www.wacom.com/intuos/

Graphics Tablet

http://www.adesso.com/products_detail.asp?productid=247

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OIL ON LUBICON LAND: A PHOTO ESSAY