We have been adding a bunch of new photos to the Artist Reference Photos site each week, including some lovely new still-life vignettes and landscapes with barns, cows, and sheep.  I’ve always collected photos for myself, but it’s been fun to be more intentional about it and collecting photos to share on the site.  As a recap, Artist Reference Photos is a free, reference-sharing site for artists.  All images on there are either taken by me or donated to the site through our contributors, so you never have to look over your shoulder wondering if it’s okay to sell a painting made from one of our pictures.  I hope this library will grow from the thousands into the millions so it can be a great resource for artists all over the world.

There was one category we haven’t listed photos in yet, though – portraits and people.  This category gets a little tricky because we need to have a photo release signed by people featured in the images. My goal is eventually to have a nice library of modern faces to use for portraiture and then I’ll branch out into figures. I’m hoping I can recruit some willing friends and family members to let me photograph them and I plan to hire models eventually.

But, a great place to start with portraits and people is with photos that are no longer copyrighted.  The downside is those photos are sepia-toned so you don’t have colors to use as a reference.  I think this can be a strength, though.  You can just focus on drawing and values and create some really lovely portraits in graphite, charcoal, or tonal paints.  I often use old photos as references.  This is a shot I love of my Oma (the baby) and her mother holding her.

And I did a gouache study of it in one of my sketchbooks using a limited palette.

If I want to paint a portrait from a sepia or black-and-white photo, I’ll use old portrait paintings I like as a guide for color as I did with this portrait…

…or I’ll just keep the painting tonal and focus on the values as I did with this one…

I have a couple hundred photos to scan and edit, so more portraits will be added each week.

In addition to using the faces for references, some of the clothes and hats are so wonderful!  They will be fun to draw on their own…

Here are some of the portraits we added…

The quality of this photo wasn’t as good as some of the other portraits, but there is something about the mother’s expression and the tilt of her head that I find captivating.  I think it could make a lovely painting.

We’ve got some fun wedding and group photos, too…

This is one from an album I got out of my grandparent’s attic.  I don’t know who any of the people are, but the hats are on point.

As references for artists, these could be interpreted literally with pencil or paint, but our images can also be used for collage or to inspire sculptures or abstracts.  I’m hoping these references along with all of the others on our site, will be a good jumping-off point to artists who work in all mediums.

If you’d like to contribute photos, you can submit them through the site HERE, or if you have a bunch of photos, you can e-mail me at marian@missmustardseed. You can either e-mail the photos to that address or, if you have hundreds, I can set up a Dropbox or Google Drive for you to quickly and easily upload them. We’re looking for all sorts of landscapes, cityscapes, animals, boats, seascapes, barns, architecture, and still life.  And….if you’re willing to contribute a photo of your face for the sake of art (imagine me saying that in the most noble, high-brow, dramatic voice possible), shoot me an e-mail and I’ll let you know what we’re looking for.  (Think of a relaxed expression you would hold for a four-hour modeling session.)

I have asked many strangers if I can take pictures of their dogs at the beach or on walks and they are always happy to help the dog pose.  Somehow, it’s a little awkward to ask if I can take a picture of their face! I haven’t quite worked up that amount of courage, yet.