If you don't already have a photograph that you like, click on the PHOTO ADVICE navigation button, and I'll give you some tips on how to take good reference photographs.
DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHS must be of the highest resolution possible!
If you can't decide between two or more photos, e-mail the candidates to me at low resolution and I'll help you make the selection.
Once that is decided, crop all of the background away and e-mail the chosen photograph to me at the highest resolution possible, so I can see the most detail possible. I don't care how long it takes to download.
INKJET PRINTS ARE UNACCEPTABLE unless the face measures at least five inches from crown to chin. When inkjet prints are enlarged, the dot pattern that forms them enlarges also, and no new details become visible.
Faces on traditional photographic prints MUST MEASURE AT LEAST ONE HALF INCH HIGH from crown to chin. I can't and won't draw details that I can't see.
I prefer that traditional photographic prints be printed on smooth, slick paper - not necessarily glossy, but smooth, rather than pebbled or cloth-like textured.
I scan reference photographs and print them out at the size I intend to draw them. The light bar of my scanner glitters off of textured prints and produces snow on my enlarged printouts.
If the reference photo is large (the head measures close to six inches from crown to chin), the texture is not a problem, because the glitter my scanner then produces is tiny.
If the reference photo is small, the texture is enlarged when the photo is enlarged, producing large snow flakes - an added handicap I have to overcome.
If you have the negative of your chosen photograph, it would be a help if you had a new print made on SMOOTH paper.
If all you have is a print on textured paper, then I'll use it despite the handicap.
And of course photographs should be in focus. I can sharpen them only slightly. I can't and won't draw details I can't see.
