The New "Click" | Using Technology For Your Paintings.

Using Technology For Your Paintings.

"CLICK!"

The very second an artist heard the first click of a camera shutter, they grabbed the photo and used it to help them paint. Photos and painting? The rest is history. I recently got an email asking about AI and the fast-moving wave of tech invading the art world: “Dear Doug, what are your thoughts on all this new technology, especially AI? Have you used any of these apps? How much is too much, and when does it become cheating?” Thanks, Theresa, for the great question! I get more than my share of emails like this.

Look—there must be a billion new apps out there, all trying to help you make your boring life seem so much better. You know the ones. The ones you’re constantly bombarded with:

• “Free trial!”

• “Erase your ex from the photo!”

• “Make your life look like someone else’s! Switch out your drab background with one from a city you’ve never visited.

• Try a new face. Erase the wrinkles.

• Turn yourself into a 15-year-younger anime version of yourself with a thousand cc’s of virtual Botox.”

Yup. There’s a ton. Well, Theresa - yes, I do use some apps to help me. But before I get into which ones, here’s something to chew on: Like I said up top about cameras, some people still think using a photo is “cheating.” But this argument goes way further back.

I’m pretty sure that way back in Lascaux, France, when Thag was in a cave tracing around his hand and blowing paint through a hollow bone, he thought he had it all figured out.  Then along comes Zog, on the wall. “Hey Thag, try this. I tied some fur from a squirrel’s butt to this stick. Makes cool marks. “No thanks, Zog. Looks weird. Never gonna catch on. Plus… isn’t that kinda cheating?”

That’s right. I’m calling it - the paintbrush was one of the first big leaps in art tech. And we were still in loincloths. So… Do I embrace technology? You bet I do. If it wasn’t for the brush, how would we ever have gone from this to this?

(I know, it’s not a painting, but when else can I squeeze in a photo of Raquel Welch in a newsletter?)

Technology doesn’t have to be electronic. In my world, it’s anything that helps push the art forward. Ever seen the movie ‘Tim’s Vermeer?’ It’s awesome. Tim Jenison tries to find out what on earth Vermeer was doing to get such photographic paintings when no one else could. His conclusion? Vermeer might’ve used a camera obscura or mirror system to aid his drawing. To Tim, if using a camera Lucida is cheating, then so is using the laws of perspective. Those are just cheat-code formulas to get you to the castle gate correctly.

What about tracing?

Enlarging photos?

Projection systems?

Norman Rockwell sure didn’t think it was cheating. He set up full scenes, took photos, projected them on a canvas, and then brought the art to life. He’d shrink women’s waists, stretch men just enough to make them dorky-charming, and boom — relatable perfection. He used the camera to speed up the structure, then used his deep knowledge of illustration to artify it.

 Norman’s setup for the working drawing.

Photos used for Rockwell's illustration.

Cheater cheater pumpkin eater.

Not long ago, I was painting with the killer great artist John Poon. There we were—me, perched on a hill at the Leighton Art Centre, squinting at the horizon like I’d just discovered a secret colour that no one else could see. As I pulled my little grey composition finder out to nail design, John casually slid a digital camera out of a small leatherette case and started composing right there on the screen.

I said, “Doesn’t that feel like cheating?” He just laughed and said, “Cheating? This is exactly like doing thumbnails in your sketchbook - just way faster and with fewer paper cuts.” And in that moment? I felt oddly liberated.

Who knew letting technology do the heavy lifting could feel like such an artistic victory lap?

Technology is just... advancement.

It doesn’t matter if it’s digital or analog—it’s all just better tools.

• Finger

• Brush

• Pinhole camera

• Value sliders

• Red plexi viewer

• Claude mirror

• Tracing paper

• Dürer’s fancy grid machine

• All of it: tools.

Albrecht's super trendy trace-o-matic drawing grid, available at fine art stores in the greater Düsseldorf area.

Digital Art Kit.

My Current Digital Toolkit... Yes, I use apps and embrace technology. I haven’t fallen too deep into the AI rabbit hole (yet), but I feel fine with it. Right now, I’m loving Autodesk Sketchbook—it’s intuitive, forgiving, and the least likely to make me fling my tablet across the room. I’ve tried Photoshop, CorelDRAW, and even that one app I downloaded in 2008 and in less than five minutes, never opened it again. Sketchbook gets the win for me. I like noodling around with composition until something finally sings. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. If you’re really creative, you should also check out Art Set. It’s like someone crammed an entire art store into your iPad—pencils, paints, pastels... maybe even a glitter pen (no promises).

And I can’t forget Notanizer - a slick little app that helps nail value structure. It’s a gem.

Final Thought: Use the Tools, Not the Excuse.

Some quick warnings:

• Painting from a photo you’ve tortured into oblivion is like slathering hot sauce on a candy bar - you lose the original magic.

• Tweaking a photo for composition? Totally fine. Turning it into a unicorn rave? Maybe not.

I’ve made this mistake: I’m always tweaking the photo during the painting process anyway. I end up painting from an already tweaked photo, and then I tend to tweak the tweak. It gets a bit befuddling. A bit like Photoshop tail-chasing. Instead, use your edited photo as a springboard. Launch from the idea of it. Paint from the original and peek back at the manipulated photo once in a while to remind yourself of what you might achieve.

Now go forth, young Padawan. Embrace the future.

Your friend in art,

Doug.

Here is a short video of some of the French impressionists embracing the latest technology.

Here is a link to the documentary Tim’s Vermeer. Worth the watch.