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So...you all know im trying to get a realistic style, right? and in the process i've come across some really helpfull tutorials about how to paint skin and make it like "translucid" so to speak, cause skin has this weird colours i just really cant achieve right now that im sooo limited and stupid.
anyway...i just noticed MANY of the artists i admire and aspire to be as god as, use references...but...like just buying stock to PAINT over it....is this allowed? i got a bit dissapointed cause...you see, im trying to get there on my way...sure i use references, but i allways do EVERYTHING from scratch, lineart, colours, textures...EVERYTHING is from scratch, i might "copy" poses sometimes cause i find em perfectly adecuate to what i want to do and it helps me study if i "copy the process" (ie. skin color, shadows, stuff...everything legal), but i never TRACE or paint over...and i just find out they actually do paint over...yeah, they like buy their stock...but thats why it looks so amazing an realistic, because it is actually a photomanipulation, not an illustration....:/ and they say it is an illustration...cheating much? im ok if they say its a manipulation, AWESOME but when you say its an illustration...then i have a problem with it.
how do you feel about it?? im sure i can achieve realism without painting over, so...i'll continue my path lol, even if it takes me years to get there.
Noble 
Tienes una excelente galería por cierto, vas directo a mi 'watchlist'. Y recuerda que en el arte nada es imposible, y la práctica supera por mucho al talento. Adiós y... ¡VIVA MÉXICO!
The way you feel upon learning of that is somewhat how I felt when I learned what a matte painting was. But there's actually a 'legit' purpose for those; there are certain scenes cameras just can't catch without spending an overly ridiculous amount of money for the shot.
But painting over a picture and calling it your pride and joy? Haha, and here I was feeling bad about myself for starting out as a pose tracer back in the day.
Besides your art is already gorgeous! I was just looking at your latest WIP and was so awed by it because it's so much like what I want to do too! Ghh, must get better. 8D
(I may actually have to start using references, just to look at them ~ I don't at all now so a lot of what I do is guess work / based of my loosely memorized anatomy studies from medical school haha).
BUT.
On the other hand, I myself struggle very often with questions just like this. It's actually quite paralyzing to me, wondering what is and isn't "allowed" in art. I remember very distinctly, way back when I was in fourth grade, we were having art, and I drew a picture of a horse. After I was done, I was generously complimented by the teacher and my classmates for drawing the horse so well, but I felt that I'd cheated completely because I looked at a picture of a horse hanging on the wall and used that to inspire my own drawing.
And how ridiculous, you might say, and I would have to agree, for an artist to feel that using life photos as reference would be cheating, especially when the drawn picture looks nothing like the reference in the end. But back then, I didn't understand that. I thought that art was only allowed to come out of your own head. You weren't allowed to look at anything or copy anyone--everything had be drawn 100% from imagination.
And this irrational belief has always stuck with me and still lingers in various forms today, to the point that I'm honestly afraid to draw things for fear that such-and-such is not "allowed". It can be something as simple as a type of brush stroke I'm not allowed to make, a type of subject I'm not allowed to portray, to a type of style I'm not allowed to use or an entire concept I'm not allowed to copy.
Like I said, it can be really paralyzing, and it keeps me from getting better in many, many cases.
So, while I agree that, yes, painting over photos is not ideal, we also shouldn't look down on it too harshly, because there are so many different kinds of artists and so many ways to make art that we just have to accept that all methods--provided they're truly legal and ethical--are really "allowed" to be used.
It goes both ways. I caution against restricting yourself to certain types of art-making based on too-strict ideals or beliefs, but I also caution against losing your ideals and beliefs merely for the sake of making realistic art.
That being said, I really do appreciate realistic digital paintings that are done 100% from scratch. It takes a lot of time and skill. I'm glad to see you're taking the long route, your work is gorgeous.
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Tú puedes hacerlo preciosa. Confió en tú talento ^-^
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References are okay! I use them too! But drawing directly on a photo just feels wrong to me.
I really really respect artists like you who makes all from scratch!
I'm also on my way to achieve realism, being that is the style I love the most, and I won't give up
Painters like Alma Tadema[link] , Gerome [link] , and of cpourse Bouguereau [link] , show us that you can achieve that life like paintings without cheating, and they're our best teachers, nothing like the old masters.
Keep up the good work my friend, cuz this journey it's simply full of joy.