I am an artist and the way I plan a painting is by doing thumbnails on the computer to arrange my picture the way I want and then I paint it on canvas.

I sometimes borrow ideas and items from some of the old masters paintings, or from photos I take in putting together the thumbnails.

Here is a painting I am planning that is a self portrait of me when I was about 27 years old. I merged it with a painting and changed the lions the way I wanted. It will be painted on a 24 by 36 inch canvas.

Shall I paint this picture? Vote yes or no.

The design is similar to a design we have been using in our tarot deck called "strength" below:




Here is the thumbnail of the proposed painting put together on the computer, with my face on it:

wait i'm confused.

you paint the background then photoshop your face onto it?

or you take someone elses picture manipulate it.. then paint it for yourself?

i'm very confused.. how exactly does that work..

No, the picture you see above was made in printshop using an old master's painting putting me into it.

My question is shall I transfer this onto a canvas and paint it?

The picture you see is the design. I have not done the actual oil painting yet.

Okay...I would say yes but for the interpretation of strength.. I would have all sub lying lions female...and a singular male head in the upper right corner..sort of painted into the shadows


however, that would be my changes and its your works..so just some ideas.. all in all I love it...yes

What if I changed the lion on the right for a female and left the male lion sleeping on the left as the only male?

How 'bout replacing the lions and tigers with cute lil' kitty cats?

the concept is okay... but its a copy, then why not do something of your own.. From the deep recesses of your mind? If your talented enough to copy this .. Maybe you should express you and not others works? jmo

as a fellow artist I say go for it. imitation is a form of flattery and a way of paying tribute to others who lent inspiration to your art!

That was also my concern. Even though this work is public domain, it is still a copy. The actual work on this picture will take a lot of work and it would be more satisfying if it were more original.

I will think on that. Thanks.

I am not the cute little kitty cat type. You should see my cat. He is huge black couch potato.

agreed but you would have to change the background male as well...

or eliminate him all together...

Yes, I could just clip his mane and poof! He's a female. LOL

Or change them completely to Saber tooth tigers for something really different!

I say screw the painting. Lets me and you go find some real lions. Get you a dress like that and take some pictures.

Nothing beats the real thing.

I guess the concensus says to do it... as an artist ( oil paintings) I try to stay away from preconcieved ideas... A blank canvas and a thought at that moment when you pick up the brush.. And just letting your mind give you inspiration... But hey thats not for everyone either for some reason I have yet to a portrait.. Mostly seascapes.. after 20 years in the Navy it would figure why... do what your heart tells you....

My ideas are born in my mind and I work them up on the computer until they are just right.

Starting with a blank canvas and no idea what to put on it is usually just a waste of paint and canvas. I am a stickler for composition, color planning and balance. Trying to make corrections on the canvas is too much work so I make all my corrections to the composition and color on the computer. It has a good feature. A back button.

I could just paint on the computer with painter IX but I still need to get the drawing box so I can use a pen instead of a mouse to paint.

But the problem with computer paintings, they aren't on canvas, they have no paint strokes etc. I can do a water color on the computer and print it out and it would look like it was done with real water colors, but I still prefer the real thing.

When you get into portraits and realism you have to learn to plan your painting down to the last detail. Before I get out my brushes, I know exactly what I want and where I am going with the painting. There is no guess work or experimental design except on the computer.

That saves me a lot of time and paint. I used to toss a lot of my work in the trash. Now I just put the design in a file folder for later consideration or just abandon the project and not paint it if it is not coming together the way I want.

Unless of course you are doing abstract, but even then you need to have a color scheme in mind.

Are you a photographer?

I completely agree with the above.. but I do my layouts with old school sketches...I tend to like how mixing the colors can do their own thing...its almost a sub conscious way of allowing the paint to speak for itself

I am not. Working on getting a very nice camera as I would like to start it as a hobby. So right now all I got is my digital. It's all good though!

Minus the skin on the floor.... it gives a sense of submission of the lions that surround, rather than respectful calmness of them, and an acceptance of the subject.... I don't feel the skin on the floor is necessary to portray strength.

Otherwise, what a glorious possible art piece.