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Key Principles in Realistic Portraiture

📸 Learn to use photographic references without losing your artistic voice. In this 55-minute presentation, acclaimed painter Casey Childs explores the history, impact, and proper use of photography in art.

You’ll learn how to:

🎨 Understand photography as a tool, not a crutch, in the creative process

🖌️ Distinguish between interpretation and imitation to keep your work expressive

🌟 Train your eye through direct observation for richer color and more informed choices

📐 Navigate the strengths and pitfalls of using photographic references in portraiture and beyond


Perfect for artists who want to elevate their work beyond the flatness of the lens while preserving originality and expressive power. 🕒 Runtime: 55 minutes

  • Casey Childs

    Instructor

  • Fundamental

    Difficulty
Meet your instructor

Casey Childs

Casey's work as a whole encompasses an exploration of the human experience. His interest in the people around him comes from the idea that we look at people every day, but we never really stop to SEE them. In every painting he strives to capture the beauty, variations and complexities of the human form.
The goal of his portrait work is to capture the soul of the individual–not just their likeness. He is inspired by the figurative works of Sargent, Fechin, Thayer, Caravaggio and John Giarrizzo. John, Casey's art professor at Northwest College, instilled in him a great love of art and an immense desire to create it. John's work and ideas have found their way into Casey. Casey sees his work as a self-portrait in that the subjects of his paintings are all a part of him, each painting a learning experience and an exploration of himself as an artist.

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