Here are a few guidelines to help you select some potential photo subjects for your ink and watercolour commission.

1.  Choose a photo that has a VARIETY of subject matter in it. This makes the painting more interesting.

VARIETY

2. Choose a COLOURFUL subject. A variety of colour adds more life and energy to the painting.

COLOURFUL

3. Choose photos where people are IN ACTION, and not posed. People in action tend to give drawings more movement and not draw attention away from the interesting subjects around them. If you must select a photo with a posed person, remember that this person will be drawn in an illustrative style, and not as a portrait.

IN ACTION

ILLUSTRATIVE STYLE

4. Choose a CLEAR photo with high quality and resolution, so the details are easy to see. But if your photo has a few mistakes in it (like a thumb!) or elements you don’t want in the drawing, I’ll likely be able to edit them out of the drawing (see the vanished sleeve above and the vanished people below). And I may also suggest other edits to your piece that will improve the finished painting.

CLEAR with EDITS

What DOESN’T make a good ink and watercolour painting?

It’s not that it wouldn’t make good art, but it’s probably not something that would suit my art style.

• Portraits of people or animals
• R-rated images
• Selfies
• Pictures of other people’s art
• Probably some other subjects, too, but we can discuss

And if you haven’t already done so, go read The Sketchy FAQs page for some important details!

Ready to get started?

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