New Stevie Drawing...

[LiamMcConville]

Originally Posted by michelle2677

i think she meant go to his house.

idk, i tend to be very trustworthy too and be loyal to people i believe in. But it's kinda difficult to argue with writing on the wall. it's kinda obvious so i'd do whatever I could to make sure it was legit even if it seems kinda lame or dumb.

good luck.

I'm confident its legit. Its obviously in charcol, which means he's obviously drawing.

Originally Posted by trackaghost

Couldn't you go round to his house?
I dunno. I guess it's your $200. I can't even imagine having that much money to spend on a drawing when I was 16 though. Actually I can't even imagine the most talented 16 year old charging his friends that much for his pictures!
It's certainly very pretty, authentic or not, although I think I'd prefer to spend the money on a vintage poster or even a concert ticket myself.

That would be such a pain in the ass. I trust him, and that's really all that matters. I don't think HE charges that much, I think he's part of a group or class that specifies how much something should cost.

[madolyn]

I'm a graphic designer and use Photoshop almost daily, and I agree with the earlier posts.

OK, so the artist kid says he's not skilled enough in Photoshop to have done it that way. However, another way to kind of "cheat" is to basically trace the image by projecting it onto a wall. Obviously you still need artistic skill to create the line strokes, shading, etc., but when you see art that's this photo-real, it often originates from a trace.

It's a lot of money, as others have said.

Just sayin' ...

[paleshadow]

Originally Posted by LiamMcConville

I understand your concern for there ARE indeed a lot of frauds nowadays. If this can convince you, I don't even know how to use photoshop that good...yet.

Please tell that "friend" of yours to get out of that rock he/she's been living under and start taking a good look at what artists can achieve just with pencil.

Why would I wait for so long to finish your piece when I can simply go get a photocopy of that picture which would only take a few minutes?

If you are still unconvinced, I can bring this Work in Progress to school just to let you smudge it a bit, and see if there's any graphite transferred on your finger. The consequence, of course, is to bend the paper and smudge up the drawing, which I would never recommend. However, you are not able to do so once I finish the drawing because I will apply a protective spray over it, after which you can't get your finger dirty no matter how hard you smudge. But I'm sure you'll be able to see some pencil strokes, after all, my technique is not perfect.

Tell me if you want to do that.


I'm going to continue with his services, and pay him the full price. I have faith in him, and would gladly do this over again.


Thank you though, once again...I truly appreciate your concern.

Well, here's the thing. The finished parts of the "drawing" are created on the computer. It doesn't have to be photoshop, and someone saying they don't know how to use it doesn't mean it's true. If I wanted someone to think I was doing a hand drawing, I would also take my time to finish it to make it look like I was really drawing it. I would also give you a "work in progress" photo of it which is easy to do, you just erase parts of the photo and hand draw in some rough lines. I respect your decision to stand by a friend, that's cool. My concern though is not just for you, because clearly you have made up your mind, but for other members of these boards. I just hope that your original post isn't taken as an advertisement for your friend and that anyone here who would be tempted to buy from this man based on thinking that these were truly hand drawn can make a more informed decision before buying from him, or similar people. I also hope your friend is very careful how he words things when he does sell them, because he could get in trouble for fraud.

[JazmenFlowers]

Liam - it's your money and your picture. however, I have to say that before anyone said anything, when I first saw this, my first thought was that it wasn't really a drawing. the links in her bracelet, the vein in her arm, the shadows of the mic stand and baby's breath, etc. if you're willing to pay the money either way, that's your business, but I think everyone just wants you to be aware and consider it, which you have. and now that I haven't really added anything to this conversation (lol), let me say that his deviantart page says he's spent 6 hours so far on this. now, I'm no artist, but I have taken several art classes in college and I just can't imagine he's done all that in 6 hours.

just food for thought.

[Betsy]

It's a nice picture.

My 22 year old daughter does the block-grid thing to get the proportions right and then does the drawing. She gets commissioned to draw *kid* pictures which are 3" x 5" and she has to blow them up to poster size (24" x 36"). She does the picture in sections, block by block.

She charges $75 per picture, but local artist friends say she's way too cheap. It takes her 3 days to complete one. It is time consuming.

Liam, if you're happy with the quality, happy with the knowledge that it is your friend doing it for you, and happy with price, then you're happy.

But, I think it also needs to be said that you have a lot of friends here on the Ledge, who are looking out for you and don't want to see you get ripped off...and THAT is quite a compliment.

[skuncles]

It certainly looks like a copy to me. But as others have said, it's your money and you're free to do with it as you see fit. Seeing the two images on top of each other and seeing that they are identical seems to be enough proof that it's a copy. Most artists have their own unique touches here and there and this particular drawing has zero unique qualities to it.
But again, it's your money and if feel it's worth it, then go for it. Do be careful though. It's no different than people who will pay $40 for a CD copy of "Buckingham Nicks" because it's the "official Australian version". Or the Brazilian "Mirage" tour DVD. Neither of these have ever been officially released anywhere in the world, they are bootlegs, but if you want to pay good money for a fake item, go for it.

In your case, I would ask if you could stop in and see how your artist friend works. If he says no, or that it really wouldn't be possible for whatever reason. You should really reconsider the situation.

[LiamMcConville]

Originally Posted by trackaghost

I guess you're richer than me then if you don't mind spending the money without checking it's authentic.

Eh, I've come up with a solution. Conan is in an advanced art class at school, and I'm going to print the progress shot and the original, bring it to his teacher, and ask if he could possibly draw that without help from a computer or projector. I guess we'll see how that goes next week when I go back to school.

Originally Posted by paleshadow

Well, here's the thing. The finished parts of the "drawing" are created on the computer. It doesn't have to be photoshop, and someone saying they don't know how to use it doesn't mean it's true. If I wanted someone to think I was doing a hand drawing, I would also take my time to finish it to make it look like I was really drawing it. I would also give you a "work in progress" photo of it which is easy to do, you just erase parts of the photo and hand draw in some rough lines. I respect your decision to stand by a friend, that's cool. My concern though is not just for you, because clearly you have made up your mind, but for other members of these boards. I just hope that your original post isn't taken as an advertisement for your friend and that anyone here who would be tempted to buy from this man based on thinking that these were truly hand drawn can make a more informed decision before buying from him, or similar people. I also hope your friend is very careful how he words things when he does sell them, because he could get in trouble for fraud.

I do appreciate this. And I think other fans will too.

Originally Posted by JazmenFlowers

Liam - it's your money and your picture. however, I have to say that before anyone said anything, when I first saw this, my first thought was that it wasn't really a drawing. the links in her bracelet, the vein in her arm, the shadows of the mic stand and baby's breath, etc. if you're willing to pay the money either way, that's your business, but I think everyone just wants you to be aware and consider it, which you have. and now that I haven't really added anything to this conversation (lol), let me say that his deviantart page says he's spent 6 hours so far on this. now, I'm no artist, but I have taken several art classes in college and I just can't imagine he's done all that in 6 hours.

just food for thought.

For solution -- see above.

Originally Posted by skuncles

It certainly looks like a copy to me. But as others have said, it's your money and you're free to do with it as you see fit. Seeing the two images on top of each other and seeing that they are identical seems to be enough proof that it's a copy. Most artists have their own unique touches here and there and this particular drawing has zero unique qualities to it.
But again, it's your money and if feel it's worth it, then go for it. Do be careful though. It's no different than people who will pay $40 for a CD copy of "Buckingham Nicks" because it's the "official Australian version". Or the Brazilian "Mirage" tour DVD. Neither of these have ever been officially released anywhere in the world, they are bootlegs, but if you want to pay good money for a fake item, go for it.

In your case, I would ask if you could stop in and see how your artist friend works. If he says no, or that it really wouldn't be possible for whatever reason. You should really reconsider the situation.

If questioning the art teacher is fruitless, I think I might just stop in and see how its coming.

[BTFLCHLD]

Originally Posted by LiamMcConville

Eh, I've come up with a solution.

I am sure Conan will be thrilled!

[LiamMcConville]

Originally Posted by BTFLCHLD

I am sure Conan will be thrilled!

Lmao, I can only imagine.

[SortaSavageLike]

Well, Liam, you could just tell this guy to f**k off and buy this exquisite portrait instead!

http://tiny.cc/Gjg3d

[jannieC]

Originally Posted by SortaSavageLike

Well, Liam, you could just tell this guy to f**k off and buy this exquisite portrait instead!

http://tiny.cc/Gjg3d

Wrong era.

[jadegypsy]

Well I don't post here that often, but since this IS an art thread and I am an artist...

First the picture is great. It is possible though not likely that it is a real drawing, I'm thinking a trace or a projection made to fit the size you wanted. Nothing wrong with that, lots of artists will take a picture and blow it up to size and then trace it, it's part of what made the old masters so awesome ,they could draw their images that big and that in scale...but that another topic. Although even if your friend is "tracing" he is still very talented for 16.

I have nothing against how your friend works, a section at a time, it's how I do it, reason being if you work with charcoal you have to work a bit like that or you smudge. BUT it's a bunch of BS if he tells you that the drawing will not smudge after spraying, it will, it does, it's almost impossible for it not to if it is done in charcoal. I work with this stuff and I have tried everything to get it not to smudge, even acrylic base fixative, it helps, but I still come away with black fingers if I'm not careful.

Now if he is using graphite no fixative should be needed and he shouldn't have any worries about you touching it you would have to really work to actually move it over the paper (not get it on your fingers mind you, that will be easy).

As for you messing up the picture, ummmm yeah...go touch it and lightly run your fingers over it, you won't ruin it, the graphite or charcoal is layed on really heavy to get such a dense black coverage, it will come away fairly easy if it's not sprayed down.

In the end it's your money, but your requests to see and "feel" an in progress work are not out of the question.

[chiffon head]

Yawn...what a rip off LMC! I hope you didn't give him cash...

Renee

[bellagypsy79]

Originally Posted by paleshadow

Liam, really just trying to save you some money. I used photoshop to check this out and it's definitely not a drawing. I combined the original picture with the "drawing" you have and sized them so that they are the same proportions and then overlayed them. You can see that the lines match up perfectly. I don't care how good of an artist you are, you wouldn't get the lines identical. Here is a copy of both images overlayed with the opacity adjusted so you can see both images lining up. Anyone who doubts this can try it themselves, it's pretty easy. I looked at the artists page, but without seeing the images he rendered the other "drawings" from, you can't tell if those are legit either. There is nothing wrong with enjoying this type of art, or even buying it, but to spend 200 bucks for something that claims to be a drawing, when you can get this kind of thing for 20 bucks at six flags or the mall, or I'll do it for you for 100 bucks and with the other 100 you can get another one. Just saying.

Hey man, my friend is not that much of a Stevie Nicks fan but he had this to say: I am a fellow artist and am a little distraught at your comments and general lack of various artistic abillities. In your comment above you openly admit to having to "adjust" the proportions to force them to match. Had the artist not rendered this in realistic fashion there would be no need to adjust the proportions at all. Secondly photoshop and photo rendering are highly acceptable forms of art in current society. A true expert at photoshop will openly admit that to play with an image using photosop or other similar applications may take longer than creating a "real" drawing, however with the finished product of much better quality. Artists have to eat too, and need to charge by the hour. Even at a minimal hourly rate of $7.00 per hour, an average high quality piece may take 10hours resluting in a price tag of $70.00 not counting the cost of materials such as paper, and professional mounting. Lastly for you to say that you could create the same results in less time with minimal effort is an insult to each and every struggling artist out there. If you had any respect and knowledge of the art profession you would not leave such ignorant posts. Simply because you may have failed at whatever projects you attempted to pursue that's no reason to attempt to undermine another person's passion.

[paleshadow]

Originally Posted by bellagypsy79

Hey man, my friend is not that much of a Stevie Nicks fan but he had this to say: I am a fellow artist and am a little distraught at your comments and general lack of various artistic abillities. In your comment above you openly admit to having to "adjust" the proportions to force them to match. Had the artist not rendered this in realistic fashion there would be no need to adjust the proportions at all. Secondly photoshop and photo rendering are highly acceptable forms of art in current society. A true expert at photoshop will openly admit that to play with an image using photosop or other similar applications may take longer than creating a "real" drawing, however with the finished product of much better quality. Artists have to eat too, and need to charge by the hour. Even at a minimal hourly rate of $7.00 per hour, an average high quality piece may take 10hours resluting in a price tag of $70.00 not counting the cost of materials such as paper, and professional mounting. Lastly for you to say that you could create the same results in less time with minimal effort is an insult to each and every struggling artist out there. If you had any respect and knowledge of the art profession you would not leave such ignorant posts. Simply because you may have failed at whatever projects you attempted to pursue that's no reason to attempt to undermine another person's passion.

I'm puzzled as much about what your friend said, as I am that you felt it was valid enough to bring to my attention. Never once did I say that this was not artistic, and if you were to re-read my posts you would see that. It is FRAUDULENT to say that something is hand drawn when it is not. As far as adjusting the proportions in order to line everything up, without having the original photograph as well as the computer rendered work that Liams friend was working on, there is no way to know what size either is; however, adjusting the proportions of the original would not cause the entire thing to line up perfectly with the "drawing". Doing that would only make certain areas line up, UNLESS both the original and drawing were identical in the first place, and as you can see by the image I posted, EVERY aspect of the images lines up, not just one.

Lastly, not that it matters, but this is the second time it's come up. What do my artistic abilities or knowledge have to do with this? If I studied under Picasso or spent my afternoons copying Cappy from the TV guide, this is still not a hand drawing, and a hand drawing is what it was claimed to be. Either your friend doesn't understand the concept of truth in advertising, or you failed to explain the situation properly to them.