- me posing for my friend Tom for his illustration work
I’ve been thinking about how much the illustration business has changed over the past twenty years. I came across a box of reference shots I have taken over the years for illustration projects and some of them are too funny to post—some of me, some of my hubby (thanks dear for always helping!) and some of friends from long ago who I wouldn’t want to embarrass. (!) Now it is so easy to shoot reference with a digital camera but back then 1) the film was precious and expensive 2) there weren’t timers on the cameras so one had to ask others to pose or try to get someone to shoot photos and hope they got the pose just right. It made for some good laughs and interesting discussions when I’d ask a stranger if I could take their photo and then have to explain to them that I would only be drawing from the photo and that the photo would never appear in a magazine,etc. I remember going to our elderly neighbor’s house in St. Paul to ask her if she would pose with me in a photo (a job for the Baltimore Sun). She agreed but she said she wanted to make sure her hair was pretty in the photo and told me to come back the next day to shoot the photos. I love looking at those photos now because I remember how sweet she was and how excited she was to be a part of something that would be published.
me posing for a job for the Dallas Morning News
I had to explain this one to my daughters---no I was posing for a reference shot. Mom doesn't eat photos...
I think this one was for a book entitled, Spit Nolan by Creative Education.
Sometimes it was so fun to get into character and distort my face to get the best expressions.
Me posing as Marie Antoinette for a painting for a exhibit in France.
This is one of my favorite refrence shots. (excuse the drawn-on shirt) It was so much fun to pose and then to paint myself as Marie Antoinette. Below is the finished painting.
copyright Kate Brennan Hall