Progression of a typical oil painting over nine hours.

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This oil painting is 14" x 11" and was painted from a live model- myself! There are some key advantages to painting from a live model, the most important being that you can work on your painting whenever it's convenient. Another advantage is you don't have to guess at the values. Value is defined as the relative darkness or lightness of color. A typical photograph flattens values, especially in the shadow areas of skin tones. A photograph may appear "washed out" in the highlight areas or black in the shadows and if it's used as a basis for a painting, you may end end up with a flat painting. Many skilled artists can compensate for this effect because they have worked extensively from the live model and instinctively know what colors the shadows really are. So, although it can be done, and with very good results, painting from a photograph is much more difficult and time-consuming than creating a painting when the subject is sitting in front of you. Another advantage to working with a live model is that the artist can arrange the subject in a light that is more likely to flatter them. Light is especially important in a painting because the artist uses it to define the form.