PE article: The potential of Stock.

deviantART is home to the most varied and versatile range of stock you could come across. There literally is something for everyone here.

One portrait can be turned into a masterpiece and it's a shame the potential of a piece of stock can't be comprehended by many people. A good example of  this type of situation is not being able to see past the decor and furnishings when you are viewing a property to buy - you have to be able to see past them to the POTENTIAL of what they could become!

I spoke to a few devious deviants about this subject! and here are their thoughts!

ChewedKandi

"I think stock images can provide many things to artists. On a personal level they've been educational in learning anatomy and realistic lighting/colours for my own work, they've then been a major inspiration for me. I can often look at stock images and from that conjure a concept from the poses or look of an image. I still use stock from dA and from professional stock market places in my personal and professional work.

I have a lot of respect for stock artists... the amount of work they put into their craft, creating quality varied stock is something which is such an asset to dA. The stock and resources galleries shouldn't be taken for granted,especially when the vast majority is available for free in your personal work."

vector.tutsplus.com/articles/t…

The link above is an article I wrote about this...'Using Stock References in the Creation of Vector Art'"

Her article extends out to other professional artists and asks them about the usage of the stock in their working process. The article is really informative and gives a great insight!

You can check out some of Shars amazing artwork below!




pica-ae

"you always need reference! you cannot know how everything looks and stock is great for this reason and sometimes stock can even be really inspiring. Stock is a great asset to learn about anatomy, perspective, colors, light and shadow"

See some of Annes work below!




Aeirmid

"So when i look at stock, i see it as 2 schools.... stock you can use or stock you can't use......
There may be a variety of reasons why I can't use some pieces of stock. It may be technical-- too blurry, bad lighting, too grainy, too low-resoluion. Or, the reason may be that it doesn't lend itself easily to manipulating. For example, it may be a model stock that is featured in a bizarre pose around which it would be difficult to create an interesting scene, or it could be a model stock that is too close-up or specific to the face, for example, such that there really isn't much a photomanipulator can do to it besides retouching it with some paint and brushes (which is not in actuality a photomanipulation). For background stock. clarity and perspective are important; it is super difficult to create a manipulation from something taken from an awkward angle.

Stock that rocks and that is usable is usally clean, clear, and interesting. My personal bias is that I try not to use the same stock that everyone else is using unless I am doing so in a completely different way, so having stock that is unique is always nice. I look for things that will enable me to tell a story; I am not interested in just pasting a pretty face on a pretty background. More important to me is that the stock has meaning, either explicit or implied. It's difficult to explain, but I have to be able to see the piece fitting into a story I want to tell..... OR..... even better, the stock tells ME a story that I want to create around it.

For me personally, I sometimes choose stock because it grabs my attention and tells me that story, but more frequently I go hunting to find something that is suitable for what I want to say. I will often download more than 20 pieces of stock to try to fit into a manipulation; for me it is a trial-and-error process. Sometimes something looks like it would have the right perspective until you lay it into the work in progress, at which point you realize you need something similar. But sometimes a perfect piece of stock comes around, like I said above, and you're able to slide it in and build a world around it. What makes me choose a stock picture? Technical details (lighting, tone, clarity, perspective, etc.) but also uniqueness. For a model, the pose is (obviously) critical.
Some people choose by how beautiful the model and/or her clothes are. This is a valid perspective, but, as for me, I think the story the model is telling through her posture and pose is much more important."

Jade kindly linked me to the stock she used to create her amazing pieces! have a look below!

"I have a great fondness for dA's stock because it comes from some of the most creative minds out there. You can almost always find what you're looking for, as there is so much variety. There may be 10 stock photographers who take pictures of a particular abbey, for example, but no two photographs will be identical. So, if you know how to look, you can usually find what you are looking for. Moreover, because most stock photographers here are pretty much in-tune with the communities that use their stock-- more so than, say, a strictly stock photography website-- they are better able to produce what we need. Also, some stockers will even take requests. You won't find that at a commercial site! I do think that having the constant feedback that artists receive on dA is helpful for stock artists, too. For every deviant, the opportunity to share our art and get feedback makes us better artists. So, yes, dA stock artists ROCK."

Thanks for sharing your thoughts guys!

ok..

On Stock and Resource Daily Deviations...

Stock and Resources featured as Daily Deviations aren’t always seen in a positive nature  here on DA. A minority of people will comment;

"What the hell is this? it’s dull and boring and the quality and background sucks!"

They get this reaction because they aren't looking at a highly edited or retouched photo and sometimes they fail to recognise that what they are looking at is the potential stock orresource that could lead to a 100 or a 1000 uses of artwork because it’s so useful!

A lot of highly ranked professional artists rely on stock to create such amazing artwork that you probably see and never really think about how they achieved what they did. Whether its for Advertising and marketing campaigns,  Movies, Anime/Manga backgrounds, Clothing design, Pattern making, Photo manipulation, drawing/painting references. Stock is used everywhere.

The list is endless!

The message we are trying to get across here is to just be more aware and take the time to actually think when looking at stock.

Ask yourself some questions!

Imagine the resource being used in an artwork, would it make a great vector? could you use the piece to draw from? etc. With deviantART being so international we have amazing locations and images to choose from all around the world. The areas of stock and resources are so broad, we cater for a range of artists and there is something for everyone!

I hope this article has inspired you to took a look at stock and ask yourself what potential this piece has and what it could go on become!

Thanks for reading!



Check out some more amazing examples of stock to art in Elandrias stock to art series called 'This to that'!