How to Paint from a Black and White Photo

Watercolor Demo

This is a step-by-step demonstration from well-known watercolor artist and author Charles Reid based on an old photograph of a couple of men and a horse.  Reid says:  The advantages of painting from old black-and-white photos is that the images are simplified into dark and light values, with few or no halftone details. Halftones can be confusing when painting from life or color photos. Sometimes you'd like a bit more information than a black-and-white photo has to offer, but the advantage is that you also won't be confused by the detail in halftones.

This demo is an excerpt from Charles Reid's Watercolor Solutions: Learn to Solve the Most Common Painting Problems.