Everything beyond Hyperrealism,
is a delicious problem.

Your road,
is your own.

You can dive directly into Photogrammetry,
and base your next portrait on a 3D model.

Or You can open up your reference photo in GIMP,
and adjust the color temperature.

Or you can challenge yourself to a vision quest,
by desaturating your reference photo completely.

Mixing the color from scratch may feel relatively counterproductive,
but it may lead you to a series of simplified portraits, or color studies.

Where you for example just use three variations of a color dark, medium and light,
instead of a full palette, which will force you into more abstract creations.

In short the lessons in your path,
come from your curiosity about the infinite world of art.

There are no teachers here,
you move at your own pace, and in the direction that calls to you.

Hyperrealism means two things to me,
one that it is a teacher, but also that it pushes poverty away.

Here, my reluctance towards hand drawn portraits,
really comes to the surface.

People looking to purchase a keepsake,
may not be interested in the artist’s own impression.

I think maybe,
this is the root of the starving artist.

Imagine that you wish to purchase a portrait.
of a dear family member.

Someone who always cared about you,
and helped you in life.

Do you want the artist’s hand between you,
and your loved one.

Or do you just want,
a perfect, beautiful portrait.

That captures,
how you see your loved one with your heart.

The problem of the artist’s hand has gotten so bad,
that nobody thinks about portraits anymore.

I should clarify that...
I do not blame the artists.

It is the teachers that in their incompetence,
reinforced some terrible ideas about art, just to keep students busy in class.

Forget the starving artist nonsense,
you are Royalty, you are a Hyperrealist.

Begin with nine perfect portraits, and a small display of the reference photos,
and time-lapse (or just progress screenshots, or layers you use).

You deliver it to your potential client,
and they immediately understand what they will get from you.

Personally I think realistic portraits should start at $1,000 dollars and sometimes carry on past $20,000,
this immediately tells your customer everything they need to know about folks selling portraits for $50 or a $100 bucks.

While you are waiting for clients,
you work on expanding and improving your art portfolio.

You work on your coffee-table book,
and the art-book that tells your story.

And you continue improving your online lectures,
covering more and more; as you learn more.

You should have a photography website,
and consider selling time-lapse videos of nature, as a camera is on $50.

Take time to record eight or twelve hour scenes
of summer days turning to night.

Capturing the symphony of insects, birds,
trees and weather.

The customers that recognize the quality of your work,
will have no problem waiting for you to finish existing work.

If you show them a list of the projects,
and your daily progress, on a video site, they will only love their portrait even more.

I also I wanted to warn you about social media
do not base your company on something that flimsy.

Keep stuff on your own website,
and be ready to remove the link to whatever is causing you distraction.

Hyperrealism is both a teacher,
and a way out of poverty.

Or at the very least,
a way to push away fears, brought on by poverty, away.

Art is part of our heart,
it will teach and protect.