I occasionally work directly from photography in a trompe l'oeil style to keep my visual skills honed. I've recorded the process below.
I arranged and photographed a artichoke, adjusted the file to life size, and printed 2 basic photos. For larger jobs I've had them printed at a nice print shop. This was close enough that I just joined together 2 8.5"/11" papers.
Joined.
Printed a gray scale copy on card stock and then cut out the main shape.
Placed the gray scale copy over tracing paper. Taped it on the gesso panel where I'd like it.
It takes a bit of force with a stylus to make a mark through card stock. I don't want too much graphite on the panel.
India ink under painting.
I used the card stock cut out to mask the artichoke while I painted the back ground. The card stock holds up well to repeated washes of egg tempera.
Less than 10 hours of work at this point. If I desired a more finished piece I could make a mask of the background, and combined with the mask I already have, apply some unifying washes and scumbles to both the fore and back ground. This would be followed up with more thin washes of color to bring the local color back out. A similar technique is done in icon painting. Important icons can receive many layers of painting in this unifying/local enhancement method.
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