Photo Overlay

[.:J/A\X:.]

hey, I'm curious about the point of overlaying photos when painting in photoshop. I've seen people do it in speed painting videos, but I've never really figured out why. I'm pretty inexperienced when it comes to digital painting, so sorry if this is a stupid question.

[bizarre]

its saves time and effort- rather than painstakingly hand-paint every fissure in tree bark, just do a texture overlay.

rather than hand-paint every diamond in diamond plate steel, use an overlay.

rather than paint every rivet onto the side of a submarine, use an overlay.

Also, throwing down some stock photography backgrounds gives a plate, or background, to give the subject context, in case you don't have time to paint the background as well as the subject.

Also, many textures require many brush/tool switches as well as a lot of color mixing to create. It just saves time to use overlays.

[.:J/A\X:.]

ok thank you so much! I appreciate the feedback. I'll have to do some experimenting with photoshop now. =D