A Painting by Wesley Burt

[Frank the Ninja]

I am in Highschool art, and we are all starting painting. I'm new to using traditional paints, but our teacher wants us to paint with a reference. I chose one of my favorite paintings, and was wondering 3 things:
(Here is Wesley Burt's painting: http://www.wesleyburt.com/galleryfecal/smoke.jpg )

1. There is nothing wrong with copying a painting for practice (like a master study) as long as everyone knows who painted the original, right?

2. Can this painting be done with acrylics without extreme difficulty? I heard acrylics are easier to start with.

3. What colors of acrylics should I get for this painting?

Thanks for taking the time to help me, sorry if what I'm asking is out of line.

-Frank

PS. My art teacher is so dumb. He wont let me paint the smoke because he says, "You can't paint a guy hackin' on weed!"

[hito]

copying others' paintings is great way to learn.

the bigger picture of the original you can get the better. Having the original on hand is bestest.

Acrylics I don't know. Its possible, but I don't think it'll be easy. Using the same material as the original is the best route.

I can't venture to guess the exact palette, you should ask Wes himself. but it looks like mostly earth hues.

[the_allejo05]

1. nope..other artist are to learn..as long as you give proper credit..
2. acrylics behave very differently than oils..but you have to try and see what you like..the advantage of acrylics is that it dries on the spot and you can paint on top with no much problems...i prefer oils because i can correct them and keep playing around with paint..
3. Wes is a great draftman and he is expressive in using colors..
I would suggest preparing very well before attemting a good copy
I dont know what level of drawing are you in..but the way i would tackle this is practice the drawing of the head on paper..small thumbnails..to check the forms..you know which way the head points..where are the features located..etc.sort of like getting confortable with the form..so while you are painting you dont have to concentrate but in matching the colors.. look at the way his brushstrokes are put in
for the colors is a matter of personal choice..but the easier would be get a red,a blue,a yellow,a black and white..and mix from there..again you can prepractice just matching the colors close to the original in another surface..so you are confortable with the colors..then start your copy..
Wes has earth tones..meaning browns....i also see many pastel looking colors and those are accomplished with white...when you see a light green well mix like this...yellow + blue +green..add white to lighten it..compare to the original..then you can cool it with blue or warm it with a bit of red..or yellow..
have fun..post your result under mastercopies :)

[auto_matt]

how does your teacher know that it is weed this guy is smoking... dumbass teacher indeed, there is so much art about drugs and stuff

bye

[Frank the Ninja]

how does your teacher know that it is weed this guy is smoking... dumbass teacher indeed, there is so much art about drugs and stuff

Yeah. I know.

Last year he let people paint naked women, claiming, "You can paint whatever you want! It's art!"

I think you should be able to paint whatever..damn.