Let me start by how I learned how to draw. Of course like most kids, I was always drawing something on my spare time either from life or my imagination, but in high school I learned how to create more realistic images by using photos and the grid method. But that's not all there was, we also did still-lifes and portraits from life because I was lucky enough to have a teacher that believed in that. I became very good at doing photo-based stuff, and it was easier than drawing from life, but only because at the time, I had done that more than stuff from life. That was until 2004 when I started (and I'm sorry if this is repetitive) going to an atelier and learning a strong method of drawing from life, like the masters. At that point I immediately became more interested in drawing from life simply because it became easier for me, and it was always more inspiring. So the majority of my work since then is from life and to be honest it's hard to go back to photos. Mind you, photos are sometimes necessary when you need to capture something not possible from life. But other than that, I often get bored from using photo references these days--I'm too restless for that now.
Back to the atelier, we do start by doing Bargue drawing copies, which are from a book. So you can learn from 2D sources but those were designed to teach you how to see when drawing from life. Once you've learned how to draw from life in the classical way, you can draw from photos without a grid and make it look like it's from life if you want. But you also learn that most photos are not a great representation of life in terms of light and shadow and you can take that into account. The bottom line for me is I love drawing/painting from life and that's what I'd rather do, but for the odd time I really need a photo, I know how to use one properly. Thanks for the comment Panos!
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