No, you're totally right!
He is in fact, trying too hard to the point where he sterilizes the image.
I'm trying to teach him to just "let go" a bit.
I totally agree about the technique of the piece portraying more truth to the image, than the image itself.
Maybe I'll show him this info so ha can see what's up.
He is the Spock to my Kirk...NH
Very logical and methodical, while I just scribble and thrash with usually a successful outcome.
P.S. Good job on grammar and spelling!