[Art Tip] How I use References (Patreon)

Hello! Some people showed interest in my methods and we chatted about references lately. I'm not a great master or anything, but the way I did things seemed to work at college and so far in my career, so here it is!

Introduction

The way I see it, there are two "illegal" things in art, as far as technical things go. One of them is art theft in any way, shape or form, and the second one is the complete lack of using references.

Using references correctly is somewhere between the two. Obviously, art theft is not just unethical but can also end up in a copyright infringement, while not using references will leave you with repeating your own mistakes over and over again. I use references all the time, and my aim is to always learn something new.

I hope to show you through examples what worked out for me.

Type 1

In this case, I was heavily inspired by a photo, both the outfit and the pose, and I didn't want to change too much overall. At times like this, when you don't introduce too many alterations, and/or when the similarities are so blatant, I highly advise you to include the main reference in your social media post. Better safe than sorry. I used many other references in this example, but since main reference was recognisable, I added a link to my social media posts.

"Redraws" also belong in this category, in my opinion.

Important Note

Seriously, if you mostly stick to one reference, give credits. Unfortunately I have seen plenty of posts, even in the JJK art community, where the art piece was 100% borderline copied, but the artist did not give credits to the original piece. The latest I saw didn't only copy the pose and color palette, but even the BRUSHSTROKES. Please don't do this.

Type 2

In this case, I built up the image from scratch. The picture was put together from so many different references, none of them were recognisable + I took my own reference photo.

Q&A

Here I try to answer questions as I go, if I have the time. I'll update this post. If you have any, please leave it in the comments.

Q: "Why do I feel like an imposter who copies things?" 

(I'm paraphrasing here, unfortunately I can't find this part in the chat anymore.)

A: My guess is that it's cause you don't understand the reference you are using. 

Example! Back when I was still just "copying" bodyparts during life drawing sessions, I felt really dumb, because I didn't know what's underneath, WHY things look the way they do. After spending a good amount of time with learning anatomy basics, now I need the references for accuracy, to correct myself. I hope this makes sense...

Another example would be the chest above. If I didn't have a background knowledge, I'd likely find even the anatomy drawing confusing.

My only way to remedy this would be to take a step back. If you don't understand why the nose look like a certain way from a certain angle, spend some time with noses.

Please remember though that every good artists use references. Many of them prepare a separate reference sheet for each project! Drawing and painting by heart is the privilege of those who have decades and thousands of drawings under their belts.