FA+
Shop
Reference Pictures - Please Help!
19 years ago
Here's something I've been thinking about a lot lately. A lot of artist's use reference pictures, or so I'm told. However, having taken no real formal art training in drawing, no one's ever really explained what a reference photo should be, how you use it, and how close you can go to reproducing parts of it.
For example, say I wanna draw a person sitting down, but I don't know how the cloth would pull/snag/crinkle. I go online and find a picture of the pose I want.
What can and should I do with it? Can I look at it and then try to redraw the parts I need, or is that considered bad? What about using another artist's art as a reference picture when nothing else works (for, say, how to draw a good anthrohead or tail or what have you).
Explanations and opinions are requested and appreciated. Thanks! :)
For example, say I wanna draw a person sitting down, but I don't know how the cloth would pull/snag/crinkle. I go online and find a picture of the pose I want.
What can and should I do with it? Can I look at it and then try to redraw the parts I need, or is that considered bad? What about using another artist's art as a reference picture when nothing else works (for, say, how to draw a good anthrohead or tail or what have you).
Explanations and opinions are requested and appreciated. Thanks! :)
Now if you could it would help to have some people pose for you and you could take photos of them for future reference. You can also learn a lot by just being consciously observant of such things as the waya fabric drapes whereever you are. I enjoy doing this when on a bus or at a museum, it can be useful to also sketch but you don't need to, jsut try to focus and thijnk abt what you are seeing and why it is behaving in that way.
When I commission a piece, I will often provide at least a couple reference photos, usually showing poses, clothes, faces, etc. as a rough guideline for what I want. It's very rare that I find a photo of exactly what I want drawn, and I find it's usually better to give the artist license when it comes to the final image.
That being said, feel free to give yourself the same license, too. Choose the references that fit the work you have in mind, and use what you need without fear of censure. Chances are, no one else will ever know you used a photo reference in the first place, much less which one.