good art is always appreciated...

V.

I second vixyyfox's comment. :3

I love your work!

And this is just the beginning. you deserve even more artists, and this will be the year swish!
Keep it up ! =D

Awww the poor little babies :c Feeling betrayed that some random dude, they've never met in real life, did something they didn't know about! What ever will we do D:

Oh uh.. :3 <-- gotta put this here so that.. *shrug*

I'm going to have to disagree here. I don't really feel the need to announce it. I publicly declare on my Twitter that I use reference photos and I highly encourage others to do so. In my comments I explain that I use public domain images if prompted, photos based on written permission from gallery owners, and photos I've taken with my own camera. It's not some vast, secret technique. When asked how I do things, I'll often give people the photos I used if they're curious. Many are compilations of a whole collage of photos. I often have a collage of photos opened on another monitor from which I draw ideas, lighting and composition-wise. I also have items on my desk that I use for mapping out refraction or shadows or whatnot. If people want to feel betrayed that I'm not a magician who conjures up perfect raytracing from my head, that's fine. That's more on them than it is on me.

I did make a long, detailed response to this, but I get the impression that you have already made up your mind. I can expound on this with tons of sources, but I'll instead be brief:

Artists do not create in the ways you think they create.

I held similar views until I started talking with tons and tons of realist artists and teachers from art academies from around the world outside the fandom.

Don't worry about me dude. Your concerns are noted but I am not going to change the way I do things.

- Swish

999 of us don't want you to change. You do you, kitty. Everyone else can go jump.

Cheers,
Aly.

Yeah, getting past the notion that stuff just comes out of your head is an important (and inobvious) lesson that an artist has to learn if they want to do more than cartoons.

I remember being dismayed when I first looked at a book showing how Boris Vallejo did his amazing fantasy images...he draws from PHOTOS? Taken of MODELS? Gasp! ...but no one can do that level of work without references. And he definitely improves on those reference photos.

So now I know, and look at references! ...and then ignore them and draw cartoons! hey cartoons are fun too. :)

I think you don't understand what art studies are. At university I was forced to learn that way (rightfully so). Every serious artist I know does such art studies. All artists on art groups I know do that. There's no other way you can get better without references.

https://www.redbubble.com/people/bl.....se-photographs
You have no idea what you're talking about. All artists learn from doing studies of pictures. Why don't you go note Blotch and ask if they ever studied pictures for their art.

But also, if there is back lash.. so what? Who cares if a few people, with no understanding of art, get upset.... he's clearly got a lot of fans already. That's the nature of the beast, he keeps doing what hes doing and people who like it will stay. People who get upset will cry about it and eventually leave.

As has beeen said before, it's clear that no one is going to change your mind on this, so please take your concerns elsewhere.

Also given that Kenket left a nice shout PRAISING him for his animal studies, I think you might wanna pull Blotch out of your little rant here hun.

Are you seriously implying people shouldn't use references? Just about any marginally successfull artist would disagree with you, and I think this is a pretty uneducated opinion you have there :/

So wonder interests grow so fast. Because your draw style is so warm to see :3 <3

I suppose so xD Thank you so much for your your comments man.

Oh no. I wrote wrong xD. No wonder interests grow so fast. Because your draw style is so warm to see :3 <3
Corrwct one xD

Dude bro. Still can't believe how fast you've improved. Because I remember you before you did art stuff. Crazy, isn't it?

Right?? I remember talking with you in 2015 about various things. I wonder where I'd be had you not commissioned your profile pic :D That was seriously the kick I needed to get going.

You Deserve it! :3

Thank you spotty :]!

Congratulations, hard work rewarded :p
Like skips says I still can't believe how fast you've improved. I'm kind of jealous about people improving so fast, but makes me happy too to see such things ^^

And thanks so much for commenting about composition and giving ideas in the replies! It's all part of the learning process and it has helped me greatly.

Knowing that I'll still do it in the future.
Hope it will be helpful for you to go even deeper in your improvements :3

Congrats on the milestone, mate!

Cheers NDB :]

No wonder! Great painterly style!
Congratulations!

Thank you otterlike <3

I know I've said this to you before, but the amount of emotion you portray in your art is amazing :3 I feel something with every image I view. It's really awesome, watching you work and I look forwards to growing together as artists <3

You've been amazingly helpful too in pointing out where you felt the emotion get expressed which has given me lots of useful information on where to give special attention with future drawings :D

I can't wait to see more. It's really an honor to have you teaching me stuff man

Your work is gorgeous and it's amazing that you've only been making digital works for a year!

I'm glad you're not discouraged by the narrow-minded individual who thinks using references is somehow "cheating" - how else is one supposed to learn to reproduce anatomy, lightplay and even composition without references? Is working from a (or multiple) photograph any different from drawing from life in a plein air fashion, or using a live model? No, of course it isn't. Even the great old masters - like da Vinci - painted from models.

Passing off a full-blown photomanipulation as original, un-referenced work could be seen as lazy and somewhat dishonest, but creating an original work using references is certainly none of the above.

You keep creating and we'll keep watching and loving your work!

Thanks ShipsCat. This is a very succinct and well-organized post that explains the flaw in logic here that is probably discouraging many new artists who think that "the greats" out there are all conjuring reality completely from their head. Drawing from reality in photo form or based on what's in front of you is the best way to learn drawing fundamentals and build a visual vocabulary.

Thanks for your comments regarding the work, chee! I'll keep trying to work at it. Don't expect much in January though. Lots of IRL things that are non-art related :]

You are an amazing artist, way beyond the furry fandom, I might add. This coming from someone who has been on the board of more than one arts organization. I'm impressed and I can see by your skills you are creating quite a stir, that is something to be proud of. Love your work and keep being inspired <3

Surfurry your comment is also inspirational and means a lot to me. Creating a stir is an inevitability in the art world isn't it? It's an exciting and new realm.

Being one of the rare really good artists who answers to his fan comments, you deserve every single watch.

I made a promise to myself that before certain milestones were achieved that I'd make a genuine effort to interact with everyone. Obviously, if I end up having something insane (like 10k+ watchers which is absurd, I don't see that), then this might become unfeasible and I'll only be able to reply to some. Will definitely see :]