I originally posted this as a comment to one of onta's journal posts, but decided it deserved its own post.

I wish I had known it was actually OK to use references when creating artwork, when I started drawing more than ten years ago. For far too long I thought it was "cheating" to use references, and instead held my head high and just kept struggling with proportions and stuff, without ever really getting good at it... Most of the fun of drawing was overshadowed by my constant fear of getting the proportions wrong. It was actually only a few years ago that I finally grew impatient and pissed off at how slowly I developed, let go of my foolish pride and started using reference photos (still feeling pretty ashamed about it though).

If I had realised using references was "OK" all those years ago I bet my art would have been somewhere completely else by now. Or at least I would have been able to put some of that worry-energy to better use.

All the Great Masters used (and use) references. Like my favourite old Swedish painters Carl Larsson and Anders Zorn, and countless others. Of course. But I was too stuck up to realise it. XD