Seriously~ You'll never grow if you never use references. C:

sounds like youve been associating with some silly people!

Stupid deviantArt! :P

I see a lot of (beginning) artists saying, 'I cheated and used reference' and I wish I could find out where they're getting this idea that using reference is cheating.

<3 my reference files!

its from non- artists. have you ever had someone ask you: 'wow! did you do that from memory? were you looking at something?'

You.
Rock.

*fist bump*

I second the motion!

I remember a while back I was hanging with some friends & doodling, I was using reference, and one guy was adamant it was cheating. He tried to say that anything I had created with reference was a load of bollocks.

BLAST DOWN THE MISCONCEPTIONS

It's even worse when you tell people you use references and they treat you like the red-headed step-child/art thief. I think the worst was when someone once told me that real artist never erase

People are silly. They get the weirdest notions in their heads. Good material you have up there, too. I'll have to check out those resources. :p

Seconded. I'd be hard pressed to find an illustrator who never uses reference, and I've NEVER heard anyone serious refer to referencing as cheating. Crazy talk

If using references is good enough for professionals... 'nuff said.
Looking good, Sir

Amen. A lot of (if not all) pros use references.

Faving for the art and the message.

Good points. Paranoically avoiding ref is plain silly (plenty of FA artists could really benefit from using ref). One has to learn HOW to use it and do so when trully needed.
Yet...

"It is all very well to copy what you see, but it is much better to draw only what you still see in your memory. This is a transformation in which imagination collaborates with memory. Then you only reproduce what has struck you, that is to say the essential, and so your memories and your fantasy are freed from the tyranny which nature holds over them."
-Edgar Degas

I wouldn't seriously refer to reference as cheating, but i tend to dislike them. It's personal prefference. Instead, I spend shitloads of time sketching the things i'd like to learn how to draw, but once I work on a piece, I put them aside - I don't want to be distracted, nor that some picture would tell me what to do design-wise (don't take it as offence, but look at 3.psd - wouldn't have you focused on design more if you didn't have all of that naturalistic material around to tell you what to do?). As old chap Edgar here suggests - drawing from memory can have its advantages. It forces you to strip things of detail and work on the essentials, If your task is to come up with a pleasing design, it can be benefitial.

It's not what you have, it's how you use it. In a way.

Good points. I am definitely a fan of Degas, especially his exterior subjects.

In response to the design of 3.psd, I drew out the image in a few thumbnails, and then used the thumbnail as a reference for the reference photo. So I like to give more credit to the design choices than simply being at the mercy of the photo. Unless the subject matter is too obscure/foreign I prefer getting my references by my own means. But… BBCMotionGallery is too good to pass up. :>

Kind of

Yes

Primary source: Real life

Secondary sources: Photos, videos, or other drawings

Real life is the best, but you have a ton of good reference. I can tell that you've improved loads dude. This shit is blowing my miiiind.

Eeee! Thanks for the props, sir. c:

Are you dead under there? *points to the lower right hand corner*

That's an image of one of my friends, pretending he was shot with a gun. But from that angle it really does look like me.

You'd not think it at first, but it turns out people of all races look the same!

Agreed 100%.

I think not drawing from references is helpful -only- if you have the creativity to sculpt your target with your mind's eye and then convey it to a canvas. That way, if you can think it and draw it, you've added it to your mental repertoire of forms and shapes from which you draw from when drawing. I'd take what I'd seen in everyday life as a learning experience, but never actively referred to a reference when actually drawing. I did this constantly for about 4 years when I was learning how to draw, and practicing technique. Nowadays though, I've started to pick up on references just for the sake of getting to practice technique and perspective. ((creaturecorp your avatar scares me.))

I'd consider being proactive in observing the everyday life to be a reference.

I've heard from one of my drawing books that Chinese students do it a little different from us: they may be assigned the task of studying a subject for two-ish hours before drawing it from memory.

Ah, you might be interested to know that one of the modern great artists (www.goodbrush.com) says for every minute he spends painting, he'd spend an hour thinking about it first... granted, that man can do a -lot- in one minute.

Woooooah! Is there any more info on this guy? He speaks little of technique on his site. :(

He's considered "the grandmaster" of modern art. He actually has an award for this, and a formal title. I'm not kidding. While his site says very little, you have to know what forums he goes to. While I do NOT know if he still participates occasionally, the last place I remember seeing him actually talk about his work was at http://forums.sijun.com/ . He may also browse http://conceptart.org/ , but I do not know this for certain. His username is usually "Spooge".

Duly noted. I assume the grandmaster award was from Spectrum. Thanks for the info, ma'am.

No problem.

Is this why all your anthros look like you lopped the head off a lion and surgically attached it to a headless corpse?

I won't deny the possibility. ;)

I like your style. I need more people like you in my life.

Actually, I don't get it. Is that supposed to be a bad thing?

Excellent advice~

love this

Pff you should at least use references to be able to maybe get the idea about the animal's details, at least. How on earth can you draw an accurate animals' head just from your memory about yesterday's discovery channel?

Refs FTW :)