If I knew how to how to arrange my screen to look like that...I'd use references more often :o Then again, I use Sai not Photoshop...I have to paste the references into the canvas and end up having to scroll everywhere to look at em @_@

Gorgeous image so far.

On the Mac version of Photoshop, you don't have a grey background, just the bars on the top and left of the screen as you see here. I find it really nice for arranging references just as shown here :)
You shouldn't have a problem doing it in other versions of Photoshop though. Just rearrange your toolbars a little bit and you're golden!

Using references shows the difference between the pros and amateurs. A professional knows to reference images to accurately capture a feeling or pose, even lighting and texture. It's not cheating. It's not tracing. It's observation that passes through our personal filters and onto the canvas. Sure it's good to challenge yourself to see how much you can remember without seeing a reference but ultimately it'll keep things consistent and accurate if you use em.

Awesome work so far Stigmata. I love how fluffy she looks. :3

As mentioned by TheWanderingAngel, using refs is a great way to capture and learn texture, pose, light, etc. I even used tons of reference material when I used to animate, studying pose and light changes through use of a video and breaking them down frame by frame. However, copying a reference piece does have its drawbacks, especially when working with anthros. Not all anthros look good with a human body and if a human body is being refed, it is all to easy for the character to take on human appearance, often leading to wrong proportions, etc. Imo, the key to good anthros is to make them far less human.

Just two nights ago Ryan Wardlow, myself, and a friend who is a vet and anatomy expert were sending emails back and forth about wolverine anatomy, plantigrade vs. digitigrade legs/feet, as well as getting tail and head proportions correct. Typically I am not too picky on such things, if it looks like a wolverine, I consider it to be acceptable, if it looks like another species, it's not. I am typically more of a dick when it comes to texture and fur color as I am very specific as to what I want and provide photographic refs for the color. Fuck that up, and I'll become mad as hell. Artists often want to go with the brown coloration instead of the red coloration that I desire. It may take them less time, but it's wrong.

I have only had one artist botch my piece so bad that I wanted to march down to their house and get into their face. I provided my desired poses, details and refs and they still failed beyond what I thought was acceptable for the level of artist and the price I was paying. Despite all my refs, my character's head and tail came out canine 3x and by the time they got it acceptable, they had botched my desired color, making my character so dark that you could not even see the details. In the end, I just gave up in working with the artist. The piece was never posted to their gallery, so I know they're not satisfied, and it sure as hell won't be posted to mine.

Anyhow, end rant.

Recently I commissioned someone and they just half copied a pose directly from my reference sheet and made my character so much fatter, but looking at the rest of their work you would have expected higher quality :/
Sometime's refs just don't seem to fix laziness.

Exactly. I had been wanting to commission this guy for years and I finally got a slot. Looking at their gallery, the number of watchers, and the number of page views, I would have expected so much more. Even without the pose, anatomy, and color fuck ups, my piece seemed sloppy when compared to the other pieces within the gallery. However, I probably should have studied the gallery a bit harder before commissioning. The gallery is dominated by canines. That, could be responsible for some of the eff ups as my character is not canine. However, I did provide over ONE HUNDRED photographic refs, so, imo, the artist should have been able to pull it off. Yeah... Not pleased.

Ah... I have read your two comments here and agree that drawing a completely non-canine with canine features is unacceptable and absolutely should be changed by the artist until they're correct. And I agree that getting the colour correct is important too, even if the artist has to resort to eyedroppering the exact shade from the ref sheet. But don't you think that asking the artist to sort through a hundred photographs is a little unreasonable? Imagine how long that must take them, they don't get paid for that time (and I don't just mean the artist you mention who did an awful job, I mean all the artists you commission, including the ones who do a great job.)

Just something to think about from the other side. Otherwise I agree with everything you said.

Actually, no, I don't think that it's a waste of their time. One, getting something correct takes time and effort. Two, the wolverine is a rare species and quality wolverine photos are hard to find. Let's face it, you throw wolverine into a Google search and you come back with the X-man character more often than the animal. To find quality wolverine photos, one has to search for the wolverine's other various names, names often unknown to those whom do not study the animal. Yes, I could provide those names to the artist, but that would also require them to search on their own and waste their time. Also, I don't link to 100 separate photos. The photos I provide are typically posted within large galleries for easy viewing.

Ex:

The gallery I use for my color refs: http://www.robertwinslowphoto.com/A.....70&k=Z8Wmy
http://www.onthecheap.org/wp-conten.....erines-17a.jpg
http://img807.imageshack.us/img807/.....lverines11.jpg
http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/8591.....lverines14.jpg

I also HAD a large gallery of photos taken by a friend. That gallery had 100 photos in it, but apparently Apple has closed their image hosting service and the gallery is not available.

Ah, I see. It is nice and easy to navigate those photo galleries and see at a glance which photos will be useful without having to click through each of them.

Indeed. Those images provide the color I desire for my character. However, other galleries and pictures with the wolverine's typical darker coloration may provide better poses and facial expressions. This is why I typically provide so many refs.

My take—If a client has gone through the trouble to organize hundreds of photos, it's for my convenience, and if my drawing is going to be extremely involved I'd prefer to have those resources available. You're exactly right about the issue of not getting paid for research—my prices are higher to allow for that time spent, and that's also why I require clients to do the reference hunting for me. It's a wonderful system that I wish more people would utilize, really.

Concerning colour, I don't quite relate to the idea of sticking to swatches exactly. I think that usually applies to white-lit, toon-centric images. But most of my images stray a bit from exact colours. They relate, but they're rarely exact to a client's swatches after I've selected palettes and lighting.

Re: your second paragraph -- I agree entirely. I never stick to swatches from ref sheets, there's no point unless you are putting them under fluorescent lights or without a background, and even then there's room for change. I only suggested it because GrowlingMadGulo seemed more exacting about his character's precise shade than most which made me think of it.

I never planned on screwing with your character's species, but one of these days I probably will, just to illicit a response out of you.

…You moved hundreds of miles away, right?

Bad Stigmata, bad.

I may be 800 miles away, but I'll be back in OH eventually. Wolverines are excellent trackers and I know you are hiding in Hilliard. Well, for the moment. And even though you are moving to Cincinnati, I have contacts. I'll find you and justice will be done if you play games like that.

Sad to say that I learned this the hard way. Last year I didn't use references for most of my AP art portfolio and got a 2, which is failing. This year I did use refs and got a 5, the highest score. Not sure. If this is relevant to anyone here, but I think it's a solid example of how important references are.

It's not universally relevant, as we all have different goals. But I'd like to think that anyone who cares about working representationally should probably adhere to the general idea. Glad your score improved!

I usually don't use reference, but whenever I do it really does help. So I've been meaning to do so more.
That being said, she's running to the hills again, can you tell me if she'll ever return?

im 2cool4reference
At least, I used to be. It really shows too, unfortunately.

First off, thanks for posting this. It is a rare thing to get to see into an artist's process, and just to see the way you organize your workspace is very informative to those of us struggling to learn.

I completely agree that references are absolutely crucial to the process, and I think that this is something that is typically lacking from a lot of art in this fandom. It is why some fursuits, regardless of what they actually are, all look like wolves. The artist, while competent and skilled, is skilled at reproducing one form not interpreting a character and building it. This doesn't mean that we will always get a poor quality product from them, it just means that we shouldn't commission them with something that will be outside of their comfort zone.

I think a lot of the problem is on us as commissioners when we receive something we don't like. Did we support the artist as best we could? Did we give them the tools they needed to produce something we'll enjoy? Relating to the above, did we ask them to do something we couldn't reasonably expect them to accomplish? For example, with my Nexu character, approaching  Artslave made a lot of sense. If I wanted her to make me a cute seal, I'm barking up the wrong tree.

Your style is very interesting, Stigmata, I would love to see streams or just general commentary on how you've arrived at this. I find myself overly analytical in my own drawing, focusing too much on the details of what a shape should be, essentially losing the forest to get one tree. You convey the meaning and emotion of the scene with few strokes... This is something I'd definitely like to learn to do.

yep!

pretty tiger lady btw : >

Good to see someone else doing that
The counterpart is when I don't use some, I'm kind in fear and lack confidence

someone probably asked this already but what brush do you use? Don't even try to tell me that's hard round.

It actually is a hard round! It's also a default chalk pastel brush that most Photoshop versions have.

Some artists only use a hard round, and they do just fine.

AH of course you posted Jeff Simpson. He's one of my favorite artists! asdf

I've been using the hard round as well, I just need more practice.

Also, very pretty piece. I enjoy all of your works! :)

completely agree with you

Thank goodness! I love when people agree with me!

Spread the ref love! <3