Why do artists refuse to use references why why why.
It’s not a contest to see who can get by without them. It’s not cheating to look at a thing in order to know what the thing looks like.
You don’t get stronger or better by pretending. Nobody is impressed by the awkward whatever-it-is you just drew. Use references.
I don’t think a lot of people know that it’s not cheating. I recall seeing so many piece of art called out because they referenced a pose, someone recognized it, and then proceeded to shame them for it. There’s this belief, both by creators and the audience, that artists should just be able to translate the ideas from their head to paper, and if they don’t, it’s plagiarism, or not true originality (spoiler alert: there’s no such thing).
I myself didn’t start using references until very recently, because even I was under the impression that it was frowned upon. And that belief has seriously crippled and stalled my ability to improve as an artist.
As a restarting artist, I can confirm. I just never knew. I thought you were just supposed to know how to draw the body correctly and if you didn’t you had no talent.
(( I am going to say this again, loud and clear for everyone:
USING REFERENCES FOR ART IS NOT ‘CHEATING’!!!
If you can draw/paint without references, great! But if you need to use them, and feel that your art can be bettered by using references, please, use them! This is one of the biggest tips I can give to artists, is USE REFERENCES!
Anyone who would dare to attack someone for using references after ‘recognizing a pose’ is a dipshit, who doesn’t know a thing about art.
Do you know who else used references for their art?
Norman Rockwell
Alphonse Mucha
Gustav Klimt
Toulouse Lautrec
Vincent Van Gogh
Paul Gauguin
Edgar Degas
Gil Elvgren
Frida Kahlo
Pablo Picasso
Disney Studios
And thousands of others! So, artists! Go forth, and use references!!! ))
Reblogging as a constant reminder to my followers: You will never get better if you don’t use REFERENCES from life!! References are your friend I use them all the time and have nearly one terabyte for poses alone.
You can even use other artists work, it’s just a matter of respecting the artist. Just be very careful and ASK (if you can) before posting any art you made that directly references an artists work. If you cannot contact them, let people know or link to the reference you used. Do not claim the work is your own or let people assume it by not saying anything at all-that’s where the call out culture is. Emulating master works was REQUIRED for half my undergrad classes in painting- and my original work was so much better because I studied someone with more experience and knowledge of the craft.
Unless you have a very good grasp on your subject matter trying to draw everything from memory is just going to hinder and frustrate you.
Study the masters.
Study real life.
Practice. Practice. Practice.
Your work will thank you for it.
Ideally you should provide your own reference or at least obscure what you lifted by changing the pose a little bit, at least if you’re going to post it. But the more you draw from reference, even if you don’t post, the more of a catalogue you’ll have in your head. So there really is no downside to drawing from reference on the regular.
