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Shattered-EarthThe BASICS : Using References

Published: 2011-08-30 19:21:46 +0000 UTC; Views: 193110; Favourites: 7047; Downloads: 2583
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Description If you like this tutorial or do not like it, please take some time to tell me why so I will know how to make any future tutorials! Thanks

USING REFERENCES
Disclaimer: Some will disagree with me on how to use references, which is totally normal. This is just how i believe is the best and more beneficial way to use them. If you disagree and have a better tutorial feel free to link in the comments with your (polite) argument, i won't delete them if they aren't flamey or antagonistic XD. Alternate viewpoints to consider: [link] [link]

This is just born out of seeing what a lot of beginner artists do, which is straight up copy a photo and re clothe it. Sure it's legal and like stuff to do this, especially if you credit the photo, but it's not IMO the best way to draw with references. This is not the same as studying from a photo or doing live modelling sessions. Studying is not passed as original art and the goal is to learn and get close to the original. Drawing from the mirror or a live model is also different because of the way your eyes work. You have to actively decide how to flatten the 3d image your eyes receive into one 2d flat image you draw and this exercises your brain in ways photos will never do.

Just copying a single photo for what you have problems with or the entire pose isn't going to be as helpful as examining many, this attempts to replicate what having a live model would do, that is give you dimensions and 3d form to learn from. I believe it's the best way to use references and I believe it'll be beneficial to many beginners.

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Stock images are taken from *SenshiStock and ~Nemesis-19 as well as google to illustrate my point. If you have any issues with this please contact me via note

Other basic tuts:
Related content
Comments: 827

Corelia In reply to ??? [2011-11-26 21:56:47 +0000 UTC]

Okay, this has changed my life.
I have been looking for "the secret" to what makes anatomy practice effective for a long time. Often, people will just say "practice, practice, practice" and you'll get better, but never actually clarify what I should be getting out of said practice. I feel so enlightened after reading this, as you have not only expressed a need for practicing, but actually demonstrated it in words and pictures which are both encouraging and easy to understand.
What a wake up call! Thank you so much for this!

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

Shattered-Earth In reply to Corelia [2011-11-27 15:36:32 +0000 UTC]

Oh yay! I'm glad I could help you like that! Yea, people do just say practice I think we forget how we learned so it's hard for us to explain, that's why I tried to make all these basic tutorials to sort of go back to the roots

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YellowPheasant In reply to ??? [2011-11-25 22:02:54 +0000 UTC]

Haha, I love your sense of humour You're a great teacher! You really know how to choose your words, making it easy for me to understand You're also like a nazi-gymteacher who only means the best, and wants her students to become as good as they can get. (That's positive btw...) Thank you so much! "Kyss" all the way from Norway!!

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Shattered-Earth In reply to YellowPheasant [2011-11-26 03:48:01 +0000 UTC]

Thank you, i'm glad you found it helpful and easy to understand! I don't think the nazi's meant the best for anyone though

You're welcome from the USA

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keyofdestiny624 In reply to ??? [2011-11-24 15:08:58 +0000 UTC]

Finally!! I understand now you make me feel better about it I'm going to test it out! This toutorial DEFINATLY without a doubt help my single mindedness!!

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

Shattered-Earth In reply to keyofdestiny624 [2011-11-25 15:57:15 +0000 UTC]

Glad to hear! I hope it helps you lots later

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charsane In reply to ??? [2011-11-21 00:40:09 +0000 UTC]

OH my god, so helpful. You're the kick in the pants I needed to start using references at all.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

Shattered-Earth In reply to charsane [2011-11-21 13:51:39 +0000 UTC]

haha! they are a real godsend when you don't have a naked person at your beck and call LOL!

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

charsane In reply to Shattered-Earth [2011-11-21 23:28:02 +0000 UTC]

Oh, I thought that's what my boyfriend was for... Oops! lol

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GaaraLover85 In reply to ??? [2011-11-04 20:40:59 +0000 UTC]

ILU so much for this

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

Shattered-Earth In reply to GaaraLover85 [2011-11-05 01:02:19 +0000 UTC]

haha aww

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SynViver In reply to ??? [2011-11-04 17:38:18 +0000 UTC]

This is fantastic. Thank you for sharing it!

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

Shattered-Earth In reply to SynViver [2011-11-04 19:07:36 +0000 UTC]

Thank you! I'm glad you think so

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

Fangirl-45 In reply to ??? [2011-10-29 04:01:18 +0000 UTC]

You... are a really great teacher. A lot of art books and anatomy books just make everything look so complicated, and I see them drawing the human figure all perfect and I try and it looks like a messy glob, and then I feel bad. This, I feel sort of like you're really teaching me, you're showing me how things work, providing both positive and negative examples, explaining things slowly and with proper emphasis, and overall I think you're the nicest tutorial-writer I've ever read.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

Shattered-Earth In reply to Fangirl-45 [2011-10-29 16:58:44 +0000 UTC]

thank you for the kind words! I think I am a bit mean in them lol so I am glad you do not agree. I think a lot of people expect art books to teach them how to draw but I realized that art books are really more like reference book because nothing really replaces drawing from life in the end x_x

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

GiniPhobiac In reply to ??? [2011-10-27 20:16:54 +0000 UTC]

I love you.
And this.
..... Yeah.
Gottadothisassoonaspossible.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

Shattered-Earth In reply to GiniPhobiac [2011-10-28 01:10:34 +0000 UTC]

hahaha why thank you

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

Snukey-B In reply to ??? [2011-10-26 20:59:16 +0000 UTC]

HA! Lovely!
I didn't kno it but, I needed this (this isn't even what I was looking for lol)

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

Shattered-Earth In reply to Snukey-B [2011-10-27 11:38:40 +0000 UTC]

Haah well good thing you found it!

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

Snukey-B In reply to Shattered-Earth [2011-10-27 21:39:54 +0000 UTC]

For real!

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

Hexamous In reply to ??? [2011-10-25 22:49:58 +0000 UTC]

Fantastic tutorial! It's really great seeing this, a lot of people dont know how to use reference w/out tracing! It's crazy!
Glad to see this here

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

Shattered-Earth In reply to Hexamous [2011-10-26 02:31:30 +0000 UTC]

Thanks! It's a bit messy but I'm glad it gets the point across, you shouldn't need to trace to ref

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

rosegirl163 In reply to ??? [2011-10-22 08:44:08 +0000 UTC]

worst time to get a reference is... when you are drawing a guys/girls leg and you need a ref for when those legs join >,>;;;;
and someone walks in on you... ,_,; sigh~ it's anatomy.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

Shattered-Earth In reply to rosegirl163 [2011-10-22 16:24:46 +0000 UTC]

LOL yea this was a problem when i used to live with a room mate..

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

daanube In reply to ??? [2011-10-21 23:42:26 +0000 UTC]

As often, the key of the art (whatever it is: drawing, photography, painting...) is "WATCH". And you're so right about it. I have to admit that i refused to use references, because i thought of that like some kind of cheating (i always enjoy to imagine what i want to draw)..but sometimes, there are things that you can't imagine, and when I begun to use them, everything went easier (now i can imagine with some more ease )

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

Shattered-Earth In reply to daanube [2011-10-22 03:18:03 +0000 UTC]

Yea, and this way you aren't cheating because you are learning !

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

daanube In reply to Shattered-Earth [2011-10-22 03:21:44 +0000 UTC]

Exactly!

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Crissforkiss In reply to ??? [2011-10-21 13:20:10 +0000 UTC]

This is a gift to the world!!! It's brilliant!

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

Shattered-Earth In reply to Crissforkiss [2011-10-21 15:02:36 +0000 UTC]

Hahha i don't know if i would go THAT far, but thank you

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

Crissforkiss In reply to Shattered-Earth [2011-10-21 16:51:10 +0000 UTC]

XD you're welcome!

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

Seraphim-Rayn In reply to ??? [2011-10-17 16:23:24 +0000 UTC]

This helped me out a lot! I really love your tips and the cute doodles are adorable! >u< But it really helped by telling me that its not just coping a picture! I was so afraid to use references for just that reason! It never occurred to me that I should use a bunch of references to understand the problem and actually -learn- how to do it myself! Thank you very much for this tutorial! I definitely look forward to any other tutorials you make! ^u^

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

Shattered-Earth In reply to Seraphim-Rayn [2011-10-17 18:00:18 +0000 UTC]

Thanks! I'm so happy it could help you like that! I think it's something most people aren't taught so i hope it really opens people to using references

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

NotYourLeo In reply to ??? [2011-10-09 15:23:04 +0000 UTC]

THESE TUTORIALS....FFFF...SOOO AWESOME.
Thank you soooo much.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

Shattered-Earth In reply to NotYourLeo [2011-10-09 20:37:12 +0000 UTC]

blubhlubh thanks D:

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

spaceyspontaneous In reply to ??? [2011-10-05 00:01:33 +0000 UTC]

Thank you so much! I was wondering how to use references, but now I know! Again, thank you for making this tutorial~

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

Shattered-Earth In reply to spaceyspontaneous [2011-10-05 04:45:57 +0000 UTC]

Aw thanks, i'm glad it could help!

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

BitchyHeroine In reply to ??? [2011-10-02 19:21:25 +0000 UTC]

Thanks! The tutorial is really helpful! I've been doing it all wrong. OTL
Just a quick question: Is it okay to sketch the references out? I mean just a few quick strokes. Or should I only look at them?

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

Shattered-Earth In reply to BitchyHeroine [2011-10-02 19:26:11 +0000 UTC]

Hmm what do you mean? You can copy them for practice i think

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Eiko-san1992 In reply to ??? [2011-09-29 16:14:48 +0000 UTC]

Yay! I've been looking for a tutorial about this and this tutorial sums everything I wanted to know up in one lovely place, thank you so much.
I was using like one or two refs to try and learn from but this tutorial has helped me to understand that to really learn more I'll have to spend the time studying the refs for a picture.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

Shattered-Earth In reply to Eiko-san1992 [2011-09-29 23:39:17 +0000 UTC]

I'm glad you found it helpful! I hope you'll see an improvement from what you get out of refs

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

VersaFarm In reply to ??? [2011-09-28 19:59:07 +0000 UTC]

:LJHAG:

👍: 0 ⏩: 2

Shattered-Earth In reply to VersaFarm [2011-09-29 08:20:24 +0000 UTC]

ljhag? is that just random letters XD

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

VersaFarm In reply to Shattered-Earth [2011-09-29 16:15:02 +0000 UTC]

yeah, I meant just to preview it, but I accdentaly clicked 'send'...

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

VersaFarm In reply to VersaFarm [2011-09-28 19:59:37 +0000 UTC]

oops... lol

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

VersaFarm In reply to ??? [2011-09-28 17:15:24 +0000 UTC]

Helped me alot! People kept telling me "use refs!" but I hardly new how that meant!!

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

Shattered-Earth In reply to VersaFarm [2011-09-28 19:59:57 +0000 UTC]

Ah, i'm glad it helped you then!

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

Neoconvoy In reply to ??? [2011-09-27 20:56:09 +0000 UTC]

Thanks for sharing!

Very useful!

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

Shattered-Earth In reply to Neoconvoy [2011-09-27 21:52:56 +0000 UTC]

np, thanks for looking

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

J-Mirakuru In reply to ??? [2011-09-27 18:23:44 +0000 UTC]

Hi! I have a question.
First of all, wonderful tutorial, I'm going to save it so I can look at it later.
But I was just curious, when you get all your reference photos, do you trace over the points you're trying to learn (but you dont use that in your actual photo) to understand more about the arm/body movements?

Sorry if that didn't make sense..

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

Shattered-Earth In reply to J-Mirakuru [2011-09-27 19:02:05 +0000 UTC]

Hi! Thanks for your compliment

For your question, i noted in the tutorial that i do not actually trace them. I only over laid them to give an idea of what areas you should pay attention to, but if possible you should avoid tracing. I understand some artists are not secure in their lines yet so they may want to trace but do not rely on it if you can

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