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The BASICS : Using References
Published: 2011-08-30 19:21:46 +0000 UTC; Views: 193057; 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:
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Comments: 827
! I'm glad it could open some doors for you!
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Finally someone said it! This is a super awesome (and rather funny) tutorial!
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Thanks for this - because really, we really DO forget to just go back to basics.
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Every junior high/high school art class should explain this and drill it into the students' heads. If they would, there'd be far less confusion as to what it means to "Reference" vs. "Outright Copy and Change Some Details".
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I've heard some unsavory teachers/schools tell their students they SHOULD copy and just change 40% or something like that to make it legal v_v
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I have too, unfortunately. And I want to slap every single one of them.
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This is actually exactly how I always do it
thanks for writing/drawing it out!
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Wow, this was really useful! Thanks
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you're really understand my feeling ;A;
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YES
I admire you for doing this, I see my friends using references the "wrong" way and I would face-palm, but I got no guts or good explanation to say that they're just kinda coping the image
I still don't learn after seeing these images a gazillion times though, I had to use the images again the next time I draw the angle XD
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This says it all! To sum it up: use references to STUDY anatomy, not as a way to avoid having to figure it out/to avoid having to figure out poses by yourself <3
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Oooh, so helpful, Thanks! I was one of those people who always copy ... Β
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This is explained excellently! A lot of aspiring artists fail to realize this XD (I've only recently realized, and so I'm reteaching myself what I know of drawing)
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I'm saving it so I don't need internet to use this :3
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That is some insight that would make my future drawings much more unique. Β Thanks for the advice.
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I kinda do a middle where I use a reference when I need a good action pose and am not sure what I'm doing, but I just make a stick figure based on it and mold it to what I need rather than tracing. Thoughts?Β
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If you're having trouble thinknig of poses, i suggest doing some study sessions before you try to draw a finished piece next. Just study and redraw lots of action poses, watch some action movies or acrobatics clips on youtube and sketch the poses in them as you watch, go really fast and learn how the body looks when it's moving. Next time you try to think of a pose you'll have more experience to draw from in your mind before you resort to finding an existing pose
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I believe that's a perfectly fine way of using refs [as long as you're comfortable making the changes you want/need and are not trapped/limited by the ref you're using, of course], specially when you find the perfect pose, but i believe the point of this tutorial of to help people realize that 1: you can use various references for various [or just one] part of the anatomy/an object even when creating your own pose and 2: references are a great way to study anatomy and become so good at it that, understanding how the human body works, you'll be able to draw it in various poses and angles without any ref :3
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I've never tried using multiple references at a time... Probably why my anatomy is so wonky. ;w; I'll be needing this...
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Β I already have a method of studying and drawing over and over, a bit like this, but I love the way you explain it!
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Congratulations on your well-deserved DD!!!
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This was so helpful! I love that you are taking people to task to LEARN, so that eventually they won't need to use references so much (that would be me lol). Well done!!
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This is total win! Β And so obvious, so why am I not already doing this???? Β π: 0 β©: 0
Very helpful. Now I understand why my drawings sometimes don't end up the way I want them. Thanks for making this. Your tutorial will be of great reference for the next time I need to use references.
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This one contain valuable infromation, one step into proffesional artist I would say
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Ah, I am sorry, I realize so many people commented already bu I can't resist. I love this too much!
One of my favorite things to draw is hands. Just hands, holding flowers, jewelry, etc. I found I enjoyed it very much. I never had the computer as a resource when I was younger so I had to learn to make do by looking at things, never tracing. One of the things I used was my own hands, I would study them for a while then try to draw what I remembered. Then study them some more and fill in more gaps. I can now draw hands from many different angles without having to look at anything. It's a great feeling of accomplishment!
I've had many people try and encourage me to trace. Even had people say that I was ridiculous because I wouldn't. But I never saw tracing or completely copying a photo as a good thing. I could never see what there was to learn from that. I don't mind so much when they do it just to practice, but when it's a final piece that they turn in it bothers me.Β
I think this tutorial was easy to follow and gave good tips. It also put an emphasis on LEARNING which is fantastic. And had a little humor here and there which I can appreciate. (I love it when something can make me laugh!)
Props to you. A job well done! Off to creep upon the rest of your gallery!
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Thank you so much ;u;
I often had a hard time getting poses from images because they were to 'boring' or I couldn't find what I had imagined, this helps a lot. ;u;
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Thank you for putting a logical explanation of them onto the internet, really, because there are SO many different ideas on references that really needed to be addressed in just one big thing.
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hahahahahaha this is still awesome, well deserved DD. Really love this tut X-D
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Isn't something like this sort of obvious?
Even as a beginner, it was to me. :/
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Haha just one look in the comments and you will see it's not obvious at all to lots of people! There are even people who actively think this method is bad or harmful, what a varied world we live in
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Hmm...What a world we do in fact live in.
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hmm... Before, I'd mainly either draw stuff without reference or draw something based on a reference.Β Lately, I've been first trying to draw an image without reference, and then photographing myself in that particular pose and redrawing it based on the photos. ...which works pretty good.Β Pics have been turning out pretty nice that way.Β But, maybe I should try doing it more like you mention and see if I can figure out how something looks from different angles. ...it just seems like every pose I think of is an odd angle for something and that only seeing it fromΒ that particular angle would help.
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Do both : ) Sometimes the pose you think of is really just VERY HARD and seeing a real body is 100% better than making it up. If you can, having a friend pose for Β you is the best, but a photo will suffice if you can't. The important part is you're thinking of the pose yourself first and at least trying to draw it first!
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Haha, this is how I use references so I have nothing to disagree on xD Tho I need to use them more, a LOT more... :I
Thanks for putting this together ^^
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Damn, this is something I really need to get into my head.. :CΒ
Thanks for a great tutorial and congratulations on the DD!Β
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WOW Thank you very much for this tutorial
Anyway, congrat for the DD
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It's funny how "gosh darn" is a couple words after "shit", rendering the minced oath useless. xD
A very important tutorial, that's how I learned to learn some time ago, and NOW I'm improving.
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I THINK this is the tutorial where it actually had a LOT of cussing at first and someone was like.. that's a bit much and i was like.. yea you're right so i just arbitrarily toned some of it down (god damn to gosh darn etc.) to make it more balanced LOL. I think it makes it funnier though, i love mixing like "fake" cussing with real cussing XD
And thanks for taking the time to comment even if you already knew the method!
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