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HOW TO MAKE YOUR ART LOOK NICE: Reference n Style
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Published: 2014-06-08 22:37:41 +0000 UTC; Views: 148316; Favourites: 6749; Downloads: 0
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Description
To all my fellow artblocked, stumped, and confused artists, here's a kinda long guide on how to work around your stumps! And it's also basically the answer to why some artists are good/awesome and how you can work your way to become as good/awesome/even better than them!Some works used in this aren't mine and are used for reference purposes and are credited as such.
Keep practicing yo! and excuse my writing
EDIT: Holy man, thanks so much EeNii and Elandria !
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My HOW TO MAKE YOUR ART LOOK NICE Series:
Color and Harmony
Contrast
Flow and Rhythm in Lines
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Comments: 455
That's exactly what i need. Thanks a lot!
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Good points made here!
Stuff like this basically doesn't exist on this site. Thanks!
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This made me laugh a lot, its an awesome tutorial!!
Now I feel like practising backgrounds even more, thanks!
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Thank you! Best of luck to you and keep going!
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very inspirational.. tnx for this xD... Still practicing my drawing abilities.. xD
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This is what all people should do or strive to do. Unfortunately there are shameless people out there who dare claim they do not use references and strike out at people who do. And the worst of them all would strike out young artists who use their own art for reference.
If my comments hurt anyone's feelings, just know that I'm happy I offended you. Because you are the scourge of the community.
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As long as those young artists are citing the older artist's work and/or asking permission first, that's ok. Otherwise, it can be called stealing, especially if those younger artists are selling a piece of art based on someone else's work.
I have to say though, referencing from life/stock and taking inspiration from other artists is always a great way to improve your work! ^^
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Actually I doubt citing is necessary, and asking for permission less so, though it would be a good thing if one did. Anyone can sell any kind of work as long as they drew it with her own hands.
I mean its one thing to paint the Mona Lisa and sell it as the real thing, it's another to sell it as a copy of the great work.
If anyone could enlighten me if I'm wrong, that would be great.
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I do believe that you may be in error - sure, taking small bits here and there is probably not an issue, but anything larger probably is. A piece of art is literally copyrighted to the artist that created it - to not credit that artist for, say, an uncommon pose that you use, or a style of clothing that they drew, is to say that you came up with it yourself, which you did not. They legally own the rights to their artwork. On Deviantart, you can see the copyright symbol below the image. Therefore, it is illegal to copy their work, and if someone does a new piece of art that heavily references another artist's work, that artist has every right to be up in arms and file a complaint. Just because a new artist 'drew it with her own hands' has no bearing on it. It is still art theft. If I liked a picture you drew, and I decided to draw it again with my own hands, or large sections of it, I would be stealing your work, and that's illegal. Referencing only small parts, and especially asking permission, ensures that you do not get into legal trouble.
Now, if you're only copying something as practice for yourself, that's ok. But it's not ok to sell it. And if you post your copy in a public forum such as Deviantart, you need to credit your source if you have heavily copied.
It's really the difference between 'copying', and using many sources as inspiration to make your own NEW piece of art. When in doubt, you can never go wrong by citing your sources or asking for permission.
And all of the above, I believe, is the big reason why artists get mad at others for copying their work.
But likewise, I would love to hear others' opinions on this.
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Yea, I suppose you're right for the most part. But I have seen deviants hack at poor young artists because they use their work as reference (even when they cited their work) when their work looks nothing like the original. There are even people who complain that thieves 'stole' their poses (when it was an iconic pose for the character to begin with).
But if its not okay for people to sell copied art, consider this other situation: If I were to redraw the Mona Lisa and post it up on this site, would it be okay? Let's say i even posted the evidence of the process of drawing it. I suppose people might praise the accuracy of my work and it was a perfect reproduction of the masterpiece. Am I still a thief? Or am I a talented human copy machine?
And I bet if i weren't copying a Mona Lisa and instead, say, a famous Deviant's work. I'd be called an art thief up and down even when i have the proof of my work. Note that I am only posting the work on the site, not for selling.
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Yeah, I can see how, in your first paragraph, that would be a difficult situation. Frankly, my opinion is that if the work looks nothing like the original, than it could be ok. It really just depends on the situation - hard to give a blanket answer.
For the Mona Lisa situation, I would say yes that is ok to do. If you're making it clear that you're doing your own work, generally studying from people generally considered masters of art is ok to do. But in this case, those people are usually long dead and aren't making any sort of profit anymore from their work.
Now, taking that situation to a modern case and copying a living 'master'...I would say that, if you are doing an exact copy only for study/practice purposes and you post proof, you state that it's only for study, and you do not sell anything, I'd say that is ok. Include a statement in your comments to the effect of 'original art copyrighted to Mr. XXXXX' and include the link to their work. The key is to be extremely explicit that it is ONLY for practice - state as much in bold capital letters across the top of your comment, and repeat at the bottom. Even across the top of your artwork, if you're afraid.
In that case, people can claim you stole it all they want, but they are wrong. You are clearly stating it is for practice, you are showing your work and linking to the original. You are doing everything correctly. Now, if the artist herself asks you to take it down, I am not familiar with the legal rules regarding that. That is something that you'd have to research.
Frankly, I think it is permissible to use anything for STUDY PURPOSES ONLY. I mean, whether I post it to DA or not, I can make copies of people's artwork night and day in my own home as practice. But if I choose to post that practice to DA, I need to give plenty of proper credit.
Now, the difficult situation comes in if you happen to ask permission first of an artist to copy their work only for practice. There's a trust issue there, in that the artist must trust that you really are doing it only for practice and nothing else. If they say no, then, while you might practice in your own home, I would NOT post that practice online. Frankly, if someone came to me and asked me if they could copy my work just for practice, I might be a little paranoid of theft, depending on how they framed the question. I might ask them not to make a copy, or I might simply ask them not to post a copy online. It really depends on the artist.
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Thank you for sharing this! This tutorial is so useful. I'm going to remember this and when I have time I will practise more with references and hopefully improve. It's very brave that you used your own drawings with examples. : D
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Not hopefully improve, you WILL improve!
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Thank you! I will. >: 3
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That's actually pretty true! Alright then! I'm gonna do this more often now!
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Yes!!! I totally agree!! long as not to the point you're stealing an artwork that's so noticeable XD
And that moment I saw the tricycle a Pilipino toh hahaha
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yeah definitely, don't look like you ripped something off of something lol
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I was a lot afraid about using references and felt a lot like i would steal or cheat and it wouldn't be the nicest way.
After I read your tutorial, i feel more confident about it. You eased my mind about them, i don't know how much i can thank you for this ;3;
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Ah, thank you so much! Keep practicing!
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I try and there even came something of from it. Its strange how referencing without being scared can change some things.
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Don't be scared! Just make sure that your drawing looks like it's cheaply ripped off somewhere else
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Wait, don't you think its more like "don't make it look like its cheaply ripped off"? o.o Or do i take something wrong here? XD
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Well, there's a difference between taking inspiration and copying directly when using references. You're supposed to use reference and take inspiration from them
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You, SIR... are very much correct.
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Nice !! I should make ref library after this ouo
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I used a reference once to draw a prince's clothing..and I swear,without a reference,I would've probably used a polo t-shirt for the prince,since I never saw how a prince looks(unfortunately I don't really watch much Disney movies with princes anymore,so...).Now I'll try using more references ^^
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Man, a polo shirt for a prince, that would've been weird! haha!
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I want to see it now. DO IT!
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I know right!people would probably laugh at it XD
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I didn't realize how important refs are...I've just been too scared to use them but this really yelled at me. Thanks! I'll start using refs from now on!
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Don't be! embrace it and you'll learn a lot!
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Perfect! hate when people think using references is cheating! How do you think the greats learned to draw? Referencing is how we learn!
How do people expect to learn when they continue to make the same mistakes and not look at a ref to help them fix it...
I don't mean to turn this into a plug but for people looking for animal references I run a group for this sole purpose in the hopes people can get inspiration from photos and learn from them. The link is below in my signature
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I've been starting to do this more and more but it's hard to find what I'm looking for a lot of the time.
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Keep looking! Internet is huge, you'll find something!
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This makes me feel better about the massive stock library I have.
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Can't get enough of references!
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Good, solid advice. A lot more artists need to take note of this. Too often I hear "I should be good enough to not need references!" being used as an excuse, which is followed by frustration at a lack of improvement...
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Exactly! People need to be reminded that even the best artists resort to references
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A pretty neat thing you put together here that portrays a very good point.
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Thanks Troy!
I'll keep this in mind.
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I was literally just sitting here trying to think of how to get past my art-block when i saw this deviation! thanks for posting it darlin!
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so helpful and realistic
i love your tutorialssss
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