pixulun [2019-07-31 15:15:16 +0000 UTC]

I think using references is ok!! But it depends on the reference.

If you’re using someone else’s original artwork and just using it as a base for your own character, that’s not ok. I’ve seen many people do this, actually, and it really annoys me.. people who do that also tend to use other people’s art styles and call it their own QwQ

If you’re using a photo, that’s perfectly fine! Even professionals use references like that ^^ (but of course, you shouldn’t depend on them all the time)

Honestly, there’s no clear definition of what’s right/wrong so please don’t attack me for what I said xD It just depends on each case c:

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Lady-Suchiko [2019-07-17 19:55:24 +0000 UTC]

Very insightful viewpoints from everyone here! I see a lot of my own views expressed here, too
There's really nothing else to say! lol

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FoFaFie [2019-07-16 23:03:34 +0000 UTC]

I honestly think it's important to use references when you imagine an old school painter you imagine them at an easel looking over some sort of landscape or bowl of fruit or something  and trying to recapture the exact same thing with paint, I consider that using a reference (as far as I know no one has ever criticized that) 

beyond that though I feel if you do any kind of art (whether it's drawing, writing, acting, cooking, any thing that can be called art) you should be able to take criticism or else you simply won't last being criticized helps you build a thicker skin (no matter what you do some one is going to critique in both helpful and callous ways) you need to be able to rise above.  

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Antika7 [2019-07-14 20:45:15 +0000 UTC]

As more of a beginner, I have extreme problems drawing organic and natural poses and shapes from scratch as my mental library is still very empty. At first, I, as seemingly many, was afraid to use references in any way feeling like I was cheating and then noticed others where using references regularly. After I tried it , my drawing improved rapidly, and my whole look on referencing changed. 

What I noticed when, for example, drawing facial shapes and expression from references multiple times from photos after a while, they came naturally because I memorized them/ understood why they looked that way. If I now draw an image (like an eye form, or the needed angle of the eyebrows) from my memory, is it still working with a reference? Cause, while the reference is not physically beside me, my drawing is still based on my memory of it. And isn't this the process of learning the pure technique (possible poses, natural colors, etc.)  in general? Make a mental library, take multiple elements, and use them to put an idea to paper?
Can you not draw a certain angle, because either you once saw it and simply forget that you once had a reference for it or unconsciously use your knowledge( obtained from observing (a reference that of course can be yourself or another random human) cause how else) how a joint can move and as such find the perfect position?

I do not know if this is to philosophically, but isn't everything new not just merely a combination of things previously existing (not like the artwork of another but rather like all things that exists artificially or natural) and isn't as such even the most skilled artist working with the method "take two million references (memories) and combine them into something new" unconsciously?  Wasn't this what the early artists did too? Run around the world, travel look at things (REFERENCES) and instead of putting them in a folder on their smartphone put it in their head or draw what they see in a sketchbook and when having enough mindphotos conclude the why and how? 

Please note that I am NOT meaning the "take a photo and copy every line approach" but rather the " I want to draw my OC sitting so I look at a hundred people sitting to get a feel for it and then find the angle that I imagined in my head", and after doing this a hundred times have a giant sitting character library in my head without noticing it.

So to link to the central theme, for me using references like a physical image means, my head library of either the lines I need or the knowledge of how and why isn't full enough yet. For me, this has absolutely NOTHING to do with skill but with experience. 
As such for me, linking my reference mostly means thanking the person for uploading the photo, so I didn't have to sit two days in a restaurant or make crazy twists in front of a mirror to observe how natural poses look or travel to the ocean to observe/experience how waves move. 

An as my last note to the theme of creativity and references. Is it unoriginal if I copy, and yes I mean take the copy tool in the drawing program, the color of a sunset (only a specific orange or red I want to display)? Or should I try to "Imagine a new color"?

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AngieR3741 [2019-07-14 17:24:24 +0000 UTC]

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