literally when i did a portrait for pillars of eternity i was freaking out and wondering how i’d be able to do this and the artists working there told all of us that honestly it’d just be easier if we took a free reference imagine and just. painted over it. change it enough so that you couldn’t get in trouble but…that’s a thing that artists do. like, if you look at half the artwork from mass effect it’s matte painting. half the concept work from dragon age of the main characters literally have hair pulled from magazines that is cut out and pasted on their heads. like?? ffs this shouldn’t be some big secret or source of shame. artists use reference. artists paint over reference