You’re welcome, anon.
There seems to be this school of belief on the internet that’s aggressively anti-reference. I don’t know when it began or where it really came from but it’s incredibly toxic to artists who may be just starting out or who have no formal education. They’re told that using reference is cheating, or its theft; that it makes you less of an artist.
And for a long time, I believed them.
I want you to think back on when you were 5 or 6 years old and you were learning to write. No one gave you a blank page and told you to draw the alphabet and that you should know what the alphabet looks like? You had reference. You practiced that reference and you learned how to write. Now after practicing your letters for years, or course you don’t need a reference.
Art is the same way. Only drawing a human is a bit more complicated than drawing the letter A!
No art teacher is going to tell you to draw things straight out of your head. They’re going to make you use a reference and practice and learn how things are put together so that someday you won’t have to rely solely on reference -but the option is there for you to use and you totally should.
In closing, references are just another tool in your artist kit, useful as a tablet or a pencil. And I hope I made sense. o/
10 million thumbs up.
For the longest time when I was younger, references were considered cheating and your value as an artist was dictated by how well you can draw from memory and anatomy knowledge alone.
But my growth as an artist was painfully stunted because of that. I saw little to no progression on my skills during my later teen years because I was too filled with false pride to buckle down and really learn. I was one of the best artists in my social circle at the time, and getting my ego constantly stroked for my non-referenced works only enabled me to perpetuate the belief.
It took me years to finally start doing life drawings and find reference material, because I still felt like it was cheating. But the truth of it is that professional artists use references. They use them all the time. For everything.
I really wish I had someone to hammer that into my skull when I was younger. I wish someone could have convinced me otherwise back then. I’m working hard, but I could have been so much better today if I hadn’t bought into that viewpoint in my youth. (Curse the ego. Seriously.)
Please use references. For everything. It’s not cheating. It’s the only way to learn.
God this is so eloquently put. I agree so hard it hurts.
I love your post so much, @vextera I want to reblog this again.
Practice is all well and good, but if you aren’t learning from practice? Then what is it really worth?
Let’s put an end to this ‘references are evil’ madness. 🙂
Absolutely agreed.
From personal experience, the “references are evil” bullshit is touted by (usually) younger artists who very much want to be perceived as impressive (such as my younger self).
This mindset is spread by others, both artists and non-artists, who don’t know any better, but listen to that person because “hey, they’re a better artist than I am, so they must know what they’re talking about”.
I’m not sure how much of that can be confronted or changed, but as someone who was entrenched in that sort of community for several years… That’s my take on it.
Draw to learn, not stroke your ego.
@bylacey Thank you. Sorry for hijacking your ask response. <3