Reference

Ok, I know I know, I’m late with this post. There’s so much going on it’s been difficult sometimes to keep up. I’ll work on it.

So, last time I left off with “Reference”. When it comes to reference, I believe it’s important to know when to use it without becoming too reliant on it. Let me explain. When I use reference, I try to use it when I feel it’s necessary, for accuracy’s sake. Portraits, IP characters, or animals is where reference would be an absolute necessity.

Using reference can become problematic when you can’t seem to complete a piece without using it. If I need a photo of an arm every time, I draw one and it’s not in a difficult position or pose, I may be relying on reference too much.

Please don’t misunderstand me, adding reference to your arsenal is essential. I just try to be mindful that relying on it too much can hurt my artistic representation of reality. Reference should inspire and aid not dictate and become a crutch.

Now on to the piece I’m currently working on. I am using reference for this illustration, but only specific components. The piece contains a horse, rider, and skulls. I have a mannequin for the, but I also use photos. For the skull, I have a plaster cast. When it comes to the rider, I am using photos of a person on horseback for the positioning, not the look of the figure. For the horse I have model, but it’s more for movement and construction of a horse. I still need to know how it appears on the surface.

When I use photos for reference, I normally use a portion of the image. For this illustration I have chosen 7 photos. I don’t want to violate anyone’s copyright so I never copy a photo completely, that would defeat purpose of creating art. I also like to use copyright free sites for photo reference, like www.Pexels.com and https://stocksnap.io/. Searching for just the right image can be daunting and time consuming. I take my own photos whenever possible and advise you to do the same, you own the image, the copyright and use can it in your art anyway you please. I also collect images from magazines and catalogs and keep them in a physical file library.

Always

Creating