If there is something you do not understand, then please excuse my poor English. It's my second language.


The most common notion among young and growing artists (and even some pros) are that (after going through the "I trace to learn" stage)you should start referencing.

Which is right.

Now what most people associate referencing with is to find a picture with the pose of whatever you want drawn... and then copy it directly. They assume that since they didn't copy the accessories in the image or the background or whatever, it applies as referencing.

Which is WRONG.

Reference is when you use images, real props (like a real cat, or a real glass of water ect ect), pose dolls and whatnot to get your desired result.

Like say you need help with feet on and image you're drawing. You find a bunch of pictures of people with their feet out, takes off your own shoes and socks and look at your own feet, ask people to take off theirs so you can study their feet, look at skeletons of feet, muscles of feet, and after you've gathered all this knowledge you draw your own feet.

THAT is referencing.

A good way to use reference is by asking your friends (or use a mirror) to pose. That way you will get the feel of the pose and see if it looks awkward and also you can walk around your friends and have a view that is nearly 360 degrees (since a frog view is hard to get unless you want to lie on the floor).

Now, using your own photos as reference is fine as well... and since you took the picture, you can copy as much as you like, because technically, YOU have already created the image once. Copying it is like using a light table to transfer your sketch to lineart.

Using an image off of the internet in the same way is a big no no, unless you have permission, like with stock-photos, and then only if you site your source. Most often the stocks cost a little bit of money and those funds go to the people who took the images to begin with. Meaning you pay to use the image, as should be proper.

Art is as much a hobby to some, as it is a job to others. And using their hard work is against INTERNATIONAL copyright laws and down right rude to the person who spent their time taking the photo or making the image.

So PLEASE, learn the difference between eye-balling and referencing.

Always get written permission and site your sources.