Guys, THE FALCON LOVERS T-SHIRT IS OUT I’m really proud of this drawing, it was really fun to draw! Seems like there’s a limited edition autographed by Pewds, isn’t that cool? My art + Pewds autograph, hehehe. Soon I’ll release the Speedpainting of this.
Why do artists refuse to use references why why why.
It’s not a contest to see who can get by without them. It’s not cheating to look at a thing in order to know what the thing looks like.
You don’t get stronger or better by pretending. Nobody is impressed by the awkward whatever-it-is you just drew. Use references.
I don’t think a lot of people know that it’s not cheating. I recall seeing so many piece of art called out because they referenced a pose, someone recognized it, and then proceeded to shame them for it. There’s this belief, both by creators and the audience, that artists should just be able to translate the ideas from their head to paper, and if they don’t, it’s plagiarism, or not true originality (spoiler alert: there’s no such thing).
I myself didn’t start using references until very recently, because even I was under the impression that it was frowned upon. And that belief has seriously crippled and stalled my ability to improve as an artist.
As a restarting artist, I can confirm. I just never knew. I thought you were just supposed to know how to draw the body correctly and if you didn’t you had no talent.
(( I am going to say this again, loud and clear for everyone:
USING REFERENCES FOR ART IS NOT ‘CHEATING’!!!
If you can draw/paint without references, great! But if you need to use them, and feel that your art can be bettered by using references, please, use them! This is one of the biggest tips I can give to artists, is USE REFERENCES!
Anyone who would dare to attack someone for using references after ‘recognizing a pose’ is a dipshit, who doesn’t know a thing about art.
Do you know who else used references for their art?
Norman Rockwell
Alphonse Mucha
Gustav Klimt
Toulouse Lautrec
Vincent Van Gogh
Paul Gauguin
Edgar Degas
Gil Elvgren
Frida Kahlo
Pablo Picasso
Disney Studios
And thousands of others! So, artists! Go forth, and use references!!! ))
What do you think artists do when they ask someone to stand infron of them for 6 hours and then they draw this person. Do they cheat? Or when they place a still life and then paint it, cheating again? LOL
Soooo. I made this post originally on my personal blog (I’m eliciaforever), and it was nothing more than a little rant about a specific incident that I deleted after five minutes. But before I could delete it, it took the hell off on me, and now it has all these notes. And LOTS OF AMAZING INPUT.
And I just wanted to add in response to the above tags in particular, that shaming people for using references is something that happens to so many of us SO OFTEN. It doesn’t matter how skilled you are. People think art is supposed to be magical or whatever, and anything else is a crime. The reality of course is that art is a thousand times more deliberate than a lot of people think it is.
So yeah. Good info to pass along. Use references, kids. <3
Reblogging because I think it’s important especially for young artists to gain the confidence to use references.
Seriously, references are esssential! Use them!
USE REFERENCES. Improve your observation skills and hand/eye coordination. Improve your understanding of the body’s workings and the life and objects around you. Improve your skills.
ART IMITATES LIFE.
USE REFERENCES AND FUCK THE HATERS.
1. Gather your buddies. 2. Pick an unsuspecting 13 year old (preferably with OCs) 3. Send them fanart. 4. Sit back and watch dreams come true
as someone who made shitty ocs when i was 13 (and still does), if someone who was really good at art did fanart of my ocs when i was a kid it would have made my whole damn year. do it
if you ever need a creative pickmeup remember that the administrator in tf2 was just this random disembodied old woman voice who announced match info in the game
but then a young lady did a fan design of her for kicks on her blog and da account full of fanart, and valve loved it so much that they bought the character design from her, and they eventually hired her to draw official tf2 comics for them, and now the administrator’s this big developed character through multiple oneoffs and arcs and stories in the canon and the fan is now an inhouse comic artist working ft for valve
you never know where your artistic and fandom passions will take you, if you love it and exercise your creativity in fun interesting ways, you never know what could come out of it
Out of curiosity, I went out to find Makani’s original fanart. Here it is:
And here’s her first official appearance in the comic, made only one year later:
My #PowerpuffGirls fanart vs the original art style. I redesigned them a bit, but mostly i try to convey their personalities, HOW I SEE THEM. 😁 Hope you like it!
