torritron:

crispyfishsticks:

actionhankbeard:

pridetothefall:

wolveswithhats:

eliciaforever:

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.

References are important. Even the most skilled artists will admit to using them. Nobody is born knowing how to draw anything off the top of their head. It’s a skill that has to be learned. The idea is to work from reference (and life) as often as possible. You can commit a lot to memory through practice and repetition. And even then, if you’re ever in doubt, USE A REFERENCE. This is literally the purpose of stock images. To help you expand your visual library. What you SHOULDN’T do is reference someone else’s artwork and try to pass it off as your own. This is where the idea of cheating and plagiarism comes from. If you’re borrowing a pose or outright redrawing someone’s work you should CREDIT THEM. 

^^^^

I don’t like using references bc I used one for a pic and someone recognized it and said I stole/traced it and I was like wtf so now I never use them which is prob why I only draw boring poses and faces lmao