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Disclaimer: This post covers things on copying and reference and what not’s. This is just my opinion and I’m not forcing anyone to agree with me because everyone’s different and this is the internet…..so…. okay^^
Today’s a very busy day for me but I wanted to first make a post talking about something that’s been on my mind for sometime. First before I get to that I just wanted to let everyone know that I will be without home internet for a while, hopefully not to long, so if you don’t see a comic update on Friday it’s more than likely because the internet people haven’t set our internet back up TT.TT. Of course that is the worse case scenario and I just wanted you all to brace yourself for that if it does happen.
With July starting to come up I’m getting more and more nervous about starting my kickstarter program. I’m not well know on the internet nor do I have much of a internet social life like so many others but if it is alright for me to ask I would greatly appreciate it if all of my kind and generous readers would possibly help me spread the word about my comic. Even if you might not be as socially popular like myself, word of mouth can go a very long way and even though it may seem small it can help so much. So if any of you would be willing to donate just a little bit of your time to help me tell others about my comic that would really really help me so much and to those who have already been spreading word about my comic and even linking to it I want to extend my gratitude to you because you didn’t have to do it but I’m grateful that you did!
Now on to some comic chit-chat. I recently stumbled upon this interesting post over on D Helmer tumblr. I’ll go ahead and copy and past what it said down below for you to read over, I’m editing out any naughty language because I can ^^:
Yeah, if someone is proud they don’t use “reference” to do artwork, they must not have much else to be proud about…
“Yeah, if someone is proud they don’t use “reference” to do artwork, they must not have much else to be proud about…”
This. The greatest artists and illustrators used photo reference. Not a little, but A LOT. Norman Rockwell was notoriously slow because he insisted on shooting photo reference of everything. Alphonse Mucha, whom everyone idolizes, photo referenced or used a model for near all his work. Vermeer used a rudimentary pinhole camera before cameras even printed to film to trace compositions onto canvas. James Gurney works from life, builds models, or uses photos. All those manga artists you love reference, trace, or just plain paste altered photographs into their work (actually they have their uncredited assistants do it).
To boast about not using reference is one of the most amateur things an artist can do and it means precisely squat, particularly if you are working digitally with ctrl+z, colour adjustment, and trick brushes.
So quit it! Just do the work. No one cares about how you got there or cares about reading your clever tutorials that are just a thin excuse for you to blast your opinions or air your balls so everyone can smell how rosy they are. Just do the work D:
The tone with which this is written is angry and offensive! And I totally love it. Until I started working in a “real” art job (like, one that involves me working collaboratively with other Homo sapiens) I never realized that ref is the grease that keeps things moving. Nobody is expected to reinvent the wheel every time they have to draw something new. If your boss tells you to draw in a retro style, you don’t have to jump in your time machine and live in the 50’s until you get it. You learn to Google and look at screenshots and piggyback off of your betters. Same with learning how to create background art, anatomy, textures, compositions… Most people here have reference books and art-of books and they look at them! What!! (I didn’t go to art school so I don’t know if this is common, but it blew my mind at first). The important part is that you’re still making original things: referenced information is not being simply regurgitated, it is being processed by your brain and synthesized into an original, awesome product.
Just don’t steal things, okay? Reffing properly is learning how to use the entire world as an art tool. Artists that copy paste, like the manga artists that were mentioned, have to do it because they put out like 30 pages a week; I think most of us can afford to have higher standards than that.
This right here….is so true. Even during art school the teachers would have us copy the images from magazine’s or old art books and turn in that as assignments. We even had to photocopy a cut out magazine photo and then take that and trace it, with this niffty little paper that you put on top of the canvas then when you trace over the photocopy it prints it on the canvas, then go in and paint it. Even in art school or at least the one I went to, they taught the students how to draw by tracing photo’s or the old art master’s works. Not everyone agrees with tracing but it really does help you to learn when you study how others might do it. Even back in my younger years of pre-school and such I learned how to draw the alphabet by tracing the words but I never thought anything of it or felt bad that I couldn’t just figure out the letters on my own with out looking but if I didn’t look and trace and study then how would I have learned it. Now I’m not saying go and trace something and then claim that as your own because that’s called plagiarism and it’s wrong and you should feel bad for claiming someone else work as your own but if you are tracing or copying to learn how they do that and or learn that certain style that interest you then why should you feel bad? You’re not alone. A lot of people learn by copying. That’s how I learned how to tie by shoes, braid my hair and cook something edible. I watched and I copied and then I learned and ventured out on my own thinking up different ways that I could do it. I believe that the same applies for art. You watch, you copy/trace, you learn then your brain starts thinking up different ways to do stuff and you can start building your own style from the foundation that you created from the ones you watched and copied. I already know that not everyone will agree with this and it’s no skin off my back. It’s just sad to see so many artist get so down on themselves because they don’t have a mega mind. You’re not alone and I see a lot of artist burn out because they think that they aren’t worthy enough to be artist because they can’t amount up to those that they see around them and think that they are doing everything without reference when that might not be true.
All I can really say is kind of the same thing as that post above. Just get up and draw. I’ve gotten comments about how my characters are too dark or too fat or whatever but it’s my art. Why should I care if they don’t like it? Don’t pay attention to those that don’t like it, as long as you like it then that’s what really matters. “If I can’t be right for me I can’t be right for you. I got to be me.” That’s one of my favorite quotes and it’s so true. Do you art any way you want. It’s yours go crazy! ^^
This is so true. It is something I had to learn not to be ashamed of a while back. I still have this subconscious almost-aversion to using them, simply from feeling that I’m some how less of an artist, or screwing myself and my skills over by using them. I even remember once doing a piece without reference and feeling so proud that I did, because of this mindset. I had posted it to DA and even stated in the description “no reference”. While I didn’t gloat about, I remember the pride I had felt writing those two words lol XD
Over a year or so later, after I learned that the use of references is good for artists’ improvement and not an evil conception spawned from hell, much less to even be ashamed of, I remember going back to that post and feeling really ashamed for stating “no reference” (Yea I feel guilty easily lol) and I think I removed it.
But one thing I noticed immediately when I started uses refs was my art quality drastically improved. That was a real turning point for me. But ,as I am still a work-in-progress, lol, I’ve yet to conquer this “refs-are-evil” mindset as of yet, as I too often skip on using refs even on paid works sometimes (in retrospect, maybe its just laziness -.-) I really need it give it more precedence than it has for me right now. but I’m working on it. Thanks for the reminder!
What a great post, as an artist myself I was feeling down about this myself because I couldnt think straight without a refrence. But Im glad to know Im not the only one, makes me less bothered about my creativity but it is true everythings inpird by something.
I’m glad it helped ^^ I was actually debating on whether I should post this or not but since this is something that bothers me every now and then and since I recently seen an artist picked on because of that I wanted to go ahead and make a post about it. I really hope this will also help encourage other artist because a lot of times our fears and insecurities and choke out our creativity and cause us to lose the passion that we have in our comic or art or story. So I’m very happy to see that this meant something to you as well and you are most definitely not alone ^^
Thank you for commenting Niasia.