When I draw, I almost always use references. Is it not my own hand to figure out how to draw a hand pointing into someones' direction, it is the picture of the subject I want to draw. Well... not always thé subject. It is the picture of someone in a kind of pose I like and I want to use that pose for the character I want to draw. And in the case of my drawing style changing into the more Disney cartoon style, I can simplify many things and still get the look that I want.
After a while I can do without referencing. If I have drawn the same character over and over again I feel confident enough to get at least the head right.
But not everything can do without referencing. Mostly animals can look ridiculous if I try to get a loose cartoon style with the thought of the animal in my head.
To give an example, I'll show 2 pictures I drew for my Cabin Pressure art. (John Finnemore, you rule)
This is the picture of an otter without good referencing http://amoira.deviantart.com/#/d59wcyh
And this is the picture of an otter with good referencing http://amoira.deviantart.com/#/d5ab2f4
See the differences? Not only the colours ofcourse. Mainly the proportions are changed. The head is different, the body is more agile and especially the overall look of the poor creature is different.
So a valuable lesson learnt in terms of referencing for drawing. The same goes for writing and actually any art skill. Unless you want to create a character that is not from this Earth, you should get at least one reference. Look at how it is build, what kind of aspects are most apparent and build your character on that. It really works. Try it yourself.
No comments:
Post a Comment