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Ok, in part 1, I went over my general feelings about why an artist should use reference.  Now, I’m going to talk about how you should use it.  Nine times out of Ten I’ll do a number of thumbnails based on the idea or concept of my painting before looking for my reference.  I want my reference to improve my picture, not the other way around.

After you get your thumbnail it’s time to find some reference.  There are a few different ways to do this.

1. Use a camera to take your own reference.

You don’t have to be a semi-professional shutter bug to take some good reference shots.  You’re just looking for information to help you with your drawing.  Use your family and friends to pose for you.  Get them to dress up in costumes or anything that simulates what you’re after.  You can even put up flyer’s or post on Craig’s List advertising for models.  I did take some profile pictures of myself that I used for the peeping tom guy.  The biggest thing to look for when taking reference photography is lighting.  I’ve found it’s the hardest thing to make up and goes the furthest in grounding your image in reality.

Sometimes you don’t have the time or resources to find a live model.  Whenever I have this problem I turned to this giant box of photography I have on my desk called the Internet.

2. Find it on the web.

There are quite a few sites that cater to artists looking for reference that can be used commercially for free.  The money word is that last sentence is “commercially.”  You see, you just can’t go grabbing any picture off the Internet and using  them.  You have to have the photographers permission.  There are copyright laws and trust me you don’t want to be a dirty thief anyway.  For numerous sites like that check out the reference section over at Conceptart.org here.  From there you can find hundreds of links to other reference sites and forums around the web.

You can use copyrighted pictures to take information from.  For instance, in a painting I’m doing now I’ve got the German Shepard attacking the peeping tom guy.  I can’t draw a German Shepard from my memory.  I needed reference.  I searched online through Google image search, Yahoo image search, and various stock photography websites for pictures of German Shepard.  I ended up with 8 or 9 pictures of various dog snarling, jumping, attacking, etc.  I also got 4 or 5 more specially of German Shepard’s.  I used all of them to draw my own version.  So, while a single picture of a German Shepard can be copyrighted, what one looks like can’t.

3.  Use your local library.

Many times photos from the web are low resolution and just aren’t clear enough.  You won’t have that problem with books.  The best section for this is if you library has an over sized book section.  There are for the books are that too big to go on the regular shelves.  The only reason to print books so big is to showcase some beautiful photography.  Just remember that you don’t have the copyright to these image either and you’ll face the same restriction in using them as pictures from the Internet.

4. Use Photoshop.

I take all my reference and composite it together in Photoshop.  This way it’s really easy to move elements around, re size them and draw and paint in my own bits and pieces.  I’ll end up with something pretty close to what I want my painting to be.

I’ll print this out and along with my other reference photos draw my image.  I’ve also found that artists are an impatient bunch (I know I am) but I implore you to take your time as you do this.  Think of it as if each part of the process is your only job and when you’re done you’ll pass it off to a co-worker.  This forces you to put your energy into the stage you’re on instead of cutting corners so you can start slinging paint.