December 2021 Newsletter - References Are Helpful

I worked only on my Hunters comic for a long time, only recently picking up new and random projects within the last year and a half. The comic material has really expanded; I now draw 3 new pages a comic, put together concept art and expression sheets, and even have some other random series and video projects in the works.

And it's not just Hunters! I am drawing my otter OC more frequently with emotes and random challenges, my Hollow Knight fanart series allows me to experiment with different outline and color techniques, and I am even attempting drawing humans to practice for my story-related art.

But it's not always as easy as I make it out to be! I have to use reference pieces quite often for many of my works, and will frequently look at official art as well as fanart depending on what I am drawing.

Anyone ever heard of aphantasia? It's something of a condition or phenomenon where people are unable to visualize certain imagery. Whether the imagery is limited or vague, or perhaps somebody cannot visualize anything no matter how hard they try, aphantasia does affect a lot more people than one might think.

Given past experiences, I don't think I have it. Often when I am writing up a story or drawing something, I can visualize with some detail certain characters, poses, scenarios, dialogue, the whole shebang. When drawing up a new comic page I have a general idea of what some panels look like and simply draw it out. Even when outlining fanart or drawing up my otter I usually have a pretty good idea of what I want it to look like.

But sometimes there's a certain character or pose that I have difficulty working out. So what do I do then? Go to the Internet.

Literally. Google Images is my friend. Even for my latest Hollow Knight piece set in the Hive, I looked up at least 20 different images for the background, about a dozen fanart and official art of Hive Queen Vespa, about a dozen different images of the various bees and the Hive Knight, and a bunch of different images of Hornet and the Vessel to make sure I got the general design and colors well-placed.

I also have another very useful tool for references! My 3D Mannequins app allows me to use mannequins of humans, cats, dragons, even crazy ones like dinosaurs and rhinos! And of course, wolves. I cannot tell you how often I use the wolf mannequin app to create the perfect position and angle for a specific wolf when I am having trouble with some of the poses of characters for my comic. All the poses below from previous pages? I specifically created it in this app as a solid reference.

Using references has always been a tricky subject for some people. Some say you shouldn't use references. Others claim they only know how to work with references. But there is middle ground to it all. The way that I learned it was this: relying heavily on references can lead to a failure to develop skills, but using references sparingly or in moderation can still be a valuable tool. As long as one's artwork is transformative enough, who can call it a cheap knockoff or bad copy of the original (wait, those are kinda the same thing, but you get the point!).

Artists can still use references to understand how the color, shapes, and lines work for certain objects or characters. What you want to do is learn from your references and understand the basics, not trace off the originals and pass it off as your own so you can say "Look at this cool thing I did all by myself!"

Change the colors. Change the perspective. Outline something in your own style. Experiment. References are incredibly useful for understanding artistic basics and seeing subjects in various styles. Long as you are willing to learn and try new things, references really are an amazing tool that you should use at your disposal! Just not to trace or copy; every artist has their own style waiting to be discovered and shown, and that really is a fun process to explore!