References for artistic purpose

I thought some people might enjoy this blog

Swipe of the week
http://blog.adlo.es/swipe_of_the_week/2007/08/

Some of those are a bit of a stretch for me. A couple of those (the flying poses in particular it seems) I think have come to be more of a "canon" comic book pose than a swipe. And the Michael Turner one.... come on. That sort of sexy topless pose has been repeated by sooooooo many models, its a cliche. The would be like calling any use of the "arched back, one had behind the head" a swipe of... well... whoever did that first. Who knows any more!

A few of them made me go "Holy trace, Batman!", but they were grasping at straws on others.

I think using Photos or manakins are ok. I used to use a manakin for whenever I had some complex poses(now the leg fell off so I can't use it as much) to get the basic feel of the anatomy.

I draw the line at using other peoples line art for reference as a direct copy, atleast when someone is trying to make a profit off it and it is not for educational purposes...

Below are the 5 images I used to make a piece for the toon Dirty Laundry:

Dirty Laundry Timeline

1) the obvious screen shot
2) a photo of the pose I wanted to do, simply explained, butt shot, over the shoulder, 3/4 profile
3) the initial sketch - which I didn't send to the client, as I felt it wasn't working. back to square one.
4) NEW Photo, better angle, easier to dress up, as the toon's outfit was form fitting. sorry for the black squares ya'll...
5) my OWN version of the toon, made in the comic creator - to get the angle on the clothing right.
6) a reference piece of art, was debating to use the pose, but it was too sexy, hair was wrong, angles were wrong...
I did STEAL the SAF (Scrunched *** Fabric) which I actually put in at the last moment.
7) my digital ink in Illustrator
8) my finished color in Painter and Photoshop

So you can see I had an original concept, I did borrow a lot from my model, my screen shots and another artist's reference...

In this case, because so many parts were sporadic and NOT perfect copies, I didn't give any credit. But I would say the final is more me than it is my reference.

My point to all of this is, A LOT of things go into the final work, some times more of you, sometimes less of you. Btw nice Juggy photo-manip pyro, I am digging the torso. But back to my point, one should NOT learn to draw exclusively from the reference, be that another artist, a photograph or even the live model. Your job as an artist is to interpret. To put down what you feel, not just what you see.

I think Juggy's piece qualifies as that kind of an interpretation. It may be too close for comfort, but is it classic Juggy style, well except for the pose, yes...

Also some of those Liefields were scary... and I agree with Wassy 100% on the naming of classic comic canon poses, i.e. the naming of the "SAF".

I can only speak for myself as an amateur but I’m constantly surprised to see professionals use other’s work so closely. I can only assume that this is something the publisher agrees with because they want the deadlines to be met? I don’t agree with Wassy that it’s just about common poses; it’s also exactly the same angle and proportions! If I see a pose that I like and later recreate it would likely not be from that exact angle. I don’t have much formal training but I’ve taken a few life drawing classes and a good and interesting pose is such from many angles. The examples on that page are too exact to just have been inspired or marginally referenced.

Personally when I draw I do so in either of 2 modes, let’s call them input and output. In input mode such as when drawing from life, photos, other art etc I try to open up and experience new ways of treating the subject with regards to form, light etc. If I know I’m about to make a picture with something in it I’m unsure if I could draw I’ll look it up beforehand, maybe make studies etc. The results of these exercises are mostly deleted or thrown away right afterwards and never posted anywhere unless they were done explicitly for a project.

However when making the stuff I call my own and show off I rarely use references in input mode and always state it as having used a reference if I do. If I know I started the picture because I recently saw similar images somewhere I call it ‘inspired by’. But that does not include fact checking stuff of the kind I think FD means, for example googling swastikas to see if I turned it the right way, checking a hero costume file or looking up any picture of a bird to see I got the right number of beaks on the one I’m doing . The point is, when drawing in output mode I process only things from memory and imagination. I don’t want to go back and forth between my picture and a ref, that puts me in input mode and disrupts my enjoyment. Instead I use trial-and-error and lots of time to correct my mistakes, not very effective, I know. I do draw perspective lines; flip the image, use undo, eraser, ruler, layers etc to help speed up the process.

Does the quality of my work suffer because I don’t use references more actively when drawing and painting? Probably. But even if it takes longer time and doesn’t look so good I enjoy it more. However, I also recognize the fact that this is just my very personal taste and is not some holy rule that apply to everyone. The use of reference as Bobby showed is a perfectly valid way to go about it also.

That said, I do have cautionary tale about drawing from imagination that I will recount later when I have more time.

*edit* Oops, I meant Wassy.

Yeah, I'm getting the distinct feeling that everyone's opinion on a swipe is not the same.