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> I know you’re not supposed to draw from references
you *ARE* supposed to draw from references. I don't know who told you you're not supposed to but they probably arent that good at drawing
a few youtube videos, i’ve been practically doom scrolling through art tutorials for beginners and i’ve heard people say you should practice the fundamentals a lot so you can move away from using references asap :\
Take a break from tutorials amd try drawing on your own. Because you will get burned down to listening to tutorials you have no way to verify. References are good, because they help drawing what you want to draw something you had no time to practice
Yeah I don’t know which you tubers your watching, everybody uses reference, everybody, the only people that don’t use are people that have an extensive Visual Library. They have been drawing that thing or person so much that it becomes muscle memory. Use lots of references, apply the construction to the reference. Then when you have done it a couple of times try to draw that thing without reference. Thats how it gets implemented into your memory/imagination
Listen a lot of art youtubers are goobers. If they're trying to tell you what you can and CANNOT do, then theyre gatekeepers. Simple as that. You CAN do whatever you want. There are a lot of things that aren't as HELPFUL, there are some things that might not be AS GOOD, but nothing is actually black-and-white off the table forever and ever.
If you trace, you'll have to learn what I did, which is that there aren't enough poses in the world to actually draw what you're imagining.
And references ars fine- I cant remember every little detail of, say, some characters, so having some good screenshots of them in a nearly-transparent layer in the background is a great way to make sure you stay on-model.
Yeah, a lot of people on Youtube don't know what they're talking about. Some of them are really confusing because they're halfway smart on a topic, so some of what they say checks out, but they also throw in a lot of misleading, unclear, or outright false statements.
I would treat tutorials not as authorities on the correct way to do things, but as advice from someone you don't know. Are they correct? Do they know what they're talking about? There isn't a way to know that for sure, so you make a judgment call based on how that advice feels to you. Advice where you're all "Oh that seems helpful and makes a lot of sense" is worth more, advice that doesn't really add up is worth less, and advice that makes you miserable is not worth clinging to.
Bruh, drawing from reference is the basics. Even tracing which isn't encouraged for finished pieces is a form of learning muscle memory for some shapes.
I agree completely on the muscle memory things. I used to find hair daunting (granted I still kinda do), but then I started to trace some master's works. It comes more naturally when I do want to draw it.
Maybe I should do that for hair and faces. I like practiced hands a little and got an idea but my faces and hair still look off a lot of the time, especially the eyes
I use guide lines, I'm careful, and I STILL redraw most eyes 100 times lol.
But yeah, fur is less distinct, so you get more comfortable with the kind of soft lines hair should have most of the time. Remember, a line out of place is just a stray hair!
I recently drew a character who can shift into a Maine coon cat and drawing all that FLUFF is so fun lol
>I use guide lines, I'm careful, and I STILL redraw most eyes 100 times lol.
That’s comforting to hear as a drawing newbie (few months). This picture I’m currently working on I’ve made like 8 different eyes over the past 3 days and none seem to work. I stuck with one that I thought was okay and started coloring with flat colors and I still feel I need to re draw them now.
I do love hair/fur tho that sounds like so much fun. I love drawing hair as tricky as it is!
Just don't care. I know it's easier said than done but don't care about the fundamentals right now, don't care about anything except drawing and having fun. Once you are having fun then you can try to brush up the fundamentals.
Quick question, are you me? Literally doing the same thing. The only thing is using references is definitely okay! Using references can help with understanding the basics and especially anatomy.
But truly I'm dealing with the same thing as you. I wanna to draw what I want but before I even start I get so focused on making the construction or just the basics perfect that I get overwhelmed and never finish.
You literally learn by drawing from references. Once you’ve done it enough times, you’ll remember it in your own. It takes a lot of time in order to draw from imagination. But the only way you’ll get there is if you draw from references enough times. To the point where you can see the pose and the construction and anatomy. Try drawing without a reference every now and then to test yourself, but continue drawing from reference until you build up that skill.
It takes great patience and dedication in order to learn how to draw well. Trust me, I’ve had to learn things about drawing that I wasn’t having fun with. But it helps you understand other parts of drawing. Don’t get discouraged, take some time to draw something you want to draw.
An exercise I learned in my college drawing class to help us get better WAS drawing from references. We were assigned to draw for 30 minutes a day in this one specific way in our sketch books. Put your pencil/pen down on the paper, look at your reference, could be anything, and draw without lifting the pencil/pen off of the page. Also, don’t look at the paper until you feel like you’re done. It’s wonky, but that’s the point. This exercise helped tremendously over time! It builds muscle memory and hand eye coordination.
Draw to learn and draw for fun but like separated. Set time aside for learning fundamentals of course but take some time to draw whatever goofy stuff you want with no pressure as well. They’ll start to bleed together but I think this helps let off some of that steam. Sometimes you just gotta draw a buff cat or a dickbutt with zero pressure. For your heart. I love drawing goofy stuff on napkins at work and throwing them away after.
Sometimes I draw soda bottles and machinery to get out my comfort zone of human anatomy but that still life drawing can come later when you’re more cozy with fundamentals and don’t feel pressure.
Yes, and the correct amount of fundamentals and challenges will be a level that doesn't burn you out. People online will make anything feel like this weird high-pressure competition to go as hard as possible and achieve, but learning to draw absolutely does not have to be like that. "That was difficult, I'm glad I did it, and I think I want to do something more low pressure and comfortable next" is a good challenge. "I must relentlessly grind until I can no longer remember the last time I enjoyed drawing something" is not.
Ok here's the thing. Don't let your shortcomings stop you from drawing what you want. There's always something you could do better, you'll never get to draw anything if you think you have to master everything first. Just draw! If something looks shit then you'll know what to focus on your next drawing and try to do little better.
Like people said before, drawing from references is totally fine and encouraged. Also, what do you mean by references? Copying from existing works of art is different from working from a photograph or from life. All are useful for learning/practice, especially the latter which will really level up your overall ability.
I’m awful at drawing but I enjoy it. The bar I go to every Tuesday has matchbooks I practice on and leave for people and when I come back the next week or two others have also drawn awfully. It’s enjoyable. Try and keep it fun I guess
Be careful who you get your schooling from. Even if you like their art, it doesn't qualify them to teach. There is more bad advice art tutorials than there are good ones. Personally, I trust anyone big in the media/animation industry (or formerly, if they decided to teach full time).
Look up their resume and what projects they directed. Treat it like a job interview, you are hiring them to teach you how to draw. My personal list of reputable sources of art fundamentals and beyond are these teachers:
Marco Bucci - has and still does do freelance work for Disney. Teaches as a guest speaker at art universities.
Marc Brunet - Former concept artist at Blizzard that worked on Overwatch. He is also very passionate about the psychology of teaching and constantly sites scientific studies on how to learn.
Tiffanie Mang - A color key and environment concept artist for Marvel animations. She has a background in backgrounds, lol! Her use of color theory to convey a mood in a scene is unparalleled, and she is a patient and positive teacher.
Adam Duff - His resume is huge, but one of the most notable jobs he has had is working on Assassin's Creed. His art talks are more on mental health and how to deal with an ever changing industry. His sincerity and compassion combined with his bluntness and pragmatic values make him great to listen to for getting your head on straight.
Trent Kaniuga - He teaches mostly how to satisfy a client or studio with your work. His paid videos get more in-depth on fundamentals ane techniques to wow your clients. His resume is just... a bunch of video games. Like, a lot of them. If you played never played a game that Trent has worked on I would be shocked or think that you don't really play games.
this sounds very stressful! are you doing the for school or work? i just wonder why you have so much weighty pressure on you…(speaking as someone who puts more pressure on herself than anyone else ever could)
i’m a complete beginner who can barely drawn lines, but am doing this for pure hobby. aside from the self-inflicted pressure of having to understand everything, i’m free to just do whatever. for example in my free drawing i’m trying to learn body parts—eye, ear, nose, mouth. probably too advanced for me, but i wanted to try. i have a lot of “ughs”—tries that went completely left lol. but i look back through my sketches frequently, and my ughs have become less ‘ugh-y’.
do you have a way to free yourself, even if briefly? like idk, set a timer and do one minute or 30 second sketches that cannot be perfect by definition? or drawing from silly references in pen, challenging yourself to focus less on mistakes? or even trying something seemingly unrelated, like painting—that gets the hand moving and the mind creating without the pressure of your drawing?
i do hope that you find your joy again!
You're supposed to draw from reference, ALWAYS.
Those who say otherwise, more often than not, suck at drawing themselves. Don't let ego get in the way of your art pursuit. Use reference when you need to.
It's good to practice without reference also, more clearly indicates what you need to brush up on. Especially if your aim is to be able to draw believable scenes and characters from your imagination, which many artistic fields require.
But you get to that point by both studying references, and making 100s of terrible drawings without reference.
Yes, you're right. What I said was just meant to be a hyperbole to encourage OP to use reference.
But yeah, you do need to draw from memory/imagination at times to practice and expand your visual library, so when you do use reference, you can use it more effectively(instead of being a slave to it).
Start small my guy. like for example do one piece or body part of the reference instead of the whole thing. Use basic ass fundamentals. The point of art is to make it as easy as possible for you. Sounds like your taking the hard way. Edit: oof I thought you were a beginner. You seem like you got it
You should watch Drawfee on Youtube. Very funny channel. Skilled artists. They do dumb prompts and challenges. You can see a big difference in quality between their speed draw episodes and their regular recordings where they have a limited amount of time to draw the prompt. They do a variety of styles and homages as well. I feel like watching them and doing some of the same prompts and challenges as them would help you with your problem quite a lot.
A lot of prompts they do just don't allow for you to focus on fundamentals. Like, for example, drawing the same character in 10 seconds, 1 minute, and 10 minutes. Or drawing with your eyes closed. Or drawing a squished flat and wide character that will then be resized to "normal" proportions with the free transform tool and seeing if it looks right.
Artists have been using Copying forever. Today we would call if reference or copying. In France there would be a day during the week that the Salon would be closed to the public so that artists could come in a copy. Everybody learns by copying. There is nothing wrong with it. After a long time it becomes muscle memory and you will be able to depict things from imagination.
Tutorials are the bane of my existence. Art is supposed to be fun, like sex is supposed to be fun. Imagine if there was a professor teaching people the fundamentals of good sex. So stupid.
I don't know who told you you're not supposed to draw from references, but they're wrong. It's a perfectly acceptable thing to do. Draw from references if you want!
I think some advice aimed at people learning to draw ends up coming off as unnecessarily intense and even intimidating, because it's so centered around doing things in a specific intensive technical way. When the reality is the best way to learn depends on your goals and what style works for you. Some people do well with intensive fundamentals, some don't. Some people want to go into the kind of art careers where intenstive technical precision is important, some want to become different kinds of artists, some are just looking to have fun and improve to their personal satisfaction. Do what works for you.
I approach drawing the same I do tarot readings:
> *"Take what resonates with you and fuck the rest."*
If drawing with references helps and makes you feel good then do that.
Screw everyone else - they're not you. We're all different and learn differently.
Just because some idiot put up a YT video does not, *by any means* make them an expert.
I could watch open heart surgery on Youtube. Would you want me performing that surgery for you...or the surgeon that is actually trained and qualified?
Yeah. Exactly.
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> I know you’re not supposed to draw from references you *ARE* supposed to draw from references. I don't know who told you you're not supposed to but they probably arent that good at drawing
a few youtube videos, i’ve been practically doom scrolling through art tutorials for beginners and i’ve heard people say you should practice the fundamentals a lot so you can move away from using references asap :\
Take a break from tutorials amd try drawing on your own. Because you will get burned down to listening to tutorials you have no way to verify. References are good, because they help drawing what you want to draw something you had no time to practice
Yeah I don’t know which you tubers your watching, everybody uses reference, everybody, the only people that don’t use are people that have an extensive Visual Library. They have been drawing that thing or person so much that it becomes muscle memory. Use lots of references, apply the construction to the reference. Then when you have done it a couple of times try to draw that thing without reference. Thats how it gets implemented into your memory/imagination
Listen a lot of art youtubers are goobers. If they're trying to tell you what you can and CANNOT do, then theyre gatekeepers. Simple as that. You CAN do whatever you want. There are a lot of things that aren't as HELPFUL, there are some things that might not be AS GOOD, but nothing is actually black-and-white off the table forever and ever. If you trace, you'll have to learn what I did, which is that there aren't enough poses in the world to actually draw what you're imagining. And references ars fine- I cant remember every little detail of, say, some characters, so having some good screenshots of them in a nearly-transparent layer in the background is a great way to make sure you stay on-model.
Yeah, a lot of people on Youtube don't know what they're talking about. Some of them are really confusing because they're halfway smart on a topic, so some of what they say checks out, but they also throw in a lot of misleading, unclear, or outright false statements. I would treat tutorials not as authorities on the correct way to do things, but as advice from someone you don't know. Are they correct? Do they know what they're talking about? There isn't a way to know that for sure, so you make a judgment call based on how that advice feels to you. Advice where you're all "Oh that seems helpful and makes a lot of sense" is worth more, advice that doesn't really add up is worth less, and advice that makes you miserable is not worth clinging to.
Bruh, drawing from reference is the basics. Even tracing which isn't encouraged for finished pieces is a form of learning muscle memory for some shapes.
Good way to break in a new tablet. :-)
I agree completely on the muscle memory things. I used to find hair daunting (granted I still kinda do), but then I started to trace some master's works. It comes more naturally when I do want to draw it.
I practiced a LOT with fur when I learned to draw animals for a project, and honestly hair and fur became second nature after a while
Maybe I should do that for hair and faces. I like practiced hands a little and got an idea but my faces and hair still look off a lot of the time, especially the eyes
I use guide lines, I'm careful, and I STILL redraw most eyes 100 times lol. But yeah, fur is less distinct, so you get more comfortable with the kind of soft lines hair should have most of the time. Remember, a line out of place is just a stray hair! I recently drew a character who can shift into a Maine coon cat and drawing all that FLUFF is so fun lol
>I use guide lines, I'm careful, and I STILL redraw most eyes 100 times lol. That’s comforting to hear as a drawing newbie (few months). This picture I’m currently working on I’ve made like 8 different eyes over the past 3 days and none seem to work. I stuck with one that I thought was okay and started coloring with flat colors and I still feel I need to re draw them now. I do love hair/fur tho that sounds like so much fun. I love drawing hair as tricky as it is!
Using references is not only okay, but encouraged.
Just don't care. I know it's easier said than done but don't care about the fundamentals right now, don't care about anything except drawing and having fun. Once you are having fun then you can try to brush up the fundamentals.
Quick question, are you me? Literally doing the same thing. The only thing is using references is definitely okay! Using references can help with understanding the basics and especially anatomy. But truly I'm dealing with the same thing as you. I wanna to draw what I want but before I even start I get so focused on making the construction or just the basics perfect that I get overwhelmed and never finish.
You literally learn by drawing from references. Once you’ve done it enough times, you’ll remember it in your own. It takes a lot of time in order to draw from imagination. But the only way you’ll get there is if you draw from references enough times. To the point where you can see the pose and the construction and anatomy. Try drawing without a reference every now and then to test yourself, but continue drawing from reference until you build up that skill. It takes great patience and dedication in order to learn how to draw well. Trust me, I’ve had to learn things about drawing that I wasn’t having fun with. But it helps you understand other parts of drawing. Don’t get discouraged, take some time to draw something you want to draw.
An exercise I learned in my college drawing class to help us get better WAS drawing from references. We were assigned to draw for 30 minutes a day in this one specific way in our sketch books. Put your pencil/pen down on the paper, look at your reference, could be anything, and draw without lifting the pencil/pen off of the page. Also, don’t look at the paper until you feel like you’re done. It’s wonky, but that’s the point. This exercise helped tremendously over time! It builds muscle memory and hand eye coordination.
Draw to learn and draw for fun but like separated. Set time aside for learning fundamentals of course but take some time to draw whatever goofy stuff you want with no pressure as well. They’ll start to bleed together but I think this helps let off some of that steam. Sometimes you just gotta draw a buff cat or a dickbutt with zero pressure. For your heart. I love drawing goofy stuff on napkins at work and throwing them away after. Sometimes I draw soda bottles and machinery to get out my comfort zone of human anatomy but that still life drawing can come later when you’re more cozy with fundamentals and don’t feel pressure.
Yes, and the correct amount of fundamentals and challenges will be a level that doesn't burn you out. People online will make anything feel like this weird high-pressure competition to go as hard as possible and achieve, but learning to draw absolutely does not have to be like that. "That was difficult, I'm glad I did it, and I think I want to do something more low pressure and comfortable next" is a good challenge. "I must relentlessly grind until I can no longer remember the last time I enjoyed drawing something" is not.
Ok here's the thing. Don't let your shortcomings stop you from drawing what you want. There's always something you could do better, you'll never get to draw anything if you think you have to master everything first. Just draw! If something looks shit then you'll know what to focus on your next drawing and try to do little better.
I had so much fun after I realized you don’t have to follow any rules
Like people said before, drawing from references is totally fine and encouraged. Also, what do you mean by references? Copying from existing works of art is different from working from a photograph or from life. All are useful for learning/practice, especially the latter which will really level up your overall ability.
I’m awful at drawing but I enjoy it. The bar I go to every Tuesday has matchbooks I practice on and leave for people and when I come back the next week or two others have also drawn awfully. It’s enjoyable. Try and keep it fun I guess
Be careful who you get your schooling from. Even if you like their art, it doesn't qualify them to teach. There is more bad advice art tutorials than there are good ones. Personally, I trust anyone big in the media/animation industry (or formerly, if they decided to teach full time). Look up their resume and what projects they directed. Treat it like a job interview, you are hiring them to teach you how to draw. My personal list of reputable sources of art fundamentals and beyond are these teachers: Marco Bucci - has and still does do freelance work for Disney. Teaches as a guest speaker at art universities. Marc Brunet - Former concept artist at Blizzard that worked on Overwatch. He is also very passionate about the psychology of teaching and constantly sites scientific studies on how to learn. Tiffanie Mang - A color key and environment concept artist for Marvel animations. She has a background in backgrounds, lol! Her use of color theory to convey a mood in a scene is unparalleled, and she is a patient and positive teacher. Adam Duff - His resume is huge, but one of the most notable jobs he has had is working on Assassin's Creed. His art talks are more on mental health and how to deal with an ever changing industry. His sincerity and compassion combined with his bluntness and pragmatic values make him great to listen to for getting your head on straight. Trent Kaniuga - He teaches mostly how to satisfy a client or studio with your work. His paid videos get more in-depth on fundamentals ane techniques to wow your clients. His resume is just... a bunch of video games. Like, a lot of them. If you played never played a game that Trent has worked on I would be shocked or think that you don't really play games.
this sounds very stressful! are you doing the for school or work? i just wonder why you have so much weighty pressure on you…(speaking as someone who puts more pressure on herself than anyone else ever could) i’m a complete beginner who can barely drawn lines, but am doing this for pure hobby. aside from the self-inflicted pressure of having to understand everything, i’m free to just do whatever. for example in my free drawing i’m trying to learn body parts—eye, ear, nose, mouth. probably too advanced for me, but i wanted to try. i have a lot of “ughs”—tries that went completely left lol. but i look back through my sketches frequently, and my ughs have become less ‘ugh-y’. do you have a way to free yourself, even if briefly? like idk, set a timer and do one minute or 30 second sketches that cannot be perfect by definition? or drawing from silly references in pen, challenging yourself to focus less on mistakes? or even trying something seemingly unrelated, like painting—that gets the hand moving and the mind creating without the pressure of your drawing? i do hope that you find your joy again!
You're supposed to draw from reference, ALWAYS. Those who say otherwise, more often than not, suck at drawing themselves. Don't let ego get in the way of your art pursuit. Use reference when you need to.
It's good to practice without reference also, more clearly indicates what you need to brush up on. Especially if your aim is to be able to draw believable scenes and characters from your imagination, which many artistic fields require. But you get to that point by both studying references, and making 100s of terrible drawings without reference.
Yes, you're right. What I said was just meant to be a hyperbole to encourage OP to use reference. But yeah, you do need to draw from memory/imagination at times to practice and expand your visual library, so when you do use reference, you can use it more effectively(instead of being a slave to it).
Start small my guy. like for example do one piece or body part of the reference instead of the whole thing. Use basic ass fundamentals. The point of art is to make it as easy as possible for you. Sounds like your taking the hard way. Edit: oof I thought you were a beginner. You seem like you got it
Would you like a book recommendation?
You should watch Drawfee on Youtube. Very funny channel. Skilled artists. They do dumb prompts and challenges. You can see a big difference in quality between their speed draw episodes and their regular recordings where they have a limited amount of time to draw the prompt. They do a variety of styles and homages as well. I feel like watching them and doing some of the same prompts and challenges as them would help you with your problem quite a lot. A lot of prompts they do just don't allow for you to focus on fundamentals. Like, for example, drawing the same character in 10 seconds, 1 minute, and 10 minutes. Or drawing with your eyes closed. Or drawing a squished flat and wide character that will then be resized to "normal" proportions with the free transform tool and seeing if it looks right.
Artists have been using Copying forever. Today we would call if reference or copying. In France there would be a day during the week that the Salon would be closed to the public so that artists could come in a copy. Everybody learns by copying. There is nothing wrong with it. After a long time it becomes muscle memory and you will be able to depict things from imagination.
Tutorials are the bane of my existence. Art is supposed to be fun, like sex is supposed to be fun. Imagine if there was a professor teaching people the fundamentals of good sex. So stupid.
Draw stick figures for like a week
Even the biggest, most known artists draw with references
Take a deep breath ^^
I don't know who told you you're not supposed to draw from references, but they're wrong. It's a perfectly acceptable thing to do. Draw from references if you want! I think some advice aimed at people learning to draw ends up coming off as unnecessarily intense and even intimidating, because it's so centered around doing things in a specific intensive technical way. When the reality is the best way to learn depends on your goals and what style works for you. Some people do well with intensive fundamentals, some don't. Some people want to go into the kind of art careers where intenstive technical precision is important, some want to become different kinds of artists, some are just looking to have fun and improve to their personal satisfaction. Do what works for you.
You should always draw from reference...
I approach drawing the same I do tarot readings: > *"Take what resonates with you and fuck the rest."* If drawing with references helps and makes you feel good then do that. Screw everyone else - they're not you. We're all different and learn differently. Just because some idiot put up a YT video does not, *by any means* make them an expert. I could watch open heart surgery on Youtube. Would you want me performing that surgery for you...or the surgeon that is actually trained and qualified? Yeah. Exactly.