ramonn90
How I Pick References for Study!
Published: June 12th 2024, 3:04:06 pm
Learning art is tough, especially if you don't know where to start. Today, I'd like to share how I pick my references for study, depending on the skill I want to develop. Let's make it quick:
References For Improving Your Drawing Skills!
With drawing, I like to call it "shape" skills since you use line art to build the surface of shapes like body anatomy, objects like cloth, and how these objects look in a composition with perspective. It's pretty much what every artist chases when they say they want to get good at anatomy or perspective.
Drawing Anatomy: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/211174977060351/
Drawing Objects: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/5418462040380973/
Drawing With Perspective https://www.pinterest.com/pin/369365606955700732/
Drawing without Guidelines (quick tip)
Keep it simple, only lines. Put your reference side by side with your canvas and try to guess. There's no need to be super methodical with proper anatomy proportions or where the horizon line is in the composition. Let's keep it very intuitive. If your study feels off the first few times, that's how it's supposed to be. You're training your vision and hand to become accurate little by little. This is a very useful skill to master: drawing without guidelines.
.
References For Improving Your Painting Skills
With painting, my study approach goes toward something I call "values" and "colors." By values, I mean studying how the light on shapes like anatomy or objects creates three-dimensional volume, basically, black and white subjects. But if I feel lucky and want to add an extra level of complexity, I choose studies where the lighting is not only interesting but also includes colors, so I learn how light projects different colors on objects besides volume.
I get that this is a bit complex to grasp at first if this is your first time reading my posts, but let me give you a few examples of what I mean by Drawing and Painting:
Painting Anatomy (For Values): https://www.pinterest.com/pin/4151824650554267/
Painting Anatomy (For Colors): https://www.pinterest.com/pin/1337074886869252/
Painting Objects (For Values): https://www.pinterest.com/pin/1055599906585475/
Painting Objects (For Color): https://www.pinterest.com/pin/9429480464661924/
Painting Landscape (For Values): https://www.pinterest.com/pin/40391727898267938/
Painting Landscape (For Colors): https://www.pinterest.com/pin/736479345329180833/
Painting after a Simple Drawing (quick tip)
We are focused on improving your painting skills, but it is good to have some kind of base drawing so we don't get distracted by bad anatomy proportions or object inconsistencies. Focus on getting a few silhouettes right first and then jump into values. The same goes for colors.
Challenge!
As a bootstrap, choose one of these references and make a 30-minute to 1-hour study! Drop it in our sketch channel and win 10 Skill Points!.
Conclusion
The goal of this article is not for me to cherry-pick your references but for you to see as clearly as I do what references in your feed are perfect based on your goals. BTW! You will find some of the references shared in this article on our private Pinterest boards
For today's illustrations, I searched for references that allowed me to create a short story, so I was mostly practicing some form of storytelling or narrative skills. If you plan to do the same, just start with one single reference you find interesting and slowly build situations before and after that reference out of other references. I'll explain more about this tomorrow once I share the process video and PSD.
If you enjoyed this article, consider subscribing! Every week I share tips like this to boost your skills.!