Art-Fashion-History

First, a small disclaimer: this is how I use reference photos. It's not the one true way of doing things, so if you disagree with something - then just don't do it. I still hope this article will give you some tips and tricks, as well as some things to think about. Also, this article will mostly focus on references of animals and nature, considering I draw animals and nature and have the most experience with this. The tips will still count for references of other things too, though. What are reference photos? Reference photos are, in short, photos you look at and often try (to an extent) to copy in your artwork. The most typical example is in realistic work, when someone chooses a photo and tries to copy it as exact as possible. It is also possible to use the photos to a smaller extent - for example, to find a nice color scheme (I know of instances where someone has used photos of sunlit snow to help with lighting on white fur). In some cases you'll also use multiple references for