All the time. OK, almost all the time - I skip it on the rare occasion when I have a panel that's cropped to a face and the sketch came close enough to the expression I want that I'm not going to get anything extra out of taking a photo.
I'm still learning proper anatomy so I think I'll learn more if I have a real human body to look at! Plus I will stylize the pose/expression - I'm not straight copying, but it's helpful to have something in front of me to pull details that are relevant to what I'm trying to achieve.
All the time. Often for clothes, but also for poses if I'm really struggling. My artwork is also highly stylized, but for it to come off as believable and polished, I think references are a must. There are some things that don't require them, and that can only suffice when you have a good visual library. That can come from the media you consume or from references.
I'm a huge advocate of using reference images as well. If you don't use them, you're training your mind, eye, and hand into repeating the same mistakes over and over - and it'll be much harder to untrain that later. Reference images are a must when you're a developing artist, as are gesture drawing exercises.
I use reference images in three ways:
- They're great for inspiration; having a broad reference library means I'm rarely stuck trying to think of an interesting pose.
- If I'm having a good art day, or I have the time to sketch and explore, I just eyeball the ref to give myself a better sense of anatomy as I draw.
- If I'm time-starved, or everything I've been drawing that day has looks wonky, I'll quickly trace over the basic anatomy of a reference, then go back over that sketch a second time and stylise it further. (The second pass is a must, or the drawing looks stiff and over-realistic.)
- I also use 3D models a lot, and I have a few basic poses for each character saved. This allows me to easily alter the camera angle for more dynamic panels. I've been going through some of my favourite photo refs and making 3d versions of them, so I can play with more camera angles.
Sometimes, for basic bust shots and the occasional full-body, I don't use reference. But that's often after I've spent a bunch of time practising gesture drawing, and I really have the human form 'in my fingers' that day, so to speak.
I don't use anatomy reference as much as I used to, but sometimes I still do, especially for complicated poses, expressions, or hand positions. I actually looked up several references for expressions today for the page I'm working on, and ended up taking a photo of my own fist for a reference at the angle I wanted. It helps.
I also use reference a lot for environments, objects, and animals, and I use it A LOT to get the color/lighting effects right. Because I use markers, and I get ONE SHOT at getting my colors down correctly. So I do a lot of research and a lot of practice.
Btw, if anyone wants the fist pic for reference, here you go:
Thanks to everyone who responded. Funnily enough, I've now com across a situtaion where I DO need a referance image, and found this website where you manipulate a 3D figure to get the proper position you need. Here is what I'm doing with it.
To anyone who wants to check the site out, here's the link.
By the way I do usually attempt to make positions before referring to reference images. As mentioned, I only really use them when I feel I really need to.
I believe that everyone is always drawing from reference.
Sometimes the memory of the reference is some years old, sometimes the memory is one second old
when you are looking at it while you draw.
You draw your version of what you saw or combine it with something that you already know how
to draw which became your style or you drew it so often that it became muslce memory.
But I think your question is if we have the reference open while we draw. I usually do that for poses and things
I have never drawn. I just drew a wolf chilling in the forest. I used a reference picture for the sitting pose,
one for the head because I never drew a wolf, one for tree stump he was sitting on. I drew the clothes from
memory.
I could have tried to draw it all from my head and it would have also worked but it would have looked differently.
I also use style reference, I want it to look a bit like Asterix & Obelix and that´s why I always have Asterix comics
next to me and copy the way the artist draws trees
Whenever there's a specific dynamic pose I'm trying to go for or if I just can't imagine the form someone would take for an action, that's when I use references the most. Or if there's a specific angle I want to achieve and I need to know how everything looks proportionally from said angle. If I can't find photos online, I usually just take photos of myself and base it off that. And if the character I'm drawing doesn't match my body type, I go to 3D models.
I plan on using them more because when I look back at my drawings, I see how stiff or unnatural some characters look when I don't use references.
I think what's good is using the reference for the pose itself, so not exactly copying the pose but just using it as a way to guide how you kind of want the pose or stance to look.
But yeah I have a friend who is a artist as well who has the same sentiments, that sometimes using references kind of restricts their art in a way, so it does for sure depends on what the artist feels comfortable with