Hello to you!
I have to admit something, I thought having my art book reviews here over Youtube would let me grow much better.
To bring people over from Youtube to here.
So wrong I was…
I have only gotten 3 subs from Youtube to this newsletter.
And non of them have open a email since…… Like never.
And that just makes me sad!
Because those art book review brings me most views and sub on Youtube.
But people don’t like to change places I guess. It is hard to convert people from one site to another.
Because some people want everything in one place. And sure that would be lovely, for sure! But sometimes a person needs to follow this person elsewhere to get the goodies.
I will re-think my art book reviews, big time.
🌿Why you should use Reference
Can you draw a horse without any reference?
Me neither
Using reference has been a hot topic for years for us artist. Why it still is a mystery for me.
Because without reference we wont learn crap.
I mean should we pretend to be blind all the time? Because everything you see is a reference for you to use.
We learn from drawing from reference. The anatomy of a horse example.
And the horse anatomy is very complex.
After a while we don’t need that reference anymore, because we build our visual library in our brains instead. (Something that is little hard for me)
But still there is people out there telling you that if you are using reference, you are cheating..
And now these AI tech bros is jumping in on it…..
Saying that stealing art for their AI is just like using reference. Different between the two is that. A real artist use that reference to create something new. Not copy other works and tells its theirs.
I need reference for everything I do. I cant draw from imagination. I’m trying to get better, but it’s hard.
With reference I can build up a mood-board and start creating my illustrations.
A lot of research goes into finding the right reference.
But what do I use?
🔵 Unplash & Pexels: They are websites full of royalty free stock images that you can use. I mostly use them to find environment/Landscape stuff. Or animals.
🔵 Satine: I started to buy her reference packs when she was just starting out. Now those reference packs are even better! Using Male and Female models. Sometimes with clothing, other without. Also have few animals packs and environments. She sells on her website, but I mostly buy them on Artstation.
🔵 Grafit Studio: Also have both male and female models, with and without clothings. But they mostly use Female. Have to mention it to them. But I guessing they did not really care much about it. Also have Environment packs. Sell on Gumroad and Artstation.
So if you are an artist, don’t stop using reference because you saw an idiot say you were cheating. Those people know nothing!
🌿My Art Journey
Another week has gone by and with that not much art has been made. I have one of those bad weeks for my creativity. I keep seeing too much beautiful art and then trying to do the same. But I think I have manage to step back a little.
Dagligverksamhet asked if I could paint a motive on 15 frames. I did. And I was able to complete all 15 of them during my hour. Yes, my energy was all empty later that day. But everyone there was happy how it turned out. 😁 Just hope all the people who got them get happy as well.
Using me of my spray paints that they bought for me. Just black and pink for this. And not a complicated motive either. Other wise I would not been done yet.. 🤣
Was able to do another Plein AirPril drawing. This time I try to ignore my inner voice and just draw the way I want to draw it. It turned out pretty okey. I’m still bad at the light source for some reason. And I think I need to lower the size of the line art. At least for landscapes like these. All done in Affinity Photo.
But then we have Teen Satoru Gojo from Jujutsu Kaisen. I tried something new. Take a reference image and draw a character from a popular anime/manga. And be in casual clothing. Something I never really do. But it was super fun! And I also found a nice line art brush in Rebelle 7 😁
🌿To see Values in Your Artwork!
So Rebelle has something really cool! If I press G on the keyboard, my drawing turns into greyscale.
That way I can see if all the values are working or not.
With other words, shadow and light.
So handy. But other drawing apps don’t have this. At least not as a default feature.
But you can do it. It’s pretty easy, and I will tell you just how.
Make a new layer on top of everything.
Fill it with black.
And turn the blending mode to saturated.
See, now you can also see if your values is working or not. Just toggle on and off the layer. And new magic will flow.
Where do you grab your Reference?
Support me at: