Original subtitles

In this lesson we're going to deal with and talk about how to use reference.

Right.

It's very contentious.

Some people feel it's cheating.

We're going to talk about these topics and also really cover in depth what it means to use reference.

And we're going to talk about it in two ways. We're going to talk about it in terms of design.

And then we'll talk about it in terms of study or learning.

So let's first talk about study and learning first.

Right.

When we talk about using reference in terms of studying or learning, usually that involves copying and observing

right, copying and observing.

And what we're doing is, we're look at the reference, and here I have this reference image of this girl in

class. And we will really just perhaps let's say we want to learn about values, or we want to learn about

lighting or we want to learn just about the structure, or the composition of the shot.

We would then copy the entire piece exactly as it is.

And as you know this will then fall into observational art. And what we can do by copying is

we will learn certain elements of the structure, certain elements of the anatomy.

We can look at the anatomy, copy the anatomy shapes, and kind of commit to memory these things that

we're learning by copying and observing.

So we can use reference for studying and learning.

Right.

But we don't want to use reference.

Right.

We definitely don't want to use reference to be the artwork.

Right.

The artwork or the basis of the artwork. Where someone can tell that we used, that we really

just painted over a photo, or drew, or traced or something like that.

And these are things we don't want to do.

This is not how we use reference, Tracing as well.

This is not how we use reference.

OK so these are things we don't want to do.

That's not a good use of reference.

So when we're using reference in terms of studying and learning, we're using it, we're using it to copy

it, to learn something about the reference, or the object in the reference image.

And we're also using it to learn to see see better, to observe better, to make notes, to learn.

And so then copying is fine when you're using it for studying learning.

It's not fine to present it as artwork, the basis of an artwork or even tracing of it, right, which is basically

the base of an artwork or using as an artwork.

But anyway, so when we're using reference for studying and learning we can observe these various things

right.

And particularly you will use a lot of reference in terms of gesture drawing, in terms of drawing anatomy

and learning to draw anatomical elements, musculature, skeletal system and so on.

And we will literally just copy the reference and do a million different versions of similar references

and different camera angles, so that we can learn the structure of that anatomical thing.

But the primary way that we actually use reference is for design.

And when you're referencing design, it's a completely different way of looking at the reference.

No longer are we concerned with copying what we see, but rather we're looking at things in fundamental

and structural ways.

For example, off the top of my head, we could reference from this image the colors. They're very pastel like

and light, this sort of light kind of salmon color here of the book, kind of matches very well with this

light minty green color.

So we could reference the colors and say "Well you know in that reference image, I really like the color.

I want to reference the color." We could reference her expression, for example.

Right.

And so we're not going to copy this exact expression on our drawing, in this exact pose.

We can just kind of reference her expression and say "OK she's kind of got a cheery smile, an interested

smile and her one eyebrow is down and the other ones up, and we can kind of replicate those things in our work.

But we're not copying, we're referencing right.

We're borrowing if you wish, from the piece.

You could certainly reference the pose, right.

Reference the pose, and by referencing the pose maybe your character is tired after a hard day at college

or university or school, and you're really just borrowing the structure of the hand under the chin and

the arm on the torso at this angle, and maybe the arm on the desk.

So you could reference the pose. You could reference the composition. You may just like the whole composition

of this lady in the background.

And another lady there, and then the main character here, and just the whole general composition of everything.

So you can reference the composition, And depending on what you're drawing, if you're drawing mechanical

objects, or man made objects you could reference mechanical operation you could reference design choice,

you could referenced so many elements, so many theoretical elements, that you could arguably reference

when you're painting.

And so you can reference values, that is the bright and dark values on the piece, you could reference

the the camera lens if you wish.

Camera lens, so here is using a very low f stop lens to get that nice background blur and sharp forground.

And so this is what really, when we talk about reference, most of the time is what we're talking about

when we're doing creative work or imaginative work.

And so referencing for design falls solidly in imaginative creative work, and referencing the study and

learning is really on that observational art side of things. where we're observing to learn, to study,

to grow, in our understanding of the world and of how light works, and of how anatomy works, and so

on and so forth. And when we're referencing design, we're borrowing elements that we appreciate that we like and

we may mix with other elements and throw in our own designs.

And when you're referencing for design, generally speaking and hopefully that should be the case,

nine point nine times out of ten, if not 10 out of 10 times, your your work looks nothing like the work

you've referenced from. Or the pieces that you're using for reference, the multiple photos of objects

or trees or backgrounds or what have you, because you're referencing design elements you're not referencing

the actual image itself.

And so that really sums up this lesson on how to use reference.

And I think that's about it.

Let's move on.