Yea I get that a lot of people use references just as a guideline, but the thing is (and I know this might be just my overthinking, because even when you draw something from imagination it can turn out being very similar or even the same as something that someone has already drawn or taken a photo of) that I always worry about committing some sort of lineart theft lol. I've seen people being accused of lineart theft when they used someone's photo as a reference, even tho their drawings weren't a straight up copy made by tracing over the lines.
Idk I'm definitely overthinking stuff xd

Thanks Draak, I too think I should start using them again. Even tho people tell me they love it, I don't want to be stuck with my cartoony drawing style forever lol. But on the other hand, something about using references takes away from me the feeling of accomplishment, because then I feel like the thing I drew is not "mine"? Does that even make sense? Like, even if I draw something crappy from my own imagination, at least my (anxious) mind is at peace because I know I didn't copy anything. Now, I don't want to say that using references is cheating, this is just my inner feeling towards my own art that I can't seem to shake off. As for taking my own photos, unfortunately I don't often have the opportunity to go to a zoo or even see any wildlife around where I live, so I guess I'll have to use photos from the internet.

Nah you shouldn't have worried about sounding mean, but thank you for being considerate c:

I'm 100% aware that references are needed, and I know that even when I draw without using them - it's just my brain subconsciously digging out stuff that it's already somewhat familiar with. And I'm also aware that these are utterly stupid things to worry about, but that's just my mind.. always looking for something dumb to ponder if it's okay or not lol. Come to think of it, maybe the biggest reason I'm so repulsed to use tracing is because all my life I've been told it's wrong, and that "you can't call yourself an artist if you trace cuz everyone can do that". Then I've seen some people who go even further and argue that using references is bad too, and are like "you are an artist, you should know how to draw everything from every single angle without looking at anything" o.O I mean - what the hell? We are not magicians, we've learned everything we know so far by looking and observing things.
Also, thank you for that tutorial, it seems very useful and I'm definitely saving it.

Now, the only thing left to do is to convince myself that those are completely okay ways to learn and improve. Which is gonna be the actual hardest thing to do xD

Seconding Lost

That is literally the best and most free way to use references because you're not drawing after a reference, you're using references to shape your own work. To add on top of Lost's last tidbit. Nobody is goig to judge, notice or complain at you for looking at 3 different pictures of deer faces so you're able to draw propper ear placement and proportion on the character.
However if you wish not to use references. But this is also a general tip for when using references. To in general improve your art overall, even if you don't wanan use references.

Just keep drawing. Like...keep drawing. Draw the same thing multiple times, each time try to improve it. You don't even need to be super realistic, just do the best to your ability. Like what use is to draw a hella realistic deer in a super static and boring pose when a catroony blob is just so much more mallable.

Drawing something over and over gets you to experiment more with it, get more comfortable with it, you learn the anatomy of your own artstlye and improve on it. When you have many things to compare, it gets easier to see what things work better. Same with faces. If it doesen't work once, try again and try something different.



( @sylphofheart oh my god i swear to you...warframes literally helped me draw humans better, like whyyyyyyy xD why is it so much easier to draw space ninjas than humans. maybe since their body is not just a flat blob but has more structure to it... it's easier to split up, it's easier to draw)

On that note... You know a leg is not always flat, it has some curve to it and bumps here and there. One day just so to study i suggest you find a stock image and outline it, then document all the curvatures, bumps and slopes you can find on body parts that appear 'flat/straight'.
Remembering those things and incorporating them in your non-referenced art makes the anatomy a lot more...real. If you wanna stay off references, I wholeheartedly sugest you do this!
OH also partition the animal into basic shapes. And remember those and always start drawing with those.

It seems lke a lack of art endurance to me than anything else or a problem wih referencing.
No art is -truly ever finished- so next time you draw and feel dissatisfied with your faces...keep working on it. You're able to identify that the face looks off. Keep editing parts untill it looks more real. Either the eye shape is wrong, either the mouth is set too high, either the chin is not drawn etc. etc. It's part on drawing endurance too.
If you're not fully aware how those parts look like...again if outlining and looking at those shapes feels wrong. Then just study anatomy from a different source, videos? in real?
Another option is to have another artist correct it for you.
But again ir essentially boils down to:.You need to learn the shapes of the face and consciously apply them to the art. And without first learning those shapes, nothing comes out of nothing.

@Vessan; this baby-face syndrome all my drawings somehow end up having is just another problem that I've felt like mentioning, which is connected to my question about using references. It's not that the faces/heads I draw look particularly bad proportion wise, it's just that I somehow always draw expressions which make them look "cute and adorable". And I so want to be able to also draw stuff that looks serious and mature, that shows different emotions rather than just being happy and cheerful by default.
Like, If I was able to imagine (for example) something scary, I would be able to put it on paper, at least to some degree. And then I would be able to alter it in my own way to suit my art style. But I can't, which means I need a reference for it. This is basically just one vicious circle where I am dissatisfied with something and want to use a ref to improve it, but end up not doing so because of the previously mentioned reasons. I can definitely agree that you and the others have some good points and tips, which means I'm just being hard on myself. I've always been my own worst critic, and that explains why I don't think it's a bad thing if I know that someone else uses references.

@niriya; it's not weird at all! It's good to know there is someone who understands me and who had a similar problem (:
And that advice really makes sense, just have to find a way to try to apply it to my own art. Thank you ^^


I'm blabbering so much about something that is so simple lol I'm sorry