“Save us, Doctor,” cries the marble merchant, the father of two children, the husband. (The transcript says he says “Gods save us, Doctor,” but I didn’t hear ‘gods’ in what I just watched, though it’s quite possible he does say that, considering the end of the episode.)
And the Doctor just stares at the man and runs, quite literally runs, into the TARDIS, with Donna shouting after him.
And she pleads, “Just save someone”
and he does, grasps the merchant’s hand, saves him and his family, changes something on the edge of a fixed point–
and you cannot tell me that the man who wears that merchant’s face and shouts “I’m the Doctor and I save people” does not remember that merchant
even if that memory is unconscious, buried over a thousand years deep
Why do artists refuse to use references why why why.
It’s not a contest to see who can get by without them. It’s not cheating to look at a thing in order to know what the thing looks like.
You don’t get stronger or better by pretending. Nobody is impressed by the awkward whatever-it-is you just drew. Use references.
I don’t think a lot of people know that it’s not cheating. I recall seeing so many piece of art called out because they referenced a pose, someone recognized it, and then proceeded to shame them for it. There’s this belief, both by creators and the audience, that artists should just be able to translate the ideas from their head to paper, and if they don’t, it’s plagiarism, or not true originality (spoiler alert: there’s no such thing).
I myself didn’t start using references until very recently, because even I was under the impression that it was frowned upon. And that belief has seriously crippled and stalled my ability to improve as an artist.
As a restarting artist, I can confirm. I just never knew. I thought you were just supposed to know how to draw the body correctly and if you didn’t you had no talent.
(( I am going to say this again, loud and clear for everyone:
USING REFERENCES FOR ART IS NOT ‘CHEATING’!!!
If you can draw/paint without references, great! But if you need to use them, and feel that your art can be bettered by using references, please, use them! This is one of the biggest tips I can give to artists, is USE REFERENCES!
Anyone who would dare to attack someone for using references after ‘recognizing a pose’ is a dipshit, who doesn’t know a thing about art.
Do you know who else used references for their art?
Norman Rockwell
Alphonse Mucha
Gustav Klimt
Toulouse Lautrec
Vincent Van Gogh
Paul Gauguin
Edgar Degas
Gil Elvgren
Frida Kahlo
Pablo Picasso
Disney Studios
And thousands of others! So, artists! Go forth, and use references!!! ))
What do you think artists do when they ask someone to stand infron of them for 6 hours and then they draw this person. Do they cheat? Or when they place a still life and then paint it, cheating again? LOL
Soooo. I made this post originally on my personal blog (I’m eliciaforever), and it was nothing more than a little rant about a specific incident that I deleted after five minutes. But before I could delete it, it took the hell off on me, and now it has all these notes. And LOTS OF AMAZING INPUT.
And I just wanted to add in response to the above tags in particular, that shaming people for using references is something that happens to so many of us SO OFTEN. It doesn’t matter how skilled you are. People think art is supposed to be magical or whatever, and anything else is a crime. The reality of course is that art is a thousand times more deliberate than a lot of people think it is.
So yeah. Good info to pass along. Use references, kids. <3
Reblogging because I think it’s important especially for young artists to gain the confidence to use references.
Seriously, references are esssential! Use them!
You know what I do when I need something?
Trace.
I use Pose Tool a lot; it lets me manipulate a model doll, I take a picture, I trace. Making the model takes hours when it doesn’t crash and I’ve gotta restart.
If I want a landscape? I’ll usually draw that from memory but sometimes it’s fuckit, go out, take a picture, image manipulate.
Or sometimes I’ll ask people to stand in front of me so I can get the photo and I’ll work from that.
I think it comes from coming from a family that’s all about the photos.
But honestly. I’m a person who colours things in. Am I cheating? The references I use I go forth and create in the first place.
if you are a young thing i have one piece of advice for you:
being enthusiastic and happy about things you love is more important than being apathetic and snide. you will go so much farther in life spending energy on and talking about something you love than wasting energy on only complaining about or making fun of something you don’t.
don’t focus on mocking others for being genuinely excited about something. focus on the things and people you love.
Headcanon that when Han and Leia are reunited after the destruction of Jabba’s barge Han takes one look at her and his eyes get big and he goes, “Oh my God, are you all right?” and she nods and sort of smiles and leans into him and he immediately takes off his shirt and gives it to her because he doesn’t want her to feel exposed without her consent.
YES. I hate the bro idea that Han would be all about saving the slave outfit for later sexy times. He worked for Jabba; he knows how horrible Jabba was, especially to women. I really do think his first concern would be that Leia was okay and that nothing happened to her. And he respects Leia; he would be furious that Jabba objectified her and enslaved her, not turned on by it.
Can someone please draw Leia wearing Han’s big white shirt while Han swaggers around in just his vest?
Slight logistical problem: Han’s vision was still returning. He had recovered his ability to see light and darkness, but he couldn’t make out shapes yet. So he probably wouldn’t have realized what she was wearing until she hugged him.
