As an artist
there are laws that protect your artwork, whether it’s a traditional piece,
computer graphic, or a photograph. Also as an artist, you may want to use
others’ work to incorporate into your own, but you don’t know how far one can
go until you start infringing on someone else’s copyright protections. The line
can be quite muddy, but there’s a simple method you can use to guarantee you
are not breaking any laws.
Here is what
you will need:
- A camera (phone cameras work fine)
- A friend (optional)
- Your imagination
That’s
right, you’re going to take your own reference photos! This is a 100% guarantee
that no one can accuse you of copying or cheating. Some people already
mistakenly think that using reference material is cheating, but they’re doing
themselves a huge disservice if they are artists themselves. Even seasoned
professionals use references!
So grab your
camera and photograph anything that might come in handy! I personally have a
folder named “References” that I keep in Pictures. If you want human poses,
this is where a friend comes in handy. You can ask them to take photos of you,
or you can take photos of them! Try different poses such as leaning or walking,
standing or sitting, or more dynamic moves like hitting or kicking.
Experimenting with perspective will help a lot in the future when you’re making
more complicated pieces.
Besides
humans, you can try photographing;
- Textures (bricks, wood panels)
- Buildings
- Animals
- Vehicles
Usually, you
don’t have to worry about referencing random photos in the privacy of your own
sketchbook, and I highly recommend looking at references in order to practice!
(Please do.) But in today’s digital age, a young and budding artist may want to
share their work with the world, and that is a wonderful thing, though you have
to be careful from handling others’ ideas.
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My hands in various positions
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