Hi guys and welcome to this week's video!
Today I'll be giving my top 10 tips on how to choose and use reference photos.
The piece I'm working on today is relevant to this topic- this was a commission piece
where I had the opportunity to take the photograph myself, and allowed me to be choosy about
what I worked from and the way that I worked from it.
But as such, the video will have more of a focus towards pet portraiture, although the
majority of the tips and advice can be applied to all sorts of subject matter.
So starting off from the beginning: how to choose your reference photo- or perhaps more
specifically, analysing a reference photo for potential obstacles.
This is a skill in itself and often totally overlooked!
I see a lot of newer artists choose to work from photos so difficult that I personally
wouldn't touch them with a ten-foot-barge-pole, but then the artist gives up or gets frustrated
that the result isn't what they want it to be.
So breaking down some things I find most crucial in a reference photo, I'll start with tip
number 1:
Check the lighting of your reference.
Poor lighting can result in a significant loss of detail or information in a piece.
This can be summarised as either under- or overexposure.
Over-exposure is when there's too much light in an image as a whole or in a particular
area, and often results in colours being washed out, and lighter areas just becoming a homogenous
blob of white.
Underexposure is the opposite problem- too little light in the photograph results in
areas becoming totally black.
And in either case, no amount photo editing can fetch some of the detail back.
When choosing photographs, pay close attention to the lightest and darkest areas of the picture-
can you still see clear detail in this area?
A relevant example here is with dog noses- their noses and nostril areas can often be
underexposed, meaning you'll be missing crucial detail on one of the key focal points
of an image.
On a similar note, when looking for royalty references online, photos are often edited
to increase their contrast to make them more eye-catching or exciting.
These photos are great to look at, but can be difficult to draw.
The editing results in the lighter areas getting brighter and the darker areas- darker.
And as such, there'll be less detail on both ends of the spectrum.
If you want to draw a high-contrast image, I recommend finding an unedited reference
image and then adjusting it yourself.
That way you can find a compromise between the contrast and detail, or at least you have
an original reference that you can check if the high contrast version loses a critical
detail.
And a final note about lighting is the colour of the lighting.
This is especially relevant when colour-matching is important in your piece- so for example
with a portrait you'll want to try and match eye and fur-colour as close as possible.
A photograph taken in natural daylight is best as the colour of lighting is neutral.
Artificial lighting- such as the yellow glow from incandescent bulbs- can results in a
subject matter looking like an entirely different colour.
On to tip number 2!
My second tip is to check the focus & resolution of your reference
Ideally, the area you want to draw should be in sharp focus- and this means that you'll
be able to gather the most information in the reference photo.
It's common to stumble across beautiful references- macro photos in particular- where
only a small portion is in sharp focus.
Out-of-focus shots can be eye-candy, but limits your expression of a piece.
Blurry areas can be hard to make sense of when drawing- and also just technically difficult
to achieve.
As for resolution, generally speaking, unless you are very proficient with a specific subject
matter, you want a photo that clearly shows MORE than the level of detail you are aiming
to achieve.
It is quite natural to not draw something to the same degree of detail as a reference
photo.
Personally, I refuse pet portrait reference photos where I can't see the individual
strands of fur in the majority of places on the subject matter.
And honestly, this really isn't a big ask, most modern phone cameras are good enough
to capture this level of detail provided that the subject is well lit and close enough.
Moving on to my third piece of advice: consider the subject's pose, angle and crop
Just because a photo is well-lit and in-focus doesn't mean it's flattering.
Consider the dimensions of your paper or canvas, and how is your subject matter going to sit
on this surface?
When taking or choosing a photograph, ask yourself if the subject matter will successfully
fill the shape of the paper… that is, if you already have an idea about the orientation
and aspect ratio of your paper.
So for instance, I draw bust portraits- so the head and neck along with some of the chest
and shoulders, and my paper that I use is in the portrait orientation.
The aspect ratio I go for is usually 3:4.
And this means that usually I'll have to scale the photo or consider the pose based on the
limitations of the shorter, horizontal dimension.
In the case of the sweet dog I'm drawing here, I had to scale the photo so that the
ears would fit within the confines of the paper.
I also had to change the dimensions of my paper to the slightly wider and more-squarish
4:5 ratio.
And this gave the ears some extra room so overall I could draw the face a little larger.
And this meant that the subject would fill more of the paper.
Also, when photographing the two whippets for this set of commissions, I knew that I
had to catch them in a pose where their long muzzles weren't straight out to the side-
in a profile view- because I knew that it would mean that I'd have to scale down their
heads a lot in order to fit them onto the paper.
I also knew that a front-on look is unflattering because of the foreshortening, so I chose
to try and capture some three-quarter view shots instead to avoid these disadvantages.
Foreshortening can be really unflattering and difficult to draw.
A dog's nose right in the camera can not only result in areas of the image being very
out of focus, but also a distortion in anatomy that can result in a reduction of likeness
in your artwork.
Another issue is making sure that the relevant anatomy is visible in the reference photo.
So for instance, I can't draw a bust portrait if the dog is laying down flat on the ground
and I can't see the front of his chest and shoulders- the crop here will make the dog
appear like a floating head.
Similarly, if the dog is looking up at the camera -that's pointing down over the top
of his head- you'll also be missing out on the anatomy that will help ground the portrait.
Additionally, consider how the image will be displayed on a wall.
I like to imagine that a framed piece of art is a bit like a window to another dimension.
So consider the horizon-line of your image- the top-down angle described before also results
in an image that may not "sit" well on a vertical plane.
If the horizon line is very high, or very low- or completely off the page-, then consider
using a different reference.
I find the best way to overcome this is to photograph the subject so that the lens is
at their eye level and vertical.
My fourth tip is to consider how your subject interacts with the environment and objects
around them.
It's important to consider the items and environment that the subject matter is interacting
with.
If there's something you want to edit out or change, you'll have to also change aspects
in your subject matter too.
After all, for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
For instance, collars can be really tricky to remove as they change the way that fur
and skin folds hang on the animal.
Additionally, if you plan on removing an object from the image, you'll need to consider
how much of your subject is covered by the object and how important that area is.
It can be really difficult to render an area in a photograph that you can't see- especially
to the same level of realism and detail as the rest of the piece.
My fifth piece of advice is about ambiguity.
One of the most difficult things to judge in a picture is how ambiguous it is.
We rely and trust photography to capture an image exactly how it would appear in real
life.
However, sometimes things in a photograph do actually look pretty strange when taken
out of context… or if there is an artist to blame for potentially getting something
wrong!
So even if you draw something spot-on, if the reference photo was slightly ambiguous,
people may think that you didn't draw it correctly.
Moreover, things can look out of place depending on how you crop your image, so consider that
as well.
Try to scrutinise your photo for odd and unnatural looking shapes, shadows and things that don't
quite look how you would expect them to look.
A common example is when a neck is foreshortened and hidden by the animal's head.
When the head and body is then drawn, it may look strange as there is no suggestion of
a neck.
So now that you've chosen a suitable reference, you can now consider how you'll express
it in your own artistic way.
My sixth piece of advice is to think about the way the piece is laid out on the paper.
I know I touched on this a little earlier when talking about pose, but there's more
to consider when adjusting your image.
First of all, I like to make sure that the subject matter fills the page well, without
coming too close to the edges of the paper.
Unfortunately, with this piece I didn't have too much choice but to have only about
half a centimetre between her ear tips and the edge of the paper- otherwise she would've
been very small on the paper- but this was a compromise agreed upon with the client.
It would've been better to have more room for adjustments for mounting and framing this
piece, but the room given will be fine with a custom made mount.
As well as the "breathing room" around the edges of your subject matter and the paper
edge, you'll also want to consider "lead room"- which is the space between the top
of the paper and the top of the head.
Ideally, you'll want the eyes about a third of the way down from the top of the page-
which I've done here.
Moreover, I adjusted the rotation of the piece slightly so that the eyes were more level.
Additionally, you may want to consider "nose room" which is to allow enough space between
the nose- or the direction of the subject's gaze- and the edge of the paper.
All of this has to do with keeping the viewer's eye on the subject, as areas that are close
to the border have a tendency of pulling the viewer's eye off of the paper.
Another thing you'll want to think about is the flow of the piece- the way the eye
is directed around the page.
The golden ratio and the rule of thirds can be considered here, and in simple terms this
means putting the focal points of your drawing in a place that feels natural and encourages
the eye to investigate the piece further.
I generally use the rule of thirds as I find that it's more available to me- most simple
photo editing software places a 3x3 grid on the image when you crop it, and I'll try
and place areas on the image so they interact with the grid-lines and where they intersect.
So here for instance, I adjusted the image such that the eyes were a thirds down from
the top of the page, and the nose about third down from that.
Balance can also be helpful when adjusting the composition and crop of a piece.
For example, in this piece I judged how much negative space would be around the dog- from
side to side and top to bottom, and adjusted the crop so that the image was balanced.
It may be worth considering this for value, contrast, saturation and detail as well- for
instance a piece would appear unbalanced if it was very dark on one side compared to the
other, or if there was a very colourful and detailed object on one side of the page compared
to the other.
These rules certainly aren't hard and fast- in fact it's very difficult to get them
to all work simultaneously and sometimes a composition will look better when some rules
are broken.
But I find these ideas to be a helpful framework when deciding how to compose a piece.
Piece of advice number 7 is to know your goals for your work.
What do you love about your subject matter and reference photo, and how are you going
to convey them in order to promote those areas?
In contrast, what things do you dislike about the reference- and what do you want to do
to counter that?
For me, her eyes in the reference photo- particularly the reflection in her eyes- drew me in to
choose this as the reference.
I wanted to make sure that these really popped by getting them to be crisp, detailed and
high contrast.
On the other hand, I didn't like how some of her anatomy felt a bit lost in the reference
photo- some small areas were overexposed and the shadows were a little faint.
And that leads me on to tip number 8- a pretty simple one- use editing software to adjust
these things in your reference photo- the things that you want to improve and the things
that you want to promote.
For me, that meant making some secondary references where I adjusted the lighting, contrast and
saturation to be able to better analyse the photos- particularly in the overexposed areas.
And in general, I will often boost the saturation and contrast in a reference image.
I have a slight tendency to undershoot these two things when colouring, so working from
a bolder reference will help me reach the target I want.
My second to last tip is to adjust which areas you render more simply, and which areas you
want to go highly detailed.
I will not render the entire image to the same level of detail- personally I like to
make sure that my focal points and the area around them have the most detail- so in this
case I'll make sure the eyes and nose are the most intricate and have the highest contrast.
I then like to radiate the density of detail I apply out from these spots.
I'll often apply less detail towards the edges of the image too.
I find that this helps to keep the viewer's eyes centred within the boundaries of the
artwork and I find that too much detail or contrast near the edges results in the viewer's
eye being directed off of the page.
It's also more natural to render an image this way- only a small area of our vision
detects high levels of detail when we're looking at a subject matter, but a camera
lens will capture everything to a similar level of detail providing it's in focus.
So softening the areas around the focal points can help to give the piece a more life-like
feel.
Aaand it has the added benefit of decreasing the work-load a little, as it means that I
don't have to apply such painstaking detail to the entire piece.
An extra example here is regarding collars.
They're often brightly coloured and many owners will want them to be included in the
piece.
Some may even want the detail on an engraved tag to be clearly visible.
This has the unfortunate effect of leading the eye off of the face and eyes, and down
the page.
Generally speaking, I'll desaturate the collar a little if it's a very bright colour,
and I'll also simplify the details and soften some of the contrasts or harsh edges.
This really applies to any item in a composition that isn't wanted as a focal point, yet
is high contrast, detailed or brightly coloured.
Before I get on to the last tip, I want to announce a new winner for the giveaway!
Congratulations to Arkadiusz Jazdończyk ! I'm sorry if I mispronounced your name!
Please contact me via the e-mail in the description- and do so as soon as possible with the same
e-mail you used to sign up to the competition with!
Last but not least- tip number 10- knowing when to finish your piece.
It can be really difficult to know when it's done- especially when you have a deadline,
or you're being paid for your time.
The first thing to do is to try and recall the goals you set for your piece- what was
the objective?
For me here, it was to create a captivating pet portrait with the best likeness possible.
I check the reference photo multiple times to see if I've missed anything.
I'll also consider the level of detail I've achieved overall- is there enough as my eye
is being directed around the piece?
Additionally, I'll judge the level of contrast- are my darks as dark as they should be, and
do my highlights pop?
Of course I'll also do a once-over to see if there are any things that need to be tidied
up- say a smudge on the paper that needs to be erased, a line that needs to be sharpened
up, or that the level of detail on the fur is even and not patchy.
I feel like I could work forever on some of my pieces, but the more I work, the less I'm
actually accomplishing.
So I'll think back to what I've actually improved on the piece in the last hour of
working and see what difference I've made.
If it's unsubstantial, I'll call the piece finished.
Keeping track of your work in progress via video or photos can really help with this
part!
And that's it!
Here's my finished piece, I'm really pleased with the outcome and I'm happy to say that
the client is too!
I hope you found this video helpful, if you did, please leave it a like.
Let me know what you think down in the comments section too!
Thank you very much for watching, don't forget to subscribe if you want to stay up-to-date
with my latest arty videos.
Hope you have a lovely week and I'll see you in the next video!
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