Hello!! Welcome to Swim Along With Me. Each month, I’ll be making something different, and I’ll invite you to come on in for a glimpse at the process. This means, start to finish, photos and everything, you’ll see how I make. If your inbox truncates this post, click here to read it fully on substack.
At first, I worried that this entry in Swim Along With Me might be boring, but as soon as I got started, I realized how much I love this sort of unglamorous peek into process. Reference is a subject that every artist approaches differently, and I personally think there are not many wrong ways to do it.
That being said, I will make one disclaimer: It’s never okay to directly copy reference that doesn’t belong to you. If you are recreating something exactly in your art, make sure it’s your photo, or a photo coming from a site like Pexels, which has free-to-use stock photos. This is not to say you can’t make studies or work in your sketchbook from other kinds of reference, but if you are making a piece for public consumption or sale, keep this in mind.
I use reference for nearly everything I make. I’m sure there are artists out there that draw from memory, but I’m not really one of them. Of course, sometimes a visual detail, a feeling, a color, etc. from memory appears in a piece, but I infuse memory with additional reference to create my illustrations. Let’s jump into what this looks like more practically.
First, the simplest option (unfortunately cropped by Substack; here’s the full piece):
I took this photo last summer (on a camping trip), and then recreated it as an illustration just last week. This is actually my first time seeing them right next to one another, and it’s a sort of perfect example of 1-1 reference. Of course, as an illustrator, I make choices about how to render the colors, what materials to use, composition, etc. But largely, this piece is inspired by the photo (and the feeling/place I was when I took it!). That’s another beautiful part of using your own photos as reference—they are deeply driven by your perspective. I keep my personal reference pictures organized in folders on my computer.
But, often, if I want to make an illustration that I don’t have personal reference for, I must seek imagery online. Let’s start with a few tools that make this possible:
PureRef: Almost all the examples you’ll see next use this tool. It’s amazing! I started using it last year, and I cannot emphasize enough how useful it is for building reference boards.
Free stock photos: Like I mentioned above, sites like Unsplash have free imagery you can use as reference.
Pinterest: I keep all of my online reference organized on Pinterest! It’s a powerful image search tool and organizing platform.
Now, I’m going to share three additional reference boards (all built on PureRef), and how I use them. I love to make reference the day or week before I jump into a project, and then when I’m ready to draw, I don’t have to spend a bunch of time figuring things out (and/or procrastinating) on my computer. My hands go directly to my materials.
Back in November, I shared this invite I painted for a family visit. I made the simplest kind of reference board before painting it. I knew I wanted the invite to convey two things: the new place we just moved (upstate NY) and fall. So, I started to gather individual elements: the state flower and bird, my favorite parts of fall, memories I had of the season and place, etc. Then, because of the style of the invite, I painted them all separately, not really needing to combine/change the elements. I did make color changes, and I actually did draw these gingko leaves from memory! But, this is pretty much simple 1-1 reference, using online reference.
I use more complex reference boards most often when I am working on my book projects, which is the case for both of the next two examples. Both of these illustrations are for my middle grade novel (#amquerying! if any agents are reading this). I haven’t yet shared these illustrations anywhere. This first one is a scene:
My middle grade novel is illustrated, so now that the writing is done, I’ve been working on figuring out the process and look for the art. I wouldn’t say that this piece is finished or final, but it’s where I’ve started, and there are lots of things I like about it, including that it feels very “storybook.” This character, Ant, is a sphinx hybrid—obviously something that does not exist. So, I had to get creative when building a reference board.
Ant is part house cat, part lion, part snake, and part human. So, I gathered elements of each of these things before drawing him. I also thought about the pose a lot (which you can see comes from a Pexels image), as well as the pose of the hand reaching out to pet him. I actually had a very strong visual idea of the background in my head, so did not collect reference for that part of the image.
When I make this sort of reference board, I still gather separate elements, but I know they will be combined in a much different way. As soon as I decided on Ant’s pose, for example, I knew I’d want to look at some imagery of a lion’s mane in profile. I think about how these various pieces will fit together to allow me to draw the idea I see in my head. I also love that PureRef allows me to rotate and flip images!
I also use reference boards for characters, though it is much less exact. This is one of the three main characters in the novel, Sully:
I absolutely love the way Sully’s character has turned out. I think he is so cute, and that his personality really matches this rendering of him.
When I’m designing a character, my reference board is much more based on just feeling. You’ll see that I also include some other illustrations as inspiration. These illustrations help me think about character age, the tone of the illustration, and incorporating personality. I don’t think Sully really looks like any of these references, but as a whole, it makes sense that this is his reference board.
There are some logistical considerations: Sully is 12, mixed race, and has a twin sister. When picking reference, I kept these things in mind (and built his sister’s reference board simultaneously). I often pull adult models and actors, and then think about ways I can reference them while drawing a younger character.
It’s in no way a science, but it works for me! Drawing from real people helps me make a realistic looking character, but not latching onto any specific features or people lets me make my own original individual.
Reference is a crucial part of my practice. Illustration, to me, is about storytelling and interpreting the world through your lens. So, I like my work to be connected to the world (especially my corner of it).
Thanks for swimming along!
Wow! This is very helpful in understanding the process of creating. I had no idea these tools were available. You are such a good explainer as well as an amazing artist!!
Thank you for sharing, I enjoyed a glimpse into your process. I still think the stump painting is one of my favorites. 😍