Welcome to TheArtClasses.com.

Today we are going to talk about

how I use a reference.

And the proper way to utilize the reference

that we use in the illustration.

There are a big difference between

using, copying from a photo and using a reference.

So a lot of time I'll get a question on the video,

did you use a reference?

But usually what it does mean is like

did you copy from a photo somewhere.

And reference use it's very important

in making a concept art or illustration.

And there are many ways to use reference

in your concept art and illustration.

When you look at something or analyze something.

So I will show you how I use a reference today,

just on a few of my, on a couple

of my illustration and concept art.

Alright, let's get started.

So here is a close up version

of the illustration of a book cover that I did

for some publication in Australia.

And in this one, I used a lot of reference

to get to, I'll show you the full one here.

So we're just going to close this one now.

And that is the full cover.

Basically.

And if you zoom in you see the size

of the book cover is probably going to be that,

about that big.

But, I usually paint about 2-3 times bigger.

And if you zoom in you see a bunch of

brush stroke, like here you see all this craziness in here.

Pretty chaotic, but you zoom out,

it will look clean and okay.

So first, I'm going to show you this one,

and how I get to this point.

So basically, you see a lot of my speed painting.

This is basically one of them.

And most of my speed paintings

are basically comps.

Where is it?

So I start off with here.

And it usually not that big,

so probably about that big.

So this is where I begin,

and the reference I use for these is

tons of

that one is basically the reference for lighting.

So there are many way to use the reference.

Like you could find one photo and

have using lighting as a reference,

so you notice even though it doesn't

look anything like this one,

but you notice the lighting,

they are basically the same.

So once I establish the lighting from there,

then I can thought of how I'm gonna compose my scene,

what do I put in there.

In the beginning I didn't think of it as much,

but then I was like ah maybe I should make them a

mech, commando, and then I was like

maybe I should keep them a group.

So a lot of time I will use lighting from other reference.

But usually, it depends on ya know how sometimes

I do the lighting style, sometimes I use the

reference for something else.

Sometime I just come up with the comps on something.

Here I add a few solider behind it,

really rough.

And I wanna see how the comp station turn out.

If it turn out that I

enjoy the comp scene and

the comp scene can be taken further

then I would go in and add a bunch

more detail in it.

But before you go in and add more detail,

you want to sketch out,

like okay what kind of detail you want for the arms,

or is it going to be mech,

or are they carrying a gun.

So I changed it totally to have him

being a sort of mech man as you can see,

like a bunch of armor

more of a futuristic, and then you see a tank

become a tank, and then...

You have to have a good understanding of light and shadow

to make this happen.

Because if you look at this here,

only this part, or you see the cut out

between light and shadow,

that is already going into the shadow zone

and when you pin an object into the shadow zone,

you have to consider the lighting,

okay the lighting coming from the

basically the sun come from the back.

So this guy gonna get a little bit more light,

and all the rest of this guy will just get

a touch of light because they are in the shadow zone.

And also with the face, I also using the reference

by looking at a bunch of hyenas,

even though it, I just kinda look at the mouth

and how it's gonna go.

And I give him a scar face.

If you Google hyena's your gonna see

tons of hyena's.

On the generic term I usually use Google, right.

So you can have wider range of option

because robot will gather this image for you.

And then I will do research on Pinterest

for some mech design.

So you can just take a look at some mech design

on Pinterest, which one would fit your type of mech,

because they're so many, there are like Steampunk,

futuristic, you want it to be a more rounded shape,

or you want it to be more angular.

Or you want it to be more Japanime.

It's entirely up to your direction

of how your gonna design it.

So once you gather a bunch of reference

you can put them into a,

where is it,

reference folder, so in here there's a...

I couldn't find a reference folder to use for this

but here is kinda something similar.

It's one of my student make them for his project.

Also you have to look at the real reference of,

like okay how is the wire how the gun would look

and all this part of the tank you can use,

all part of mixed with realism and

the concept, and the futuristic stuff

and you can apply into here,

like how and you have to also consider

if you're making creatures,

then you have to understand how

their body and anatomy work.

I don't want to just make a humanoid

and give him a human anatomy.

I want to make him maybe give it a hybrid look

so he will still kind of walking on his tippy toe

with a little hunch, like a gorilla kind of thing.

But he will still have to rely on his forefoot.

And walk around backward and be able to still

to carry stuff and I would imagine like how they

would like live, and sort of evolve

into a little bit more human-like with

like how when they walk.

So you kinda have to mix it with hybrid.

So that is the first one that's how I use the reference.

So there is a different between gathering a good

reference to use for your illustration and

just merely copy a photo and paint it.

I think a lot of time people misunderstand

reference, especially the beginners.

It's a good practice to sometimes if you want

to paint a photo just to practice your lighting

and your accuracy, then that's fine.

That's not all when you're gonna use a reference

that's not mere copy.

So in this illustration I use quite a bit of reference,

because I have to design the suit,

I have to maybe look at how to curly hair

actually work and as you see here,

there's a lot of brush stroke that's going in

to try to mimic the hair.

It's just a matter of preference.

Some people when they make illustration,

they like to clean line and clean stroke,

but I do love the texture of the brush,

and it's helped me achieving really some

a little bit easier when you have alternate

between different texture brush.

And here you can see there's a bunch of

element involved, like the gun I have to design

and under a certain angle,

and hands I have to look at reference,

which hands are easy,

you can just look at your hand

and angle it differently.

Or you can look at some photo you can find.

The holster, and the way the holster attach to the body.

So I'm just gonna explain bit by bit.

First, one thing before you start illustration

you have to come up with your own composition first.

How is this whole thing gonna look,

and then you know you can select one

from many of your comps.

So this is where I start off with.

Which each one for me is about

maybe 10-20 minutes.

Depends on how much you want to put in

and how many element you are in there.

But usually when I make a comp

I'll think about foreground, which is here

her and the wall.

Midground which is a bunch of solider here

and this wall, building collapsing here.

And background, which is there.

And then in here is foreground

would be him and her and then

midground would be this block of the building here,

and the background would be like two solider.

Same as here.

Foreground, midground, background.

So think of it simple.

And the reference that I use,

this are just part of it right.

So you have to look, or searching for,

like the hair for instance.

I have to know what curly hair look like.

And how do I want the curl to look.

And so I look at the different curly hair

and then I just kind of try to mimic

the shape of the hair,

and how the texture of it,

and apply it to my illustration right here.

So there is one, and then

when the face is angled up,

so I have used this tool for the reference

of how am I going to angle up the face.

But you can flip it so you have

if you flip it you can see a bit more

that it look pretty similar to these two.

So right.

And I'm going to flip it back now.

And then, the design

I kind of look at some reference

from here, to kind of get the idea

or the direction you could go.

Not necessarily like taking it from there,

because every time you see some good design,

you kinda like oh that's cool,

and then I also add a bunch of character

reference here, either from the real life costume,

or the concept design.

And trying to apply whatever element

like ya know, you see a bunch of really cool

design stuff like straps, how he put the holster on

and what is the armor I'm making and all these.

But these are a little more bulkier version.

But I want my character to sort of be

a little more streamlined,

but with a bit more armor than these two.

And then all the goons here

are basically more of the bulky design that I have.

And you see the holster basically

I kind of take it, you have to look at

the real reference of the holster,

like how they actually look,right?

So you can properly add them to there

and how you get the holster onto the belt

or the chest, or the legs.