06-18-2013, 01:22 AM
I think it's an interesting topic, and there really is no right or wrong, just opinions and what you want to get out of doing art.
My personal opinion is that direct reference takes away a lot from the art, whenever I find out that any of my art heroes use direct refs I'm heartbroken, but the main reason I do art myself is the pursuit of technical skill and knowledge, so that is why. In my mind the goal should be to possess enough fundamental knowledge that direct refs are never needed, I agree however that the artist must always look at photos and the world around him/her to get new impressions and new ideas to use when painting, but there's a massive diffrence between studying to understanding what you see and just blatantly copying what you see.
For professional work there are very few rules however, you'll find that most artists unfortunately rely on photos and matte painting and 3D models and whatnot to get their results. If something looks too good to be true, you can be sure it isn't true, wether the artist is willing to admit it or not.
I think no employer is ever likely to care how you get your end result unless you are openly mimicing or stealing art, the only one's who'll care are grumpy purists like myself :-)
My personal opinion is that direct reference takes away a lot from the art, whenever I find out that any of my art heroes use direct refs I'm heartbroken, but the main reason I do art myself is the pursuit of technical skill and knowledge, so that is why. In my mind the goal should be to possess enough fundamental knowledge that direct refs are never needed, I agree however that the artist must always look at photos and the world around him/her to get new impressions and new ideas to use when painting, but there's a massive diffrence between studying to understanding what you see and just blatantly copying what you see.
For professional work there are very few rules however, you'll find that most artists unfortunately rely on photos and matte painting and 3D models and whatnot to get their results. If something looks too good to be true, you can be sure it isn't true, wether the artist is willing to admit it or not.
I think no employer is ever likely to care how you get your end result unless you are openly mimicing or stealing art, the only one's who'll care are grumpy purists like myself :-)