When drawing, do you refer to real photos as well as other drawings?

Question

I'm not the best drawer in the world and certainly cannot draw off of my head and except accuracy (I usualy draw dogs or other canine). But do you look at other artist's drawing to see how they drew it? Or do you consider this "copying".
I do it sometime just to see how they drew it, as real photos are sometimes hard to transfer to paper for me. Then I stopped to ask myself "this seems like it is copying!"

Answer 1

I keep a reference record, in three notebooks and two 2-drawer filing cabinets...to not only check details in my drawings, but also to see how other artists solved problems of light and posture. It isn't unethical unless you are copying their work and passing it off as your own...I just use it for reference.
I needed a photo of an M-1 carbine, for an illustration I was doing for a book on the Code Talkers......there are collectors here in town, but no one would show me an actual rifle, (too afraid that if ownership becomes regulated, they will lose them), and I needed to see the treatment of the barrel used in the Pacific, which was different from that in the ETO. I finally found a color photo in an old copy of a hunting magazine, so I filed that away in case I need it again.

Answer 2

Copying is a really good way to learn, people very frequently copy great master drawings and paintings to further their skill. The key is to annalize what your copying. If your just mindlessly copying the shapes - why bother.
When drawing any image it's a good idea to design without looking at anything, get a general idea of that you want to do in a small thumbnail drawing.
Then once you have an idea, you begin the layout stage, arranging all the elements of your drawing, checking your perspective, anatomy - this is where you'll start looking at referances. For a dog, you want to look at the skeleton to understand where everything's going, Make sure you attach the legs correctly, get the proportions correct, things like that.
Once you have a good solid planned drawing you add details, light,shadow, fur what ever you want. For this stage you might want to look up tutorials on fur, or pictures of the type of dog your drawing to see what kind of texture the fur has, how long it is, the kind of patterns and what not.
Even professionals use references. It's not cheating, your not expected to remember what everything looks like exactly from your brain.
If you do copy images instead of coming up with your own, just be sure to annalize what your drawing, don't just copy mindlessly. copying is a way to learn, if your just going to make the same image without thought you might as well use a photocopier.

Answer 3

I agree that "copying" is a good way to get practice, but the best original images come out of sketching from real life. Using live models is the, absolute, BEST way to, accurately capture a true to life image.

However, live models of EVERYTHING is not, for most amateurs and pros alike, even possible, so, that working from photo references is the only practical way for me, as an example, to prepare an original illustration of a fox and her kits in their den. If I have a client who needs such an illustation, I refer to a file of clippings, gathered from reference books, magazines and other sources. I have thousands of such clippings, PLUS, a few stock photo discs, and, now, the entire internet from which to draw reference images.

I may use the face and head of one photo, the body pose of another, front paws from a third, rear legs off of a fourth and the tail positioning from a fifth photo. Add a little artistic license for the final composition, and I have an entirely original, hand drawn, realistic rendering of that fox.

Copying someone's original artwork is only cheating if you take credit and sell it as your own. Using that artwork, and photo references is perfectly legitimate for learning technique and anatomical features. If I want to learn about how an Arkansas Whipporwill is colored, I WILL refer to Audobon's works. If I want to draw my own to sell, I will study how the birds actually behave, either through personal observation, if I can, or photographically, if not.

Answer 4

If you are learning, you can use any tool at our disposal including copying other people's drawings. It's a good way to pick up new techniques and styles.
But, if you are selling your drawings, then you cannot copy another artist's work exactly without signing with your name followed by " after so-and-so". So-and-so being the name of the original artist.