Drawing from reference

DRAWING FROM REFERENCE

Using a photograph as a reference to create a responsive piece - NOT COPYING A PHOTOGRAPH

The illustrator goes further than the photograph, picking out areas that they deem relevant.

Artists that use reference

  

Own work

Chosen book from library - I have always enjoyed drawing animals, so thought I should choose one that has quite a strange body shape to make the composition more interesting.

                           

First drawing

Fourth drawing

         

         When drawing from my reference, I found it really hard to not just copy the image straight from the book. I tried to be experimental with my mark making to avoid this, so on my first drawing the form of the chameleon isn't necessarily accurate, but has lots of different brush strokes including finger prints. The more drawings I created, I found the better the composition became, which is quite evident when you put the two drawings together. 

Overall I quite enjoyed the task, as it made me think a lot more about what I'm actually drawing in terms of what is relevant for me to convey the message I want to get across instead of just mindlessly drawing.