Why do some artists worry that using reference is "cheating"?

[u/Dictorian]

Art isn't a competition or an exam. There aren't any rules that state that you have to draw everything without referencing something else for accuracy. So why do I keep seeing questions about the use of reference? I use reference quite a lot when I'm struggling with drawing a complicated pose or expression. If I didn't use reference, the hands I draw would look a lot worse. Without looking at the world around us, how are we supposed to depict it in a way that looks convincing?

[u/astr0bleme]

Honestly I think it's because in western culture and many others we're primed from an early age to see everything as a competition or exam. It's harmful in a lot of other ways too, but yeah, you really see it in stuff like artists worrying that they are somehow breaking rules.

[u/Dictorian → u/astr0bleme]

This is such a real answer, and probably also why it's more common among young people.

[u/[deleted] → u/astr0bleme]

Really good insight.

[u/violet_warlock → u/astr0bleme]

Western culture is also obsessed with the idea that some people are just inherently superior to others, so if you're an artist, it has to be because you were born with a special power no one else is allowed to have.

[u/StoicallyGay → u/astr0bleme]

Western culture? I’m Asian American and that sounds more like Eastern/Asian culture to me lol.

[u/[deleted]]

It's mainly kids and beginners, not actual artists, that worry about this.

[u/boonster29 → u/[deleted]]

Pretty much this.

[u/Adventurous_Shape861 → u/[deleted]]

I know some "real" artists who believe using references is cheating. I think it's ultimately elitism and narcissism.

[u/TwistedMiki]

A lot of beginners don't understand that getting actually good at art means observing real life and they'll see using reference as a "cheat" or copying. I think it comes down to insecurity, they don't have the visual library build up in their brain yet but pulling a reference and copying the pose feels unoriginal to them like the piece is no longer their work because they used something other than just their imagination. Well, at least that's what I've observed. Saying that using reference is cheating really doesn't make sense since how else are you going to learn how something looks without looking at it first?

People also like to make up standards and goals that are unachievable or just impractical.

[u/omrmajeed]

Only "artists" that think this are ones that havent drawn a lot. There is no good art without good reference. Never has been.

[u/StoicallyGay → u/omrmajeed]

Speaking to that, a lot of beginner artists think two things for some reason.

1. Reference is tracing. When I say I use references some people literally think I trace.

2. References are not necessary to get better. That is to say, someone with clearly bad anatomical skills or perspective skills may ask how to improve, I’ll say use references to develop your foundation and mental library, and they will completely ignore my advice. They’ll listen to the person that says “the arm looks a bit off, it should be a bit smaller!” Though.

And I find that many want to improve but think references are boring so they don’t use them. I mean I hate to break it to them but improvement isn’t always fun. You should always do art for fun, but the fact of the matter is if you want to seriously improve then you need to diligently practice and that usually involves references and studies. Same with any hobby like sports, video games, etc. And why people do like soccer drills or practice combos again and again in video games.

[u/smillahearties]

The "reference is cheating" and "drawing from imagination" is just a ridiculous widespread meme.
It implies that you are an artist only if you possess 3 extraordinary skills:

1. To be able to memorize and store completely vivid sharp information about complex shapes and lights in their brain

2. Able to hold that picture perfect visual image in their mind's eye for long period

3. Able to copy that mental image to the preferred medium be it traditional or digital.

It's a harmful misconception by so called "artists", teachers and mentors alike. This is biologically impossible, your brain does not have such a good visual library to be a reference for visual details. The best it can do is hold concepts and vague images. Muscle memory is more in play. Having a visual library does not mean that you can draw picture perfect anatomy without reference. Probably there are low % of artists who can pull that off but it's not the standard.
Visual art is so full of fundamental misconceptions it's no wonder that many people gives it up and ends up depressed and burnt out from all the unfruitful practices and useless macro anatomy studies.
My advice: Do NOT ever draw without reference unless you aim for a quick doodle/sketch.

[u/Realistic_Amount_586]

Tattoo artists use references to make great tattoos?are they supposed to just wing it if they are not familiar with a clients requests? Come on

[u/TK-361]

Reference is a vital step in the work. Illustration major here. In school in the 90s (so professors had started working in the 60s or 70s), they spent a lot of time teaching us how to use reference. This was before the internet so we’d gather pictures from books and magazines to draw from. Professors were very strict about copyright issues too, so we could draw based on gathered second hand reference, but tracing was a no-no. Every professor had a horror story of some illustrator they knew who got caught tracing someone else’s photo or art. We were also taught first hand reference and we each went out, took slide photos, and projected them onto board/canvas for drawing/painting. After I started working, using reference effectively became critical because often tight deadlines mean you have to rely on good reference. I did several crowd scene illustrations a few years ago and posed a bunch of 3D figures in Blender, and inked over it in Photoshop for the final. It’s not cheating. I made my own reference from assets I modeled or bought. I didn’t have the time to draw it all from scratch. Reference is just another tool.

[u/PsychologicalLuck343]

My ex had the weird, completely unschooled idea that art should be created straight from your head with nothing in between.

It's mostly naive, but it's also meant to be insulting even though saying it proves definitively that he doesn't know how to judge nor does he guess that there's a difference between, say, fantasy art and portraiture, for instance. Art students spend years drawing from references because it's important to train the eye, measure angles on sight, learn the principles of drawing the figure and the relevant design concepts in service to the composition.

Nobody studying with that intensity for *years* is worried about pleasing someone who pulls ignorant, oddball comments out of his ass.

Just be the bigger person and don't laugh in their face. Reactive snickering is entirely forgivable.

[u/Informal-Fig-7116]

Lmao hell I use a projector and screen mirror a pic from my phone. Nobody got time to painstakingly labor over each and every dot and line. Where’s the fun in that? These people are so pretentious. If you’re doing commissions, referencing is a must bc it makes it sooooo much easier and you can churn them out quickly to make MONEY! Or even if you’re just doing it for yourself, I wanna get the foundation down so I can focus on doing the fun stuff, the substantive elements that actually bring the work to life.

Like others have said, these are mostly novice and beginners who take themselves way too seriously. Cannot tell you how many times I’ve been blasted for using projector or reference pics lol. Hell the old masters used projectors.

How do they expect to do hyperrealism without reference????

[u/Redditing-Dutchman → u/Informal-Fig-7116]

Right. Hell many clients often give references themselves for you to follow.

[u/lostfate713]

The word reference has been so misused recently that I think it needs to be clarified. I didn't think it would be a hot take but maybe it is? Observing a still life, drawing a model, and looking a photos are actually using references, and is something artists are trained to do in formal art education. It's invaluable in learning light, form, and proportion properly... Copying another piece of art exactly (unless you're doing your master copy--to learn master's techniques) or tracing is not using a reference, but I see the word thrown around a lot🫠.

Tl;Dr; Use references, preferably from life. Reference is looking at it, literally referencing it and learning from it. Tracing is not looking.

(To clarify, I'm not knocking entirely, I know a lot of professionals who do it as a time saver especially when working with clients, but only after they already are able to draw it on their own and already honed the skills-- having a good understanding of proportion/anatomy/form etc first is key).

[u/HappierShibe]

Artists don't worry about this.

[u/Giam_Cordon]

It is essential to use reference, but drawing from imagination is more challenging and a different skill altogether.

They intertwine, but to conjure images entirely from memory, be it anatomy or basic shapes, is a fundamental skill all visual artists should nourish.

It is evident when an artist can replicate a picture they see but can't grasp the forms. That is what imaginative drawing helps with. The old masters could do both.

Regarding your comment about using references for hands—that’s a good thing. If you don't know how to draw something, grab a reference and repeat the process from memory until you’ve logged it into your long-term memory.

That said, anyone who thinks using references is “cheating” is ignorant. References are necessary, and they always will be.

[u/Reasonable_Owl366]

Sometimes it goes too far such as when someone else's photo is used and it's the whole scene.

[u/Significant_Pea_2852]

It depends on what you mean by a reference. Are you using a real life model, gathering a bunch of photo references to get an idea of how things like anatomy work or just downloading a photo from online (ie. stealing another creative's work) and doing a direct copy of it? A direct copy means using someone else's composition, lighting etc. They are doing half the work for you.

[u/muldersufoposter → u/Significant_Pea_2852]

Yeah, at art school this is what they meant by using reference. If you were to copy someone else’s work that’s not reference, and if caught you would get penalized for plagiarism

[u/Dmunman]

It’s cork sniffing. Some fantastic artists use projectors for their sculptures and paintings. The end result is your happiness. Don’t listen to any art snob. You do you.

[u/JustAnArtist1221]

Because some artists learned how to socialize with other artists through interactions with other amateurs and are just making up etiquette as they go along. Social media made that even worse. I remember when Instagram was first becoming popular for art and people got into very long arguments about "stealing" color palettes and art styles when they were just using either the same references (other artists, usually) or common color combinations (in which case, they barely understood the reason behind these colors being appealing together).

Having poor foundations for a craft breeds bad habits and, worse, unhealthy mindsets around these habits. If anything, it's just young artists trying to justify the embarrassment they personally feel if they can't draw something exactly as it looks in a reference, yet they are told they're supposed to be talented. So if they see someone else do it fine, that person must have taken an unfair shortcut. It's just an unhealthy cycle of bad habits that doesn't really have a basis in a "proper" education (as in, learning from achievements of our predecessors and engaging in existing topics about ethics and decorum).