How to Draw from a Reference Photo (+ Art Challenge!)

What is up guys? Welcome back to the channel. In today's video, we're going to talk about how to draw from reference photos. Talk about how the heck do you start. I'm going to give you my opinions on tracing. Is it okay or not? Plus, this is also going to turn into an art challenge too. This art contest is going to give you the chance to possibly see your artwork featured in one of my upcoming videos, as well as being featured on my social media accounts too. So that's all in today's video. Keep watching. So drawing from a reference photo, how the heck do you do it? That's the topic of today's video. Thanks so much for tuning in. And I've got to say, starting out, I'm using an iPad and Procreate, but this is not a digital tutorial. So you don't necessarily need an iPad or Procreate. If you've got any drawing program that you can use layers and opacity, that will work. Or if you don't have any of that, if you've got a piece of paper and a pencil and a printer to print out our reference photo, and then maybe a light box, or even just an open window that you can use for tracing, you're good to go. You can follow along, just grab a few sheets because we're going to go through a few different pages. So to begin with, number one, I've got my reference photo picked out, ready to go on Procreate here. I'm going to go ahead and go to my wrench icon. I'm going to go to add, and I'm going to go to insert a photo. So the photo that I've got ready here is a rhinoceros. So this is not the best photo ever. This is something I took at the zoo when I took my daughter's class for school back in like 2008. So really old camera, not the best photo ever. But the reason why I use this is because I wanted to share it with you guys so you can download this photo and follow along. If you head over to my website, go to bjdell.com underneath the YouTube reference materials page, which I will link this down in the description below. You can download this photo, save it. The reason why I chose something that I shot and took myself, even though it's not the best photo, is because photos are copyright protected just like any other piece of art. So when you do Google image search for photos, just realize those are copyright protected. I couldn't share a photo that I just randomly downloaded off of Google. And this comes into discussion too when we talk about copyright and tracing. Of course, you don't want people tracing your artwork. Photographers are the same way. They don't want you just tracing their photographs either. But we'll talk about ways around that and how to use it just as a reference and not something that you trace. So let's go ahead and start out. I've got this loaded in here and I'm going to go ahead and make a new layer here. And I'm going to drop the opacity of my reference photo. So we're going to drop that down. So if you're using another art program, just drop the opacity of that. We're going to draw on top of this on this layer. Now here, if you're using a pencil and a paper at home, this is where you would print this out. Just take another piece of paper. Then once you have it printed and put it on top of it, go to a window so you can see through that paper and you can see this rhinoceros through that other sheet of paper. And this is the important part starting out. I know a lot of people ask, is it okay to trace when you start out and you're just a beginning artist? And it seems like the general consensus online is it's a great way to learn. It's perfect for new artists starting out. It helps you understand proportions as long as you're eventually, you know, tagging the original artist and you're saying that, hey, I did use theirs. It's okay because it helps you become better as an artist. It helps you get those proportions down. Personally, I don't agree with that. So if you were to just go ahead and we'll say trace just by actually tracing the outlines as you see them here. Yes, you're getting some practice, but you're not really learning that much as far as proportions. You're not paying attention to proportions. You're just paying attention to where your pencil or your pen is going next and how that has to curve around to that next line. So this would be fine for learning proportions and fine for getting the hang of it. If you planned on just tracing this five or six hundred times, and then this is the only thing that you would ever draw. But as an artist, you know, that's not what you're shooting for. That's not the end goal. And that's not what we want. We want to learn those proportions. And to do this, we want to learn what shapes make up any subject that we're looking at in our reference photos. So the key here, we're going to draw once again on top of here. We're not going to necessarily trace. We're going to just start to build up the shapes that we see that make up the rhinoceros. So starting out here, here at the top of the head, I kind of see a circle here. So we're just going to draw a circle right in there. And you can kind of start to see how that forms that shape of that head. And that's what we're going for is just building up these different shapes that make up the bigger shape, which is our rhinoceros. So next here, see kind of this oval here where the head is. It comes down to the jawline and into that nose right there. Of course, we've got some ovals here for our ears. And you'll see I'm just kind of blocking out where everything goes. I'm not really worried about making like these ears perfect the way they curve around. We just want that general shape. This is going to make you feel a lot more accomplished as an artist because you're going to be doing something. You're not just going to be tracing what you see on the screen. So now we've got this other larger oval here as the back comes up and around. You can bring that oval down. Next, I see a really big oval right here for that front leg. So you can bring that down to another oval here and another one here. Bring this leg here with an oval, another one, and another one. Get another oval kind of in here. This one's almost like a curved shape here, which coming into this part kind of makes that lima bean shape here. Get the oval here for the back leg. Another oval here down to a smaller oval. You can see I'm just going around identifying the shapes that make up this overall shape of this rhinoceros. Then we got the tail back here. OK, so let's turn off this layer here. Or if you're using pencil and paper, just pull the printed version out and you can see what we're left with. So we've got a bunch of different shapes that make up our overall shape. From here then, I want to kind of fine tune this. And to do this, I don't want that layer underneath here. I want to pull this off to the side. So if you're using another art program, if you go multi-window with this and have two windows side by side, if you're in Procreate, we can come up here to our wrench icon. We can go to canvas and then we can turn on reference here. So if we turn on reference, it's going to bring up this window. And if we hit image, we can import an image and bring in that rhinoceros here. So we've got the rhinoceros now in this window kind of floating off to the side. So we can draw over here while we look at this one. Now, once you get good at this, the end goal is to just kind of have this reference picture off to the side. You can identify these shapes just by looking at the picture. You won't need to actually trace on top of it to add the shapes. So if you're beyond this point, if you can see the shapes, don't even worry about tracing on top. Just have that picture up on the side and just build the shapes here on that blank canvas. But since we've already got these, we want to kind of fine tune this a little bit more. So I'm going to go ahead and coming back up to my layers. I'm going to make a new layer. If you're following along with a piece of paper and a pencil, just grab out a new piece of paper and just have that one stacked on top of the shape one. And then I'm going to turn down the opacity of this once again, so we can't have it too dark there. We want to be able to just lightly see it. And then using this as our reference, I'm going to start to come through here and just kind of fine tune these lines as everything comes around. So I'm kind of looking off to the side here to the left and just following my guides here. Once again, I'm going to keep this kind of sketchy. So if you've watched my channel before, you know my usual way of drawing and what everything turns out like. If you're new to the channel, you might look at this initially and think, wow, this really isn't all that great. But we'll get to that later and show you how to kind of fine tune things. So you can see I'm just kind of connecting these shapes as they connect with each other so that they don't look so separated. They actually become a solid line. They're coming around and all those shapes start to form our kind of final sketch that we're going to base the rest of our drawing around. I'm just following these around, connecting them as they come, looking off to the side here. Once again, it's a reference image, so we still want to reference it to make sure that everything is right. But once again here, you're really starting to put your own artistic spin on it. You're not relying on just tracing an already existing shape here and outline. You're building up the shape of this drawing by using that fundamental shape build up that we used at the beginning. It's going to make you feel a lot better with your skills. And like I said, eventually it's going to lead you down the path of just being able to do this by looking at a photo and not having to trace on top of it sitting on that same layer. Or if you're using a piece of paper and a printed one, having it up against that window, you'll just be able to look at it. And then you won't even have to print it out. You can just draw it off of your computer screen or your tablet screen. I'm just kind of following this around here. Like I said, connecting everything as it goes. It's just keeping it pretty loose here. Get that eye in there. And then the nose, the nostril there. All right. And that gives us just a really kind of base sketch to start our final design off of. As you can see here, this has a pretty realistic look to it. Of course, we use that photo. All the proportions are exact because we used all the shapes as we saw them lined up with the photo. So it's going to give you a start as far as a really realistic picture goes. If you want to go that route, you go in and do a painterly finish to this, make it look painted, or you could even turn this into a cartoon. But for me, I really like to play with proportions with cartoons. So using this as is for a cartoon, it's going to be just a little bit too realistic for me. I like to stretch things. And that's what we're going to talk about next. So let me go ahead and let's turn off this layer here. We're done with that one. And I'm just going to use the shape layer that we came up with initially. And I think for this, I want to actually not do the whole body. So you kind of speed up the video. Not so much tutorial, but what I'm showing you here, I'm just going to draw the head here and kind of that neck as it comes down and around. So with this layer here, I'm going to spin this and just kind of have this more right here, just like that. I'm not really going to worry too much about these horns here as they come out to the side. I think I'm going to build those up more straight up and down. All right. So here's what we've got. As you can see, these are the exact same proportions that we saw over here. Initially, this is the same one that we used. But to do a cartoon style, what we want to do is play with the proportions of the shapes that we build up initially. So the easiest way to explain this and to think about it is think about the last time you went to an amusement park. If anybody watching remembers what those are. Of course, walking down the midway, one of the main things that you see in most places is you've got the caricature artists set up with their easels and you've got people sitting there and they're drawing these great cartoons. And as you look at them, you can kind of see what they're doing. There's certain features that are being exaggerated and made bigger while other ones are made smaller. And that's really what gives it its cartoony and comic effect. So that's what we're going to do too with this. So from starting out with this picture, this would be kind of the shapes that we saw initially. What we want to do is just play with those proportions, make some of these shapes bigger while making some of them smaller. So I'm going to go ahead and grab this and kind of put it up here in the corner for a second. Just move it out of the way and make it smaller. All right, I'm going to make a new layer here and I'm going to start with that circle there at the top again. So we've got our circle here and then we've got our other oval down here. But instead for this one, I'm going to make this just absolutely massive here. So this is a lot bigger as compared to what we initially had it over there. We'll put the ears up here and maybe make those just a tad bit smaller. Get that hump back here, that oval. Bring that down and around here as well. Okay, so now if I bring this one back that I started with first, let's make it bigger again. You can see the difference in size here. So if I make that circle the same size, this is a huge difference right here. And this is what's really going to give it that cartoon effect. So let's go ahead then. Let's turn this one off for now and let's just work on our main one here. So now I can start to kind of connect some of these lines here like I did before. Looking up here as I go to get everything in. And once again here, I'm keeping this really sketchy. This is not going to be my final sketch even. I'm going to do one more on top of this to kind of get everything finalized here. Let's get the horn in here. Like I said, I'm going to go just straight up with this one. And I want this really loose and organic. I'm not worried about making this perfect right now. So once again, if you're new to the channel, stay tuned to see exactly how this turns out. It's going to be quite a bit different once we get done with it here. Bring down the front of the mouth here and then the eye in here. I think I'll go ahead and make that kind of cartoony. So we'll do a kind of oval circle there and build that up there. Get the nostril in down here. And I'm just kind of laying in where everything's going to go. And then from here, I'm going to go in and just kind of fine tune it. And that's basically what I want my sketch to look like. I think I'm going to work on adding a mouth in down here to even make it more cartoony. So if I go ahead and erase here, bring the mouth in kind of down here. Something like that. Just got a mouth down there that comes up into the face there. And that's going to be my sketch, my starting out sketch. And then from here, I'm going to fine tune it. So once again, I'm going to come up here to my layers. And I'm going to drop down the opacity of this. And I'm going to make a new layer. And this time, I'll go ahead and go in here with black so we can see it just a little bit better. And then I'm going to go ahead and start to kind of fine tune the sketch here. Once again, this is not my final inks version. So I'm just keeping everything real loose again. Just want to have, once again, that real organic feel to it. When you trace from a reference picture, you get a very mechanical feel. People that have done art for a while can really kind of tell that, this has been traced. It stands out quite a bit that it kind of shows once you look at it. And it's easy to pick up. So keeping just a really loose feel and making everything very organic is going to help you make a more appealing design. And once again, I'm just going through here really quick, really loose. So I'm not worried about everything being 100% perfect. And once again, too, I'm not worried about making every single line line up exactly with what I did on the sketch layer. The sketch is just more than anything else going to be a representation and kind of a guide where things should go. It's a suggestion. It's not something that you have to follow to a tee. So don't feel like you have to make sure that every single line lines up with your sketch. That's not what the sketch is for. I think I might bring that up a little bit more curve there. And that's going to be my basic sketch layer from here. Then, of course, once I add in the extra wrinkles and stuff, I can do all that in the actual process of doing my inks. But that's as far as I'm going with this tutorial. Like I said, it's not going to be a finished piece. So you can just kind of see how I visualize stuff. I don't use reference photos a whole lot. I think in all my YouTube videos, I've only used a reference photo once. And that was with my platypus video, which was like years and years ago. But here's where you guys come in. So I want to see what you can do with this reference photo. I don't want you necessarily to just redraw what I drew here. This cartoon one. I want you to use this full reference photo that I provided. You can use the full body or just the head. It's up to you. But I want to see what you can design with this reference photo. And that's the topic of my new art challenge. So if you haven't yet, make sure you go over to my website, bjdell.com. Underneath the YouTube reference materials page, download this photo and then draw an illustration based on this. It can be realistic. It can be cartoony. It can be abstract, however you want to do it. And then post it online. So if you're on Instagram or Twitter, tag me at bjdell. And use the hashtag, hashtag bjdellref, r-e-f, which I will also put that down here at the bottom so you can see it. So that makes it easier for me to find it as I'm shuffling through posts. If you use that hashtag, I can find them so much easier. Also, if you are on Facebook, I do have a Facebook group over there called Keep Creating, a group for artists by artists. It's linked in the description below. There's so many links in the description. Check them out. But you can also post your artwork there. Those are the three places. Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. Anyone that you use, tag me at bjdell. Also, hashtag bjdellref so I can find it. Those are the three places. I know before when I've done art contests, people have said, I don't have one of those three. I don't use Facebook. I don't use Instagram. I don't use Twitter. How can I get them to you? I don't care. If you don't have those three or at least one of those three, don't worry about participating. Those three platforms, I know some people don't like Facebook because of privacy issues or whatever. But one of the three, they're free to use. If you don't use one of the three, I'm not going to go through tons of emails and keep track of everything. So much easier for me to do if you use one of those three platforms. So that's on you if you want to partake in this contest. But you've got until the end of April. Then May 1st, I'm going to go through all the designs. May 3rd, then I'm going to post a video showing some of my favorite designs. I'm also going to tag the artist. And then linked in the description will be either your YouTube channel or your Instagram account, whatever you have that you've got linked to the design. I will give you a shout out in the video and also put you in the description. And then also I'll post it on my Twitter and Instagram stories as well for everyone to see along with your information. I want to give you guys some love and give you some exposure too. So that's the contest. What are you going to do with the Rhinoceros? I can't wait to see it. As for me, I can be found online at BJDell.com as well as on Instagram and Twitter at BJDell. So until next time, keep creating.