Can You Paint Without a REFERENCE?

Another art challenge sort of. USE REFERENCES GUYS

[G_zuz]

It's almost funny when someone says using reference is bad while they use anatomy books, paint from live, use people for portraits as if these things aren't references

[lovr]

“If anybody shames you for using a reference 😠🖊- I’m just kidding” are you tho. Are you really 😂

[kuuluna]

well, every artist is referencing from real life, from the things they have seen, from every shape or form. if they say they don't reference, that's plain out lie

[livinghuman]

Usually i never use references, but last time i used a reference and i was blown away by how it turned out and it took much less time to finish it. So you should try it.

[ahr]

He does his sketch step so fast! I tend to overthink so much about how each line will affect my painting in the future.

[vickyxx]

What I've noticed is a fair amount of people mixing up "using a reference" and straight-up tracing. The latter is perfectly understandable why people would be upset. I was in a discussion about this and at first, I couldn't understand how using a reference is wrong but later on in the conversation, I understood the other person legit believed "using references" was a synonym to trace over someone's art or photograph.

[sf]

Here's a challenge for you: Use only three colours, we'll see how this goes.

[bon_o]

That necklace woke up today and chose violence

[LetTheBodyFall]

Some rando who's not qualified at giving art advice: using references is cheating and you're not a real artist
Me with my 27 references for one portrait: lol stay mad

[alexwolfe]

No one taught me to use references for the first 3 years of my art journey... I have made more progress in 1 year using references than I did in that entire time. They really do help.

[ori]

first, just wanted to do it once in my life

[elsasiddiqui]

I was that evil person who suggested a challenge without a reference hehe, loved the video and the art Sam💕 Thank you for listening to your subscribers means a lot❤

[shinksNTK]

Actually, I only recently decided to try using references and copying my favorite artists after watching Sam strongly suggest it. I always avoided it cuz it felt wrong, or like I wasn’t doing the art myself. Long story short, drop that mindset. References are great and super helpful. Thanks Sam!

[nimsay]

After two years of doing digital art (and having a rough start due to almost no experience, so basically starting from scratch and learning how to do basic coloring), I tried to not use a reference a few weeks ago, both because it was frustrating that I couldn’t draw without one, and because I wanted to see if I could. And it turned out incredibly well. It’s astonishing to realize just how much information my brain has actually stored; things I didn’t even know I knew in the first place but which I’d learned along the way without even realizing. I’m so glad I used references from the very beginning, otherwise I don’t think I would’ve even made it past a few weeks without getting too frustrated about how my drawings wouldn’t turn out quite right.

[kittepes]

me who never uses a reference: *I see the error in my ways*

[kat-cyxg]

hello sam! you posted just when i needed some cheering up skdjsks hope you have a good day! your art looks amazing as always, so inspiring. I'm in awe again 💙

[samah.m]

whenever I feel extra creative I don't use a reference and kinda blob everything on until I get something I like.

[TheGentleCreepers]

Now that I've think about it, I've never seen Sam wearing only casual clothes. His drip is always on point.

[bromanart]

Its a real challenge to paint without reference. You did a smashing job on this one as expected!

[krystarush]

I would love to see you redo this painting using references. It would be interesting to see the improvement (or maybe not....doubtful) between the two. It would also be good to compare the time saved by using refs. Thanks for the great content!