Photo Reference Tips & Tricks
polycounter lvl 11
Hey All,
I'm curious what tips and tricks any of you may have for coming to grips with a real world objects shape, form, anatomy.
Here are some of things I always try to do:
I'm also interested to hear how you guys handle improvisation in your designs. At some point, if you don't have references, or if the model is fictitious you have to design something yourself. At one point do you do this, and are there any bits of advice you have, or issues you have run into while improvising parts of a model in the past?
I'm curious what tips and tricks any of you may have for coming to grips with a real world objects shape, form, anatomy.
Here are some of things I always try to do:
- Get as many images/angles as possible.
- Never assume any bit of reference you can find isn't useful, you never know when it will provide some insight down the line.
- Organize your references using an image management program so you can look up images quickly using tags, like top, rear engine, fingers...so on
- Find images with good LIGHTING light reveals the form. Its amazing how much anatomy a single well lit image can reveal, and whats more is that if you can match the lighting you see on your model you know you got the shape right.
- Pay close attention to the make, model, species, or unique characteristics of your reference. Often, two images will look like the feature the same subject but there are in fact slight differences that can throw you off.
I'm also interested to hear how you guys handle improvisation in your designs. At some point, if you don't have references, or if the model is fictitious you have to design something yourself. At one point do you do this, and are there any bits of advice you have, or issues you have run into while improvising parts of a model in the past?
Replies
I've seen lots of models were people get to worried about getting all the details prefect, the thing ends up looking crappy and overdone.