Giving out all your ref

Mrskullface

I good question came up. Lets say you have tons of reference and inspiration, years worth. would you give it all to just anyone? would you give nothing away? would you give some of it to certain people? will only trade for other ref? are you a selfish person if you decide to withhold reference?

keizza

give

r_fletch_r

not selfish at all, its selfish to expect people to give up their hard work for free. Its awesome if your willing to share it, but understandable if your not.

Generally my close mates can have what they like, but anyone outside that is another matter.

PixelMasher

Id give it all away for sure, though people have to realize having a boatload of ref sitting on your harddrive isnt going to make you a better artist though if you dont look through it and analyze why its so awesome or make scenes based off it

dekorkh

keizza wrote: »

give

Thank you for being a decent human being.

Funky Bunnies

i dunno, id give applicable stuff out to people with similar artistic ideals and friends

some reference/inspiration can be pretty personal though - in a lot of cases it plays to your own individual stylistic sensibilities or just over all mindset. Like I have a lot of inspiration images that i just like 1 aspect of that might feel totally offbase for other people. Whether it's an idea or a material or lighting or even the feel i get from it or some sentimentality to it somehow or whatever.

but there's a difference between reference and inspiration too. I have no ties to reference. Anyway I think it's pretty kindhearted to give it all out, but i don't think it's necessarily selfish to hang on to it. It's like an artlibrary of all the shit that's inspired and makes up your art from several years of your life haha

Wells

give.

why wouldn't you?

MainManiac

Well I mean I doubt anyone goes "Reference hunting" on a daily basis. It just accumulates into a library over time and it helpful if you share it but also understandable if you don't.

Ferg

give

dont be a dick

Snacuum

I'm not sure why this is an issue, wouldn't it simply be a faster version of the person looking for and finding everything you found anyway?

Unless what you're referring to is reference you bought, like anatomical libraries or concept art that was given to a certain publisher.

Joshua Stubbles

Give. Don't be beech.

WarrenM

You don't lose anything by sharing it, right? So do it.

Stinger88

Give. I have done in the past. I also take the time to mark certain folders NSFW. :P

leslievdb

just give it away, people will build on it and eventually pass that on to others and maybe one day you'll receive a ton of new reference that way.

Oniram

in general reference is something that EVERYONE should have. the more the better. definitely give.

Joopson

I've considered it often, and I certainly would. Why not? It's helpful to other folks. And it gives you a good reputation!

Ace-Angel

A few years ago I would have said give, which I did (80 gigs IIRC)...

But now, not so much...

Jeremy Tabor

Yup, give it all away. We are standing on the shoulders of giants, and all that jazz.

Lets be honest here, how many people have achieved their own personal level of skill w/o the help of anyone ever? the answer is none.

And BTW, the ref images themselves are not some sacred secret. Anyone can find images of just about anything, so like Oniram alluded to, the more you share, the more time it saves EVERYBODY.

Justin Meisse

I have an 8gig folder of cocks, don't ask why an environment artist needs that much cock ref, just trust me on this.

pior

I think its cool to give it away ... but kinda naive to ask someone for his or her own "OMG awesome reference" folder. I don't think it helps much ... It's just cooler to simply chat and talk about what is inspiring a person and why ...

Also, to quote Feng Zhu on this again : Reference is not the same as inspiration. WWII airplanes = reference. Metal Gear Solid = inspiration. Copy stuff all you want from an airplane cockpit, but lifting stuff directly from a cool fantasy mecha design from current pop culture is just ... uninspired. Inspirational stuff is stuff to look at to get the art juices flowing, but that's about it!

Also : one's best inspiration is one's own work. Look at the stuff you did last year, what was cool about it, what needs improvement, and so on. It gives a great sense of purpose - something that gigs of cool Gundam pictures cannot do...

yodude87

Justin_Meisse wrote: »

I have an 8gig folder of cocks, don't ask why an environment artist needs that much cock ref, just trust me on this.

ehrm... dafuq? xD

Ghostscape

Justin_Meisse wrote: »

I have an 8gig folder of cocks, don't ask why an environment artist needs that much cock ref, just trust me on this.

Obelisk and Rock Spire reference, right?

JonathanLambert

How much cock reference do I need to be a successful environment artist? Will 4gb do or will I need more?

EVIL

JonathanLambert wrote: »

How much cock reference do I need to be a successful environment artist? Will 4gb do or will I need more?

as much as you can gather. the more cock reference the better!

marks

Definitely more. I'd also share the love.

slipsius

Reference - give. They can find it online anyways, so just give it to em.

textures, brushes, alphas and stuff like that is another thing though. I wouldn't give those away to easily.

Joshua Stubbles

slipsius wrote: »

textures, brushes, alphas and stuff like that is another thing though. I wouldn't give those away to easily.

I could see that in some cases, but I hope you wouldn't hold out on Co-Workers. I share everything with em. They help make me a better artist, so I like to return the favor.

Snader

Make sure you tell them it's REFERENCE, though, and not TEXTURE SOURCE. Wouldn't wanna get blamed for someone else infringing copyrights.

Justin Meisse

Ok, honestly, I don't really keep any ref, I barely even backup my own work :P sloppy, I know

MiAlx

I say give. I've given many references to fellow animators because 1st) its just nice to help, dont be a douche and 2nd) i'd be glad if someone gave me some.

Wells

slipsius wrote: »

textures, brushes, alphas and stuff like that is another thing though. I wouldn't give those away to easily.

i share it all

if my patterns/brushes are all that's keeping me ahead of the curve, i've got bigger problems

Mark Dygert

Do you really win if you punch the other artist in the nuts, chain them to a tree and sprint off toward the finish line?

The only time I would balk at giving it away would be because of logistics, time or money spent making it organized and accessible could discourage me but it probably wouldn't stop me. If someone asks me for something specific I don't mind digging up what I have and sharing it or crawling around the web to help them out.

slipsius

Joshua Stubbles wrote: »

I could see that in some cases, but I hope you wouldn't hold out on Co-Workers. I share everything with em. They help make me a better artist, so I like to return the favor.

No no. Coworkers get it all. That would be silly not to share with coworkers. But if its some random that just sends an email asking hey, can i have your brushes. F off.

Chimp

it gets dangerous when your ref folder starts to become your porn stash.

Ferg

Chimp wrote: »

it gets dangerous when your ref folder starts to become your porn stash.

...and hilarious when someone sees the folder and you explain "Oh, that, no that's just anatomy reference. For art." and they just go with it. How many careers out there can you legitimately spend part of your work day looking up "boob ref"?

dustin: thanks for sharing dude! Stealing now...

Noodle!

I don't see why you shouldn't share even if it's to some "random" person you don't know?
I think the greatest things about a community is sharing, and even helping those not part of the community. We can only all benefit from this.

It's thanks to great altruistic thinking that we're soon getting that amazing 200 page tutorial, free!

I love sharing both inspirational and reference folders, and also taking part of others.

MrOneTwo

Give. Its taken from somewhere. Its not yours. Not sharing refs seems douchy.

Of course don't give if some one doesn't deserve

slipsius

MrOneTwo wrote: »

Give. Its taken from somewhere. Its not yours. Not sharing refs seems douchy.

Of course don't give if some one doesn't deserve

Exactly. If they are deserving. sure. Spread the wealth and help your fellow artists out. If they are a little punk, then nah. It's the same thing with crits around here. If people are annoying and undeserving, crits are few and far between. We all know that. So why should brushes be any different.

okkun

dustinbrown wrote: »

All you guys saying give, put your money where your mouth is. Let's see some links

You beat me to it. All you generous folks, pony up

Mark Dygert

It gets dangerous when your bloody infected festering wound ref ends up in your porn stash...

Mark Dygert

dustinbrown wrote: »

All you guys saying give, put your money where your mouth is. Let's see some links

I'm not in the mood to gather and upload the ref I have sitting around but here is a straight dump from a bookmark export. Most of these should be valid links and the quality ranges wildly and they are sorted so much better in my bookmarks but fuck it if I'm going to take the time to clean this mess up...

Talent
Jim Levasseur › Animator, Storyteller, Inventor of Dance › Demo Reel PCF Studios - Portrait Sculptures, Sculpting Instruction, Porcelain Doll Molds by Philippe Faraut, Charisse Faraut CarlosBaena.com Milt Kahl Material Gregory Manchess Art Jesse Lee Portfolio Diablo-Style Props - Polycount FogLog » Production Journal: The Animation Podcast Nathan Newman CGTalk - Environments for a Crysis mod 3 Point Studios Game Art Outsourcing Alex Underhill - Portfolio GameVision Studio, Concept art, Characters, Environments, Creatures, Objects, Animation, High-resolution marketing renders, TV and film, Pre-production, Complete games Skymonkey Studio Valkyrie Entertainment, LLC. Art Outsourcing Services BlackBow Software The Art of Dan John Cox CGPortfolio - Hector Marquez CGPortfolio - John Saleem ...:: Official Website for Samar ::... The art of David Luis Sanhueza cory robinson - online portfolio Ben Regimbal joekeller.net aarondabelow.com Ben Cloward - Character Animator Psyk0's 3D Page ike’s Tech Blog WebLayout gureiduson's deviantART gallery CGSociety - Steamnocchio Brad Noble - Rigging ROGER CRUZ BLOG ALAN TEW's Virtual Sketchbook Bad_Koala's Cave Chainsaw Art Larolaro's Art Box Artist Blogs - Polycount GHOSTBUSTERS: Multiplayer MEGADUMP (Updated!) - Page 4 - Polycount BJ and the Blog lastscionz's deviantART gallery Colin's Blog So Much Monsters! charles tinney | links MK12 CGPortfolio - Waldemar Bartkowiak Colin's Blog ((( S i g n a l S t u d i o s ))) War Productions Miguel Ortega Creature FX Matt Link - 2008 Demo Reel Colin's Blog Justin Dinges Portfolio Works of Jeremy Huxley Lagoa Multiphysics 1.0 - Teaser on Vimeo Cumron Ashtiani - Battalion Wars Art Direction Gavin Rothery's Portfolio - Home Colin's Blog Colin's Blog Colin's Blog Nathan Andrew

Urban
Artificial Owl Illustrated History of the Bellingham Bay Brewery Creepy Buildings Gallery | Sankaku Complex creepy buildings gallery - Polycount Forum MetroDream by Russos 廃墟デフレスパイラル　～ぼくたちの秘密の場所～　「廃墟写真集」はこちらから Google Translate locations Maunsell Towers opacity.us - Abandoned Photography People and Places - Travel Photos by Galen R Frysinger, Sheboygan, Wisconsin Ghost Town Explorers Home Urban Exploration / Exploration Urbaine - Online since 1998! Modern Ruins by Phillip Buehler Terms Page subways Triage Lavoir de Péronnes The Daily Bungalow English Russia » Abandoned Heavy Machinery Shorpy Historic Photo Archive | Vintage Fine Art Prints 360° Panoramic VR Photography :: New York City :: Sam Rohn Main Menu - SBNO Exploring the Haikyo and Ruins of Japan | Michael John Grist Main Menu - SBNO Exploring the Haikyo and Ruins of Japan | Michael John Grist Creatively Converted Sea Forts of Great Britain: Strange Adaptive Reuse of Military Architecture | WebUrbanist

Sculpture
ori cohen's pics LEON LYONS
Prime Portal - The Military Enthusiast & Modeler's Reference Site

Aircraft
Search Results: "airplane" - Prints & Photographs Online Catalog (Library of Congress) igor113 - Экраноплан "Лунь" проект 903 Chance Vought F4U WWII Pacific theatre Corsair & Pappy Boyington Letadla - plánky I. GRUMMAN AIRCRAFT ENGINEERING CORPORATION F4F Phantom II Walk Around Photo Index Page Moscow 2009 Day 2 Aircraft of the R.A.F. and S.A.A.F during World War II in Colour - a set on Flickr 1930s-40s in Color - a set on Flickr Jet Set Ruins: Inside the Boneyard - a set on Flickr 360 degree cockpit views 360 degree cockpit views

Ships/Docks
USN Ships--USS Valley Forge (CV-45) USS ALBACORE - AGSS 569 - Pioneering Research Vessel - Albacore Park - Portsmouth, NH

WW2
WWII Impressions, Quality Replica WWII U.S. Military Uniforms SEP 1920's TimeCast Original WW2 German militaria, WW2 Red Army militaria, WW2 Soviet militaria and more... Welcome To Bunker Tours - Virtual Tours on the Web

Textures/Materials
Texturepilot - Texture TextureArchive.com - Free Textures and ZBrush Brushes - Home Free Textures from TextureKing Plaintextures. Free textures and background pictures. Textures | WebTreats ETC Image * After - currently 27887 free textures and images available Free High Resolution Textures - Lost and Taken Antiques Atlas - Antiques For Sale, UK Fairs Diary and Shop/Dealer Directory Free textures, texture tutorials and texture inspiration collections from the web | Texture Lovers ..:| CG Artist's Free High Resolution Textures Archive |:.. Textures library - free surfaces for 3ds Max, LightWave // Textures and Reference Free High Res Image Library, 16,500 images royalty free // Gallery Texture - Free Textures for CG Artists // Textures and Reference Free High Res Image Library, 16,500 images royalty free //
Seigi Sato ZBrushCentral - Orb - game environment stuff The Motherland Calls - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Some more hand painted textures, oh my. - Polycount Forum graves - Jacek Maj - Picasa Web Albums Pimp My Gun (beta) Ghool-ery: Cygnar Incredible Space Pics from ISS by NASA astronaut Wheelock | triggerpit.com Reference: Topology research - Danny Williams - Picasa Web Albums Washington Digital Archives - Digital Archives Home Pictures from Noah Falstein's and Brian Moriarty's The Dig designs Washington Digital Archives - Digital Archives Home Allods Online ingame artwork - Polycount Forum ZBrushCentral - Uncharted 2: Among Thieves art work California Accent Lighting | Your Decorative Lighting Fixture Oasis - Welcome! GDC Vault - The Belly of the Whale: Living a Creative Life in the Game Industry MilitaryPhotos's Gallery Flickriver: Discaciate's most interesting photos One1more2time3's Weblog Inexpensive / open source game engines - Polycount Art Test Master List - GameArtisans Year 1 The RPF - The Replica Prop Forum RecycledGoods.com - Remarketing Surplus Technology Equipment New and Used

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The Parts of Star Wars

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Monsters in the Sky » Gallery CARPE DENIM : "Seize the Jeans" odosketch Itemania - iPhone/iTouch game - polycount http://www.gravitysensation.com/sumotori/ 1943 Witte Dieselelectric generator - new/old stock - ADVrider In praise of the sci-fi corridor - Den of Geek Research and Development at the Institute of Animation: Expression Repertoire Amazon.com: Facial Expressions: A Visual Reference for Artists: Mark Simon: Books Lack of Environment Artists - Polycount YouTube - Boys Amazing Football Skills 2D/3Dfight topic Gamasutra - Gameplay Fundamentals Revisited: Harnessed Pacing & Intensity Free high res skymaps (Massive 07 update!) - Blender Artists Forums Plan59 > 1950s Art > The Retro Graphics Archive

Ace-Angel

Mark Dygert wrote: »

It gets dangerous when your bloody infected festering wound ref ends up in your porn stash...

Throw in a couple of Eastern artists who did a couple of tentacle images here and there, and you got yourself a nice stew of people wondering what in the world your job entails.

Ged

I have a references folder but its not very full I tend to make a new reference folder for each project instead and Ive got a Artwork/Inspiration folder that I use as my screensaver...sometimes the awesomness hurts my eyes =0!

Funky Bunnies

you guys are champs
thanks Dustin and Mark, still I don't feel entitled for you 2 to have delivered your hard work gathering art that resonates with you personally or consider anyone a jerk for thinking a different way - we all do art for different reasons, goals, and ideals. I just think it's awesome of you to do. :thumbup:


a lot of this is actually stuff that's a little less personal and abstract than what I was thinking. I guess it's all semantics as to what you personally consider reference and inspiration and what your artistic priorities are when considering giving out ALL of the seemingly non-sequitor imagery and media that have ever inspired you individually over the years haha. Especially depending on how many gigs and how abstracted the inspiration is - my folder structure doesnt differentiate

I'll have to find a way to upload or link some stuff too once i organize anything. For more technical stuff too there's always the reference thread to anyone who doesn't know of it. I always feel dirty for hosting tons of other people's work without their permission, i have a folder for so many of your guys work haha :poly122:

LRoy

Thanks for the link guys. Great stuff in here

kelli

I would share my reference with anyone who wants it, but when all else fails... I'll direct them to the great reddit SFWPorn network! I get a ton of stuff from there anyway. http://redditdirectory.com/11839/SFWPorn-Network

And my favorite of them all:

http://www.reddit.com/r/EarthPorn

MiAlx

For the Animators in here!

Reference Reference!

Corbismotion

Figure Drawings, Muybridge etc.

Jim Jagger demoreel (for inspiration)

Getty Images

Body Mechanics, slow mo

run

military combat scene

boxer punch

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3_em686qEE"]walk reference[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8Veye-N0A4"]female walk[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hblqd08hBMo"]acting and body mechanics reference[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKDbnLxwKy8"]dogs reference[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SY_pYbTdo3s"]tai chi reference[/ame]

some more links

enjoy!