Do You Even Need References?

If you’re a painter who wants to paint objects, but still want your work to be very abstracted… what’s even the point of a reference?

Erin Gregory says yes to working from references. But what she needs from them may surprise you.

It's not about the color or even necessarily the composition.

Instead, the most important thing in her reference is the light.

If a reference doesn’t have a clear light source and obvious light and darks, the she won’t work from it.

Gregory wants a clear light source for two reasons.

First, it helps her create realistic form in her flowers.

Second, it helps her keep consistent and realistic lights and darks across her whole piece.

This gives her very abstracted work a few realistic anchors to hold the audience to reality. It helps them make sense of what they are looking at.

Put it to Practice:

What do you need from your reference?

The answer is different for every artist.

Maybe you're most interested in the realistic shapes of the objects but plan to make up your light.

Or maybe like Gregory, you plan to follow the local lights and darks but the color doesn’t matter.

If you are trying to capture a scene realistically, you may need a reference that is clear for both.

But knowing what you need from your reference will help you know if you have a good reference for YOU.

Just because it's a pretty picture doesn't necessarily mean it's giving you the information you need for the type of work you create.

In fact, Gregory has had to turn down beautiful photos people have submitted because the photos had flat lighting.

When you know what you need, it's easier to find the references that will help you make your work. It also makes it easier to spot ones that won’t.