Photo-referencing in

visual art The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, video, filmmaking, design, crafts and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual art, and textile arts ...

is the practice of creating art based on a

photograph A photograph (also known as a photo, image, or picture) is an image created by light falling on a photosensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic image sensor, such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are now create ...

. Art produced through this technique is said to be photo-referenced. The method is widely used by artists, either in their daily work, as part of their

training Training is teaching, or developing in oneself or others, any skills and knowledge or Physical fitness, fitness that relate to specific practicality, useful Competence (human resources), competencies. Training has specific goals of improving on ...

, or to improve their artistic eye. Photo-referencing, rather than working with

live Live may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Live!'' (2007 film), 2007 American film * ''Live'' (2014 film), a 2014 Japanese film *'' ''Live'' (Apocalyptica DVD) Music *Live (band), American alternative rock band * List of albums ...

models A model is an informative representation of an object, person or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin ''modulus'', a measure. Models c ...

, is useful for cases in which an artist seeks to realistically produce a work of art based on some subject that is not readily available, such as a specific person who is not available or a structure in another country. Artists may use a

lightbox A lightbox is a translucent surface illuminated from behind, used for situations where a shape laid upon the surface needs to be seen with high contrast. Types Several varieties exist, depending on their purpose: * Various backlit viewing d ...

as an aid in photo-referencing. In the

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

industry, photo-referencing is criticized by some as a technique used to disguise the weakness of the artist's technical capability. However, others argue that photo-referencing is a legitimate technique. Artists who have been accused of excessive photo-referencing by their critics include

Greg Land Greg Land (born 1956) is an American comic book artist, best known for his work on books such as ''Uncanny X-Men'', ''Birds of Prey'', and ''Fantastic Four''. Career Greg Land first got a job with an independent publisher as the artist for ''Stor ...

and

Alex Ross Nelson Alexander Ross (born January 22, 1970) is an American comic book writer and artist known primarily for his painted interiors, covers, and design work. He first became known with the 1994 miniseries ''Marvels'', on which he collaborated wi ...

, though others defend the quality of their work. Award-winning comic creator

Alison Bechdel Alison Bechdel ( ; born September 10, 1960) is an American cartoonist. Originally known for the long-running comic strip ''Dykes to Watch Out For'', she came to critical and commercial success in 2006 with her graphic memoir ''Fun Home'', which ...

also uses extensive photo reference, frequently photographing herself in the poses of the characters she draws in order to convey body language accurately.

References

Artistic techniques {{art-technique-stub