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Reference and the 50% rule

2:48 PM, Friday February 18th 2022

Hello, I'm having trouble understanding the use of reference in the 50% rule portion of Draw-A-Box. Comfy mentioned in a video that we can use reference as long as you aren't directly copying it. So in that case, If I had a reference of a dog laying down do I draw the dog in (generally) a different way? Like a different pose and such? Besides that, it seems like he wants us to refrain from using reference completely while doing Draw-A-Box sessions saying it would be best to use reference after finishing Draw-A-Box for the day.

The main reason I ask is because I feel like I would learn much more with a reference. Without it, I feel like I'm drawing absolutely nothing logical. I don't mind continuing without reference if it will help me improve quicker. though, reference would make things a little more enjoyable.

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3 users agree
6:39 PM, Friday February 18th 2022

I feel like your question was answered pretty thoroughly in the new video. But i do see another issue in your question.

You say you would learn much more with a reference. But the point of the 50% rule is not to learn to draw. It is to learn how to play and have fun without caring about the end result. This will be hard and uncomfy even said its most likely the most difficult part of any of these lessons. You finding drawing with a reference more enjoyable doesn't matter. You need to get out of your comfort zone and let those drawings go badly. This is a skill that you will have to learn at some point and doing it now while you're still a beginner will help you avoid more frustrations later on.

You can still of course do studies (copying a reference image exactly to learn from it) but know that it falls under the "studying" portion of the 50% rule and NOT the "play" portion.

So what i suggest is you read the "changing your mindset" part of lesson 0 one more time and watch the new video as well. All of the things you're told will not stick in you head the first time so checking them out once in a while is a good idea. Use references (not just one) just to remind you what those things you might want to draw actually look like. Our brains tend to forget. and DON'T be afraid to "waste time drawing badly"

Hope this helps.

7:20 PM, Friday February 18th 2022

Understood. I was a little confused because I knew I was meant to have fun during the 50% rule but I didn't have any. Therefore I thought of using a reference to draw "decent" looking things but now I see that the purpose of the 50% rule is to learn how to have fun drawing anything. Thanks a lot for the help :)

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When starting on a project, I'll often open it up and start dragging reference images off the internet onto the board. When I'm done, I'll save out a '.pur' file, which embeds all the images. They can get pretty big, but are way more convenient than hauling around folders full of separate images.

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