After looking over all that controversy over tracing or drawing from other people's drawing poses... I was thinking and worrying about using poses/ideas from others.

I have used ideas from others in the past.
For instance...
http://jillyfoo.deviantart.com/art/Strange-Dogs-painting-129428082
http://frecklefaced29.deviantart.com/art/Mysterious-Cats-drawing-26585014
and..
http://jillyfoo.deviantart.com/art/WIP-ink-scout-critplz-147587131
http://puimun.deviantart.com/art/An-Oak-Shaped-Hole-in-the-Sky-109910121

So does this mean I have admitted to something horrible? Have you used references from other artists? If you are brave would you post or link them here?

What is the difference between stealing or using referances? How do you do it right?

Usually, I take my own photos to reference poses. I'll have a friend pose for me (like for a karate move or to figure out how hands tied behind the back look or something). One time I tied a piece of yarn around a potato to help visualize a rope tied to a rock. My roommate found the potato in the living room and was a little confused...

If I can't do that, I use photos or technical drawings for references for my comics. Sometimes, I draw pretty close to my reference, other times not so much. I usually prefer referencing photos rather than drawings.

Examples

http://www.drunkduck.com/Gelotology/?p=690480
http://64.235.35.226/hotdogs/cart.jpg [64.235.35.226]
and
http://www.drunkduck.com/Used_Books/index.php?p=671394
http://www.invention.net/pics/midgley2.jpg [invention.net] + http://www.imfdb.org/images/thumb/c/c2/SpikeP89loading.jpg/500px-SpikeP89loading.jpg [imfdb.org]
and
http://www.drunkduck.com/Used_Books/index.php?p=663938
http://ranshinkawaii.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/miwako-sato-and-wataru-takagi.png?w=455&h=364

I'm actually pretty good with poses. What I do need references for are cars and buildings and all that and I just use google images for them, however I try to use as little of the image as I can. I used this image for this . but I used all of the reference image and then added in the city (which I didn't use a reference for).

But then sometimes I use lots of references for the one image. For this image , I used this and then combined them all.

I don't see any problem copying famous works of art (aka the masters) It is a common practice to duplicate a masterpiece in order to learn. However, passing it off as your own work is another story.

References are a bit different. A reference is a visual cue for a section of your drawing/painting, it is not copying something completely.

Tracing line for line is not really a way to learn however, so it is not so helpful.

I don't think it's really a problem as long as it isn't a direct copy of someone elses work. Most artists start off drawing from other peoples work and adding they're own personal flare to it. When I was starting out I learned how to draw poses from sketching poses out of comics like HunterXHuneter, Justice, and Dynamic Figure Drawing just to name a few sources.

As long as you don't Nick Simmons it, it's cool. For those who don't know (I'd be surprised if you didn't know), he traced/copied (I forget which) multiple panels from Bleach/various other manga, then said that they're homages. :|

And I'm like PeterFarker, I only google references for like buildings/scenery and all that. But everything I've drawn for my comics so far that I have up on the internet, surprisingly, I've had no reference.

Discovering that reference helps just came to me not long ago.

As long as it's not completely and utterly BLATANT, using references is the norm.
What I mean by blatant is that, piece for piece the image is EXACTLY the same.
Throughout the centuries many famous artists have used life, or other artworks as inspiration.
That is, they referenced something and put their own twist on it.
I think this quote is very relevant to the question:
"Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is non-existent. And don’t bother concealing your thievery - celebrate it if you feel like it. In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: “It’s not where you take things from - it’s where you take them to."
— Jim Jarmusch

Loud_G
I don't see any problem copying famous works of art (aka the masters) It is a common practice to duplicate a masterpiece in order to learn. However, passing it off as your own work is another story.

References are a bit different. A reference is a visual cue for a section of your drawing/painting, it is not copying something completely.

Tracing line for line is not really a way to learn however, so it is not so helpful.

This. The best possible kind of reference you can get is to have the thing physically in front of you. That way you can examine it from many angles, see it is a 3-dimensional form rather than a 2-dimensional one and you can draw from whichever angle/pose works best for what you need at the time. If you have a human model on hand, great! Your anatomy for that drawing will be much more accurate because human beings can't create poses that would require them to shorten their limbs, bend in impossible ways, etc. Sometimes, of course, you can't get the real thing (such as a semi or an alien spaceship) so photos are your next best reference.

Tracing over another person's drawing is plagiarism. It's not a big deal at all if you're just practising and figuring out how a pose/composition could work, but your practise drawings really should stay at home and offline. People want to see your best online, and your best shouldn't include someone else's work.

"A good artist copys, A great artist steals"
-Picasso


Using reference is a matter of obtaining new information in your artwork rather than copying it. It's not really stealing, unless you're tracing it.

So a few years ago I ran across a few books that are just basically chocked full of poses, Antarctic Press Pose file is made for artists to use and abuse for comics and while most of the time I just pull stuff from life and out of my own head for some harder scenes I'll always reference these books.



Here's a good example of how I used "Women and Girls" to make a scene in ED
The Reference
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v257/zarsha/ugh/fightingwomen.jpg
The Scene
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v257/zarsha/ugh/page18.jpg


I also own one of those Art S. Buck figurines and personally having it has really improved my artwork 100% I can't show a lot of the stuff I've done with her cause it's not out in my comic yet but I can post it posing.