Let's talk about... REFERENCE!

Since I began my art journey, how and when to use reference is something that has baffled me and caused me a lot of stress. Has it baffled you too

My particular struggle in this area has been wrestling with ‘staying true’ to the reference and stylising whatever I’m drawing. It always felt like if I looked at reference I would just want to replicate it exactly as it is so if I wanted to stylise something it had to come directly from my imagination and I’ve been trying to find a balance between the two.

In recent years (when drawing characters especially) I’ve slowly been able not to be enslaved to reference and take some creative liberty but then the characters turn out less caricatured than I want them. I’ve also experimented with using reference just for hair and clothes as then I could have my nice cartoony head, torso and limb shapes. It’s worked to some degree but it’s probably created more work for me because I’m then I’m using my imagination for the pose and I have to go over it several times because it doesn’t look right.

However, I am hopeful that those days are over. I came across a YouTube video on caricature by Jackie Droukjo (a Character Designer currently working at Disney TVA) and something she said in the video flicked the light switch in my brain. She simply said ‘caricaturing is all about making decisions and sticking to it’ - it’s such a simple anecdote but you have no idea how much freedom that gave me. I was saying to myself ‘Duh! Just pick one thing to start with and stick to it and then go from there.’ I’ve been told a few times that you’re not necessarily trying to capture likeness but to tell a story, to share your own opinion, your take, but it’s finally clicked so thank you Jackie Droukjo! I will draw some studies from reference in the near future to prove it. Also, the things my mentor has been teaching me recently are beginning to click so I’m excited about my future artwork!

The video I was talking about is below. Why don’t you watch it for yourself? You might get something else out of it that becomes your aha moment.

Until next time!

God bless,
Selom

Hi, my name is ... what ? ... who?

Allow me to re-introduce myself… My name is Solomon Shalom Suleiman Selom.

96% of mankind mispronounce my name (the emphasis is on the ‘Se’ not on the ‘lom’) or give me a new name altogether! Hopefully the struggle to say my name right makes me more memorable than if my name was David (that was almost my name). There’s nothing wrong with David, but Selom means ‘God loves me’ and I’ve really felt the love.

I am currently a Character Designer and Illustrator and I’ve had some unexpected successes in the last two years with the likes of Disney, Google, Mercury Filmworks and John Boyega all seeking out my services. I’m very grateful to be in that position, but you may be surprised to know that those last two years also represent the entire time I’ve been a full-time artist (est’d May 2021). You may also be surprised to hear that I hadn’t properly considered drawing for a living until 10 years ago, while I was studying to become an accountant! I know, I know, very different haha. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve always enjoyed drawing, but somehow I just didn’t connect the dots that there were careers beyond exhibiting in galleries. And I was convinced that only paid off after death so what was I going to live on (see what I did there)? I won’t go into the full journey and backstory on this occasion as it needs its own post, but for now let’s just say that it hasn’t been easy by any stretch of the imagination and I fully believe this path has been laid out for me by God and He gives me the strength to persevere.

The reason I’m starting a blog again is because I am frequently asked for advice and I also spend a lot of time studying my craft and trying to improve so why not share my learning in a way that will benefit more people? I’m not an expert by any means (in fact, I’m pretty much unknown) but I have something to offer even at this early stage of my career. I’ve also now got a mentor in Character Designer extraordinaire David Perez so I’m sure I’ll have even more to share in future. Followers of this blog should expect content pertaining to Character Design and Illustration including my thoughts on specific topics, techniques, studies of other people’s work for the purposes of learning, praise for some of my favourite artists and more.

I’m excited about the upcoming content and I hope you’ll come along for the ride. This image contains a selection of my work to give you an idea of the kind of thing I’ve been drawing so far.

Oh yeah, and if you’re not sure what I look like here is a recent headshot.

God bless,
Selom