Vicious Shadi

BEHIND THE SCENES: February Copic Challenge

Added 2025-03-03 20:30:01 +0000 UTC

So, new segment! I'll be talking about what inspired/was referenced for some of my art pieces going forward so as to give y'all some insight, as well as normalize the use of references (because apparently some people have discourse over that because of course they do).

For those of you who watch my streams, I talk about how I use references in a lot of my work--references not only help provide pointers on how certain poses work, they also help with figuring out clothing folds and certain lighting conditions work. A lot of artists use references in their art--one famous example is Hirohiko Araki of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure.

For February, I looked to two different references. The first reference laid the groundwork for Aubree's pose (though you can see where I took some liberty, namely in her adjusting her shoe as well as her posture appearing more balanced.). The second photo gave some inspiration for what I wanted to do with the background--it's a much, much looser inspiration, but it did give me an idea of what to do, which is why it's here.

More often than not, I will combine two different references if I think the composition will still work, such as what we see here. You're also going to find that I use a lot of fashion references in particular--I find that fashion photography is some of the best referential materials where composition, lighting, and posing is concerned (though obviously it's not perfect, particularly where body type varieties are concerned...). If you're struggling with coming up with a good pin-up, I strongly recommend studying fashion photography!