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Find Great Reference Art! #TopTip





Into animation? Here's a #toptip from the studio via our Art Director Andrew Hamilton - this one's about how important it is to source great reference material.

Andrew: One of the most important things as an artist, and something that is incredibly useful as an Art Director is having a source for reference and knowledge. This can come in many forms, of course, from Pinterest boards, to digital folders on your PC or device. My favourite form of reference is from books - nothing beats being able to just leaf through the pages, it’s totally different from having your information library stuck inside a monitor or screen.

As an Art Director (and an artist!) I think it's hugely important to become an information sponge.

As you can see from my collection here, it’s not all art books, there are encyclopaedias, old issues of National geographic, books about vehicles, the ocean, animals, space etc. The more real world knowledge you can bring to your art, the better.

There are art books however, getting inspiration from things you love is important, just as it is important to also research and study the great artists through history - personally, I love to look at the sculptures of Michelangelo, they are fantastic to learn from!

The difference between looking at other artists work and then looking at real world stuff, is that you should be inspired by other artists, but you should always directly reference the real world, that way your visual art is grounded in reality.


Anahita Tabarsi

Anahita is Brown Bag Films' Marketing Director, Digital & Social and drinks more than five coffees a day...

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