>>7790275
Idk dawg. Using references is normal, every professional artist does it. It’s how you build visual accuracy and intuition. Even if you feel confident drawing a certain body part, you can still mess up perspective and end up with a torso facing one way and legs going another (pic related). Then you waste time redrawing, getting frustrated, and eventually tossing the piece.

References prevent that. Style isn’t something you pick first; it grows from your particular insights and the small, informed rule-breaking you develop over time. They also speed up how fast you strengthen your fundamentals.

Even when you think there’s no reference for the pose you have in mind, you can sketch it out and use an image generator to visualize your idea. Compare the two, it’s basically checking your work with a calculator.

In the end, references save time, time you can reinvest into drawing more. More volume means faster growth, and speed is just a byproduct of solid fundamentals.