While drawing from life is considered the ideal way to improve your anatomy skills, this past year of distancing hasn’t given us much of an opportunity to stretch our live figure drawing muscles. Luckily, the internet is a fine thing, and it’s not hard to find good drawing references nowadays. You will find below a few popular figure drawing reference links that every artist should check out!
To further brush up on your figure drawing skills and enable you to practice from the comfort of your home, Syn Studio Concept Art School offers a variety of online drawing classes to help you perfect your art.
You can check out all our available classes on our Online Art Classes page.
gumroad.com/grafitschool
quickposes.com
characterdesign.com
proko.com
*For every website featured below, be sure to follow the guidelines provided for image use. For reasons of copyright, some images may only be available for practice or inspiration.
Line of Action : Popular site with timed poses, they offer photographical references ranging from full figures, faces, hands and feet, and even animals. They also have a blog with useful art tips.
SketchDaily : Website where you can easily set up a timed slideshow with your choice of full body poses, hands, feet, heads and more. SketchDaily also has a popular reddit page: https://www.reddit.com/r/sketchdaily/
Quickposes: Select one of Quickposes’ themed challenges for a timed drawing session, or explore their extensive photo library.
Croquis Cafe: Become a member for as small fee, and gain access to Croquis Cafe’s full library of resources which includes hundreds of videos and thousand of photos.
Proko.com: Proko provides a rich community with plenty of resources to build your art fundamentals. Here, you can find various model reference packs available for a fee.
Character Design Photosets: A huge collection of poses, with and without costumes, including action shots.
Art Models 360: This website features models in a wide range of poses where users can rotate the image in 360°. A great feature here is the Pose Picker Filter, where you can search for specific criteria you want in your pose.
The Circus Dictionary: A large collection of circus performer poses and moves, perhaps not intended for anatomy artists but nevertheless an amazing reference for bodies in motion.
Human Anatomy for Artist : While there is a paid membership option, quite a few quality images are viewable for free. It has a noteworthy search tool, where you can pick even the hair color of the model you’re looking for.
Adorkastock : This site is a hub for resources created by AdorkaStock (formerly known as SenshiStock) which includes reference packs, and a timed drawing practice tool.
Jookpubstock: Free references by model Jookpub which include full body poses, poses with props and costumes, and close up facial expressions.
Reference Angle: A great tool to practice drawing heads and facial expressions from any angle. Simply adjust the direction of the 3D head, and select the attributes of your choice.
Gumroad Reference Packs
Grafit Studio: A plethora of free or minimally priced reference packs for all your creative needs. Grafit’s library features both costumed and nude models, and a wide array of themes.
Suzanne Helmigh : Immersive fantasy themed reference packs that feature an assortment of poses, costumes and settings.
Jenn Ravenna: Affordable reference photo packs perfect for costume and anatomy studies that feature poses influenced by 70s disco, as well as poses inspired by John Singer Sargent paintings.
Howard Lyon : High quality reference photo packs which you can use for studies. This Gumroad page features a variety of models including trained dancers.
More Resources
Pinterest : Pinterest has so many boards which are searchable by any keyword. (e.g. art reference, model poses, dynamic poses, etc.) It’s a great platform for practice and inspiration.
Tumblr : Tumblr has a plethora of resources, but here are a few blogs to start you off:
DeviantART : Many stock photo professionals have set up shop on DeviantArt. Here are a few popular names:
- Null-Entity (model)
- Faestock (model)
- Fumei-Stock (model)
- Fairytalestock (group)
- DAposes (group)
- Pose-emporium (group)
Did we miss something you think fellow artists would appreciate? Please share!
If you found this helpful, you might also like our blog post on building your own references for live models here:https://blog.synstudio.ca/a-syn-studio-guide-to-making-your-own-references/
Don’t forget to tag us on Twitter and on Instagram @synstudio to share your awesome work with us! We love seeing what everyone is doing!
