How to look at and use references
This post is not just about VFX, it will be useful for whichever art you are working on.
It is common that people mix visual memory with reference. Our mind stores main points about what we see but little details are mostly lost. Imagine you went into a room you’ve never before and spent hours there. When you leave it and someone asks you what color the floor was you probably will not know if you specifically didn’t pay attention to it. That is why using reference is extremely essential in any sort of art.
When you are modeling a horse if you do not look at references there is going to be a mistake for sure. Yes the horse has four feet, a head and a tail. But have you ever noticed that some horses have eyebrows? Even if you are going for a not realistic stylized look still checking some images, at least looking at how the creature looks in real life will give you a lot of information. Therefore it seems to me that, if you are a creature modeler you definitely need to know anatomy. If you are designing a laser gun, you might want to look at real gun models/photos and choose similar parts from them. Or maybe take a look at Battlestar Galactica or Star Trek shows to get inspired and use the weapons there as references.
You need to improve your observational skills and to do that some other art that you usually are not engaged in helps. I picked drawing because I always liked it and then realized how subtle but still effective details I missed. Have you ever noticed that there is a little cut like the ear is made of two pieces on every cat and dog? I am sure you saw a dog more than a few times but you probably missed those details. You might ask if that little detail is worth adding into your art if nobody notices it. It is worth it because even though your eyes miss it, your brain somehow realizes that something looks off even though you might not really say what is.
Where to find references
Real world obviously is your best bet. However, you can’t find everything around you easily like explosions or floods. So Youtube is a great source, I also keep hearing people using Pinterest for references which I somehow can’t get used to. In Pinterest there are some collections that show you the same kind of art all together that can be used as references. Games and movies are great sources of ideas and references, especially if you are going for more abstract and non realistic stuff. There are some groups on Facebook that only share FX references which I find very useful.
Choose the correct reference
You need to choose the right reference for the job, mindlessly picking references will probably be worthless or even make things difficult. Camera angle, proportions and lighting should be easily recognizable. In particular, at fist you should choose easier references to work with. Just because a video or an image looks good doesn’t mean it can be a great reference, if it is too complex it might confuse you. Plus, do not stick to the reference pixel by pixel. It is just for reference, it is showing you the way, the general look and some ideas. The purpose is to make your creation realistic and correct.
Using more than one reference is also very useful in some cases. Such as, you are making a particle simulation, maybe you can pick the color composition of the scene from one reference, the movement of the particles from some other one and the lighting from a third reference.
Additionally, the good thing about using references is if you are working with a client and they provided reference or chose from the references you picked, the project will be less prone to revisions and error. Of course there is a high chance that there will be changes to the work so your stuff might have to be edited opposite the reference.
My Examples
In my earlier newbie days, I made a rotating Earth animation inside After Effects. Those days I didn’t really use references because I had my amazing imagination and didn’t need any examples because I was going to be original! I ended up making an Earth that didn’t have a dark side. I put lights everywhere, trying to get reflections on the oceans and some shadows for high mountains and such.
I knew the Earth was not surrounded by light sources but while I was trying to make my render look good I forgot about the real thing and ended up with a wrong outcome because I didn’t check a single reference.
One other example happened by chance. One day the roof of my room started leaking because of the heavy rains. The guy that came to fix the problem had to see where the leakage was so opened up a hole on the drywall. That was an epic reference for me because I had never seen the inside of a drywall before and would have never guessed how many layers it had. Later someday I was working on a wall destruction and I looked at references (despite having the hole in the ceiling vision in my head) and even learned the different layers a wall has. So when you add those different layers (because you looked at references) which you normally do not really see, it makes your art much better. If you do not add those layers the render might look okay to your eye but you or anybody else looking at it, will know inside their brains that something is not right and doesn’t look good enough.
