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vjm3
12-03-2009, 12:51 AM
Hi and five points to you for entering my heart filled welcoming thread. I'll reward an extra ten if you fine experts can help me out.

I would like to request some high quality photo referencing websites and/or books that really explore style and beauty. The purpose is to use said pictures as inspiration to develope character designs for my illustration sketches I use for both digital art and 2d animations.

I am having a hard time finding decent photos of different hairstyles, cultures, landscapes and even clothing style and clicks.

I have used google, ask, bing and many other search engine websites, but is plagued with search results filled with advertisements or low quality photos.
If my problem is the wording I use to search these topics, then what are some good searching tips to better aquire that high quality picture of, lets say, a blonde hair winter clothing-wearing black girl from France whom is sipping a cup of coffee infront of a esquisite goth cafe? Ya know what I mean?

Books or your personal methods to do said tasks above is as valued as an unopened package of sweet sweet Twizlers...
Any and all assistance will be greatly appreciated. And thank you for helping me better myself as an artist and a story teller.

Vincent
Lunatique
12-03-2009, 04:05 AM
I think when you are being that specific with what you are looking for, it's time to just learn to shoot your own photo references. It's one of the most helpful things you can learn--not just for your art, but also just to bring additional fun and fulfillment to your life in general.

If I were after such specific reference, I'd just go to modelmayhem.com and look for a model living in my area that has the look I want, and set up a shoot with her and get the references I need.
vjm3
12-03-2009, 08:38 PM
I think when you are being that specific with what you are looking for, it's time to just learn to shoot your own photo references. It's one of the most helpful things you can learn--not just for your art, but also just to bring additional fun and fulfillment to your life in general.

If I were after such specific reference, I'd just go to modelmayhem.com and look for a model living in my area that has the look I want, and set up a shoot with her and get the references I need.


Thanks for the reply, however I was more interested in websites that showcase different hairstyles/clothing styles/etc. I use a decent modeling program for my drawings and it has helped greatly. Like I said my problem is not specifically models, it's style sense.

Thanks again,
Vincent
Lunatique
12-04-2009, 04:25 AM
What kind of search terms did you use when googling for references? I have collected books and magazines on hairstyles, fashion, period clothing, costumes...etc over the years, but they're in print form.
vjm3
12-07-2009, 12:44 AM
Well how about all of the above?

Hairstyles, Clothing, body poses, Background color schemes, anything!!

Thanks again.

Vincent

Edit :

My bad, I misread your first question. Maybe if you list some useful websites, or effective search terms for google which usually get you what you are looking for, then I can build upon that.
In the case of hairstyles...I use search terms like, "Anime Hair" or "Short Hairstyles" when I google, respectfully. Generally then if I want a unique hairstyle, i'll take two styles and combine them. Once I see how much of a goofy disaster that creates, I alter my "combined hairstyles sketch" to either be more realistic or not too over the top.

I guess my problem is finding said pictures in the first place. Google is not very friendly with searches in that I usually end up with some strange advertisement image or something not related to hairstyles.

Let me ask, what search terms do YOU use?

Thanks
Vincent
Lunatique
12-07-2009, 04:59 AM
Why don't you try adding words that actually describe a large collection of different styles. I just did a few searches and came up with tons of hits by adding words like "index of", "gallery", "guide", "collection"...etc to the subjects I wanted to search.
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