Old Reference Shot Guide (1 Viewer)

[anonymous]

Users, again I ask you to post your ultimate reference shots so the other users can know what is meant by GOOD reference shots.

 

[Ghost Maestro]

This. 100% percent this. We need more side profiles if we're to do anything.

Also, another example.

EDIT: I just remembered, don't limit yourself when finding references. Up to 4 is pretty handy for the artists. And don't restrict your searching, you have plenty of resources available, from Google, to Gelbooru. Hell, don't even be afraid to try things like deviantART.

What matters most is that we get those side references.

 

[No. 7]

Here's a bunch of excellent images, plus a bit of criticism so you know how each one could be even better. (Almost) All of them are images I used to make my own imports, so they're all "good enough."
Link to all these images, full-size: http://imgur.com/a/dLvLj
Or right click+open in new tab to see full size.

OFFICIAL ART
Official art is always a good thing to check out. If an artist goes off of official art, it's very hard for them to "mess anything up" as far as accuracy of portrayal.

This is a pretty good picture to be able to reference. The only problems are that when you zoom in to her head, it is somewhat small, and that the style is pretty non-SDT. However, it's definitely a good image.

ARTBOOKS
Related to official art, artbooks often contain a wealth of information about exact how the subject's head looks, and have such wonderful shots as these:

Especially of note is how this clarifies the difference between the left side and the right side of her head; for many characters with wacky anime hairstyles, this matters.

SCREENSHOTS
This only works for anime/cartoons, or anime-style cutscenes from a game, but it can be a perfectly good way to get a profile view and is also under the umbrella of being "official."

This is almost perfect. The only things to watch out for are the fact that it's the wrong side of her head (doesn't matter since her hair is symmetrical) and the colors are faded (supply an image with brighter colors).

Another screenshot from the same anime, a great image for the girl on the left. Colors are brighter, it's the correct side of her face. The only things to look out for are that even though it's an official image, for some reason it obscures green headband, which is an important aspect of her appearance. Also, the hair coming down in front of her body is resting on her shoulders in a way that would not work with SDT; this is something that could be left to the artist to fix, but it's good to know.

(ignore the stupid text added, I didn't do it) A great image. The only caveats are that since her head is tilted downward, the artist will have to adjust for gravity messing with where everything lies.

BREAST CHARTS
These are wonderful in that they almost always show a great multitude of characters and their hairstyle from the side. Sometimes they can be a little too deformed and stylized, but they are usually excellent. It's also the first category we've run into that is not drawn by an "official artist" (99% of the time), so be wary of whether or not the portrayal is 100% accurate.

This is just a little bit stylized and it's the wrong sides of all of their faces, but otherwise, it's a veritable goldmine.

FANART
Breast charts are usually fanart, but this is the last-most-preferable category. Most hentai is fanart, and everything on deviantART is obviously fanart. It's also pretty likely that this will be the bulk of what you find. Just be mindful that in this category, scrutiny for quality is key. There will be a lot to wade through that, even though they show the profile, are in the wrong style, are not accurate, etc.

This is pretty good. Her hair, however, is moving, so an artist would have to manually adjust to make her hair look stationary. Also, the back of the hair is cut off and an artist would need to consult another reference or freehand that part of her hair.

Pretty excellent. The only problem is that the style doesn't match SDT's completely, and the proportions of sizes are a bit wacked (the bangs are way too huge compared to the "official" portrayal).

This is good hentai (in more ways than one). It realistically and accurately portray's the subject's hair, except her braids, which look strange since they're in contact with the ground and not hanging. There are good hentai artists to rely on who always draw characters accurately and in a somewhat "realistic" way, such as Azasuke, Jyusuke, etc.

This is actually just "okay." I ended up relying on it for one of my first imports and that import needs to be revised desperately. It's in oekaki, so the lines are very thin and hard to trace over accurately, it's very rounded and stylized in a way that doesn't fit SDT, the proportions are off, and it's the wrong side of her face. Feel free to give an artist this picture, but don't expect them to be able to use just this.

 

[anonymous]

It appears users are ONLY googling for side shots, which is almost futile. So I know many of you know places to find stuff. I think I heard something about gelbooru and rule34. Someone provide links for users, so they can know where to look.

 

[Chance]

http://r34.booru.org/
Profile shot are not very elegant or interesting, which is why they're rarely drawn and therefore hard to find. However, a lot of 18-rated images features them, especially during fellatio or doggy style.

Which is why I recommend this link. It's a reference goldmine.

 

[CDMG]

I found a site that tells you how to create your own snapshot in WMP or VLC player.
It works and it can be essential to this site. Here are the procedures.

For Media Player Classic:
First make sure under options -> output that you have VMR9 (renderless), DIRECTX 9, render video in 3D, and VMR9 mixer mode selected.
Next find the frame you want to get.
Once you have found the frame click file -> save image and save the picture where ever you want it (as a JPEG preferably).
**It has been suggested that Haali renderer gives a better picture however this may not work on all systems

For VLC:
First make sure under preferences -> video you have the snapshot directory set and format set to JPG (unless you actually want PNG).
Next find the frame you want to get.
Once you have found the frame click video -> snapshot and it will save the picture to the chosen directory. (note: VLC always saved to C:\username\Pictures for me even when I set the directory)

For Windows Media Player:
With older versions of WMP (ie WMP 9):
Go to Tools -> Options
In Options, select the Performance Tab
Click on the Advanced Button
Uncheck Use Overlays and click Ok
Then continue with the PrintScreen method.

With WMP 11:
Under options -> performance unselect Display Full-screen Controls.
Then continue with the PrintScreen method.

CTRL-I may allow you to directly save a screenshot from WMP (not on WMP 11).
Also make sure that the fullscreen controls are hidden and that your mouse is not on the screen when capturing using this method.

PrintScreen key:
First you open the video in any media player. Then find the frame you want and make the image fullscreen (usually Alt-Enter in most media players). While the video is paused and fullscreen press PrintScreen.
Now open your image editor with a new blank image. Hit Ctrl-V (Paste). A picture of the video should appear in your image editor. You can then edit the image if needed or save the picture as anything that your editor can save.
(Confirmed it works with Photoshop and Paint)

If you have a better tutorial than any of the above or one that uses a different media player feel free to post it in this topic.

Also to any mods that may come across this thread: it would be great if you could pin this thread so that it does not get lost since it may be helpful to a lot of users but will most likely not get many replies.


See ya!

 

[Mak]

I'm not an artistic person, (nor even someone with a technical eye for that stuff,) but I think the value of line art might be missed here for the several posters who don't seem to understand 'good references.' I'm a new poster but Anonymous' sarcasm isn't lost on me and he tends to give me a good laugh at those who never bothered to read the rules. Line art i.e:

 

[marlow brandon]

I think the best way to take a good reference image is scan from an artbook.

There are realy good fanarts, but often there are not accurate at all.

Personally I take screenshots directly from the show. (print screen button and paste in image editor like photoshop or even paint :P)

If you don't have access to any chapter from the show, I recommend to use sites like http://www.animevice.com/, they have a lot of screenshots of many characters, fanart and official art.

 

[vegeata]

Personally I take screenshots directly from the show. (print screen button and paste in image editor like photoshop or even paint :P)

I totally agree in that but , I like to use program called SnagIt when I watch any move or animes that I love .Then , I take a pictures when I see a perfect view . It is easy to use and it saves the pictures in one folder that you choosed before .

 

[Xiombarg]

As suggested by Anon, here's a link to http://gelbooru.com/ for reference pic search.

As for examples of pics, here's a couple of characters that I'd requested, and a few of the samples I provided:

Profiles to work from:

 

[anonymous]

Here's a bunch of excellent images, plus a bit of criticism so you know how each one could be even better. (Almost) All of them are images I used to make my own imports, so they're all "good enough."
Link to all these images, full-size: http://imgur.com/a/dLvLj
Or right click+open in new tab to see full size.

OFFICIAL ART
Official art is always a good thing to check out. If an artist goes off of official art, it's very hard for them to "mess anything up" as far as accuracy of portrayal.

This is a pretty good picture to be able to reference. The only problems are that when you zoom in to her head, it is somewhat small, and that the style is pretty non-SDT. However, it's definitely a good image.

ARTBOOKS
Related to official art, artbooks often contain a wealth of information about exact how the subject's head looks, and have such wonderful shots as these:

Especially of note is how this clarifies the difference between the left side and the right side of her head; for many characters with wacky anime hairstyles, this matters.

SCREENSHOTS
This only works for anime/cartoons, or anime-style cutscenes from a game, but it can be a perfectly good way to get a profile view and is also under the umbrella of being "official."

This is almost perfect. The only things to watch out for are the fact that it's the wrong side of her head (doesn't matter since her hair is symmetrical) and the colors are faded (supply an image with brighter colors).

Another screenshot from the same anime, a great image for the girl on the left. Colors are brighter, it's the correct side of her face. The only things to look out for are that even though it's an official image, for some reason it obscures green headband, which is an important aspect of her appearance. Also, the hair coming down in front of her body is resting on her shoulders in a way that would not work with SDT; this is something that could be left to the artist to fix, but it's good to know.

(ignore the stupid text added, I didn't do it) A great image. The only caveats are that since her head is tilted downward, the artist will have to adjust for gravity messing with where everything lies.

BREAST CHARTS
These are wonderful in that they almost always show a great multitude of characters and their hairstyle from the side. Sometimes they can be a little too deformed and stylized, but they are usually excellent. It's also the first category we've run into that is not drawn by an "official artist" (99% of the time), so be wary of whether or not the portrayal is 100% accurate.

This is just a little bit stylized and it's the wrong sides of all of their faces, but otherwise, it's a veritable goldmine.

FANART
Breast charts are usually fanart, but this is the last-most-preferable category. Most hentai is fanart, and everything on deviantART is obviously fanart. It's also pretty likely that this will be the bulk of what you find. Just be mindful that in this category, scrutiny for quality is key. There will be a lot to wade through that, even though they show the profile, are in the wrong style, are not accurate, etc.

This is pretty good. Her hair, however, is moving, so an artist would have to manually adjust to make her hair look stationary. Also, the back of the hair is cut off and an artist would need to consult another reference or freehand that part of her hair.

Pretty excellent. The only problem is that the style doesn't match SDT's completely, and the proportions of sizes are a bit wacked (the bangs are way too huge compared to the "official" portrayal).

This is good hentai (in more ways than one). It realistically and accurately portray's the subject's hair, except her braids, which look strange since they're in contact with the ground and not hanging. There are good hentai artists to rely on who always draw characters accurately and in a somewhat "realistic" way, such as Azasuke, Jyusuke, etc.

This is actually just "okay." I ended up relying on it for one of my first imports and that import needs to be revised desperately. It's in oekaki, so the lines are very thin and hard to trace over accurately, it's very rounded and stylized in a way that doesn't fit SDT, the proportions are off, and it's the wrong side of her face. Feel free to give an artist this picture, but don't expect them to be able to use just this.

You were all prepared for when imgur stopped allowing hotlinking... /mindblown. I'll fix this post eventually.

 

[dantethedarkprince]

I know I'm waaaaaay late on this, but it's in the rules. So here's my "Ultimate Reference Shot" The one I made on Microsoft Digital Image Pro 9 when I requested Jessica and Bulk.

 

[SyntaxTerror]

The 1,000 unfulfilled requests prove it! ;)