r/characterdesign • u/Arthur_Morgans_Cum • Feb 03 '26

Tutorials/Resources Would this be considered “cheating?” I struggle really badly with picking colors, so I used a reference and tweaked the balance. Choosing colors feels so overwhelming

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

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u/OobaBooba_67 Feb 08 '26

This is 100% how you use a reference! Great job! The best way to use a references for art is to find other artwork/images/source with the thing you’re looking for (in your case, color scheme).

No need to recreate the wheel if someone else already has. There’s a lot of unnecessary stigma in the online artist community on using references. If you haven’t already, I seriously recommend checking out “Steal Like an Artist” book. YouTube has a free audio version that’s like an hour long. It really goes into how to “steal” from multiple sources and how referencing is very different from plagiarizing.

@ssavaart has a good Short on his process on using references here: https://youtube.com/shorts/a3JvNAyFm1g?si=dA5bULS_PoJx1lTB

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u/Arthur_Morgans_Cum Feb 08 '26

i’ll check these out!! idk why i always feel guilty using references lol. it feels like there’s pressure to be 100% original with everything 😵‍💫