Ref-Etude

Hello hello!

As promised, I've written up a short little guide to using Ref-Etude.

First off, what is Ref-Etude?

Quite simply, it's just a shared dropbox that we can use to begin growing a library of references and resources that may help us in future when practicing or working. A lot of times when you come across a cool or useful image online, you either read it and close it, or download it and forget it. Research should be something that is continuous, and not only done when you need to.

The goal for Ref-Etude is to become a useful resource which can be used by anyone. In order to get there, we encourage you to help build it into a library of images and tips by adding images to the dropbox.

To help keep things ordered, it is perhaps best to provide some guide on what goes where.

Currently, there are 7 main folders, each with subfolders for more specific images. They are as follows:

• Artists
• Colours
• Creatures
• Environments
• Objects
• People
• Tutorials

Artists:

This folder is for any artist you may like, or think has a unique stylistic sense. Pick one example of their work you feel best represents them and tag it with their username, so anyone else who likes it can find out more about them.

Colours:

This folder is for any images with a strong sense of colour, it could be cool, warm, harsh etc. Colours are important, and it's always useful to see how other artists have used them!

Creatures:

This folder is for photographs of real animals, or fantasy creatures. Anything from dogs, to turtles, to dragons and monsters.

Environments:

This folder is for any image where the environment is the focus, it could be a fantasy landscape, or a photograph of an actual real world location.

Objects:

This folder is for objects of any variety, if it's not alive, it goes here. Clothing, weapons and vehicles are all acceptable.

People:

This folder is for human models. Preferably real-life photos, for accuracy's sake.

Tutorials:

This folder is for any image showing instructions on a process, or how-to do something.

That's all! Due to the collaborative nature of this project, folders and categorizations are liable to change over the course of time as we figure things out. I will try to keep this post updated according to any new changes. If anyone else is interested in joining the group, send me an email at atheoi11[at]gmail.com and I'll invite you!

Cheers for reading!~