best drawing reference websites

Best 9 Free Pose Reference Sites To Practice Figure Drawing Online

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I’d like to share 9 FREE Pose Reference websites, that will help you improve your figure drawing skills.

Every artist who wants to master their skill NEEDS to practice figure drawing.

Even if your desired art career won’t be focused on drawing realistic figures, it is still an absolutely essential skill you can’t just brush off!

Table of Contents

Why practice figure drawing online.

When I first went to an art university in 2015, I didn’t know what to expect. I just wanted to draw pretty pictures so I could put all of them up on Instagram and get a lot of likes!

But the truth is, once you get more and more into the art world, you might not even want to share your pieces!

You will learn that art is a powerful communication tool, and you will create many wonderful pieces that speak to many people.

But first, you will have to build a foundation for your skill  and continue improving it every day by PRACTICING.

And some of your figure drawings will look amazing and ready to share, but others… Well, let’s just say that 10-second and 1-minute drawings are not always the best for social media!

And yet, you still need to practice! A lot!

My first ever class in university was, guess what? A Figure Drawing class! And I had one every semester for all four years!

All professional artists understand that you NEED this skill.

Even if you end up working as an environmental designer, a cartoonist, a colorist, or in any other profession that doesn’t focus on the realism of a figure.

And so I went to these classes not always with much inspiration (mostly because I had to). I practiced.

Sometimes my art sucked!

But that’s just part of the process…

Now, as I don’t have these classes anymore, and I realize the importance of improving my figure drawing skills, I started looking for LIVE figure drawing sessions I could attend.

I got pretty upset when I realized that the price of attending sessions a couple of times a week adds up like crazy! And at this point, it is a bit out of my budget…

Here is where the Internet comes in!

As not just a place where I can check out what my childhood friends are up to, but an awesome learning platform where I could practice sketching figure/gesture drawings FOR FREE!

Pretty awesome, huh?

Best 9 Free Pose Reference Websites To Practice Figure Drawing Online

Because I think Figure Drawing is SO important for any aspiring artist, I created this list, which you can bookmark and always refer to in times of need: “ Best 9 Free Pose Reference Sites To Practice Figure Drawing Online “.

You can use it to practice Figure Drawing and Gesture Drawing or simply use it as a reference for your own character’s pose.

But just before we get started on the list, I wanted to let you know about some other relatable articles I have created in the past that relate to this topic:

• “14 Best Figure Drawing Books for Beginners” is a collection of the best books on the market that will help you get started with Figure Drawing;
• “Gesture Drawing Tips And Things To Avoid” is a short overview of what gesture drawing is and the DO’s and DONT’s of it;
• “ 20 Best Tips For Figure Drawing “ is a printable 23-page PDF you can reference when practicing + 4 other freebies.

* Below the list, you will be able to find some Figure Drawing courses that I recommend (in case you decide to take your skills to the next level) as well as a freebie figure drawing tips PDF from me! 🙂

And now, onto the list:

I wanted to start with Proko first, because I honestly think this is a great resource for reference photos and beyond!

This site offers a  Free Model Sample Pack available for you to download immediately!

You can choose from censored or not-censored versions and immediately receive 28 high-quality figure drawing reference images.

As well as FREE LESSONS, among which the titles include:

• Human Figure Proportions – Average Figures – Dr. Paul Richer
• How to Draw Balanced Poses
• How to Draw Gesture
• and many more you can check out under their free “lessons” section.

This way, you get the lessons and the pose references at the same time! And after watching their videos, you can go ahead and start implementing them right away 🙂

If you like their sample pack but feel like it’s not enough and want more of them – they offer poses for artists that you can also purchase.

They are surprisingly affordable, with over 60 different packs that include classical figure drawing poses and people dressed up posing as different characters.

2. Line Of Action

Line Of Action is a free online website with a variety of pose reference photography.

Once you select the class mode the “time interval” option will change to a “How long a class?” option, and you can then pick from 30 minutes to 6-hour long class.

They mainly focus on Figure Drawing, Animal Drawing, Hands & Feet Drawing and Faces & Expression Drawing.

Which is awesome if you decide to practice more than just figure drawing!

Also, their figure drawing tools are made to resemble a live session – you get to pick:

• Nude, Clothed or both models.
• Female, Male or Non-Binary models.
• Baby, Child, Teen or Adult models.
• All the same length sessions or class mode.
• And time interval (how long one photo will play for before automatically going to the next.)

That’s pretty similar to a real-life drawing session.

Also, the timer resembles the timer models usually have – once it beeps, your figure changes position, and you can do NOTHING about it!

Well, you can always press the “backward” button to go back, but what’s the fun in that? 😉

Just turn to a new blank page and start on a different pose because the timer will beep again soon!

I think it’s the best idea to work with the time intervals because essentially figure drawing is all about the gesture and learning to communicate a pose quickly!

And once you practiced that enough, you can go ahead and get the free sample pack from Proko I talked about above.

Because they are downloadable pose references, you’ll be able to zoom in, and work on each for a long period of time to really hone in the details, shading and forms!

Before we go to the next source, I just wanted to briefly touch on the “ Class Mode “.

Once you hover over one of the time options, it will give you an overview of what to expect during the class session.

For example, I usually like to do 2-hour long sessions – and that gives me:

• 6 poses (photo references) that are 30 seconds each so I can warm up my hand and get into the mode of working.
• 3 poses, each 1 minute long – excellent practice for gesture drawing!
• 2 poses 5 minutes long;
• 1 pose 20 minutes – where I get to double-check all the proportions and do some basic shading;
• Then, a 14-minute break to go grab a snack or sip on some coffee 🙂
• The final pose is 50 minutes long, which is enough to bring a drawing to a semi-finish and get into adding some details and shading.

* Side Note: When doing the last pose, try to start it off as if you were doing a 30-second pose: Get that gesture! Don’t overthink and have fun 😉

This tool (and the two below) have the options to pause and go to the next image .

This is really awesome in case you don’t like the reference photograph shown to you, or you love it so much that you will want to spend more time working on it!

3. Quick Poses

QuickPoses is a pose reference website similar to the one above, with slightly different customization options.

Here is what their home page looks like:

Now, let me walk you through some of the options they have on the left menu – Challenges and Timed Practice.

Challenges: (from the image above)

• Challenges always have 20 images in one session;
• It is awesome if you have an idea in mind of something specific you want to practice. Let’s say I’m not the best at perspectives; then I will select “Lying Distortion” to really practice more and improve that skill. Or Warriors – for some exciting action poses.
• Choose your own time interval (in seconds).
• Choose an option to show images upside down (also a great way to practice drawing!)

Timed Practice:

• Select the type (pose, face, hands, animals, landscapes, urban), gender, clothing and time interval.
• Choose how many images per session you want to draw (10/20/30/40).

I love this for practicing specific things – like hands! Truly great for time-limited practices.

In the Library menu, you can select an image to draw from without any time limit.

Note:   All images are copyrighted and are only allowed to be used for practice or inspiration. Do not use these images in your work unless it is so heavily modified that it is not recognizable anymore.

Get Your QP Certificate – you can register on the site and it will track how much time you spend figure drawing. Once you reach a specific threshold, they will issue a QP (Quick Poses) certificate for your time and efforts 🙂

It’s a nice little incentive for you to keep practicing drawing every day!

The certificate has a couple of stages: Beginner (10 hours), Improver (30 hours), Intermediate (70 hours), Advanced (200 hours), Expert (500 hours) and Master (1000 hours).

Other Features:

• You can share your work;
• Learn from some tutorials;
• Get their desktop App;
• Participate in competitions;

This website also has the ability to pause during your session. However, unlike Line Of Action and Sketch Daily the image disappears from the screen , and you can go back!

So you can’t really “cheat” and spend more time on one drawing. Which I find to be an awesome restriction to have.

4. Sketch Daily

Sketch Daily is a very similar figure drawing pose reference website to the two above.

It lets you choose between five main topics – Full Body, Body Parts , Animals, Structure and Vegetation.

Each category has specific customization options for you to select from.

Since we are focusing on Figure Drawing, the options we have here are:

• Gender: All, Female, Male.
• Clothing : All, Clothed, Nude.
• Pose: All, Action, Stationary.
• View : All, Front, Side, Back, Above or Below.
• Time: 30 seconds, 1-60 minutes or no timer.

Depending on your selection, the number of available images changes, and you can see it right above the “Start” button.

On the other side, if you pick all options as “All”, then there are (at the moment of writing this article) 1971 images available!

Now, that’s a pretty awesome library to work from! 🙂

The “Time” option works like the “time interval” in the Line Of Action website. So you pretty much decide for how long one image will be on the screen before it moves to the next.

As I mentioned previously, you can always pause an image and spend longer periods of time working on it (not like I’m telling you that you should).

Here is what the tool looks like when you choose all the options and click Start:

5. Posemaniacs

Posemaniacs is an invaluable resource for artists to practice figure drawing with anatomy in mind!

As you can see from the screenshot above, the pose reference images are not of real humans (though they have some), but of human muscle models !

You can go to the “Search” section and look through their full library of poses, and filter them by many categories, such as gender, action, mood, etc.

Their “30 Sec Drawing” section, offers a similar to other websites I mentioned interface options.

As the header suggests, it will randomly display 3D poses based on your chosen options.

• Interval: from 10 seconds to unlimited.
• Repeat number: 10-100 poses.
• Models: unisex, female, male.
• Difficulty: easy or normal.

And if you press the gear icon, there are more options, such as displaying grid, floor, shadow, texture, etc.

Also, if you open a singular pose, you’ll be able to rotate it and view it from different angles.

Even more impressive than that is the ability to apply different lighting scenarios to each pose and change between male and female-type muscles.

Extraordinary, don’t you think?

6. New Master Academy

New Masters Academy  is one of the best online course platforms for artists, in my opinion (check out my review) .

But it’s also a YouTube channel that, among other great videos, often offers 1+ hours-long LIVE figure drawing sessions!

• Long sessions.
• There are two views at the same time: a close-up shot and a full-body shot.
• Pose timer counting down.
• High-quality video.

I think it’s quite brilliant since you are NOT looking at still photographs during your practice, but a video recording of a living, breathing, human model!

These videos are an absolute treat for an artist, you can check out one example below:

7. CharacterDesigns

CharacterDesigns  is a growing collection of high-quality free references for artists.

All the images on here are under a Creative Commons License.

CharacterDesigns has a description of this license on their  About Page . In summary:

• Commercial usage is allowed with proper attribution.
• Selling the image as-is is prohibited.
• Redistribution for non-profit purposes is encouraged.
• Proper credit must be given, and taking credit for the work is not allowed.

They have many categories to choose from for your next inspired drawing or to practice figure drawing:

• Nude Drawing Photo Reference;
• Regular Clothes and Costumes;
• People and Events;
• Drawing-Painting Reference;

All of these have many sub-categories as well! I won’t list them all here, but you should definitely go and explore. I’m sure you will find many inspiring ones 🙂

The downside of this site is that there is no timer, as it is not an app but a gallery of photographs.

This can easily be substituted by setting your own external timer and sticking to it!

But what you get out of using this website – is a gallery of so many different events, people, costumes and even locations that you can practice from or use as an inspiration for your next piece.

It’s definitely one of my go-to places for character and costume drawing practice.

8. AdorkaStock Sketch

AdorkaStock Sketch is a web-based app, that is similar to the ones we covered in the beginning.

Images provided in there primarily come from the  SenshiStock DeviantArt Page  and are donated by the community.

Options to play around with: Pause/Play , Going to the next/previous image and Timer (you can set the time delay between 15 seconds and 30 minutes).

You can also view the pose on DeviantArt and ultimately download it, as the license for these images are mostly CC (you can read more about the license here ) or by clicking on the license icon to the right of each image inside the app.

Another awesome feature is the “Filters” option.

Their images are categorized under “Tags, “ and you can select which ones you want to see.

There’s also an “Options” menu with these options:

• Mode: Cycle – cycles images at a specified duration; and Class – cycles images with an increasing duration.
• Session : Quick-Standard-Chill (15-30-90 minutes)
• Duration : Choose the duration for the Cycle mode.
• Beep : a slight sound will beep for the last 3 seconds of a cycle.

Pretty awesome, right?

9.  Pinterest

Pinterest, as many of you probably know and use is an awesome platform for saving future ideas, inspiration and searching for answers!

But it could also work as a tool to practice figure drawing. 🙂

To use it, simply search for “figure drawing pose references” and a variety of images will pop up!

Or you can also follow some Pinterest boards that focus on figure drawing pose references so you don’t have to go and collect them all yourself.

One such board is “ Figure Drawing Pose References ” curated by me, where once every few days, I add a new photo for you to practice from 🙂

The only warning I will give you is this: please DO NOT redraw the image and sell it without permission from the model. Pinterest collects all sorts of images from different sites, and even though some of them will have these images under CC license, you shouldn’t assume.

So, do your due diligence and always check for the source of the image and the license that it is under.

To do that simply click on the image and you will be taken to a website it was originally pinned from.

Figure Drawing Tips – Free PDF

Hopefully, after going through the list you found a couple of tools you will enjoy using!

And to kick-start your improvement, I have a little freebie  for you 🙂

A FREE GIFT FOR YOU!  20 Best Figure Drawing Tips PDF! ( It’s part of my secret vault of art resources!)

It’s a 23-page PDF that you can print out, or just read on your device!

After reading this guide, you’ll be able to:

✅ Learn to break down each figure drawing into simple actionable steps.

✅ Think like a true artist who has a lot of practice with figure drawings.

Figure Drawing Courses To Become A Pro

After you have decided on the tools you will use, and grabbed my freebie – you might want to jump-start your art career by gaining the skills needed to become a pro!

And, you can do it in two ways :

• Learn yourself through A LOT of practicing on your own mistakes ;
• Learn from  someone else’s mistakes and save yourself a lot of time and frustration!

And hey, I’m all about self-education. But that doesn’t mean you can’t self-educate yourself with high-quality online courses!

Here are my top favorite online figure drawing courses :

Figure Drawing Fundamentals Course by Proko

Remember Proko?

The website full of free tutorials and a pose references pack we talked about in #1 ?

Well, they have this super awesome course geared towards just what you are looking for – Figure Drawing.

This premium video course includes extended versions of free videos, many examples of each lesson and critique videos. Videos are uncensored .

An example of work from one of Proko’s student BEFORE and AFTER the course  Total Runtime : 15 hours and 30 minutes

The course covers a couple of important topics you will learn :

• Gesture – the action, flow and posture a figure takes;
• Landmarks – a place where a bone is at a surface. Helps you find forms and measure proportions;
• Robo Bean – creating a representation of a body using box shapes;
• Shading – the course discusses in depth the highlight, half-tones, core shadows etc. to make your drawing appear 3D;
• The Bean – a tool you will learn to help you with foreshortening and twisting of the body;
• Mannequinization – a tool that will help you draw from imagination with volume and believable perspective;
• Proportions & Measuring  – Learn how to use Dr. Paul Richer’s scientific system of measuring an average person and apply it to your own work.
• Practice & Patience  – Develop a drawing schedule and stay motivated.

It also features:

• Extended Lessons
• Demos & Examples
• Assignments & Answers
• Critique Videos

Either you decide to figure all of it out on your own, or get serious and take a course – I wish you the best of luck on your path, and can’t wait to see your awesome drawings! 🙂

Related Posts:

How to Know if You Are Good at Drawing: Assess Your Skills

Is Drawing from Reference Cheating? Debunking Art Myths

What is Space in Art? 2 Types, Art Examples

18 Responses

Thank you for all your research.on the free sites.to learn from just started drawing 6 months ago.im really considering.university.i cant wait to see.how my art will develope. No color theory devloped as of .yet.i draw for4-6hours everyday 6 days a week.

Dear Aaron, It is absolutely amazing that you draw so much! And with that much effort put in, all you need now is some quality practices – and figure drawing is the perfect way to begin. I am sure that you will reach your artsy goals in no time 🙂 Keep practicing and enjoying what you do! Good luck, -Anna.

The absolute detail in this article 💖 2 months ago I saw this and started practicing from lineofaction.com, but now I’m ready to check the other resources.

Martin, I’m so happy that you started with one resource and now going for the others. It’s the best way to learn for sure. Keep up the good work! 🙂

Nelson, you are very welcome! 🙂

Great poses reference resource. I love the Proko because they provide high quality poses for drawing and they teach us in a fun way. other resource are also helpful.

Gaurav, totally agree! Everyone will find the perfect resource for them here 🙂

Great resource for artists, Thank for sharing

Excellent job on this blog! These figure drawing websites & apps ideas are great resources for ANYONE to PRACTICE figure drawing, anatomy, and gesture drawing.

If you remember me as “ladywitchscar” on Instagram, you suggest me to work on gesture drawing for proportion control and movement. I will use these ideas as tools for improvements. 😃

That’s so awesome!! Glad you’ll be taking the time to improve your gesture drawing. Good luck and have fun! 🙂

Croquiscafe is now at https://croquis.cafe/ as a paid membership site

Yes they are. Still, the YouTube channel is live and can be used for practice 🙂

two really good youtube channels i recommend is scyra and winged canvas they have lots of videos that really helped me improve

Thank you so much! I know all the comments are from 1-2 years ago, but I’m an artist and needed a LITTLE help with my figure drawing. So y’know, I went to the good ol’ search engine Google and this is what popped up. It was TREMENDOUSLY helpful and I’ve improved a lot from it!

Ava, so glad to hear it! Good luck with your figure drawing practice 🙂

Perfect!! Exactly what I needed, Thanks!

Glad you found a pose reference site for you! Thanks for reading 🙂

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• Published: June 14, 2018
• Updated: December 15, 2023
• Drawing , Human Anatomy

Hello and Welcome! My name is Anna, and I’m the owner of YourArtPath. Art is my passion! I graduated with BA Degree in Illustration and hope to share my love for art with you <3

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The Best Free Reference Sites for Artists

Draw from life thanks to these free resources

Whether it’s a quick pencil sketch or a 20-hour oil painting, using the right art reference can make or break a piece. Having a photo to work from helps bring a degree of realism that would otherwise be very difficult to capture from imagination alone.

So what exactly is an artist’s reference?

It’s simply any photograph, model, rendering or other visual that features the subject you’d like to draw or paint. An artist reference can be followed exactly, as you might see in a portrait, or loosely as a source for a pose or color scheme.

Some pieces might rely on dozens of separate references that are carefully combined together by the artist. It all depends on the vision you’re trying to bring to life.

Prefer your references in book form? Check out the Poses for Artists series!

When it comes to finding images to reference in your own art, it isn’t quite as simple as searching on Google or Pinterest. The majority of images on the internet are covered under copyright law and are the legal property of the original publisher or photographer.

That means duplicating the image for your own purposes could potentially violate their copyright and get you into trouble. 😬

Luckily, there are plenty of image sources out there that allow (and encourage!) the public to copy, modify and distribute their images for free.

Together these sites have amassed a catalogue of millions of images for just about any reference you could need. We’ve highlighted some of the best art reference resources below.

Looking to draw animals? Check out our list of the best sources of animal references for artists.

Pixabay’s massive library has near endless possibilities for artistic inspiration. With close to 2 million images, their catalogue covers just about every part of life on earth. Pixabay’s custom search function is probably the best on the list and a huge time-saver when narrowing down the results.

Graphic designers will also appreciate their illustration and vector sections too.

Unsplash has earned a reputation as the go-to website for publishers, bloggers and developers looking for professional images. Their community of over 200,000 photographers have donated millions of images across a wide variety of subjects.

Cities, landscapes, portraits and wildlife are just some of the amazing references available, all totally free.

Much like Unsplash, Pexels is quite popular among marketers and social media brands. Their enormous depot includes both images and video and is searchable by category, subject matter or curated collections.

One of Pexel’s best features? You can sort images by specific colors.

The Pose Archives

Hamish and Izzy are an Australian duo producing a highly useful collection of figure poses. Their DeviantArt page contains over 1100 images of reference poses for artists including facial expressions, props, dynamic lighting and more.

Their rules state that their images are 100% free for personal and commercial use as a reference.

Resources like this are particularly helpful because they’re produced specifically with artists in mind. These aren’t photography samples you have to re-imagine as figure poses, but ready-to-draw references with no other distractions.

If you’re looking for the work of other artists to draw inspiration from, look no further than Rawpixel’s public domain section. This free resource hosts thousands of pieces of art from the past few centuries that have become public domain. If you’d like to study Monet’s brushwork or reference Mucha’s art-nouveau style, Rawpixel is the answer.

Images are catalogued by theme or artist and can be used freely under the Creative Commons Public Domain license.

Photo Reference for Comic Artists

The name’s in the title for this one. If you’re looking for the wild, full-body poses that appear so often in comic books, Photo Reference for Comic Artists was built just for you. While most of their images require payment, their large sample section has hundreds of free pictures to choose from.

Weapons, costumes, extreme perspective and dramatic poses abound, making the site an ideal resource for drawing figures and characters.

CharacterDesigns.com

CharacterDesigns.com is the creation of Hong Ly, a concept artist and character designer who’s worked for major studios like Riot Games and Naughty Dog. The website launched in 2006 as a free reference resource for both students and professional artists.

Photo sets explore a variety of poses, lighting and clothing options including collections from the Louvre, conventions and even Monsterpalooza .

Line of Action

Line of Action is a unique art reference site in that it’s much more interactive than the other links. Their vast collection of free images are categorized by:

• Hand and feet
• Scenes and environments

Once you make a selection you can fine tune the results by choosing things like gender or animal species. The next screen shows a full screen reference photo based on your selection, just like a live art class.

Depending on the interval you selected you’ll get a new image every 30 seconds to 10 minutes, making Line of Action ideal for practicing quick gestural sketches.

Don’t let the grim name fool you – Morguefile is a great repository of free-to-use images that’s been around since 1996. The name stems from a term newspapers used to store their post-production materials.

Morguefile.com hosts hundreds of thousands of photos that are completely free for both personal AND commercial use. Unlike other reference image sources, Morguefile doesn’t exclusively host polished photographs from professionals. Many of their images are contributed from regular people and hobbyists and have a more raw and unedited feel.

Do you have a favorite free reference source for your art you’d like to share? Let us know in the comments!

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Create Poses for Drawing Reference in Seconds

Simple and powerful 3d model poser with a huge animations/poses library that helps you create pose reference for your art.

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Save time by using our huge library which is based on motion capture of real life humans, this will help you create a more accurate and dynamic pose reference for your drawings

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Export into various formats

Export into compatible formats for stable diffusion: Open Pose, Depth, Canny, Normals and Regular images

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Create the precise pose reference for your characters drawings with a big library of realistic and anime models and props

Works on everything!

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Checkout our premade poses reference library.

Our premade scenes will make it even easier to find and create scene for your drawing reference

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"I have no idea how I stumbled across your website, but honestly after playing around with 1 model, this might be one of the best 3D posing tools I've ever used for drawing reference."

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"...honestly after playing around with 1 model, this might be one of the best 3D posing tools I've ever used for drawing reference." - Jourdan Lasko

Dynamic Poses Reference

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If you have any feedback, questions, feature requests or you just want to say hello, feel free to contact us.

Top Drawing Reference Websites for Beginner Artists

1. pick the right website for your artistic level, beginner websites, intermediate websites, advanced websites, 2. consider the variety of references offered, portrait references, landscape references, still life references, 3. evaluate the quality of images, high-resolution images, medium-resolution images, low-resolution images, 4. check for interactive features, timed drawing sessions, customizable slideshows, drawing tutorials, 5. look for community and feedback options, community forums and groups, critique options, artist showcases, 6. assess the website usability, website navigation, website speed, mobile compatibility, 7. consider the costs, free websites, premium websites, subscription-based websites, 8. explore the website's credibility, user reviews, artist endorsements, website awards and recognition, 9. try out the website, trial periods, satisfaction guarantees, easy cancellation, 10. keep learning and practicing, practice regularly, learn from mistakes, explore new techniques.

Sharpen your pencils and clean your brushes—your journey into the captivating world of art is about to get a big boost. This blog post will serve as your guide to the top drawing reference websites designed to help beginner artists like yourself. These sites are teeming with resources that can deepen your understanding of different drawing concepts and enhance your skills. Whether you're sketching landscapes or practicing portraits, the right drawing references can make all the difference.

Art isn't a one-size-fits-all kind of thing. It's a personal journey that's unique to every individual. And guess what? The same goes for drawing reference websites. They're not all made equal and they cater to different skill levels. So, it's important to find a site that matches your current abilities. Let's explore some options.

If you're just dipping your toes into the art world, it's best to start with beginner-friendly websites. These sites provide simple and easy-to-follow drawing references that won't overwhelm you. They often include step-by-step guides and simple shapes to help you grasp the basics. Think of it as learning to crawl before you walk. So, don't rush into complex drawings just yet. Take your time, practice, and soon you'll be ready to tackle more challenging references.

Got a handle on the basics? Great! Now it's time to step up your game. Intermediate drawing reference websites offer more complex images and techniques. They'll challenge you to use what you've learned so far and apply it in a bit more detail. You might find yourself drawing more realistic portraits, intricate landscapes, and even some still life. It's like graduating from building blocks to Lego sets—more pieces, more detail, more fun!

Feeling confident in your skills? Bring on the big guns. Advanced drawing reference websites will test your abilities with complex and detailed images. Here, you'll find high-resolution photos, detailed sketches, and even 3D models. These sites push you to add depth, perspective, and realism to your work. It's like going from riding a bike with training wheels to doing wheelies on a mountain bike. But remember, everyone learns at their own pace. So, don't be discouraged if you're still at the beginner or intermediate level. Keep practicing, and you'll get there.

Art is diverse, and so should be your drawing references. Variety is the spice of an artist's life—it keeps your skills sharp and your work dynamic. So, look for websites that offer a broad range of references. This way, you can switch things up, challenge yourself with new subjects, and keep your drawing sessions interesting. Let's take a look at some types of references you should have in your arsenal.

Ever tried to draw a face, only to end up with something that looks more like a potato? Don't worry, we've all been there. Faces are tricky, but with good portrait references, you can master them. Look for websites that offer a variety of facial expressions, angles, and lighting conditions. This way, you can practice capturing a range of human emotions and features, and say goodbye to potato faces.

There's more to landscapes than trees and mountains. A good landscape can transport your viewer to a different place, evoke emotions, and tell a story. So, hunt for websites that offer a variety of landscapes from around the world. From tranquil forest trails to bustling city streets, the more diverse your references, the more dynamic your landscapes will be. Remember, in art, the world is your oyster—or in this case, your canvas.

Still life drawing is a fantastic way to practice observing and capturing details. From a bowl of fruit to a cluttered desk, anything can be a subject for still life. Find websites that offer a variety of still life references. These should include different objects, materials, and compositions. With enough practice, you'll be able to turn even the most ordinary objects into extraordinary pieces of art. Who knew that coffee mug could look so interesting?

When it comes to drawing references, image quality is key. After all, the clearer the image, the easier it is to pick out details and textures. So, does the website offer high-definition images, or are they blurry and pixelated? Let's delve into the various levels of image resolution and why they matter in your quest for the perfect drawing references.

High-resolution images are like a gold mine for artists. They're rich in details, textures, and nuances that can bring your drawings to life. You can see every wrinkle, every strand of hair, every glint in the eye. It's as close as you can get to drawing from life. So, prioritize websites that offer high-resolution references. Your detailed portraits and intricate landscapes will thank you for it.

While not as rich in detail as their high-resolution counterparts, medium-resolution images are still a solid choice for drawing references. They offer enough clarity to make out the main features and shapes, making them a good option for less detailed, more stylized artwork. Plus, they load faster and take up less storage space—a bonus if you're working with a slower internet connection or smaller device.

Low-resolution images may lack in clarity and detail, but they're not without their uses. For one, they're great for practicing basic shapes and proportions. If you're just starting out or warming up, low-resolution references can help you focus on the big picture without getting bogged down in details. So, don't dismiss a website just because some images are low-res. Remember, every pixel has its place in the world of art.

Let's admit it, learning to draw is more fun when you have cool tools at your disposal. Interactive features can turn a simple drawing reference website into a virtual art studio. Here's what to look for.

Ever heard of quick sketches or gesture drawings? They're a fantastic way to loosen up and improve your speed and accuracy. Websites offering timed drawing sessions let you practice this skill. You'll see a new reference image every few minutes, forcing you to capture the essence of the subject quickly. It's a bit like a workout for your artistic muscles—intense, but oh-so rewarding!

Imagine having a personal art tutor curate a set of drawing references just for you. That's what customizable slideshows can do. You can select the type of images you want—portraits, landscapes, still life—and set the pace. It's a great way to focus on specific areas you want to improve. Plus, it keeps things fresh, so you won't get bored drawing the same things over and over.

Even the best drawing references can't teach you technique. That's where drawing tutorials come in. Some websites offer step-by-step guides alongside their image libraries. These can range from basic how-tos for beginners to advanced techniques for more experienced artists. It's like having a drawing class right at your fingertips. So, why not learn as you draw?

Art is not a solitary journey. Having a community and accessible feedback options can make a world of difference to your learning process. So, what should you look for?

There's nothing like sharing your art and drawing inspiration (pun intended!) from fellow artists. Community forums and groups are excellent platforms for this. These spaces allow you to post your work, discuss techniques and ideas, or simply chat about your shared love for art. Remember, everyone's there to learn, so don't be shy about joining the conversation.

They say feedback is a gift, and it's especially true when learning to draw. Critique options on websites offer a chance for you to receive constructive feedback on your work from experienced artists or peers. This can provide invaluable insights into how you can improve your technique, approach or style. Remember, it's not about criticism—it's about growth!

Ever wondered how your work stacks up against others? Artist showcases on drawing reference websites provide a space for members to display their artwork. It's not just about competition—it's also an opportunity to see a variety of styles, techniques, and interpretations. You never know, you might just stumble upon your next big art inspiration!

Even the best resources would be of little use if the website is a hassle to navigate. When it comes to usability, here are some factors to consider.

Good website navigation should feel intuitive. You should be able to find the drawing references you need without going on a virtual scavenger hunt. The search function should be easily accessible and effective, and the categories or filters should be logical and clear. Remember, you're there to draw, not decipher a maze!

Nothing kills the creative vibe quite like a slow-loading website. If you have to wait ages for your drawing references to load, it's going to interrupt your flow. Ideally, images and pages should load swiftly, enabling you to move seamlessly through your drawing session.

Let's face it, we're not always at our desks when inspiration strikes. A drawing reference website that is mobile-friendly allows you to access resources anytime, anywhere—whether in a park, on a bus, or cozy in your bed. So, ensure the website you choose works well on a range of devices.

Before you dive into the endless pool of drawing references, it's important to keep in mind that not all resources come without a price tag. Let's take a look at the financial aspect.

Many websites offer free drawing references, and they can be a great starting point for beginners. However, the variety and quality of free resources can sometimes be limited. So while free is always appealing, remember that sometimes you get what you pay for.

Premium websites usually offer a broader range and higher quality of drawing references. They often come with perks like high-resolution images, exclusive content, and even personalized feedback. If you're serious about your art and can swing it, investing in a premium website might be worth the cost.

Subscription-based websites usually charge a monthly or yearly fee for access to their resources. This can be a good middle ground, offering better resources than free websites without the hefty price tag of some premium options. Just make sure to assess whether the subscription cost aligns with the value you're getting, and don't forget to check for any hidden fees.

When it comes to learning art, the source of your drawing references matters a lot. So, let's move onto how you can assess the credibility of a website.

One of the best ways to determine a website's credibility is to look at what other users have to say. Positive reviews often indicate a reliable source of drawing references. So, don't skip the comments section! Check out what other artists—both beginners and more experienced ones—have to say about the site.

If a well-known artist endorses a website, that's a good sign. It's like receiving a seal of approval from someone who knows their stuff. But remember, even the most endorsed site might not be the perfect fit for everyone. It's all about finding the right resources that match your learning style and artistic goals.

Awards and recognitions serve as another indicator of credibility. If a website has won awards or been recognized by reputable art institutions, you can be reasonably sure it's a good source of drawing references. However, don't let shiny badges and certificates distract you from assessing the actual content and usability of the site.

Once you've done your research and found a promising source of drawing references, it's time for the fun part— giving it a try! Let's explore some factors you should consider during this step.

Most reputable art websites offer trial periods, letting you explore their drawing references before committing financially. It's a great opportunity to check if the site's resources align with your artistic needs. Just make sure you're aware of when the trial period ends to avoid any surprise charges.

A satisfaction guarantee is another sign of a trustworthy website. It shows that the site is confident in the quality of its drawing references, and it's willing to stand by its product. If you're not happy with your experience, you should be able to get a refund or cancel your subscription easily.

Speaking of cancellation, this process should be straightforward and hassle-free. You shouldn't have to jump through hoops to stop a subscription. If a website makes it tricky to cancel, you might want to think twice before signing up. After all, flexibility is key when you're exploring different drawing references and finding your artistic footing.

Remember, discovering the perfect source of drawing references is just the start of your artistic journey. The real magic happens when you pick up that pencil and put it to paper regularly. Let's dive into some ways to keep your creative juices flowing.

As with any skill, regular practice is key in drawing. Set aside dedicated time for drawing each day, even if it's just a few minutes. Use your chosen drawing references as a guide, and don't be afraid to experiment with different styles and subjects. Consistency can make a big difference in your progress over time.

It's natural to make mistakes when you're learning to draw, and that's okay! In fact, it's more than okay, it's a vital part of the learning process. Each mistake is an opportunity for growth. So next time you draw a wonky line or mess up a shadow, don't be too hard on yourself. Instead, figure out what went wrong and how you can improve it in your next drawing.

Once you're comfortable with the basics, don't stop there. Keep challenging yourself by exploring new techniques and styles. Perhaps you could try your hand at pointillism or give cubism a go. This will not only improve your skills but also keep your drawing experience exciting and fulfilling.

So there you have it, a comprehensive guide to finding the perfect drawing references and making the most of them. Happy drawing!

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27 Art References Websites, Books And Tools for Artists

Art References are an Artist’s best friend. This is why I’ve compiled this post with over 27 resources for artists to use for their artwork!

Have you ever tried something new straight from your imagination, and the outcome wasn’t nearly as good as you pictured it in your head? I know I have.

This is why we as artists need to use Reference material and resources to improve our art skills.

For example, have you ever heard about a Saola? Well if you haven’t, how are you supposed to draw it if you never saw it before? Even if you saw it a few times, it may not be enough to create a good drawing from imagination.

P.S.: A Saola is a very rare bovine that lives in the forest. And it was only discovered in 1992! Pretty interesting if you ask me.

Finding the right reference material can be hard though, not only there are a lot of websites where the quality isn’t very good. But there are problems with Copyright , download and usage restrictions .

So here are the best Art Reference Resources for Artists that I could find around the web. Some also offline and extra info that you should know about using them correctly!

Most of these will be free (especially the websites listed) but I will also include some high-quality paid ones in case you want to invest a bit more in your art.

Table Of Contents

• 1.1 Unsplash
• 1.3 Pixabay
• 1.4 Morgue File
• 1.5 Splitshire
• 1.6 1 Million Free Pictures
• 1.7 Pinterest
• 2.1 Art Models 10: Photos for Figure Drawing, Painting, and Sculpting
• 2.2 Facial Expressions: A Visual Reference for Artists
• 2.3 The Nude Female Figure: A Visual Reference for the Artist
• 3 Art References of Anatomy
• 4 Art References for Poses
• 5 Art References of Hair and Hairstyles
• 6 Art References of Expressions and Emotion
• 7.1 Apps for Android
• 7.2 Apps for iOS (iPad, iPhone)
• 8 Anatomy Dolls and Art Mannequins for Referencing
• 9 Art References of Animals
• 10 Reference Photos for Landscape Painting
• 11 Reference Images for 3D Modelling
• 12 Art Reference Copyright – What You Need to Know
• 13.1 Different Types of Creative Commons Attributions
• 14.1 Don’t Copy References Exactly
• 14.2 Draw What You See
• 14.3 Exaggerate Your Drawings
• 15 Summing It Up

Websites with Free Stock Photos for Artists

I’ll list all the websites with CC0 so you don’t have to look for an attribution license for each photo you like.

Here’s a pretty big list of sites with free Stock Photos for artists and others.

Unsplash – I really like this one.

It’s one of my favorites to go to. Unsplash has about anything you can think of!

From people posing, to animals, to environments and a bunch of objects. If you’re interested in any of the above, do check it out.

I highly recommend it since it has a lot of photos, has a CC0 attribution and it’s simple (and free) to download.

You can also make a free account to “Collect” photos that you enjoy, saving them to your account.

Pexels – My second favorite website with stock photos.

It has a lot of diversity just like the previous one. One thing I particularly like about this website is that you can download the photos in specific sizes you want.

No need to download huge files when you just want a small one to reference and then have to resize them using some software.

Select one of the premade sizes or enter your specific one and download it! Easy to use, CC0 attribution, and completely free.

Pixabay – Really nice website with a wide selection of themes and subjects.

This one also has an option when downloading for you to select the size that you want.

One thing that I like about this website is the Related Images appearing at the bottom, when you select the image you would like to download.

This usually shows you a nice selection of other images that might interest you and that you could’ve missed otherwise. It’s also pretty easy to use, simple, and with CC0 attribution.

Morgue File

MorgueFile – Besides the somewhat dark name, this is a pretty great website!

From my personal experience, there is a mix of professional and amateur-looking photos around, so do browse carefully.

This is not exactly a bad thing though!

Sometimes is better to just get a pretty raw image of a subject to study them than a perfect image in a professional environment.

When this happens the subjects end up looking too “plastic” and not organic or natural.

They do not have a CC0 license, but they do have their own license. It basically says that as long as you don’t claim it as your own and don’t try to rent it or sell it (the original), you’re fine.

So if you’re an artist referencing or doing derivative work, you don’t need to worry about it.

Splitshire – Not as diverse as the rest of the websites, with only about 1.000 images.

The good part about it is that the great part of them have a nice professional quality. And you can find some odd gems here and there that you can’t find anywhere else.

They are free for commercial use, so you can use them at will.

I recommend this website mostly for cinematic landscapes and environments.

1 Million Free Pictures

1MillionFreePictures.com – Even though the photos here don’t look as professional as the other websites, there are some really interesting ones.

You can find meshes, patterns and general designs that you most likely won’t find anywhere else.

The website has been running for over 5 years and remains updated with interesting new photos, so do check it out!

Pinterest – A whole repository of photos that keeps getting added daily in huge amounts!

I’m sure you’ve heard about Pinterest before, and you’ve probably pinned a few things yourself. Maybe you even found this post while searching through Pinterest!

It really has a very, very wide selection of photos of subjects from environments to animals, people and much more. Simply search it and you will find it. Word of caution though, don’t try to create Derivative work from the photos you find on Pinterest.

Stick to using it as reference material and you’re fine. This is because the images posted on Pinterest range from CC0 all the way to CC BY-NC-ND. So it’s a whole lot of trouble to find out which pictures belong to which attribution.

I also have a lot of boards on Hand References, Male Poses, Female Poses, Dogs, Cats and much more. If you’re interested, do check out my Pinterest Profile at Don Corgi .

Let’s discuss more specific art reference resources for each subject and medium.

Art Reference Books

Some people prefer to see books than to search online.

One option is to grab magazines with the subject your drawing (like gardening magazines for flowers and plants, gymnastic magazines for poses, etc). The other is to simply get books for reference.

Here are the 3 top books that I recommend.

Art Models 10: Photos for Figure Drawing, Painting, and Sculpting

A really great resource for figure drawing, painting , and sculpting of the human body.

I particularly like this one since you have the option also to buy the DVD where you have 360 degree poses that you can rotate.

Facial Expressions: A Visual Reference for Artists

If you want to improve your drawing of expressions, this is the book to get.

Everything from smiling to dramatic expressions and crying.

A nice repository of photos from different models to learn to draw expressions better.

The Nude Female Figure: A Visual Reference for the Artist

A more specialized book for just the Female figure.

If you really want to get better at drawing the female figure, you have a very simple path. Buy this book and draw every single reference you find in that book.

I 100% guarantee that if you follow my advice on using references and gesture drawing , you will get a lot better in a pretty short amount of time.

Art References of Anatomy

I talk more about these further below, but do consider getting an Artist Mannequin to help you with your anatomy!

Even though a reference image of a person can be better to study anatomy, you can pose a mannequin much more easily. And it’s not as embarrassing to really get closer and checking all the details in the muscles, as it is with a real human being!

If you’re looking for a specific body part like feet, hands or noses, for example, I would recommend you to check out QuickPoses . You can also do a search through Pinterest for the specific thing you’re looking for. Remember to only use them as reference material and never as derivative work!

And if you really want to focus on drawing hands, check out my article on the Best Hand Reference Photos (with Resources!)

Specifically for Male Characters, I would like to share with you this Pinterest board that I’ve created for you. (and for me as well) – Male Anatomy References on Pinterest

And for Female Characters, I’ve also created a specific Pinterest board filled with different poses and body types – Female Anatomy References on Pinterest

Art References for Poses

If you’d like to practice drawing poses, this is the section for you.

Here are my top 4 websites to use to practice drawing poses:

• QuickPoses – lots of different images. A large number of options to choose from and one of the best things about it is that you can choose to show only images of hands, feet, animals and other specific subjects!
• Line of Action – Very easy to use and decent choices. You can choose to draw nude or covered models as well.
• SenshiStock Sketch – Done by one of the people with the most artistic stock photos on the internet. This is a simple tool where you can draw those photos in a timely manner!
• SketchDaily References – Based on the subreddit (sketchdaily), this is a great repository of photos that serve as a great tool to well… sketch daily!

Art References of Hair and Hairstyles

If you’re looking for specific art references for hair and hairstyles, there are a few different ways to go about it.

In my opinion, your best bet is just to go to Pinterest and search the name of the specific hairstyle you’re looking for. For example “Curly black hair”, simply search that on Pinterest and you will find plenty of photos to use as a reference.

Another option is to buy a book about Hairstyles on Amazon, like this one “ The Ultimate Hairstyle Handbook ” and use those photos.

These are usually high-quality photos and you can even try new hairstyles on yourself!

Finally, another option is to grab fashion magazines and use those as a reference. In my opinion, this is a great alternative if you already have fashion magazines laying around.

Art References of Expressions and Emotion

Besides the expressions book that I’ve mentioned above, there are two other ways that I suggest you get art references for expressions.

The first one is to, once again, search Pinterest . Simply putting “angry face” on Pinterest will show up a whole lot of faces that you can use as a reference.

The second option is to grab a mirror . Yes, you’ve read that right. Grab a mirror.

With a mirror, you can change your own face and get first hand a reference to use. There’s no substitute like it! This has been done for ages since the beginning of the animation era.

Best Art References Apps

If you’re looking for something “on the go”, an art reference App is perfect for you.

Apps for Android

There quite a few art reference apps available for android, with a bunch of them coming out each day!

Here are some of the best ones that you can use.

• Handy Art Reference Tool – This is a Paid app. What started as a reference tool for Hands, now also includes different Heads that you can rotate. A really “handy” tool that you can use to improve your hand and head drawings!
• Anatomy for The Artist – There’s both a free and paid version of this app. Great for drawing muscles and bones. Do give a try on the free version first and see if you’d like to upgrade!
• Gesture Practice Tool – If you want an app to practice some Gesture Drawing on the go, this one does the trick.

Apps for iOS (iPad, iPhone)

If you have an iOS device, there are art reference apps for you as well. Here are the two of the best ones:

• Handy Art Reference Tool – Same as above, perfect for drawing hands and heads! Even though it’s a paid art reference app, it’s quite worth the investment in my opinion.
• Magic Poser Art Pose Tool – This is a free tool that lets you pose your characters (and there are several different characters). Includes a variety of props to reference, a really nice tool, give it a try!

Anatomy Dolls and Art Mannequins for Referencing

Art Mannequins are an amazing help for an artist. I’ve talked about them better in this post about my Recommended Mannequins . Including a few specific ones that I recommend for different budgets, so do check it out if you’d like to learn more!

But in general, I highly recommend the Anatomy Figure Anatomical Reference for Artists by 3DTotal . It has a neutral pose and it has quite a big size!

Art References of Animals

If you’re looking for art references for animals, there are also quite a few options available to you.

QuickPoses if you don’t really care about the particular animal that you are drawing, this one is a great reference tool overall.

Reference at SketchDaily just like the previous website, this is also an amazing tool if you want to draw animals in general. You just don’t have the option to select which animal to draw.

Both sometimes have the same images. But you can still give them both a go and see what works best for you since there will also be different animals on each website.

Finally just search through Pinterest for the animal name and you’re set with loads of photos that you can reference!

Reference Photos for Landscape Painting

If you’re looking for landscape photos to reference for painting, there are a few choices.

You can simply search “landscape” or a specific type of landscape you’re looking like “mountains” in one of the CC0 websites I’ve listed above.

For example in Pexels .

Another option is to get magazines and books about landscape photography. There’s a lot of different materials that you can find!

Finally once again, Pinterest! Pinterest really is one of my favorite sources for finding good reference images.

Reference Images for 3D Modelling

Getting really good reference images for 3D Modelling can be hard. But I did find these 2 great websites that can really help you out.

• The Blueprints – is a great place to find specific blueprints that you can use. Pay attention to see which blueprints include side, top, front and back images. As you know, this is essential and when doing a good 3D Model, so it really should have all those images to help you. The downside of this website is that the blueprints are paid. So keep that in mind before you start drooling over all those neat blueprints that they have of cars, bikes and much more.
• Textures – In spite of its name, the textures website does not only include some handy textures for you to use on your 3D creations but also reference photos of animals, objects, and even Landscapes! So do check it out and enjoy this great resource.

Art Reference Copyright – What You Need to Know

When using photos as reference for your artworks, there are a few things you need to know.

Are you using it really as reference material, or is it a derivative?

A derivative artwork is when you grab a photo online of a child, for example, and draw it in your own style.

This is not okay to do (and not legal) unless you have the direct permission of the photographer that took the photo to use it like this. It’s also not very well seen in the art community to do so ethically.

On the other hand, using it as reference materials is perfectly ok. Using photos as a reference material is mostly when you grab several different photos of a subject and learn how to draw it through them.

For example, if you want to learn how to draw the Saola that I talked about before, you could grab a lot of different photos and study them .

Study the size of the limbs and the shape of the head, how long are the ears, etc. Then draw them several times until you got a feeling for the overall shapes and creature.

I know it can sound somewhat confusing, but that’s why there’s something called Creative Commons Attribution . This can help us artists a lot so we don’t need to worry about this so much. Let’s talk about that.

What is Creative Commons and How Does it Work

A Creative Commons copyright license is basically a tool that protects copyright owners and helps other people use their work fairly.

What this means is that when creators (photographers, artists, directors, etc) create something new, they can give it a specific copyright license to protect themselves.

There are quite a few to choose from.

Ones that other people have to link back to them, some that don’t allow any changes to their works and so on.

You don’t have to worry too much about which is used for what specifically in case you’re only using it as reference material.

But if you’re unsure if what you’re doing can be labeled derivative work, do pay attention to the attributions.

Different Types of Creative Commons Attributions

When visiting a photography website, or a repository of photos website, there usually is a section talking about the copyright attribution of those photos. This is usually under the F.A.Q. section, or something like “Legal”.

Let’s talk about the specific types of creative commons attributions that exist, and the ones that you should care about the most.

Word of caution, these CAN look like weird names and acronyms but do not stress out. I’m going to write these as simple as possible so you know exactly which does what.

• Attribution NonCommercial NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND) – This is one that you don’t want to touch . The only thing you can do with this content is to download it and share it with others. Saying specifically the source (where you got it). You can not use this commercially or modify it in any way (including derivative work).
• Attribution-NonCommercial ShareAlike (CC BY-NC-SA) – With this attribution, the only thing that changes from the previous one is that you can remix (in case it’s music) and modify the original creation . But you still can’t use it commercially and you have to credit the creator when sharing it around. Furthermore, you need to license it just like the original work.
• Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) – This is super similar to the previous one. But when you create a new (non-commercial) derivative work and credit the original creator, you don’t have to license your new work on the same terms. So you can create a derivative work and still share it and let others modify them, sell them and generally do whatever they want with it for example.
• Attribution-NoDerivs (CC BY-ND) – For us artists, this particular attribution doesn’t help us that much . What this attribution does is that it lets us download and share the work, commercially or not commercially, but we can’t create derivative work . So you can only download it, put a price on it, if you want, and redistribute it to other people. It doesn’t really help us that much.
• Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) – With this license, you can modify the work however you want and use it commercially, but it must have the same terms as the original content . What this means is that, for example, if you grab a photo, modify it and post it online, you must let other people do the same to your creation. This license has its uses, but not amazingly helpful either.
• Attribution (CC BY) – One of the most open licenses (but still not the most). Creations labeled with this attribution can be changed however you like, for derivative work or reference material. And, it can be used commercially. You can sell these without a problem. You must still give attribution to where you got the original content. You must write a line somewhere in the description where it says something along the lines of: “The original work this is based on was created by ‘John Doe’ at ‘johndoethephographer(dot)com’ “

Finally, we have the one that you really want to look out for, which is the CC0 attribution.

CC0 is the one you’re aiming for to be safe.

With CC0 there is a “No Rights Reserved” attribution and it’s open to the public domain. What this means is that you can download the photos or other material, modify it as you wish, use it commercially or non-commercially and you don’t have to credit the author. Amazing right?!

Still, a lot of people tend to credit the author for courtesy, but you’re not legally required to do so.

Using Reference Photos in Art

So now that you’re clear about which Creative Commons attributions and copyrights you have to watch for, how exactly do you use reference photos in art? (don’t worry, the reference resources are right below waiting for you!)

Here are some tips on how you can maximize using reference photos in your art.

Don’t Copy References Exactly

This isn’t about the copyright problem, this is about improving your artistic skill. Even if you have a CC0 image where you can just copy it outright and post it without credit, that’s not the best way to go if you’re serious about improving your art skills .

The best way to use reference photos and other material is to study each shape of the subject you’re looking at. Think about how they behave in the surrounding space. Is the head a circle or more of an ellipse? What does the overall lighting and shadows make it look like?

Try to consciously think about each of these things when practicing from your reference photos.

Draw What You See

It might sound too simple, but people forget about this.

Artists end up overthinking when drawing, and thoughts such as “A head is round”, “a horn is pointy” and the like, sometimes create a barrier in our drawing process.

Forget what you think you know and just draw what you see. Look at the shapes and draw them. Don’t overthink what they’re supposed to look like. Depending on the angle, lighting and many other factors, things change drastically!

Exaggerate Your Drawings

Use exaggeration to help you.

Instead of trying to, for example, do a pose exactly how you see it in a photo, imagine how you can make it better. How about widening the angle of the arms? Try twisting the legs and see if it looks more expressive.

And so on and so forth.

Don’t settle for what is right in front of you. Instead, consider new angles and opportunities from your references.

I could go on and on with these tips, but I’ve already written a lot of these in my complete Guide to Gesture Drawing , so check that out if it interests you!

Summing It Up

Now you know where to find everything you need to improve your artwork, get to it!

If you want a guided help, do check out my online drawing courses (specifically the one on Figure Drawing) where we go step by step in video format.

And if you’d like some exercises to improve your drawing skills, do read up on my Gesture Drawing Guide , it’s really one of the best exercises that I’ve done to improve my art.

Patricia Caldeira is the main writer here at Don Corgi. She's an art teacher with over 20.000 happy students across many platforms and courses!

Enjoy your stay and as always: Keep on drawing!

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2 thoughts on “27 Art References Websites, Books And Tools for Artists”

what a great post – thank you! I wanted share a site I found recently where you can download free 3D models of famous sculptures – I’ve been using it for reference quite a bit: https://www.myminifactory.com/scantheworld/

Hey Neil, thank you! Glad you liked the post and thanks for the recommendation!

Word of warning: While searching that website, I’ve noticed that quite a few of the images there can’t be used for commercial purposes, so be careful everyone.

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Drawing References: Images, Tools, Websites and Ideas

Having access to high-quality drawing references can help inform your work and inspire your creativity.

There are many different kinds of reference tools available online, from photo databases and stock photography sites to interactive 3D models. In this guide, find the recommendations for the best drawing reference tools, websites, databases and ideas for how to take your own unique reference images.

Disclaimer: Fine Art Tutorials is a reader supported site. When you make purchases through links on this site, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

Mannequins and figure drawing references

Mannequins are among the most popular choices for artists, as these tools allow you to study anatomy and human proportions in detail.

Buy US Art Supply Manikin

There are many different types of mannequin available for this purpose, including poseable models that you can bend into various positions and anatomical figures that include muscle groups and skin layers detailed right down to the bones.

Check out our review of the best artists’ mannequins for more information on these tools and where to find them online.

To better understand anatomy and how to accurately represent the human figure in art, check out our guide of the best anatomy books . Having a basic understanding of the science of anatomy, paired with a mannequin for reference, will take your drawings to the next level.

3D software drawing references

Magic Poser is one of the best apps to use for creating your own custom figure drawing poses and references. It also has a free web version, that allows you to use the tool to create an unlimited amount of realistic poses with the drag and drop feature. With the mobile app, you can use this tool to alter the lighting, type of model, perspective, angle and move the hands and head.

Stock image sites

Here are some of the best stock image sites:

Adobe Stock : Adobe Stock is a great resource for high-quality stock photos. It has a huge library of licensed photos that are easy to search and filter by keyword, colour, license type and more.

Pexels : Pexels offers thousands of high-quality stock photos that are totally free to use without attribution.

Unsplash : Unsplash is another great site for royalty-free stock photography, featuring a wide range of styles and subjects. You can download or share any image you want without attribution.

Make sure to look up the licenses for each photo you plan on using. Some stock image sites will allow you to use images and share them online without attribution and some will require that you give the proper attribution to the photographer when sharing copies of their image online. There are some stock image sites that don’t allow you to use their images for commercial purposes either, so make sure to check before using the image.

Best drawing reference photo websites

There are also many creative drawing websites and online communities where artists share their work and get feedback from others. These can be a great way to get inspired, learn new techniques, and connect with other artists from around the world.

For portrait and figure drawing, Posemaniacs is a royalty free resource for artists who want to study poses of all different kinds, from sports to standing and sitting poses. All figures show the basic anatomy of the human body, showing the muscle groups so you can represent the contours of the form realistically.

Line of Action is another great site that provides hundreds of practice tools for artists. Choose the type of model you want to draw then set the timer for each pose. This is a great way to practice gesture drawing at speed.

Life drawing references

Another great resource for artists is life drawing classes, where you can get hands-on experience working from real models and observing the nuances of human anatomy in action. Life drawing classes often take place at art schools or sometimes even cafes! Look up life drawing classes in your local area and take a sketchbook to track your progress.

Plein air drawing

Plein air drawing is a great way to get out and paint landscapes. It’s difficult, but rewarding capturing the scene before the light changes. Artists can achieve a brilliant sense of atmosphere when drawing plein air, that drawing in the studio from a photo just can’t match.

Some recommended tools for plein air drawing include:

Sketchbooks: A sketchbook is essential for capturing your ideas, thoughts, and sketches quickly on the go. Look for small, lightweight sketchbooks that won’t weigh down your backpack or make it difficult to carry around.

A pencil wrap: A pencil wrap is a great way to organise your drawing tools while you’re out and about. Look for one with plenty of pockets or compartments to hold all your essentials, including erasers, sharpener, pens, and brushes.

Graphite pencils: Graphite is a versatile medium that’s easy to work with and produces beautiful, velvety black lines. Recommended brands include Faber-Castell and Caran d’Ache. Check out our guide of drawing tools for more supplies recommendations.

Take your own drawing reference photos

Get a camera , or use your phone and take your own reference images. This is the best way to ensure that the images you use for drawing references are as unique as possible.

Whether you’re photographing your own still life setups or capturing scenes outdoors, make sure that you have enough light and are using a high-resolution camera. Avoid shaky or blurry photos, as this can make it difficult to work with your reference material in the future.

Some great tips for taking reference pictures include:

• Use natural lighting whenever possible. Natural light gives your images more atmosphere and depth than artificial light, which can produce harsh shadows and unflattering lighting.

• Capture a variety of different subjects, and scenes and photograph the same scene with different angles and compositions. This will give you plenty of options for both figure drawing and landscape drawing reference materials.

• Use a tripod to steady your camera and avoid shaky images that might be difficult to work with in the future.

Create a still life set up

One excellent and inventive way to put together your own drawing references, is to create a still life set up. Arrange fruits, flowers, vases or whatever you find around your house that sparks your inspiration. You can spend as much or as little time as you like creating a set up, but make sure to configure the lighting so that it stays consistent throughout your drawing session. Bright, daylight lamps work best to illuminate your reference, so you can see all the colours and details properly.

Drawing references from social media

For the most part, it’s best to avoid looking for drawing references on social media, whether that’s Pinterest or Instagram. This is because there are copyright issues involved with creating art that looks similar to other artists’ work, which includes photos, videos and artwork. Instagram is a great source of inspiration, but sharing work that has too much of a likeness with another artist’s work is a no go.

If you don’t have the opportunity to take your own photos to use as drawing references, look on sites that offer downloadable public domain images, get a mannequin, or mannequin software.

Wikiart for old master studies

Wikiart is a great source for finding historic paintings and drawings by old masters. Search their library of thousands of paintings and drawings and use them as references for your own studies. Grab a sketchbook, choose your favourite artist’s work and try to recreate it. It’s a great way to learn the techniques of the masters and improve your skills. All paintings that were made by an artist that has passed more than 90 years ago will be in the public domain, so there’s no problem with sharing your studies on social media. Wikiart has thousands of artworks by artists spanning centuries of different art movements , who use various different art media , from ink to graphite, charcoal and more. It’s the ultimate encyclopedia.

Edit your drawing references

When working from reference images, you have the option of editing your photos so that they look closer to the composition of what you want your artwork to look like. This means that it’ll feel easier when it comes to starting the drawing. This can involve editing the image to remove distracting elements or tweaking certain aspects of the image so that they match your own style and preferences.

Here are some ideas for how you can edit your reference photos to help realise your artistic vision.

If you plan for your drawing to be a combination of different elements that you haven’t managed to capture or find in a single photo, the next best thing is to stitch multiple references together. This can be done using the selection tool in Photoshop which works to isolate, cut and place sections of the image.

Use this technique to add an image from one reference into another, to change a background, or to swap the sky.

Colour grading or filter effects

Using a range of different filters and colour grading effects can really help to transform your reference image. You can choose from basic adjustments like contrast, brightness and saturation, or go for more advanced effects that simulate weather conditions like fog.

This will allow you to edit shadows and highlights that match the types of lighting you want to work with, and add a mood or atmosphere to your drawing.

Best tools for editing drawing references

Adobe Photoshop : Adobe Photoshop is one of the most popular image editing software programs on the market. It offers powerful photo-editing features that allow you to easily create high-quality designs from your reference images.

GIMP : GIMP is a free and open source image editor that is packed with powerful tools for editing photos and creating original graphics. It’s particularly useful if you’re working with limited resources or on a tight budget.

How to plan a composition from a drawing reference

You don’t have to copy your drawing reference down to every detail. The composition of your artwork will likely be much more successful if you plan it first, and trial several different compositions with thumbnail sketches.

To plan your composition from a drawing reference, start by choosing a focal point for your artwork. This could be the eye of a person, or the centre of an object. From there, draw simple sketches in small squares to map out how you want the different elements in your artwork to be arranged.

With so many websites offering downloadable images and sketches, you’re sure to find what you need. If you’re looking for something more specific, try searching online art communities or public domain image sites. And don’t forget that you can also edit your references to better suit your needs. Try using different filters and colour grades to change the mood of the image or remove distractions. With a little bit of practice, you’ll be able to create beautiful drawings from even the simplest references! If you’re looking to improve your drawing skills, read our guide on how to get better at drawing or read our comprehensive list of drawing tutorials .

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Oct 3, 2022

One of the most common questions I get is  “Where do you find inspiration for your drawings?” If you're an anime artist, you know how important it is to have great drawing references.

There are a lot of great websites out there that can help an anime artist hone their skills and improve their drawing by using proper references to practice. It can be hard to know where to find the best resources in the millions on website on the internet. Luckily, I've got you covered.

Here are ten of the best art reference websites that every artist should bookmark:

P.s. Some of them were recommended by our Discord member, Derchy! Thank you so much for the recommendation.

SetteiDreams

Reference website for character design sheet.

Setteidreams is a reference site for artists. It's full of character design sheets from anime! It's is a fantastic resource for artists looking for inspiration for their characters.

The site is full of high quality character design sheets from a variety of different anime, which can be a great source of inspiration for artists looking to create their own characters.

In addition to providing inspiration, SetteiDreams can also be a great resource for artists looking for specific information on how to create certain types of characters, props, costume. The website provides a wealth of resources of different character design in any anime shows, which can be incredibly helpful for artists who are looking to improve their skills.

Sakugabooru

2d animation reference shot for artists.

Sakugabooru is a great site for artists who want to improve their skills in 2D frame-by-frame animation. The resource on their website is well organized and easy to navigate, making it easy to find the right references for your needs.

The vast selection of categories means that you can find exactly what you're looking for, and the quality of the animation is top-notch. This makes Sakugabooru an invaluable resource for anyone interested in 2D animation.

Characterdesign References

Boost up your mindset with beautiful artwork and artist interview.

Characterdesignreferences is an excellent website for anyone looking for inspiration for their artwork. The website is full of beautiful artwork from many artists in a variety of styles, and also features interviews with artists to help boost your inspiration.

This website can help you develop a more positive mindset towards your artwork by providing you with insight from professional artists. If you're ever feeling stuck or uninspired, be sure to check out characterdesignreferences.com for a shot of creative inspiration.

Creativeuncut

Great source for game artwork.

Creativeuncut is a great reference website for game artists. You can find high quality art from popular games, as well as character designs and reference sheets to help inspire your own drawings.

There is also a large selection of official artwork from game developers and studios. The site is constantly updated with new content, so it's a great resource to bookmark and check back often.

Posemaniacs

Quick poses and human muscles free images.

Posemaniacs is a website that provides free pose reference and anatomy resources for artists. The site is useful for understanding the gesture and muscles of the human body.

The character poses are helpful for studying the human form and for creating artworks. The site is also useful for learning about the muscular system and the different muscles of the body.

This website is also a great resource for artists who are looking for reference photos of human faces. It is well organized and includes a large variety of reference photos. The photos are high quality and great for artists of all skill levels.

Human anatomy for artist

Variety photo reference for your character pose.

If you're looking for a real photo for gesture drawing, the Human anatomy for artist website is a great resource for high-quality reference.

They provide a large perfect reference resource of human figure photos in various poses including male and female model, and you can select the details of the model from their categories. This is a great way to get a realistic photo of a human figure for your artwork.

One of the great things about Human-anatomy-for-artist website is that it comes with a wide variety of both solo and group poses. This means that when you're creating an illustration with multiple characters, you can easily find the perfect pose to help you with your composition.

Human anatomy for artist also has a number of poses specifically designed for couples, which can be very handy when creating romantic scenes. You can improve your gesture drawing by using the good references from this site.

Online art resource for anime hand available for free

Hatoking is a great resource for drawing anime-style hands. The website provides so many images of hand poses that can be used for reference or tracing.

The poses are well-drawn and beautiful, making them ideal for studying and practicing. The site is a great resource for both beginners and experienced artists who want to study the hands.

Sketchdaily

Let's sketch everyday.

Sketchdaily is an excellent website for practicing your sketching skills. You can choose the topic of the photo you want to practice and use these photos to do the timed practice in sketchdaily. It's like you attain the life drawing session.

It's the best place to have drawing sessions and practice sketching from photos. The website provides many photos of subjects to choose from and the timer ensures that you spend a sufficient amount of time on each sketch.

They offers a variety of photo categories for artists to practice their skills. In addition to the human figure, they have animal and architecture photos as well. This variety allows artists to explore different subject matter and styles, expanding their artistic repertoire. Plus the photo collection are high quality!

Line of action.com

Great reference for drawing practice.

Line of action is one of many great reference websites for artist to practice figure drawing skills. The photos slide show is a great way to get inspiration for your drawings. The site is also have a forum where's a great place to find other artists to discuss and get feedback on your work.

The Line-of-Action also has a subscription model which is a great way to keep track of your art practice. For a monthly fee, you can have access to an ad-free access, more drawing tips when sketching, have more control of the type of images, and so on. It'll help you stay on top of your game.

Free and paid 3D warehouse for your personal and commercial use

Sketchfab is a website that offers collection of free and paid 3D models that can be used as drawing references. They have a huge variety of 3D models. If Unsplash and Pinterest is my favorite for 2D image free stock, then Sketchfab is my preference for 3D model.

Whether you're looking for a simple object to use as a reference for your character, or a more complex model to use for an architecture, Sketchfab is sure to have what you need. However, you may need to read their license agreement before putting them into your artwork.

BONUS: x6ud.github.io

Best website for drawing animal heads.

If you're looking for a website that can provide you with animal head references, look no further than x6ud.github.io !

You can select the animal type you're interested in, then rotate the skull in the 3D pane to get the head reference in that view. The website will provide you with reference image of animal heads in the same angle direction of the 3D you adjusted, you can quickly find the animal's head reference in your preferred angle. It used to be so hard for me to find the perfect wildlife reference. I can't find them easily on the search so this website helped me a lot.

BONUS: Female anatomy for artist

Best website for female anatomy references.

Female anatomy for artist is a website that full of great high quality photo references for female poses!

I really love this website because it helped me a lot when I want to find a reference to draw realistic female character. The website has a lot of different categories and poses that you can choose from, and the photos are all high quality and easy to access. I highly recommend this website for anyone who wants to improve their drawings of female characters.

Plus! You can also use the same method of x6ud.github.io on this website to search for the pose you want on the female anatomy website by adjusting the model to search!

In conclusion, these 10 websites are super great and they helped me develop a solid artistic foundation and much more. I wish the same to you and I hope you'll bookmark them and use them often! Do you have a website that you're loving? I'd love to hear about it! Let's tag me @lunarmimi in your IG stories and let me know your favorite list!

Finally, if you like art tips and content like this, feel free to subscribe to my weekly newsletter: MiMi Art Tips !

I share my anime art tips and experiences in my digital art career in a weekly email. You'll get the insight and behind the scene of the art career! Really recommend if you're a beginner anime style artist.  Click here to subscribe!

Thank you so much for reading this post! I really appreciate your visiting and using your valuable time reading my content!

Much Love 💖

Want to know how to start your anime art journey?

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11 Best Pose References for Artists: Top Figure Drawing Sites

• Last Updated: September 23, 2023

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Gathering references can be just as time-consuming as making the art itself. Fortunately, there are many handy figure drawing websites filled with free references you can use.

Art poses references have evolved significantly over the years. Instead of a few photos, you can have timed sessions or 3D models you can manipulate.

To save you time finding your next favorite resource, I’ve compiled some of the best pose reference websites below. Once you’re done, you’ll be on your way to more dynamic and exciting art.

Art Poses References Compared

Possible cons:, 1. figure drawing fundamentals course by stan prokopenko, 2. constructive figure drawing course by steven huston, 3. figure drawing books, is it okay to use pose references in art, how do i find the perfect pose reference, how to practice figure drawing.

Product Details

#1: Proko Figure Drawing Models

Best Well-Rounded Pose Reference

• Photography packs for independent study
• Daily sketching bundle for regular practice
• Dozens of figure drawing courses to learn the fundamentals like anatomy, shading, and more

#2: New Masters Academy

Best Advanced Figure Drawing Resource

• Provides courses and live critiques from famous working artists
• Offer timed figure drawing classes
• They have a 3D tool for in-depth studies

#3: Line of Action Figure Study Tool and Reference Photos

Best Timed Practice Tool

• The Timed Practice tool lets you choose different time intervals and ‘class-style’ modes
• Comes with a free newsletter and practical workbooks
• Helps learn the art of pencil weight, too

#4: Quick Poses App and Reference Images

Best Gesture Drawing App

• App lets you learn on-the-go
• Timed tool lets you customize your quick gesture sessions
• Fun Challenges section to spice up your learning

#5: Sketch Daily Drawing References

Best Figure Drawing Variety

• Offers a good variety of poses as well as animals and houses
• Allows you to toggle off NSFW photos if studying in a public space
• Generally high-resolution images

#6: Croquis Cafe

Best Online Live Sessions

• Offer live figure drawing sessions on Vimeo
• Separate their sessions into basics like foreshortening or short poses
• Few copyright restrictions on studies

#7: CharacterDesigns.com Artist Resources

Best Character Design Support

• High-resolution images that help with character-design goals
• Newly launched GG Academy offers diverse design courses
• Active community on Facebook and Instagram

#8: AdorkaStock

Best Updated Poses

• Regularly updated photo packs for fans of their work
• Well-lit, high-resolution photos
• Timed study tool

#9: Pinterest Figure Drawing Reference

Best Casual Gesture Drawing Experience

• Plenty of diverse photos for casual drawing
• Generally high-quality images
• Easy-to-browse tags

#10: Free Stock Photo Websites

Best Free Resource

• No subscription tiers
• High-resolution photos with free downloads
• Few copyright restrictions

#11: Figure Drawing Books

Best On-Hand Reference

• No Internet connection or subscription tier needed
• Classic knowledge from famous working artists

1. Proko Figure Drawing Models

With a classic approach featuring diverse models in different poses, Proko is a great place to start for beginners. The creator, Stan Prokopenko, seeks to make drawing fundamentals fun and casual.

• Perfect For: Beginner and intermediate
• Paid and Free photos
• Specialty: Gesture, shading, anatomy, pretty much everything you could want for figure drawing.

• A plethora of photography packs to use as a pose for artists who prefer to study independently.
• You can download packs specifically for action poses, casual poses, or a variety of poses.
• There’s a daily sketching bundle to make it easy to get your minimum practice in – it has over 2,500 high-resolution photographs with a variety of poses.
• They offer nude models to get you comfortable with lighting and anatomy – they also have clothed and armored options.
• Dozens of courses to help artists establish drawing fundamentals such as portraits, human anatomy, shading, and more – several of these courses revolve around figure drawing.
• You can supplement your knowledge with their Photoshop master pack – it offers dozens of brushes, smudge tools, and paper overlays to transform your pose references.
• The copyright usage is complex and lengthy but still provides several details on what artists can or can’t do with the references. If you are planning to sell your artworks, be sure to double-check the copyright.

Pose Variety: 5/5

Photo Quality: 5/5

Image Variety: 5/5

Course Variety: 5/5

Copyright License: 4/5

A little complex, but detailed on what you can and can’t use the images for. If you’re ever unsure, keep your studies for personal practice and don’t use them for professional work.

Check out Proko Figure Drawing Models to practice gestures in a fun and casual environment.

2. New Masters Academy

When you want more intensive figure courses and pose references, New Masters Academy provides a wealth of knowledge from working professionals. Their subscriptions offer everything from video instruction to reference images of a huge amount of different models.

• Perfect For: Intermediate and Advanced
• Paid Subscription
• Specialty: Pretty much everything you can think of – figure study as well as character design, VFX, storyboarding, and more

• New Masters Academy has a high pedigree – their instructors have working experience in animated films, AAA games, and teaching university students.
• A strong option for artists interested in a commercial art career – the ability to study from working professionals is priceless.
• Their courses come with an online library containing thousands of high-quality references that help you polish fundamentals like anatomy, lighting, and design.
• You can stream these art courses from the comfort of your home or wherever you’re traveling to.
• One of their standout figure drawing resources is their 3D model tool – this program allows you to manipulate the model to get the precise pose and angle you want before studying.
• They offer drawing sessions with a time limit.
• It is accessible to beginners and has tonnes of content suitable for intermediate and advanced artists due to its course variety.
• New Masters Academy has group coaching and live classes. Their group coaching sessions come in different tiers depending on how much feedback you need and whether or not you want to exhibit your work.
• Copyright license is long and complex (though still clear on what is or isn’t allowed). If you are planning to sell your artwork, be sure to do your due diligence.

Long and complex, but in a nutshell, subscribers are allowed to create derivative works from all the images. However, you can’t download or distribute these reference images.

Check out New Masters Academy to gain access to figure drawing courses and more.

3. Line of Action Figure Study Tool and Reference Photos

The human figure can be challenging to capture in a short amount of time. Line Of Action is a practical study tool that helps artists create dynamic figure drawings quickly.

• Perfect For: Beginner, intermediate, and advanced
• Specialty: Quick gestures, movement, and variety in subjects (people and animals)
• Their drawing tool prompts you to fill out basic information to create your ideal study session. You can choose between gender, age, and whether or not they’re clothed.
• You get to choose how long each drawing takes, such as thirty seconds, five minutes, or manual.
• Life Of Action offers a setting where all drawings can take the same length of time or you can simulate a class environment – their ‘Class Mode’ starts off with quick gestures, then eases you into longer sessions.
• If you sign up for their twice-monthly newsletter, you’ll get useful tips and industry news to inspire your craft.
• They’ll also send over a practice workbook to help you with pencil weight to create more naturalistic drawings.
• They offer sections on animals, still lives, and environments.
• Photographs aren’t as high-resolution as the other figure drawing websites above
• Low variety of courses – not ideal for artists who want to consider an art career

Photo Quality: 4/5

Course Variety: 4/5

Copyright License: 5/5

Check out Line Of Action Figure Study Tool And Reference Photos to work on your gesture skills.

4. Quick Poses App and Reference Images

The Quick Poses App allows you to study from your computer or from your phone. You can also gain a certificate after completing a certain amount of poses over a period of time.

• Specialty: Quick gestures, variety in subject matter (people and animals), on-the-go study
• You can obtain a Beginner certificate by doing sixty minutes per day for twenty days or thirty minutes per day for forty days. If you’re a little more experienced, their Intermediate course is even longer.
• Their certificates go all the way up to a Master level if you want to go all out with your figure drawing skills.
• Their Timed Study section lets you choose from poses, hands, and faces (as well as animals and environments if you feel like branching out).
• You can choose from different genders, clothing levels, and time intervals.
• Their Challenges section is enjoyable, letting you focus on different styles or poses like chiaroscuro or lying distortion.
• Poses are generally standing, bending, or laying down – good for starting out, but not very dynamic for intermediate artists
• Quality control is low – photos are sometimes grainy and low-resolution
• There are no courses other than a course-like certificate

Pose Variety: 3/5

Photo Quality: 3/5

Image Variety: 4/5

Course Variety: 1/5

Try out the Quick Poses App And Reference Images to do fast, simple drawing poses.

5. Sketch Daily Drawing References

One of the best-known pose websites is Sketch Daily, a website dedicated to helping artists overcome the fear of a blank page. The website has grown over the years to include more pose reference images.

• Specialty: Quick gestures, variety in subject matter (people, animals, structures)
• Sketch Daily helps you focus on drawing characters quickly and loosely – you can customize your session by gender, clothing, pose, and view (such as front or back).
• You can switch over to study animals, vegetation, or specific body parts – there’s a new section for you to study houses
• You can shake up your pose reference with jumping, posing, and relaxing models to get you comfortable with the human form.
• Generally, high-resolution and well-lit images make it easy to study smaller details for longer sessions.
• If you’re studying in a public space, you also get the option to toggle off NSFW images.
• Sketch Daily is a lean website, offering no courses or downloadable apps. This simplicity could feel limiting to illustrators who want many references, but appealing to beginners.

Pose Variety: 3/5 – the poses are simple but effective for establishing basics of standing, jumping, or laying down.

Photo Quality: 4/5 – almost all the images are solid. Not super high-resolution, but crisp and well-lit.

Image Variety: 4/5 – there’s good variety in ages and outfits.

Course Variety: 2/5 – there’s some variety in subject matter, but no true courses to speak of

Simple and straightforward, you can use your studies for personal or commercial use.

Check out Sketch Daily for daily access to timed pose references.

6. Croquis Cafe

While their YouTube channel is no longer active, this online drawing resource continues on Vimeo . They provide live sessions to help artists get comfortable with drawing poses.

• Specialty: Live model sessions
• Live online figure drawing sessions to replicate studying in the classroom – perfect for artists who travel a lot or can’t afford in-person courses
• All drawings you produce can be for personal use or commercial use.
• Varied sessions that focus on different aspects of drawing the human body – short poses, foreshortening, and more
• YouTube channel is no longer active – some artists might not like the more restricted format of Vimeo

You’re allowed to use your studies for personal or commercial use.

Check out Croquis Cafe over on Vimeo to practice drawing different models.

7. CharacterDesigns.com Artist Resources

If you’re eager to learn more about gesture drawing to create interesting characters, this resource is for you. CharacterDesigns.com provides several resources, such as full-body nude models and diverse photo reference sets.

• Free and Paid Subscription
• Specialty: Character design
• A wide variety of full-body nude and clothed references in high-quality poses
• Plenty of unique photo reference sets such as cosplay, statues, and maquettes
• Active on Facebook and Instagram – you can participate in free workshops or enjoy exclusive interviews with working artists
• They recently launched a character design course called GG Academy – these offer classes, live Q&A, and weekly critiques
• Some GG Academy classes are a paid subscription – their Bronze subscription offers the first class for free, however…
• Their classes are on a first-come, first-served basis – you’re not guaranteed to get a spot

Modification, redistribution for educational purposes, and usage for commercial work is allowed as long as you give credit back to the website. However, you can’t take any image and resell it.

Check out CharacterDesigns.com when you want to transform your pose references into dynamic characters.

8. AdorkaStock

Do you regularly use stock photos for pose references or gesture drawing? AdorkaStock provides high-quality stock photos separated into convenient sections – even better, most are free.

• Free , Paid Products , and Patreon
• Specialty: Pose reference as well as timed drawings
• The majority of stock photos are free – subscribers get first access to new photos, but these photos eventually become free, too
• Poses are separated into sections such as high angle, low angle, lying, or sitting
• They also have sections based on different objects, such as household items or wings
• Photos are high-quality – well-lit and high enough resolution to see smaller details
• There’s a useful timed feature where you can select a custom time
• Recently released The Fancy Foot Book – a print or .pdf resource on drawing feet
• No courses for artists who want additional classes on lighting, environment, or design
• Timed feature doesn’t have the option to choose between models or other elements, such as items or environments

Free for modification and commercial use as long as you credit the source. If for personal use, credit is not required (but appreciated).

Consider trying out AdorkaStock when you want a dedicated model who releases new images on a regular basis.

9. Pinterest Figure Drawing Reference

Artists who regularly browse Pinterest already have a good resource to choose from. Pinterest Figure Drawing Reference is a collection of images to help you practice high-quality poses.

• Specialty: Casual and professional photography, modeling, fashion
• No subscription tiers – everything is free to study and use
• Wide variety of models and different types of lighting
• Since Pinterest is an image-based website, photos are generally high-resolution
• Useful tagging section to help you find people based on details such as age, the type of pose, and the items being held
• Pins are updated on a regular basis to bring in new poses
• No timed drawing feature to practice fast gesture drawing
• Not a reliable source for nude models or new features like 3D modeling tools
• No online courses or live critique sessions for students

Pose Variety: 4/5

Some photos are stated to be royalty-free, but some are copyrighted. Use your discretion and, if in doubt about the usage rights, keep your studies personal.

Try out Pinterest if you want a low-stakes resource to practice gesture drawing.

10. Free Stock Photo Websites for Figure Drawing Skills

If Pinterest isn’t quite your style, there are several other free stock photo websites to choose from. These websites offer plenty of pose references for personal use and commercial use.

• Specialty: Portraits, models, fashion

• Several thousands of free images to help you practice clothing, poses, or expressions
• Photos are free for use with modification – just don’t directly copy the image and attempt to sell it as your own
• Pixabay photos are high-resolution and come with free downloads
• It can be difficult to find specific poses based on the sheer volume of photos and inconsistent tagging system
• Some photos are overexposed and grungy – not a good choice for studying lighting

• Strong variety of well-lit models in different outfits, poses, and environments – useful for gesture artists who want to go into character design or illustration
• Very similar website to Pixabay – ongoing contributors submit royalty-free stock photography for commercial or private use
• Photos are high-resolution and easy to find with elaborate tagging system
• Very few nude models due to stricter content guidelines
• No timed feature or 3D modeling software
• Sometimes tedious sifting through tags to find the content you want

• A very similar website to Pixabay and Unsplash – all photos are available for commercial or personal usage
• Photos are very well-lit and high-resolution
• Ongoing updates means plenty of content to fuel pose references
• Very few nude models

Check out Unsplash , Pexels , and Pixabay to try your hand at casual study sessions.

How to Get Better at Drawing People and Gesture Drawing

Drawing people is a challenge that’s easier with a strong resource on hand. I have several references to supplement your timed sessions and in-person study.

• One-Time Payment
• Specialty: Fundamentals of studying the human body (gesture, form, anatomy, etc)

Stan Prokopenko is the creator of the Figure Drawing Fundamentals Course on his website Proko Figure Drawing Models. While creating figure drawings can seem stuffy and unapproachable, he seeks to make the process relaxing.

• This course covers basics such as gesture, proportions, and shading.
• He also creates courses to help simplify complex concepts, such as the ‘the bean’ to help with foreshortening.
• Assignments help keep you on track, while assignment demonstrations give you visual aids to help with written instructions
• English, Spanish, and Chinese captions for multilingual artists
• 30-day money back guarantee after the date of purchase if you’re not satisfied
• Doesn’t have subtitles for other languages such as French or German
• Not all courses are free

Check out Stan Prokopenko’s Figure Drawing Fundamentals Course if you prefer a class mode with your gesture drawings. We also reviewed this course to give you an idea of what to expect.

If you’re a complete beginner and are seeking the simplest possible drawing course, Steve Huston has a solution. His course assumes you have no prior training and builds up your knowledge as simplistically as possible.

• Extremely beginner-friendly with several workshops on drawing basics – gesture, hands, feet, shading, and more
• Courses are separated by different levels as you progress in skill
• Artists will learn different mediums such as pencil, charcoal, and conté crayon
• Live classes and coaching are available to practice further
• Each course provides closed captions
• No timed feature for fast drawings

Check out New Masters Academy’s Constructive Figure Drawing courses. You can also see our thoughts on the courses before committing.

There are plenty of figure drawing books with high-quality photographs to help you draw the human form. I have a few books that have stood out to me over the years.

Figure Drawing: Design and Invention by Michael Hampton

• Created by an artist with several years of experience – he’s taught workshops at leading media companies such as Blizzard and Lucas Arts
• Practical instructions that show plenty of examples on breaking down a figure’s basic anatomy, pose, and expression
• Useful for both beginners and more experienced artists
• Some artists may still prefer in-person study or 3D tools to help them understand the human form
• Not much photography

Figure Drawing For All It’s Worth by Andrew Loomis

Famous illustrator Andrew Loomis has several decades’ worth of experience in this figure drawing book. This useful resource simplifies the figure by focusing more on form and shape than anatomy.

• Very beginner-friendly – doesn’t dive too deep into muscles or bones in favor of form
• Helpful for learning how to stylize the figure as well as draw it realistically
• Practical and interesting information by the author that will get artists excited to learn
• Difficult to find an affordable copy
• Some artists may prefer more detailed explanations of muscle and bone structure

Figure Drawing For Artists: Making Every Mark Count

This book acknowledges that some artists walk away from figure drawing courses confused and disheartened. If you’re a beginner worried about getting started on the right foot, Figure Drawing For Artists will help you establish fundamentals well.

• Beginner-friendly – this book is especially approachable for people who start their journey later in life and worry they ‘don’t have talent’
• Breaks down fundamentals such as gesture and structure with classical art examples as well as contemporary art styles
• Methods are frequently picked up by budding animators
• Artists who don’t want to paint may be less interested in the book’s classical painting background

Frequently Asked Questions

Absolutely. Even the most experienced artists will use a pose reference (or two) in their art. As long as you don’t copy directly (which could violate terms of use), references will help you craft natural poses or expressions .

Many useful websites have pose references for you to choose from, such as Proko, AdorkaStock, Pixabay, or SketchDaily. These sites sometimes have drawing packs you can purchase or tags you can browse through to find your perfect pose.

Practicing figure drawing is easier when you have useful tools on your side. You can use timed tools on stock photo websites or take online courses. If you want more strategies and techniques, check out our article on how to practice drawing .

Related posts:

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• The Top 10 Best Online Art Classes Worth Paying For In 2024

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Drawing reference websites

There are a lot of different drawing reference websites artists use to improve their drawing skills or create another illustration. Today I will talk about 5 best drawing reference website I found online.

1. Quickposes.com

Quickposes.com is one of the best drawing reference websites out there. You can do a lot of different timed practices, just like hands, poses, animals, feet or landscapes. To be more precise, you can also pick the gender and naked or with clothing references.

You can determine how many images to show in one practice, and how much time you need for one drawing.

What I like the most about quickposes.com is that you can make a timed practice about precise body parts like women/men hands, because there are a lot of artists struggling with it. Me too.

2. Pinterest.com

If you like more creative and modern poses – Pinterest is something for you. It is a preferred drawing reference wesbite of many artists, because of how easy it is to find what you are looking for.

I  really like using Pinterest, because it already gives you the sphere and style in most of the pictures. You don’t only learn the anatomy, but also get inspired and find interesting illustrations.

3. Line-of-action.com

The feature that makes line-of-action different is the faces and expressions tool. You can learn drawing different expressions like sad, happy, angry surprised or goofy, which is a fun and handy option. Bit has also feet & hands, animals and poses practice. There is a lot to learn form at this website, you can also go to a forum or read some interesting posts about references.

4. Terawell.net – Design Doll

This is a program you can download on your PC. You can choose a free or a payed version of  Design Doll , although the free version has almost the same options as the $79 one.

Of course, there are a lot of pros and cons of this program. The biggest advantage is that you can create any pose you want, which can save you a lot of time you would need to find a perfect reference for your vision. But unfortunately, you will not get a 100% realistic and anatomy correct pose out of it. Even with the most realistic proportions, the 3D cluster of polygons still can’t replicate the layers of flesh and muscle of a real human body.

It may be not the most reliable pose reference tool, but it is sure a different and unique one so I decided to share it with you anyways. I hope some of you will like it.

Drawing references webites.

5. Onairvideo.com/photo-archive

On website onairvideo.com there is a big drawing reference catalogue available for free. Those photos are mostly naked models in a lot of different poses and pretty minimalistic backgrounds.

The poses are often really difficult, which is a great exercise for people with a little more drawing skills who want to improve more and more. Also beginners can try to draw those poses, it is always okay to set the bar higher.

Other useful drawing references links:

http://reference.sketchdaily.net/en

http://www.posemaniacs.com/

https://www.clipstudio.net/en/promotion/trial_tour/017/

http://www.eggazyoutatsu.net/eng/atarichanDrawer.html

https://unsplash.com/

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93 thoughts on “5 best drawing reference websites”.

Very good post. thanks for sharing.

I don’t know why you did not include easydrawingart.com in this list. I often draw with their lessons, and I think there is nothing simpler and more beautiful.

um all of this is for money and one can harm your computer

Jenna you’re an idiot you can only get your computer harmed if you DOWNLOAD harmful files not browse websites lmao

Jenna pinterest is litterally free wha the hell are you on

Dont be so rude

“Jenna you’re an idiot you can only get your computer harmed if you DOWNLOAD harmful files not browse websites lmao”

That’s not true, there are scripts that can harm your computer/user…but now days modern browsers are safer because they do not use legacy plug-ins like flash and activeX.

But I had no problem with these links. 🙂

Pinterest is full of stolen images with no artist credits, so its really not a great resource for artists drawing their own works. I’m surprised to see it here.

Thank You Ivan I didn’t Even Knew About That Website

This comment thread is funny

THANKS for all this, Ever since Croquis Cafe went behind a paywall I’ve been a bit stuck. Not now – tried sketchdaily and its great if odd at times: some posed “models” look strange and there’s a nice lot of historical poses.

ya’ll are funny, thanks author for the websites

Ty Ivan and uh Jenna how’s the family going?

LMAO THE COMMENT THREADS

Why does this comment section remind me of tumblr posts?

lmao Jenna will never know that she started it

Okay thank you Ivan for the Easy Drawing link- and wooooow, poor Jenna- lmao reading this thread made me laugh really hard

Ayo all I was tryna do was find a few websites to help me with my art and yall had to distract me with this Jenna thread lmfao

I died with the name “everyone Is hating jenna but no one thanked ivan” ??

YALL THIS IS TOO FUNNY

Yall funny asf

plsss wtf is this thread ?

Thanks for the link Ivan

THANK YOU IVAN Also this isn’t a very good post is it

God dammit Jenna

Jenna that wasn’t very swag of you

that wasn’t very cash money

came here for the websites, stayed for the comment section ?

great resource for drawing and 3d modeling students. I love line of action and sketch daily reference because of simplicity and high resoultion posed male and female models that are great for practice anatomy and drawing.

http://reference.sketchdaily.net/en here’s this if you wanted poses. it looks super sketch but it’s really good if you want a specific pose to reference

thank for giving a good services Home Painting Services

Umm guys..who’s Jenna?

im just here to learn how to draw, why is everyone hate jenna HAHAHA

ITS (DOES) IM SORRY

And now im here wondering, how’s life for jenna(2020) and ivan(2019)?.

poor jenna ?

Onairvideo is not free you need a membership for the passwords to use any of the reference.

just just just no

Y’all istg this comment thread ???

OH RIGHT I ALMOST FORGOT. THANK YOU IVAN ??

i am the real jenna here. im going to steal ALL your teeth if you dont stop hating on me

The comments

I CALL IT ” BRO JENNA THO ” its beautiful i know

Excluding Pinterest all the other websites are good to go.

this is to much its literally just drawing websites

welp thanks Ivan

Around the world

Around the WOOooorld

Around the woORLLdD

Jenna you get out if this >:(

LMAO the comments. I was just looking for references and saw this XD

great resources for drawing students.

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Reference websites are now gems in this pandemic time, many artists can’t go to classes to practice with real models. With that thought, I have also checked the internet for a variety of reference websites for our artists.

I have a few reference websites that you have on the list, but also a few others.

I have noticed that for figure drawing is easy to find on websites, but wildlife reference is very hard.

My list of reference websites for artist.

He’s a semi-aquatic, egg-laying mammal of action!

I think Jennas life’s been ruined

For you opinoun

why do you need to be a hater of someone in a comment section? also thank you for the sites, very useful.

im dying of laughter rnnn

Lmao, the fact that this all started from Jenna talking about websites harming your computer

Yall are so mean fr fr

Try out https://setpose.com it also has a bunch of free reference poses

we facetimed jenna at 3 am!!!!! (not clickbait) [gone wrong] i almost died!!!

Jenna face-times us, no click bait!! Murdered entire family, I cried… Please subscribe, this was a very hard video to make and make sure to smash that like button

just saying

HELP I WAS LOOKING TO SEE IF THERE WAS SOME WEBSITES NOT LISTED ON HERE BUT THEN I SEE THIS THING ABOUT JENNA ??

stop hating Jeena

I’m just hear for the “thanking Ivan” subplot. Man got like no screen time tho.

Ngl I’m just here for the “Thank you Ivan” subplot

This is the best comment section ever

You guys, it’s been 3 years!

jenna ur sooo done lol

THIS COMMENT THREAD MADE MY DAY HELPPPPP

…………

Damn! This Jenna thing has been going for 2 years now. Y’all are just not gonna let it go huh. Man… I kinda feel bad for Jenna lol. It’s almost September, I wouldn’t be surprised if this Jenna thing went on for another 2 years or more lmfao.😂

WOW THIS REALLY HELPED ME! THANK YOU

ohhhh Jenna Jenna Jenna… what are we going to do about Jennaaaaa… lol I just remembered Jax’s song, “Victoria’s Secret” and I’m like, “Jenna? oh yea, she was made up by a dude. Like really, she’s a dude.”

these comments made me crack up thanks author

I came here for reference sources but this thread is so funny xD I’m quite sure that Jenna even never visited this site again.

ITS BEEN 3 YEARS AND YALL STILL MAKING FUN IF JENNA HELP-

it’s okay jenna we love you don’t listen to the haters

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10 Free Websites for Portrait Reference Photos

• by @eloiseedgington

Discover these free websites offering a range of portrait reference photos and take your illustrations to the next level

Studying the shapes, lighting, proportions, and details of real-life models is one of the best ways to practice your drawing skills. We can also rely on photographs, which is often a more convenient way of working with different subjects.

This is especially the case when it comes to portrait drawing . If you find good photo references, you’ll have a continuous stream of inspiration that allows you to practice drawing faces with a range of unusual features. We have compiled this list of the best reference photo websites for sourcing different faces so you can become a portrait artist.

LIFE Photo Archive

If you would like to focus on drawing notable faces from history, this archive created by LIFE magazine (and developed together with Google) offers up millions of photographs. It contains material from key moments in politics and entertainment, all of which have been shot using incredible lighting and interesting angles. This collection is limited to non-commercial use.

Portraits from Pexels

This popular stock photo site has a collection of more than 10 thousand portraits. You can search by categories, such as models, men, or women. Most of the portraits have an editorial feel, which you might find useful if you are planning to add color and texture to your drawings.

Mark Michaelson Collection

This is, without doubt, one of the most interesting websites on our list. Photographer Mark Michaelson has collated a collection of photos taken of people when they were arrested. You will find peculiar faces with often moving or surprising expressions.

Folio Montreal

This fashion website offers a great range of faces, featuring editorial portraits shot by well-known photographers, which feature hundreds of different models. This resource is great for drawing the same person making different expressions, or practicing front, profile, and three-quarter views.

This Person Does Not Exist

Some may find this website disturbing. Every face that appears on this website has been created by artificial intelligence that was developed by Nvidia researchers. You will likely find it surprising just how realistic each portrait seems, despite being generated by an algorithm. To see a new portrait, just refresh the page. You will also find information about how the site works.

Portraits on Freepik

This popular site of diverse design resources has a collection of more than 1.3 million portraits. You can select different categories to filter your results, such as gender or age. Be warned that a lot of the portraits available on this website are your typical stock-style images: in other words, the poses and expressions are not very natural-looking.

This website is a Flickr search engine. When you enter search terms, you'll bring up all the images that have been uploaded with those tags. Searching for the word “portrait” returns more than 2.4 million results. Click on each image to discover its usage rights.

This is a search engine for Creative Commons-licensed images. When you search for the term “portrait,” you will bring up more than 10,000 images. Each image includes information about the usage rights. You can filter your search results by source, aspect ratio, author, etc, using the menu on the left.

Portraits on Unsplash

The artistic styles of the work shared on this platform are what make it stand out. In Unsplash’s collection of portraits, which can be used in exchange for a credit, you’ll find interesting images and collections shot mainly in black and white by specialist portrait photographers. If you use the advanced filters, you can search the collection by age, gender, and much more.

Having explored a wealth of portrait references through these free resources, the next step in your artistic education awaits. Our portrait drawing courses at Domestika , crafted by experienced educators, offer an amazing learning experience in the art of portrait drawing.

You may also like:

– How to draw a face – 5 Resources to Create Beautiful Photomontages –  Tutorials on how to start a portrait drawing

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Hello Dan sir i want to know where is the old man's photo that lesson's name is exaggeratig life

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The Most Popular Pose References for Artists in 2024

By Iva Mikles  •  Artist and Illustrator

Updated: 6 Jan 2024  •  Artist Resources » Artist Guides

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In this useful guide, you will get the best pose reference websites, apps, and books for artists to help you draw or learn to draw humans in various poses and practice gesture drawing.

The Most Popular Pose References

Proko.com (pose reference library).

Learn from the Masters of Anatomy and Poses.

Awesome library of pose reference photos for a reasonable price! High-resolution photo references - each pack contains hundreds of images.

Proko.com – a fully professional resource center for pose references and so much more, and one of the finest online art education programs going – highly recommended!

Get it here: Proko Photo References

Books on Poses for Artists

By Justin Martin

PoseMy.Art (Online Figure Posing App for Artists)

Pose My Art – a useful configurable mannequin that is far more realistic and fully realized than most and can help you get to pretty much any pose.

MagicPoser – 3D Characters for Creators

Magic Poser – a valuable free resource for any artist!

If you are looking for the best male pose references, the best female pose references, the best pose references for older people, young adults, teens, or children, for various body types, looks and styles, ethnicities, and even attitudes, these sites will have you covered. 

So let’s get into it with my list of the best pose reference resources for artists on the market today!

Join me in the class, where I take you through the journey of designing characters using simple shapes, so you get more comfortable and have a solid starting point when drawing characters for your illustrations.

Online Class

Get comfortable and confident when drawing character poses and gestures

Best Pose Reference Websites in 2024

Proko .com – pose references and anatomy tutorials for artists.

As I’ve already said, this is my favorite modeling pose reference website, period, paid or free – and the one I strongly recommend.

It is also a brilliant site overall, with not just pose references but great, well-designed, and well-taught courses on all aspects of making art, a healthy online art community, and much more.

But we’re here for the pose references, and I have to say that Proko’s pose packs – individually priced for download – are fabulous! They are extremely well shot, high resolution, clear and useful, and each pack contains hundreds of images.

The individual pack prices are quite low considering the quality, usefulness, and range of images.

And the same is true for the courses themselves, which focus on the basics, are taught by a wide range of great teachers, and cover all of the most important (and all of the most popular) subject matter. Especially excellent are courses on human form, anatomy , and portraiture – which again relates directly to why we’re here – but all of the classes, and all of the resources, are great, and I can’t recommend Proko highly enough!

BodiesInMotion .photo – Photographic Pose References, Motion Sequences, 3D Scans, Artworks

Scott Eaton’s Bodies in Motion is one of the best art resources I have ever found, an absolutely beautiful website, and truly premium service.

With high-resolution motion images of different models, incredibly detailed 3D scans, and beautiful artwork, this is among the best sites on the internet for artists, animators, illustrators, and more.

This is or at least should be considered a paid service. Yes, there are free images, but for example, you can access 36 motion sequences and something like 670 motion sequences with your subscription.

Same with the stunning 3D scans, of which 22 are accessible for free, but a whopping 450 for paid users.

That said, the full (non-commercial) plan is less than a hundred dollars for a year, and given the superb quality of these images and their usefulness to any artist, this is a bargain. I would almost call Bodies in Motion a must-have for serious art students, working commercial artists, fine artists, and studios.

Artist-Reference – Pose Reference Photographs & 3D Scans

Artist’s Reference is just a simple home page/starting point, which leads to at least six different and highly useful libraries of art reference images:

• Female Anatomy for Artists
• Human Anatomy for Artists
• Photo Reference for Comic Artists
• Human Photo References
• Environment Textures
• HDR Skydome

The first four of these sites apply directly to what we’re talking about here – the best pose references websites – but all six are quite valuable to pretty much any artist. And with beautiful quality, high-resolution photographic images, and superb 3D scans, all very well organized and easily accessible, the sites are even more valuable still.

This is not the cheapest premium service, but it is one of the best, and for working artists or art studios – not to mention art students – it is a great investment and one you might use a lot more than you realize.

AdorkaStock – Pose Reference Photographs

This fascinating site focuses on what we might call “normal” human form – this is probably not the right phrase because many of their bizarre, non-traditional, and fringe models and poses are far from mainstream conceptions of normal. I mean more that you will not find any idealized “supermodel” beauty here, only human form as it exists in the real world.

You can either check out their free pose references for artists images on Deviant Art or their own web app – www.adorkastock.com/sketch .

With timed sequences, the app page is great at grasping the spontaneity of gesture drawing and rough sketching, but the photos can be paused or non-timed for specific reference work and detail.

You can specify different poses and elements, timer duration, cycle, or class mode (which simply changes the type of timer) and keep track of your favorite images and personal goals by opening a free account.

Not the largest set of free pose references for artists images (there are far more available to premium members), and many are shocking to the faint of heart.

I have to say that this site is not just very useful but quite endearing, and I recommend it. And again, you can also check out their images on Deviant Art at the address above.

PoseMyArt – Online Figure Posing App

This website, which features a lifelike, poseable human avatar, is amazing!

First of all, it is free pose references for artists app – I keep waiting for a pop-up to tell me that my time has run out or that this or that particular pose is not free, but no. I don’t even see a link for donations.

And it is very, very useful. Many say these poseable mannequin apps or sites are not very usable, realistic, or good models for drawing and painting. It is often true that the figures don’t have a clear or accurate depiction of musculature or real human shape.

But, as we’ve already talked about, mannequins – whether physical or virtual – are great for poses, especially balance and space, line and flow, gesture and energy.

And the mannequin on posemy.art is quite nice – fully rendered and lifelike, and an excellent model for artists. With the ability to pose, scale, change lighting and perspective, and add other models and even other images from your library, this is a very advanced web-based app – and it’s free pose references for artists app!

JustSketchMe – Pose Reference Digital Mannequin

Just Sketch Me is a web-based application that allows you to pose and configure a digital mannequin.

It seems very similar to Pose My Art (listed above), but I would recommend the latter – PMA – over Just Sketch Me. Still, there is value here.

The main issue is that the Just Sketch Me web app is a wee bit buggy – at least on Chrome. It seems designed to be run on the Microsoft Edge internet browser and often does not even load in Chrome (I did not try it on other browsers).

There is also a free downloadable app, but it requires Edge to be installed, even when working offline, so in the Windows world, this isn’t optimal – especially for people who have tried so fervently to avoid Microsoft Edge and keep it off their computers.

It is better going in the Apple world, though, and Just Sketch Me is, on either platform, a nicely designed system. There is also a premium version, although you don’t get much more for your money, and I suspect most people stay with the free pose references for artists edition.

CharacterDesigns – Model Photographs

Character Design is a great website for comic book, cartoon, graphic novel, and animation/anime artists, as they focus on outfits , weapons, cosplay, and other costumes and characters.

It is a little hard to navigate the site, and I wish there was a clear and complete set of menus and an inventory of available images. If you are willing to take the time to search and browse, you will find some brilliant images and some really useful pose references here.

Deviant Art Online Art Community

• URL: www.deviantart.com
• Type: Various – Online Art Community

Honestly, I wasn’t even sure if I would include Deviant Art here – yes, they may be the biggest online art community, an incredible, invaluable resource, and networking platform. I do have so much love and gratitude for them.

But I also find the site a bit claustrophobic, difficult to get my bearings, find my way around and get to specifically what I’m looking for.

Pose reference sites and apps are kind of supposed to be the opposite – you don’t need to spend hours and hours looking for a muscular male lying down (or, for some people I know, years and years), but just enter your parameters or check the menus/indexes and voila.

With Deviant Art, though, it is pretty easy to spend too much time finding the reference image you need and get repeatedly distracted along the way. Still, there are about a gazillion images here, and tons of them are specifically pose references that are free to use.

So maybe the best thing to do is give Deviant Art a qualified recommendation and mention a couple of specific pages which can help you cut through the density:

• AdorkaStock’s Pose Reference List – curated by the loveable crew at AdorkaStock (see recommendation above), this is a good list of many different pose reference resources on Deviant Art
• dAPoses – also managed by AdorkaStock, along with Skydancer, this is a sub-group of Deviant Art devoted exclusively to reference pose images

Google Images

• URL: images.google.com/
• Type: Various

An often overlooked resource when it comes to pose reference (and equally valuable for really any kind of image reference, from beings to things), Google Images probably has the largest selection of images in the world.

This is, of course, both good and bad. You can almost certainly find what you are looking for (chartreuse alien dancing – for real!), but it might take a long time to locate the image and navigate to the actual hosting site, which for reasons beyond my ken, does not always seem even to have the image.

So we can’t ignore or dismiss Google Images. I would strongly recommend you use them in a more “off-time” way, not when you are in the throes of creative fervor and need a picture of a chartreuse alien dancing RIGHT NOW or when deadlines loom. But when you have time to spare and can browse and collect a library of high quality poses images that you can keep locally or in your own personal cloud.

• URL: www.pinterest.com

Another huge library of images of all types, including countless pose references, Pinterest shares another quality with Google Images (above) – it can be overwhelming and a serious black hole of time and productivity.

And so, while we can and should avail ourselves of such a tremendous resource, I recommend that you approach Pinterest in the same way as Google Images – that is, not when you’re working, in the artistic flow, or facing a deadline, but on off time, when the 17.3 gazillion results you get from “EMO grandmother doing a handstand” will be fun to browse through, not maddeningly stressful. 

Ok, in truth, you may not even get 17 hits from “EMO grandmother doing a handstand,” let alone gazillions, but you get my point…

QuickPoses – Model Photographs

Quick Poses can help get an artist out of their head and into drawing human poses and form more spontaneously, often resulting in more life and feeling. 

With challenges, timed practice, and random poses, all of which ask you to draw several different poses in a certain time frame, the focus isn’t on absolute accuracy or detail or even on finishing. But on capturing form, flow, and energy, as well as representing the way a body looks in different situations and poses. There’s also a downloadable desktop app, which you can get by making a 15-dollar donation.

This site is not designed to find and use a specific pose – say, a man sitting or a dancer leaping – but for sketching practice with excellent photographs that are essentially randomly selected, Quick Poses is a very valuable tool for the art student or anybody who just wants to improve their art.

SketchDaily – Model Photographs

You may know SketchDaily more for their Reddit site, which lists daily prompts for lots of the most popular and important art challenges , but they also have a pose reference site they do, after all, have over one and a half million followers! Wow, can that be right?

But they also have the “SketchDaily reference doohickey,” a very simple web app that displays excellent quality photographs of models in various poses based on a few parameters that you select. 

While the configuration does not allow you to find specific types of poses – like sitting, kneeling, dancing, etc. – it does allow you to specify:

• Action or stationary poses

… and based on those parameters, you will get excellent model photographs for sketching, drawing, or painting, with or without a time limit.

So, not a true on-demand pose reference database, but instead more a tool for practicing poses, the SketchDaily doohickey is still quite a valuable free resource.

Smartphone Apps – Free Pose References for Artists in 2024

Let me start this section with a few basic comments. I only include free apps here since it has been my experience that paid apps are often kind of sad.

Or, better put, they are perhaps not worth the investment and don’t offer enough of an upgrade in range or library contents, functionality, interface and ease of use, or anything else to justify the price.

The free apps, though, are amazing – I understand that developers make money, like on ads and stuff, but I still can’t believe how advanced, powerful and useful some of these free apps can be!

I am also sticking with configurable mannequin types of apps here and avoiding the photo library variety. The best digital avatar apps are genuinely useful to artists who need pose references, and the level of configurability and flexibility is awesome. The photo apps on smartphone platforms tend to be incredibly limited, with a very small selection of sometimes quite poor-quality images.

So, with all that in mind, here are the best pose reference apps I have found!

Magic Poser App

• URL: magicposer.com
• Platforms: iOS, Android & now Lite Webapp as well

I would have to say that physics makes this my favorite pose reference app. Magic Poser is even easier to use and more intuitive than others – and they’re all pretty straightforward.

When you adjust the mannequins, they have a kind of correct and familiar movement and automatically adjust themselves into a natural position. A really valuable free resource for any artist !

• Platform: iOS , Android

A newer pose reference app on the scene, Poseit, presents more of a fully realized 3D image, which can help you better get at poses and the look and feel of the body in that pose. There are some bugs and perhaps a few too many ads, but this is a well-developed and useful free app.

Easy Pose App

An extremely easy app to use, Easy Pose is remarkably powerful and useful, with control over joint movement, light direction, perspective and distance, and downloadable pose images. The premium version offers more functionality, but even the free version is great!

Pose Max App

• Platform: Android

If you check reviews on this app, many people complain about the lack of added or advanced functionality, like changing hair , clothes, other features, or extended animation. But, when you consider what it’s for and that it is a free app, Pose Max is an incredibly well-made, intuitive, powerful, and complete app and worth checking out.

Best Pose Reference Books in 2024

By Andrew Loomis

By Kelly Solloway and Samantha Stutzman

Volume 2 - The Yoga Anatomy Coloring Book

By Kelly Solloway and Samantha Stutzman 

Volume 1 - The Yoga Anatomy Coloring Book

By Angela Rizza

Drawing for Kids Ages 9 to 12

By Christopher Hart

The Beginner's Guide to the Natural-Looking Figure

By Ken Goldman

A comprehensive photographic and illustrated reference book for learning to draw more than 500 poses

• What are the best pose reference books on the market today?
• What are the best books for human pose reference?
• What are the best books for female pose reference?
• What are the best books for male pose reference?
• Which pose reference book do professional or fine artists use?

With the high functionality and usefulness – not to mention the slickness – of online pose reference tools and apps, it is easy to overlook the good, old-fashioned book. 

But in fact, there are tons and tons of great books for getting pose references, and they can offer some real advantages:

• They are always right there and available, even if the internet isn’t
• Books can be easier to browse, and it can be easier to find just the right pose
• Some artists prefer seeing the image on paper – especially if they are drawing on paper
• Books are a single, usually quite low, investment, while many sites charge for each image pack, or you have to pay again and again for ongoing subscriptions
• Books sometimes offer better, more professional, and higher quality images and overall production

And anyway, they’re books, and books are just plain cool! So, here is a short list of my favorite books for pose reference:

• Figure Drawing for All It’s Worth
• Drawing the Head and Hands & Figure Drawing (Box Set)

We’re starting with an absolute classic, beloved and widely used for many decades. Andrew Loomis’s Figure Drawing for All It’s Worth is not just a great reference for poses but all aspects of human form, and is also still the best fundamental primer available for drawing people.

Even if you have had a formal art education or taken classes on drawing the human form, you will be amazed at how helpful Loomis’s book is, and how much you will learn. Better yet, for complete mastery, consider getting his three-book box set.

• The Yoga Anatomy Coloring Book
• The Yoga Anatomy Coloring Book Volume 2 – Pose by Pose

This article isn’t a guide to yoga books or anatomy books. But these beautiful and enormously popular coloring books do a fantastic job illustrating poses, natural body alignment, posture, and interaction. And their clear and clean lines, perfect color emphasis, and basic anatomy illustrations make each drawing as visually effective as possible. Not just for pose reference, but for understanding what’s behind any pose, these are brilliant books!

Figure Drawing for Kids

The best pose reference book for kids, this excellent volume uses poses, movement, balance and shape to teach kids the basics of human form drawing – so it is much more than just pose references. Although written at a certain level, many adults have also enjoyed and benefited from this delightful book, but for kids, it’s a slam dunk. 

• Figure It Out! Drawing Essential Poses
• Figure It Out! The Beginner’s Guide to Drawing People
• Figure It Out! Human Proportions

The first title, Drawing Essential Poses, is a new classic in not only pose reference but in learning how to draw poses. All three of these books, though, are superb and form a full and exceptionally lucid overall picture of how to best draw the human form. 

Poses for Artists Volumes 1-6

• Poses for Artists Volume 1: Dynamic and Sitting Poses
• Poses for Artists Volume 2: Standing Poses
• Poses for Artists Volume 3: Fighting and Various Poses
• Poses for Artists Volume 4: Couple Poses
• Poses for Artists Volume 5: Hands, Skulls, Pin-Ups and Various Poses
• Poses for Artists Volume 6: An Essential Reference for Figure Drawing and the Human Form.

Justin Martin’s six-volume set of pose reference books is not only one of the most complete and comprehensive of its kind, but also filled with beautiful, accurate, and useful illustrations that capture the human form in any position.

If you only buy one pose reference book, make it these six :)—an absolute must for fine artists , students, commercial artists, and art studios.

• The Complete Book of Poses for Artists

Basic and complete, Goldman’s book has clear, accurate, attractive, and very usable drawings of over 500 human poses. With special care given to capturing light, energy, and motion, balance and proportion, this is an indispensable art reference book for any working artist or studio, and a great value

It is my dearest wish and goal to make Art Side of Life a complete resource for any artist – whether you are a total beginner, an art student, a working commercial artist, a fine artist, a crafter or any other kind of creative person. And one of the most important resources any artist can possibly have or use is a good, accurate and usable source of pose references for the human body.

As a self-taught artist , I am especially mindful of how people learn, and it is really important to me that my students, and the readers of these articles, learn correctly. And because so much in art depends on realistically rendered human beings – with life, energy, motion, and proportion – I have especially focused on helping artists find as many tools as possible so that they can correctly learn and confidently draw and paint the human form.

I’ve already posted articles on the Best Drawing Figures (mannequins) , the Best Drawing Books (with a section on Anatomy and Figure Drawing skills) , I’ve listed more books on anatomy, life and figure drawing, cartoon and comic book art, and portraiture in my Resources Page, and recently posted an article on Human and Animal Anatomy.

FAQs – Pose References

You can get pose references for your art on websites, apps, books, and from images (online or your own). I collected the best free and paid pose references in my guide. Click on the title above to get them!

You can find free pose references online and in the apps. I collected the best free and paid pose references – websites, apps, and books in my guide. Click on the title above to get them!

Yes, it’s OK for artists to use references because we simply can’t hold every subject and detail in our heads. What is more, by using references you can create something completely new and unique!

Reference drawing is not cheating because it’s almost impossible to hold every subject and detail in our heads. Using references is especially important if you are learning, drawing something new or exploring new ideas.

Popular pose references include:

• Female pose reference
• Male pose reference
• Couple pose reference
• Sitting pose reference
• Standing pose reference
• Dynamic pose reference
• Action pose reference
• Cute pose reference
• Fighting pose reference
• Hand pose reference
• Floating pose reference
• Dance pose reference

I hope my guide helped you find awesome pose references for your next artwork, and you will have a lot of fun drawing the human figure!

Other articles in the Art Books series:

• Best Drawing Books
• Best Books on Color Theory
• Best Books on Drawing Perspective

More articles on pose references, figure drawing, and human anatomy:

• Best Drawing Figures for Artists

Hi, I am Iva (rhymes with “viva”) . I am a full-time self-taught artist behind Art Side of Life® and a Top Teacher on Skillshare. I have 15 years of experience in the creative field as a concept designer, illustrator, art director, and now freelance artist, content creator, and art instructor. My goal is to help you get your creative groove on with Procreate and make awesome art through practical classes, tutorials, Procreate brushes, and guides on art tools, supplies and resources. About me »

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23 Free Reference Photo Websites for Artists in 2022

No one is born knowing how to draw. No one is born knowing how to create, however, we all draw when we are children. We all create. Obviously not masterpieces but we do our best to translate the images and forms in our heads into a piece of paper and crayons

Some of us grow up and take the leap as teens or adults, only to find out how difficult it is to meet our own expectations for art, suddenly all those concepts that had so much sense in our heads get lost in translation and we end up with a hazy version of what we envisioned.

For beginners, this is a real struggle.

Drawing or creating something from the imagination is impossible. Everything we create or draw has bits and pieces of what we have seen, experimented and felt. This concept seems to affect many artists, who believe that if their creation is not 100% from imagination then it’s not valid.

Especially beginners.

However, more experienced artists know that the process of creating something without proper REFERENCES is much more tedious and energy-consuming, sometimes demotivating and frustrating.

To take the images and concepts from our head and portray them into reality it’s always necessary for us to build a mental library with all the elements that relate to our vision. It’s necessary to study those elements and get comfortable with them. This is a great practice, yet is very time-consuming, and sometimes, especially in art is hard to have a mental library of everything.

That’s why REFERENCES exist.

We can take references from anywhere, from nature, life, animals, ourselves, other artists, etc. however not many have the time to go outside and take pictures or study a certain animal or flower that we want to draw.

The internet is a great place to take references from, images pop just after a simple search on google. Sites such as Pinterest , Dribbble , Juxtapost , or even google images are great for quick references and inspiration, however, most of the images there are protected by certain copyright laws and limit to some extent their use for creatives, especially graphic designers.

If what you’re looking for are inspiration and references then those are your sites to go!

However, the enormous quantity of images in these sites sometimes makes it a bit hard to search for specific reference images, there are also a lot of low quality and non-related images

And that’s what this guide is here for! Here you’ll find the best-recommended sites for artists on the internet.

We’re going to classify them according to the type of content they offer and guess what? We have some really good and FREE options for you to use!

Sources for Stock Images

Being a creative is hard. And let’s be honest, most stock image services make it even harder. With over-expensive stock prices, impossible to cancel subscriptions, and bad search engines, many creatives find looking for references on these sites a nightmare.

So here we present some totally free options where there are high-quality royalty-free images that we can use as we please.

Pexels , Pixabay and Unsplash

These three sites, in popularity and performance order, are the best free stock libraries of High-Quality images, videos, and audiovisual content, available for everybody. There’s no need for registration to get the images we want, however, there are some ADs of other paid stock services on top, so be careful of those.

The license is royalty-free and you can use these images however you want.

There’s a donate option to contribute to the original artist, nevertheless, it’s totally optional and you can use the images regardless.

We’d rate them as 10/10, 9/10, and 8/10 respectively.

Stocksnap , Freeimages , and Kaboompics

Also great stock libraries, not as good as the ones mentioned earlier, however still good places to find high-quality, royalty-free images that can be used commercially and non-commercially.

Kaboompics takes the lead due to its color that is a great help when working in graphic design and web development.

We’d rate them with a 7/10, 7/10, and 8/10 respectively.

Wikimedia Commons

Is a media file repository full of public domain and educational license media contents. It has a lot of royalty-free high-quality media, even though there are some images with barely restrictive licenses most of them can be used commercially and non commercially.

Each image has a description with its licenses and use, but usually, all that is needed is attribution to the author.

We give them a 6/10 due to the mix of professional and non-professional images there.

Even though Morguefile is also a stock service, the rules are completely different there. It’s an image-only stock service. It requires registration to access the images and the resolution is quite low. You can create derivative works of the images there and you can use them as reference but for commercial use such as prints, websites, etc you need the permission of the original author.

The community is quite lively and there are new materials every month, and it also has some courses to improve as a photographer and artist.

We give them a 5/10 rate due to the lower quality of the images compared to the services mentioned earlier.

Google Arts and Culture

Not quite a stock service but a free online art gallery where we can find artworks from all over the world.

Multiple eras, art movements, cultural works, and the best artists all in one platform that has a vision of gathering the art and culture of the world in an online and accessible art gallery.

So if you want to study the work of your favorite artist or want to learn how art was at a different time, then that’s the place to go.

Tips, Tutorials, and Resources

Let’s move onto our next category, which includes websites where you’ll be able to find classes and courses completely as well as visual resources and a growing community of artists.

CharacterDesignReferences.com

It’s a great site to go find information, tips, and references about character design and animation, it has also many resources for learning as well a strong community of artists that upload educational and reference material for their peers to use.

The site offers a totally optional subscription and there are art dynamics such as the “character design challenge” where artists and character designers decide on themes for each week and the community chooses a winner. Also, great to grow your audience and promote your art.

DrawMixPaint

For a more traditional-oriented audience, especially for oil painters, DrawMixPaint offers free very well structured short classes on how to paint with oils from scratch, along with youtube videos to guide you, presented by the artist Mark Carder, it’s an excellent option for those who want to start painting with oils. It also has a forum where artists all over the world share knowledge and their art, while also discussing traditional art themes and receiving feedback on their works.

A great place to learn the drawing fundamentals originally started as a subreddit with a small community, evolved to a website where we can find well-structured lessons along with homework and a big art community to support it. DrawABox is a great place to start learning the fundamentals of art. Even though many consider their lessons hard, it’s a safe way to learn how to draw anything from scratch.

The lessons are also available on YouTube for free and are accessible to everyone.

It also has a “support us on Patreon” option to remove ads, access to feedback and advanced lessons, plus the always growing discord server that is eager to share and discuss art topics.

I believe every artist has at least once heard about Proko. Stan Prokopenko is well known for his YouTube anatomy series, where he teaches about advanced human anatomy and gesture drawing. Their videos are quite complete and very well structured with homework and assignments that will take your anatomy drawing abilities to the next level.

His website has a paid option for more extended lessons and advanced topics but his free YouTube videos are perfect for the beginner artist that wants to learn how to draw the human body from an expert.

Now fory digital art peers, CtrlPaint is a great starting point, especially if you are feeling lost. Going from basic definitions, software use to digital brushes and painting techniques, CtrlPaint covers the very basics in short 5 minute videos. Their store has advanced paid lessons but they’re completely optional. They still release new videos every week so if digital art is your thing, it’s worth checking them up.

Quick Poses

This website,  besides being an amazing place for finding references, is also a great resource to practice! Timed drawings practices for gesture were the most difficult ones to attend for students and artists, so having a website dedicated to them is a great help. You can find nude poses, clothed poses, expressions, outfits and you can also select the time of every practice. Artists have been using it for a long time but mentioning it’s always helpful!

It offers as well landscape and architectural options for drawing practice and holds challenges for its members. After registering and achieving certain goals you get a certificate according to your amount of practice. It goes from Beginner (20 hours of practice) to Master (1000 hours of practice).

Line of Action

Same concept as its predecessor, but with a little more time for drawing (line of action allows timed practices up to 10 minutes) with the downhill of not offering landscape/architectural options.

Their forum is also a great place for artist-to-artist feedback and even though it doesn’t offer a certificate like Quick poses. It’s still a great site to practice and totally worth checking out.

Bodies in Motion

Even though a lot of the content on the platform is accessible through a subscription, the free assets are worth the mention.

Bodies in motion is a great place to learn and appreciate the movement of the body and its muscles. With photos taken by professionals, a nice interface, 3D rotating scans of the body, and amazing expression assets, Bodies in Motion is a strong platform that will for sure help all artists that are focusing on learning anatomy and gesture at the moment.

3D Resources and AI

Going along with technology, there are many sites where we can find 3D models of our desired subjects, and that is an advantage since the 3D models can be rotated and appreciated from all angles. The downhill is that most of it isn’t free.

One of the biggest and more popular platforms for 3D models on the internet, TurboSquid has a great collection of assets and models that are most of the time behind a paywall but the free models make it worth the mention.

Even if you’re not a 3D modeler, or are in no way related to the 3D industry, Turbosquid is still a great place for references since most of their models have several view angles and lighting options.

If you are learning how to draw animals and you can’t find enough references for your project, then this website will be your savior. By simply searching the name of the animal you want to draw, you’ll be provided with many high-quality reference pictures of it and it has a special function that allows you to see the 3D skull structure of it and rotate it as you want.

Generated Photos

An artificial intelligence image generator, that creates for you any face to use as a reference. You can filter the results by angle, ethnicity, sex, age, eye color, etc. though the options are limited, it’s still a great place to practice drawing faces

Remember, you can take reference of everything, your art won’t be “better” if we don’t use references and you’ll see a big difference and improve a lot by referencing pictures, life, and even other artist works, however, it’s important to know the use we can give to our referenced creations if it’s heavy referenced I’d advise you to credit the artist you’re taking reference from and always make sure to check the type of licenses even in free stock sites.

And that would conclude our list of the best reference websites for artists! There are lots of resources on the internet but sometimes, having them on a list is very useful, so save this article for when you’re having trouble creating something and you’re in need of a reference!

Thank you for reading this article and I hope it helped you a bit!

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