good websites for drawing references

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Best 9 Free Pose Reference Sites To Practice Figure Drawing Online

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. That means if you buy something, we might get a small commission at no extra cost to you ( read disclosure )

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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

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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.

Over 2400+ Animations and Poses

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

Fácil de posar

Los controles fáciles de usar te permiten arrastrar las extremidades con la cinemática inversa, así como controlar la rotación con la cinemática directa

Exporta a varios formatos

Exporta a formatos compatibles para una difusión estable: Pose abierta, Profundidad, Canny, Normales e imágenes regulares

Ahorra tiempo con nuestra Biblioteca de escenas prefabricadas

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

Works on everything!

PoseMy.Art is online and works on every major platform: Chrome, Safari, Firefox Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS

Multiple Poseable Models and Props

Checkout our premade poses reference library.

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

Free, Online, Simple, Easy, Fast

Designed to be as simple and intuitive as possible.

Why artists love PoseMyArt <3

"This is fantastic! I saw similar apps, but you always needed to download them and get used to the controls, etc."

"The vast animation library is super cool. It lets you capture poses that looks real but would be tough to recreate manually!"

"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."

- Jourdan Lasko

Join thousands of artists who are Posing Their Art

"...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

The reference we use plays a big role on how the final art piece will come to life. Create a more fluid and dynamic art without being limited by your art reference.

No More Wasting Time

Instead of searching for poses reference online, you can just create the exact poses reference you need for your art.

Explore New Ideas

Don't know how you want your scene to look like? Play with the model poser to explore new ideas for poses and scenes.

Contact us!

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

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 .

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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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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!

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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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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!

If you're looking to improve your drawing skills and are in search of some additional resources, we highly recommend checking out the workshop ' How to Draw Beautiful Character Designs from Scratch ' by Trey Zimmerman. This workshop will provide you with the techniques and guidance needed to create stunning character designs, taking your art to a whole new level.

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11 Best Portrait Reference Photo Websites For Artists

Portrait drawing is a challenging subject to tackle.

And the best way to go about it is just to get some good portrait reference photos to practice!

But where exactly can you get these reference photos?

Well, here are 11 websites where you can find amazing photos for drawing portraits!

Doesn’t matter if you’re looking for professionally taken photos or more casually taken photos, we cover it all in this resource.

Oh, and feel free to use any of the images in this article to practice drawing portraits.

They’re all available to use as practice.

Table Of Contents

• 1 1. This Person Does Not Exist
• 2 2. Pexels Portraits
• 3 3. LIFE Photo Archive
• 4 4. Line-Of-Action
• 5 5. SketchDaily References
• 6 6. Reddit Gets Drawn
• 7 7. Wikimedia Commons
• 9 9. Unsplash Portraits 
• 10 10. Pinterest
• 11 11. StockSnap
• 12 What Makes A Good Portrait Reference?
• 13 Do Professional Artists Use Reference Photos?

1. This Person Does Not Exist

Yes, “This Person Does Not Exist” is the website’s actual name!

This website is an excellent resource for portrait reference photos since it creates portraits of people that don’t exist!

It uses an algorithm called generative adversarial network (GAN) to create portraits that resemble real people.

Basically, it matches millions of portraits images, takes a little bit out of each one, and creates a unique, original, portrait photo.

To use it, you simply need to go to the “This Person Does Not Exist” website here , and hit refresh. It will generate a new portrait reference photo for you, ready to draw and practice!

It’s a great tool I highly recommend if you just want a quick portrait reference photo to practice immediately.

The only con of this website and that it gave me the same photo a couple of times in a row, but after hitting refresh a couple more times, it worked perfectly.

2. Pexels Portraits

If you’ve read any other of my pose reference photo articles , you most likely have seen me writing about Pexels! 

The wonderful thing about Pexels for portrait reference photos is that they are all CC-0 photos. You can use them commercially or personally to your heart’s content, no credit is needed.

With that said, if you did find a photo helpful, feel free to give credit and link back to the photographer! It’s just a nice thing to do.

To use the website, you can simply search “portraits”, or click here to go to pexels portraits directly.

There are currently over 200 thousand photos that you can use of portraits! 

Not only that, but there are also over 11 thousand videos that you can use. This is great since besides being a huge variety of photos to use, you can get videos and pause as needed.

With videos you can get a much more comprehensive range of angles and lighting, that you couldn’t with just a simple photo.

So I highly recommend you check it out if you’re looking to do some portraits for commercial work, or just want a wider variety of reference photos.

3. LIFE Photo Archive

Trying to find portrait reference photos of famous people? This is the place.

LIFE Photo Archive is a collection of different photos for LIFE Magazine, where most were never used.

Due to a partnership with Google, they are now available worldwide! And that’s great news for us artists.

What better portrait photos to study than ones taken by professional photographers? 

You can find several famous people on this website, such as Marilyn Monroe, Louis Armstrong, and Marie Curie.

This is a perfect selection of reference photos to draw portraits, and you can also find great photos of dynamic poses , such as gymnastics and surfing!

Do keep in mind that most of these photos are quite old (spanning from the 1750s to today), so you won’t find many colorful pictures.

With that said, this is a great portrait reference photo website if you’re looking to draw portraits (especially of famous people!)

4. Line-Of-Action

If you’ve been looking for pose references and studying gesture drawing (here’s a helpful guide) , I’m sure you’ve heard of Line-Of-Action before!

But this photo reference website is not only about gesture drawing (and line of action).

The Line-Of-Action website has a face expression practice section that includes over 500 photos!

This is quite helpful since you can create small sessions with short time intervals between photos to practice drawing portraits.

You can even pick different moods/expressions that you want to draw, such as:

• Goofy 

As well as Male or Female Models.

This is great if you’re looking to practice a specific expression for your portrait drawing practice!

One thing to remember is that selecting a specific expression will lower the number of pictures available.

For example, if you select “Sad” and “Only Female Read Models”, you’ll only have 8 images to cycle through.

With that said, this is a wonderful tool to practice drawing portraits from reference photos, so do check it out!

5. SketchDaily References

SketchDaily References is a website with hundreds of available portrait photos for free. 

In fact, there are currently over 300 portrait photos available to practice drawing on. 

The default of the website is set for full bodies, but you can simply switch to “Body Parts” and select “Heads” so it focuses on portrait reference photos.

Then just tweak the settings to your liking and start drawing!

There isn’t much more to say about this website, except that it’s a super useful tool to practice portrait drawing. You can even submit your own photos to help other artists practice drawing, how cool is that?

Check SketchDaily References if you want another practice tool to draw portraits.

6. Reddit Gets Drawn

With increasingly higher photos of portraits by the day, Reddit Gets Drawn is a wonderful resource for artists looking to practice drawing portraits.

This community was created “for redditors that want to get drawn and redditors that want to draw them!”

You can find dozens of new portrait photos each day, so I highly recommend you check this subreddit every couple of days.

A big pro of this portrait reference photo website is that most of the photos aren’t exactly professional level. You can count this as a con as well.

But if you want a more natural and casual look to your portrait drawings , this is a wonderful resource!

Also, you can find adorable photos of people’s pets there as well.

So if you want to practice drawing some pet portraits, that’s a wonderful option as well!

I highly recommend this subreddit if you want to practice drawing any kind of portraits, and you can even post them there to make the photographer happy! Win-win.

7. Wikimedia Commons

Searching the Wikimedia Commons images category , you can find thousands of portrait photos that are available to use for free.

You’ll have to do some of the heavy work here and search exactly what you’re looking for, though.

This isn’t a very bad or difficult thing. And it’s especially useful if you’re looking for anything specific, such as the Michael Jordan portrait up there!

You can find many different kinds of royalty free portrait reference photos, from professionally taken photos to more casual ones.

There’s a whole lot of different portraits to draw here.

So do take your time searching the website and getting the perfect portrait reference photo that you’re looking for!

If you’re looking for a more casual portrait where people usually aren’t quite posing for the camera, Oh-Hi is a beautiful resource!

This is a collection of photos taken by an Australian street photographer named Andrew.

You can find all sorts of photos here, from random people walking by shopping, to cosplayers and much more.

The great thing about these photos for us artists is that most of the people aren’t paying attention to the camera at all. They’re walking around and focusing on their own daily life.

This means that you can get much more natural-looking portraits and figures!

Not only that but there is a wide spectrum of the type of people this photographer captures. So there is a lot of portrait diversity for you to practice drawing.

This is a small website that not many people currently know about, but I highly recommend you check it out to practice drawing some portraits (or even figures!)

9. Unsplash Portraits 

Similar to Pexels, Unsplash includes over 10k photos of portraits available to use!

In case you haven’t found a specific portrait reference photo that you were looking for before, this is one other option that you can search on.

There are many available portrait photos with very high quality, but unfortunately, no videos are available at the time of writing.

You can also check out the portrait Collections other people have created. Or even make your own collection to keep track of portraits you want to practice!

This is quite useful to keep you organized and so you don’t have to search for a new photo each time you want to practice drawing portraits.

10. Pinterest

When we talk about reference photos and images, we must mention Pinterest!

Pinterest has millions of available photos to practice drawing.

You can find all kinds of portrait reference photos by simply searching any of these examples:

• Portrait Photography
• Portrait Photos
• Portrait Reference
• Expression Photography 
• Head Shot Photography

And many more!

You can even go much more detailed and write “photo of a girl smiling” and you’ll get many options to choose from.

Do keep in mind that not all images are available for commercial use though, so I do recommend you to use Pinterest for practice only.

11. StockSnap

One final lesser know portrait reference photo website that you can check out is StockSnap!  

This website has many different kinds of photos, but if you search “portrait” on the search bar, you’ll find over 600 different portrait reference photos to choose from.

This might not match the over 200k photos available on a website such as Pexels, but it’s still quite a good collection of photos!

And the best of all is that they are all CC-0 as well, meaning that you can use them for personal and commercial work.

Perfect for artists.

What Makes A Good Portrait Reference?

Now that you have all those websites ready to use, you might be wondering what makes a good portrait reference. How do you choose a good portrait photo reference?

In general, the best way to choose a good portrait photo reference is to focus on the quality of the photo and the lighting. Many artists say that the lighting is a fundamental part of their work. So if you have a reference photo with a good lighting, you’re setting yourself up for success!

Another thing to note is what kind of portrait you’re drawing.

For example, if you’re trying to go for a professional and classic-looking portrait, you’ll want professionally taken portrait photos!

If you’re trying to capture a general mood or trying to draw a character acting in a certain way, you might be better of getting a street photograph of someone caught unaware.

This will make your reference drawings much better.

And if you’re unsure of what I’m talking about when I mention reference drawing (or just need a reminder), do check my article on What Is A Reference Drawing, And How To Use It.

Do Professional Artists Use Reference Photos?

Yes, professional artists use reference photos all the time.

Some beginner artists think that using a reference photo is cheating , so they refuse to use them.

The truth is that using reference images isn’t cheating!

You can and should use reference photos for drawing whenever possible.

This will help you improve much faster and will make you a better portrait artist.

Professional artists use reference photos for movies, games, TV shows, and much more. So do use reference photos, too!

I hope this resource on portrait reference photo websites was helpful to you!

And if you want to draw some full poses as well, check out my article on The 7 Best Free Pose Reference Websites For Artists!

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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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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Where Do I Get Gesture Drawing Reference? (5 Best Sites)

When starting any creative endeavor, it’s essential to have a strong foundation. And for artists, one of the most important foundations is gesture drawing . Gesture drawing is the process of capturing the essence of a pose or movement quickly and efficiently. It can capture the feeling or emotion of a scene or help you study the human form.

But to do gesture drawings, you need good references. And finding quality references can be challenging, especially if you’re starting.

Table of Contents

What is meant by a Good Reference in Gesture Drawing?

A good reference in gesture drawing is any image that can help you understand the gesture and energy of a subject. It could be a photo of a person or animal, a drawing or painting, to a video.

The important thing is that the reference captures the feeling or movement that you’re trying to convey in your drawing.

You should also know how to use them. It would help if you understood how to simplify the reference pictures to capture the essential gesture without getting bogged down in details.

What are the challenges of getting a good Gesture Drawing Reference?

Drawing the human figure can be a daunting task, even for experienced artists.

One of the challenges is finding a good reference. If you’re relying on your memory, it’s easy to get proportions and details wrong. And while there are plenty of images of people available online, it can be hard to find ones suitable for Gesture Drawing practice .

The ideal reference would be a photo or video of someone in a dynamic pose, with a clear view of all the major muscles and joints. Unfortunately, such considerations are often difficult to find and posed models can be expensive to hire.

Getting references for figure or gesture drawings can be time-consuming to collect and sort through. Getting into too many details or being overwhelmed with too many options is easy. As a result, many artists struggle to improve their figure-drawing skills.

However, with a bit of ingenuity and perseverance, it is possible to find high-quality references that will help take your drawing skills to the next level.

How to Use Gesture Drawing References?

You’ll have to remember a few things regarding gesture drawing.

First, figure drawing sessions typically have a time limit, so you’ll need to work quickly.

Second, depending on the type of pose, you may want to use different references. For example, for female models, you might want to use photo sites like Google Images or Pinterest. And for body types other than female, you might want to use an artist reference site like posespace.com.

Third, it’s essential to interval your drawings; that is, don’t draw the same pose all the time. Instead, try to mix things up and draw a variety of poses over time. This will help improve your drawing abilities and reach your goals.

Finally, don’t forget to use suitable materials. Some good drawing materials (like a pencil or charcoal) and some decent paper will go a long way.

Here are some tips on how to use gesture drawing references:

Look for Different Types of Poses

When you’re looking for reference images, try to find a variety of different drawing poses. This will help you practice drawing different types of gestures.

Set a Time Limit

When you’re gesture drawing, it’s essential to work quickly. This will help capture the subject’s feelings or movement without getting bogged down in details.

Don’t Worry About Perfection

Remember, gesture drawing aims to capture the subject’s essence, not to create a perfect replica. So don’t worry if your picture is not perfect. The important thing is that you’re practicing and getting better.

Now that we’ve gone over what gesture drawing is, how to use gestures in your figure drawing exercises, etc., let’s move to where you can get references.

Best Websites for Gesture Drawing Reference

Some of the best websites are listed below, where you can get free gesture drawing references:

Line of Action

Line of Action is a website that offers free reference photos and videos for artists. The site has various static and motion poses, making it an excellent resource for gesture drawing.

The website offers different options, including cover, clothing, ages, and session duration. You can set a timer for the period you want to draw, and Pose Player lets you play back reference videos at different speeds.

The tool is flexible, straightforward, has various options, and is easy to use, which is suitable for those new to gesture drawing.

Quickposes is another website that offers free reference photos and videos for artists. The site has various static and motion poses, making it an excellent resource for gesture drawing.

The website offers different options, such as angles, genders, and body types. You can set a timer for the duration you want to draw, and the site also offers a mirroring tool that lets you flip the image so you can practice drawing both the left and right sides.

The tool is flexible, straightforward, has various options, and is easy for those new to gesture drawing.

If you want to track your progress, the website also offers a premium membership to access more features, like the ability to save and share your drawings and progress tracking.

They also offer options like Non-time limit mode, Random Images, Challenges, and more.

Posespace.Com

Posespace is a website that offers free 3D models for artists to use as references. The site has various static and motion poses.

The website offers different options, such as angles, genders, and body types.

The website offers 360-degree views of fantastic models, making it easy to find a good reference for your drawing.

It also provides a download option for the 3D models in various file formats for those who want to use the models in other software.

Posemaniacs.com

Posemaniacs is a website with a vast collection of figure drawing references also used for gesture drawing. Multiple language options are available and are an excellent resource for both beginners and advanced artists.

The website offers different options, such as different angles, genders, and body types. You can also set a timer for how long you want to draw.

They have a great collection of poses and an excellent website for beginners and advanced artists.

It’s useful for artists who want to improve their gesture drawing skills.

The poses are arranged into categories, so it’s easy to find what you’re looking for. The images are high quality, and the poses are varied, making it an excellent resource for anyone who wants to improve their gesture drawing skills.

Proko is a website that offers free video tutorials and reference photos for artists. The site has various static and motion poses, making it an excellent resource for gesture drawing.

The website offers different options, including cover, clothing, ages, and session duration. You can set a timer for the time you want to draw, and the site also offers a mirroring tool that lets you flip the image so you can practice drawing both the left and right sides.

The videos are high quality and offer great tips for those who want to improve their gesture drawing skills.

The website is easy to navigate, and the videos are well organized, making it an excellent resource.

These are some of the best websites to get free gesture drawing references.

What is a Pose Reference Generator?

A pose reference generator is a tool artist can use to get pose ideas. Various pose generators are available, and they all have different features.

Some pose generators allow you to set a timer to get a new pose every few minutes, while others have a library of characters or high-quality pictures you can choose from.

You can also find pose generators with a commercial license, allowing you to use the poses in your artwork. Most pose generators also have a gesture slideshow option, which can be helpful if you’re trying to get ideas for hands or action poses.

There are also pose generators specifically for people, which can be helpful if you’re looking for poses for professional artists or photos of people.

Finally, a library of images contains high-quality free images of human models in various poses. These can be helpful if you’re starting and need some inspiration.

Importance of Gesture Drawing References

As an aspiring artist, it is essential to have a variety of gesture drawing references at your disposal.

You can practice different drawing techniques and styles by having a wide range of gesture reference photos. Additionally, frequently changing reference images can prevent creative burnout and keep your excellent drawings fresh.

There are a few different ways to source gesture drawing references.

However, plenty of online figure drawing resources are available if you don’t have access to art models or want to expand your repertoire. One option is to take photos or videos of people posing. Many sites offer extended versions of their poses for artists, which can be helpful when looking for more of a challenge.

Another great way to find gesture drawing references is to search through Creative Commons image libraries. These libraries are full of high-quality images that are available for free use. For example, the site fg-a.com offers a library of over 24,000 images that categories, such as anatomy drawings or fashion figure drawings, can sort.

No matter how you source your gesture drawing references, it’s essential to have a variety that you can refer back to repeatedly. By having a wide selection of poses and figures to choose from, you’ll be able to get yourself up for success as you work towards your drawing goals.

Gesture drawing references can be a great way to improve your figure-drawing skills. However, getting good references can be a challenge. We shared some of the best websites for finding gesture drawing references. We also discussed using these references and tips on getting the most out of them.

Have you tried using gesture drawing references? What has been your experience? Let us know in the comments below.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why do people use gesture drawing references.

Gesture drawing references help artists improve their figure drawing skills. You can practice different styles and techniques by having a wide range of reference photos. Additionally, frequently changing your reference images can help prevent creative burnout.

What is a pose reference generator?

A pose reference generator is a figure drawing tool artists can use to get pose ideas. Various pose generators are available, and they all have different features. Some pose generators allow you to select the number of people in the pose, while others offer a slideshow of different gestures.

Do you think gesture drawing reference is necessary for artists?

While gesture drawing references can be helpful, they are unnecessary for every artist. Some artists prefer to work from memory or imagination, while others find that connections help them capture the essence of a pose more accurately. Ultimately, it is up to the individual artist to decide whether or not to use references in their work.

About The Author

Madhan Kumar

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All your reference images in one place.

Organize your inspiration and speed up your creative process with pureref..

PureRef is a stand-alone program for Windows, Mac and Linux that keeps track of your images.

Whether you're gathering inspiration, making mood boards or need reference images for your painting or 3d model, pureref is there so you can focus on creating., drag and drop images from anywhere.

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