#tldr as long as your work is transformative and completely distinct from your ref then do what you want lol

[elkkiel]

Also bc I love how you draw hands - I need to know: do you enjoy drawing hands, what’s your favourite part of drawing hands, if you actually just hate it? Etc etc *jazz hands* hands!! 👀 (I am vibrating with love over the knocked over onions)

my dirty nasty "I Would Get Demolished For This In 2013 Art Community Culture" secret is I don't know how to draw hands for shit ✌️ I use a combo of stock imagery/online posing models/my own reference photos to composite figures or other anatomy.

It's a trick I picked up in my uni llustration classes (bc if you can't draw something well and you have a tight client budget, compositing a rough sketch takes far less time than fumbling with learning something new. woohoo we love commercial artwork 😌). I essentially trace out the very bare-bones basic geometry (like a quick hexagon for a palm) to use as a structural base. Then I go in and refine the shapes myself. Kinda like making a wire skeleton for a sculpture before you cover it with clay.

It's a habit I'm trying to break tbh. Because while it's an acceptable industry practice that like every other illustrator (as in graphic design/communications adjacent rather than fine art) I know uses, it sucks to rely on it so heavy nowadays. Really trying to relearn how to do all that bc you don't always have access to stock sites or even a camera.

But in this case bc I was just drawing a meme, i'll be totally honest in saying I just straight up traced the hand looooooool. I'll strap myself to the electric chair dw. (kiitty is all mine tho. I sketched over the screenshot to make sure it was framed right but that's about it)