I needed a reference sheet for a fursuit, and none of my existing ref sheets really fit the requirements, so I decided to make my own.
Out of internet clipart.
I cannot stop laughing at this, the face especially just looks so out of place. May it bring you joy also!
And a question for the actual artists out there: if someone gave this to you as a character ref, would you consider it usable? Once you stopped laughing, of course.
And a question for the actual artists out there: if someone gave this to you as a character ref, would you consider it usable? Once you stopped laughing, of course.
I am not an artist but I can answer: it is usable.
The only issue you will come with is that you will have to find an artist willing to bear the pain of revising many times your reference sheet (unless you don't mind total "artistic freedom") because of unclear design.
Mine for example, even if good, still led some artists to struggle with my fursona design because of unclear direction taken on my reference sheet.
Thus, the best way to use this one is to commission an artist to fix it so that other artists won't have to struggle with what the commissioned artist has to endure understanding what they call "features".
TL; DR: Don't worry, artists are used to all kind of "ref sheet" in their artist life so yours would be still usable for them.
@Foxarc I appreciate the feedback, thank you! I'd like to have someone go over my "rough draft" here and clean it up a bit, so I'll reach out to a couple friends to see if they have the time/bandwidth to take on a quick ref sheet revision.
The goal here was to just get something usable in a hurry (this took me about an hour to put together).
@notthatdelta As someone who approximates being an artist, I think that's fine for a reference.
If you want a specific face/muzzle or body shape - e.g. do you care about plantigrade versus digitigrade paws, or number of fingers or toes? - then you'll want to include more notes. And I don't think you've shown pawpads or mouth.
But this does show most color zones.
@digitalfox Good points! I had planned on elaborating on the head shape in particular (I have a weird shaped head, and wanted to make sure the maker could accommodate that). Same for the paws, it's hard to see the detail here but the tips of the digits should be a darker shade than the rest.
If I do use this (still up in the air), I'd be sure to include additional detail in writing!
Delta Sierra
Foxarc
digitalfox