What have you used for references (a lot)?

[Hamachi]

Outside of real-life studies, what art sources have you practiced from a lot to arrive at the drawing style(s) you like to use the most today? Note - a source only counts as an influence if you've tried consistently for at least one week to emulate identifiable features from that source in your own art.

So if you want to make an ideal post, please list the sources you've studied a lot from and what you learned from those sources. Your list may be as long or as short as you wish.

[AlmanacnamedTime]

Yagi Norihiro,
Mark Crilley,
the guy from iDrawGirls.

[ram]

ram
Whenever I try to make a tutorial, I get OCD halfway and decide that it's crappy and drop it D:
My coloring method is really simple. Just a layer for every color type...so I usually take a few colors so that I don't end up with a lot of layers.

1. Choose a part (for example: skin)
2. SELECT ALL of the skin parts and FILL it in with a base color
3. OPACITY LOCK (or whatever it is called in the program you use) then SHADE with 2-3 different colors varying in hue, saturation, luminance
4. Add a Layer on top and LAYER CLIP it if I don't want to risk messing up shading a layer with highlights
5. I mix hard shade and soft shade: I use PEN in sai set to hard edge to shade everything, then I blot it all over with WATER in hard edge or AIRBRUSH also in hard edge (so essentially I simulate a soft shade by blotting hard color boundaries a lot of times with water or airbrush)
6. If I dislike the color I chose: adjust colors simply by changing the layer's hue/contrast/saturation/depth/brightness or by adding a layer on top of it set to multiply/screen/overlay/luminosity/dodge/burn depends what looks better and make my adjustments on that layer, I try them all out individually until I arrive at something that looks decent enough

My method of choosing colors...

• base color (relatively high luminance [not maximum])
• shadow (low luminance low saturation)
• highlight (high luminance, lower or higher saturation [depends which looks better], sometimes a different hue), this is the color I usually omit with clothing. I usually use highlights only with skin, hair and metallic objects that should shine

I stare at my favorite artist's works and try to figure out how they apply the colors in their works and check their color choices so I get an idea for choosing my own palette

This is what I'm studying right now... I had a lot of references and so I don't know what exactly influenced it.
I bet you are too hamachi.

Edit: okay this seems a little out of topic... you were talking about references but I posted what I'm studying.... oh well

[Mr_Liebe]

Other than photo refs, I really don't use any references, although I do like Jyoji Morikawa's style ((He's the author of Hajime no Ippo))

[Sutari]

I used to use pretty much any artbook I could find, but...
Once you get to a certain point in your style (like being fluent with it), everything turns out with your own twist on it, even if you try to exactly copy it. (for me at least) And all I really do now is try to find new poses/angles to copy that I've never seen before
90% of my reference folder is ecchi and/or H. with the occasional manga page that had a pose or composition that I liked. So idk what to say there. (hundreds of artists probably :/ )

But as for artists/sites that i use for reference/practice...
Mashima Hiro
Kishimoto Masashi
Robaato on deviantART
Posemaniacs
Stock photo accounts on deviantART (cant remember the names)
Pixiv artists on occasion

[ram]

90% of my reference folder is ecchi and/or H.

Oh yeah you mean "that" site huh..
Yeah that's my references as well!

[Sylux]

I'm actually good at replicating Takeshi Obata or w/e his name is. The guy who did the art for Bakuman and Death Note.

[Celestial-Fox]

I've been a fan/ closet-mimicker of Rose Besch since I was 8 years old.

[Sylux]

Oh yeah. I love Akira Toriyama and want to be him and do his art very badly. His Chrono Trigger art drives me crazy and I want to eat the graphics.

[ram]

Yabuki Kentaro was always my favorite! There are a lot of great artist who can draw cool guys and cute girls but this guy's keep on rising his skills on art level!