Female Inspiration

When I draw & paint portraits, or use figures I use a lot of reference images.  I love the idea of using a real person, but the reality is that I don't always have the opportunity of getting someone to pose for me in the middle of a painting.  Quite often I'll use myself for reference in certain areas, maybe how an elbow bends or a finger curves, but often I'll use reference images from magazines and newspapers.  I have mountains of sketchbooks, photographs and even a dedicated section in my lounge where I cut up books/magazines/newspapers and then put that imagery back into sketchbooks.

A lot of other painters & illustrators use models as their inspiration, but personally I love to use real everyday people (myspace & facebook are great for candid photos) as well as celebrities.  Whilst I love fashion magazines and I get a lot of them delivered to me, I'm more into the poses & clothing in the photoshoots then the actual models.  I prefer to use people who are a little fuller figured/ seem more real as inspiration for my drawings.  Oh - and whilst I know that celebrities are heavily airbrushed in those supposed 'real' photographs, there is something about their character that appeals to me - what exactly I haven't yet pinpointed.

These are some of my favourite females to draw -



Amelie



Anne Hathaway



Mary Kate & Ashley Olsen



The Veronica's



Britney Spears