A word on reference... There are a lot of people who will tell you that using reference is "cheating", or that it's a "crutch" that will prevent you from being able to draw from your mind and from life. That's pure nonsense. If you look at history of art, referencing and even tracing have been around since... well, forever. What's known as the camera obscura was basically a primitive tracing tool. If you researched it, you'd be surprised to learn just how many famous artists have used photos in their work. Picasso, Degas, Van Gogh, Lautrec, Gaughin, Alphonse Mucha, Frida Kahlo, Cezanne, many more... Lesser known Robert Stanley painted exclusively from photographs. Now, in a perfect world we would have the time to sit down and spend five ours straight just sketching and trying to get it right completely from memory or from a live model, but in the real world, few people have such luxuries.

Trust me: using reference on regular basis will not affect your ability to draw from life, as long as you still pay attention to what you're working on, as opposed to mindlessly copying. I draw from reference for months on end, then go take a life drawing class and see no decline in my ability whatsoever.

Bottom line: not using any reference does not make your art more impressive or more valuable. And, not using any reference definitely does not make you a better artist.

I may seem unusual in the artistic sense because I don't keep a sketchbook, don't do a lot of pre-work such as roughs or color studies, and don't ever rework my pieces. I do just one rough sketch in the beginning to work out my composition. But most of preparatory work for a piece usually goes on the non-physically-existent canvas of my mind.

I do use reference for most of my work, but I never directly copy any photos. To me, that would be incredibly boring. Instead I take a little bit from here and there, combining these elements to fit together and serve my goals for the piece. I let the reference aid me instead of making me its bitch. ;) Below are a couple of reference shots that I used in the process of composing Elegy: the flowers for the ornaments in the girl's hair; a photo of an Asian actress for the face; a Victorian design from an 18th century woodcut for the wall. The hands were also in a tricky position that I had trouble getting right, so I took a reference photo of my own hands holding my son's toy sword (the sword was later changed to something more real-looking).

The paper I work on is Bristol vellum paper by Strathmore, which is a nice thick drawing paper with subtle texture. For the preliminary sketch, I use a regular HB pencil, and apply very light pressure so that none of the lines engrave into the paper and can later be erased easily.

As far as work area goes, most times I secure the drawing on a 15x20" drawing board and put the board on my knees. I just find I have more control that way. I absolutely cannot work with an easel or any other surface that's vertical or inclined too much. Occasionally I'll work directly on my drawing table, but most times I prefer to cozy up with my trusty drawing board. Technically, it's not a drawing board; it's the chipboard backing of a poster frame. But I found it does the job as well as any real drawing board out there. You can make our own too, and here's how: buy a poster frame, the kind you can take apart. Remove everything but the backing, which is made out of pretty sturdy chipboard. Attach your drawing to the surface with acid-free artist tape, and you're good to go. When you're not working, put the sheet of thick plexiglass that came with the frame on top, secure it with binder clips, and stash it away. The plexiglass keeps the drawing nice and flat, not to mention safe. No mess, no fuss, no major expense.