[Tutorial] How to success with your reference hunt

Hello guys! 💛 Did you guys had a good weekend?
Here in Sweden has spring really started to sprung (finally!) ☀🌱  

A few days ago did we start to discuss about reference searching in the discord group, and how it even can be a pain in the bum many times. So I suggested that maybe it could be a patreon post about how I do it to make it a bit more easy, so here it is:  

☕ Be ready with a cup of tea - reference searching is like a day job
No but really, it takes as long time as you give to it. Funny thing is that you almost always finds the references you where not looking for. But then you save them for later.

1. I mainly use google
I very rarely use pinterest when I search references, or tbh, I never do. That is only because I want to have them in as good quality as possible to be able to see muscles shapes, and I feel pinterest lack in this (but I often use pinterest to get overall inspo tho!). To be sure to get better quality when you search, pick the picture size under settings to large/HD. That's a super tips!

How it looks on the computer:

And how it looks on the phone:

2. I try to be very flexible when I search
Because you will get different results sometimes by just changing a word. Sometimes you might find what you searched for while writing "bay horse cantering", and sometimes by just write "horse cantering". I often even have two tabs open at the same time so I can search for different stuff. 

3. Don't try to be too limited or exact in your searches - think outside of the box
This is something I see a lot of when people search for references. For example; Imagine you want to make an edit with a woman leading a horse, then you most likely will search for exactly that and try to find one picture of what you have in mind. But try to go beyond that. Instead, try to search for "horse walking" and "woman taking a walk", and then combine them. I'll talk more about this further down under 7. , but what I mean is that think outside of the box when you search. If you want to make an edit when a child is playing with a sheep, try to find a running child and a running sheep instead of one photo of a child and a sheep running together. You see what i mean? It opens up a whole new world.

4. I right click every photo that I like up into a new tab/open link in new tab For both good and bad, as it can be a lot tabs many times, which can be quite overwhelming....So maybe don't right click that many. But the main reason i do this is because...  

5. ..."Related content" is my best friend
Now i don't know for sure if looks like this on other search engines, but when you search on google on windows/chrome/android will you get up more photos underneath the picture you clicked up that google think you might like. This is the true gem because you will many times get up photos that you won't find on the first side when you search. Often, however not always, so are these photos in the same type of quality as the one you clicked up as well. And you see, here comes the "open link in a new tab" in again, and then again and again, as you find more interesting photos to check out. You see why a cup of tea can come in handy?

5. dreamstime.com, alamy.com, istockphoto.com, shutterstock.com and similar stock photos sites usually have good quality preview of their photos
You will often find and see photos from these sites when you look for references - click on them and search there too! There you might find even more fun! And....you won't need to make an account to save the preview 🤫  

6. But, what am i looking for when i search for references?  
Except high quality and the right angle for what i had in mind, will i very often look for photos that are:  
-Taken with good cameras
- Photos that are taken when it is cloudy but still bright outside or taken in the shade. That will give good and just enough amount of muscles and details, aka no sharp contrasts. I try to avoid HEAVY sunlight photos because of this reason  
- I try to search for reference pictures that looks similar in build/same breed to the horse i'm making  

7. I combine references to make my own
This is something i'm doing more and more nowadays, and pretty much everytime when I've rider and horse.
Many are skilled enough to just look at one object and another and then just combine them. Like some kind of wizards. Mad I know. I however have not possessed that level of wizard yet, so I try to make my own frankenstein photo out of different photos. It is just much easier for me to get a clean and accurate sketch like that.  
It can be a bit tricky to do this, to cut out one part and to make it fit and work with another, as there are so much things that needs to click. Everything from that the photos you pick must be in angles that match, same gait if the horse is moving etc. But the more you try, the better you will get! Try small with maybe change an ear and the head of the rider. Don't hesitate to ask if you need any help!

Here's a few examples of how the process can look for me:

Extra tips: If you are able to - try to capture your own references!
Many phone cameras are pretty good for regular portrait/standing still photos nowadays. It can especially be useful to take photos of yourself or a friend to use, or of your hands! Because, we just love hands so much, our great enemy... 😨🖐️

I hope you found the little tutorial somewhat useful!
Hugs -