Need Reference Photos?
Drawing from a reference photo is sooo much easier than drawing from life, but sometimes you and your students don’t have a photo of your own that’s quite what you’re looking for.
Using someone else’s photo without permission is copyright infringement!
Learn more about copyright and my terms of use here!
Use My Photos!
This is why I have a stash of photos available on Flickr (https://www.flickr.com/photos/ridgelightranch/) with an “Attribution Creative Commons” License, FREE for your use!
This means you and your students are welcome (and encouraged) to use my Flickr photos to create new works of art for fun or for sale, as long as you let people know where the original photo came from. (This is NOT true for all photos on Flickr!) When you use one of my photos, please include something like “Original photo by Julie Abels” or “Photo Credit: Julie Abels” to be legit. If you’re online, I’d love it if you’d also tag me or link to my website: ridgelightranch.com
I want to inspire you to create art and I’m excited to see all the beautiful things you make from my photos, so let me know! ?
Other Places to Find Photos
- There are some Facebook groups like “Free Reference Photos for Artists” that are a gold mine of reference photos! They ask that you try to give credit to the photographer when you post your art.
- Bonus: you also get to see other people’s beautiful art work while you’re there! This page is one of the things that makes Facebook worthwhile!
- You can also google the name of your subject and the words “public domain.” Just pay attention because not everything that comes up will actually be public domain
- WikiCommons is a great place to find images. Again, click through and look for the words “public domain!”