>>3063615This is true.
But I would also argue in a lot of cases if said artist put more time into learning figures and anatomy they'd be able to draw a much more natural looking figure, with better poses/composition, using less ref in a shorter amount of time.
I see plenty of professional level artists making figural work that looks amazing using way less specific reference material compared to an artist like Donato Giancola or Dan Dos Santos who rely heavily on photo ref, shooting almost 1 for 1 photos (Like noah did) of figures in boring poses wearing equally boring costumes just to trace or copy them.
Sometimes using ref can very much become a hindrance that stagnates your work. Take the noah pcs for example, the figures are just naked human figures. No deviation in the body type or exaggerated features or costume......boring. Looks like he just learned how to paint nebula and wanted to do a whole painting based on that.
