12 Reference Photos Behind Iconic Art
Behind most great artists is a well-planned reference photo.
![12 Reference Photos Behind Iconic Art](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/6/0/9/758609_320x180.jpg?v=2)
Thanks to the myth of the artistic genius, we may reflexively want to see it as "cheating" when an artist doesn't pull every detail from their imagination. Before photography, artists used camera obscuras to help get their vision from mind to canvas. But since the handy dandy ease invention of the camera, photography and video have been useful tools in other artistic mediums.
![12 Reference Photos Behind Iconic Art](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/5/9/0/758590.jpg?v=1)
![SWEET VALLEY HIGH BOOK SERIES 20 UALLEY 6 hied SWEET Cover artist James Mathewuse used photo references for his realistic, iconic covers.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/5/6/6/758566.jpg?v=2)
![12 Reference Photos Behind Iconic Art](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/5/8/8/758588.jpg?v=2)
![12 Reference Photos Behind Iconic Art](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/5/7/3/758573.jpg?v=2)
![12 Reference Photos Behind Iconic Art](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/5/7/2/758572.jpg?v=2)
![12 Reference Photos Behind Iconic Art](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/5/8/9/758589.jpg?v=2)
![12 Reference Photos Behind Iconic Art](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/5/7/4/758574.jpg?v=2)
![12 Reference Photos Behind Iconic Art](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/5/7/1/758571.jpg?v=2)
![12 Reference Photos Behind Iconic Art](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/6/0/7/758607.jpg?v=2)
![HENRI DE JSE-LAUTREC O ART JaneAVll Toulouse-Lautrec included the portrait of Jane Avril in an advertisement which helped to bolster the can-can dance](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/5/6/8/758568.jpg?v=2)
![VINCENT VAN GOGH POTRAITS In Portrait of the Artist's Mother, Van Gogh referenced a black and white photo of his mother. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/5/6/7/758567.jpg?v=2)
![NORMAN ROCKWELL PAINTINGS Rockwell used multiple models and poses before settling on a figure in his painting of Ruby Bridges, The Problem We All Live](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/5/6/5/758565.jpg?v=2)