It really depends on what you want to use it for, and how much you care about details.
For example in more detailed work like 3D modeling or fursuit making you need a ref sheet with at least a front and a back view because the work needs all those angles. If you want an art commission with a tricky angle you might need that too.
Or if you simply want to be clear with all your details for any kind of work you might want to illustrate them in your sheet, like outfits, small accessories or different props.
I myself have been loose with my own refs, they're not really sheets I just do a front view and maybe some headshots with expressions to show personality. maybe draw an important part of the design (for example my character Brytia's ref, though I still need to do a front view), maybe some outfits, it depends on the character! being simple could leave some guess room if another artist is going to draw your character so if you don't want that you could specify whatever area of your character that could be misinterpreted or ambiguous. If a design is simple enough a basic ref sheet would suffice.
You can add important text in your sheet, like name, species, age, ect. I would personally advise not to clutter it too much with text because the focus is supposed to be on the design, and other text information could be presented elsewhere like in the character profile. These are my preferences :-)
Not that I have any to present to get opinions on, kind of more looking for ideas/suggestions/help?
I never know what to do with ref sheets, like what the layout should be and what information belongs on one and where. Some people keep things mega simple and others go absolutely crazy, not that either of these are bad or anything as it's all up to preference, but I can't seem to do either. 💀
I probably don't even need to make ref sheets but I really really want to?? Like, I desperately want to have a cool, neatly organized character sheet thing but simply lack the apparent brain capacity to pull it off in a way I find aesthetically pleasing.
So past all my ranting and raving--- what do y'all do for ref sheets, what's your ideal layout, etc. Some examples would be immensely helpful also as well if you have them.
Thanks so much for your time. 🙏💎✨️
As you mentioned, it's totally up to you!! I personally like making my ref sheets a bit more complicated with a lot of details (mostly accents and design stuff) so I can fit in a lot of their visual themes or motifs.
I mostly do it since I commission a lot of artists and I find it easier when they have to read as little as possible to understand your character ^^
A lot of my ref sheets are also influenced from like 2015-ish RP groups on deviantArt where everyone in the group would use a template provided by the creators. I always thought they looks so pretty and referenced them a lot when I was younger
- I guess as a general baseline is that I make sure to draw or point out any details you absolutely want people to see / follow as if they had to draw them
- Then maybe 1 or 2 extra doodles to show their personality?
- Also any difficult to draw details I want to clarify
- + Whatever purpose the ref is for. Like maybe I want to buy a plush or physical goods, I'd make it a little simpler
Here is one of mine, but I really like bullet journaling / formatting so I made it complicated x_x And an older one!
But then I have something like A Single Drawing or this since she's supposed to be a silly DnD campaign character so I did it really quickly! But ya honestly anything goes, the most important thing is that you have fun with it which I always have :D
It depends on what you need (or what).
I personally keep refsheets as small and simple as possible; One big fullbody of the character, two small chibis of the character (front and back), eyes, the color pallete, and if the character wears any clothes I tend to add it too or even an optional clothing.
(Here's My sona, Sal and My another sona, Damien references as examples.)
Refsheets are customizables as hell and you can always add whatever you want to them. Add text for optional stuff? Go ahead. Important notes? That too! Feral and humanoid forms of the character? That's helpful. Just like the first comment, say it perfectly about not clutter too much! It may be difficult or confusing to people to understand how the design works, a simple but understandable refsheet should work good.
My opinion as an artist working off of a reference sheet:
I prefer much more simple reference sheets. A basic standing/ neutral posed reference is preferred over a dynamically posed reference so that I can get an idea of how elements of the design falls naturally (ex. if a character reference has the character drawn dynamically with elements flowing around them and the user wants the character drawn more "neutrally" (like sitting), I can't tell how "loose" an element is supposed to be; is the element naturally wavy? is it more straight? etc.).
A turnaround or front/ back view would be ideal to have, but a single 3/4 view is fine too. For colours/ palettes, I don't like shaded references unless a flat colour palette is included (and it's obvious what the palette is supposed to go with, either the palette is close to the element that's supposed to have that specific colour, or the palettes are labelled). This is because shaded references makes it harder to tell what the base colour is supposed to be, so certain elements might end up being coloured lighter/ darker than they're supposed to be. Also, I prefer a plain background (i.e. just flat colour or no colour) over a "busy" one/ one with a design so that it doesn't distract from the main focus of the character's design.
For text, I like typed out text over handwritten since it's easier to read, and I prefer if the text are key points/ details as opposed to paragraphs. If I need to know a character's personality/ story, I would prefer that typed out in a message than in the reference sheet itself so that I can focus moreso on the visual aspects.
My opinion as someone making my own reference sheet:
I like working in "puzzle pieces"/ layers if that makes sense. I usually draw design elements one at a time and then paste them all onto a single canvas or otherwise extend the canvas I'm working on. This allows me to draw key elements/ close-ups of key elements freely without having to worry about making something fit since I can always just rearrange/ resize the canvas as needed.
I also like noting what material something is, as that usually affects how it would be rendered/ drawn dynamically. My characters tend to have simpler(?) hairstyles, so I usually put more focus for the clothing/ outfits or otherwise make a separate sheet for hair/ actual character (i.e. body).
These are what my reference sheets usually look like:
