very cool

↑ Not since the Gameboy Color

I only use the reference image to trace an image that I drew on paper, and more commonly to grab the correct colours of a character from an image I got from Google... :S

Non traced work is a preference I guess. I like this tutorial, especially the undo part. The only hard part is when you're trying to use all five layers without sharing any parts of the image, like my x-wing one. No clear layer to draw and drop from.

↑There's nothing wrong with that : )

a couple times i actually wanted to draw from life and couldnt see my screen like day time at the beach and its not so simple to copy a picture you still need to know techniques im trying to redo a painting i did in real life on here so i took a photo of my painting and guess what its not so simple as just tracing it so ya know whatever :)

I think I just broke all of the rules here... xD
And honestly, there is nothing wrong with tracing. It drives me nuts when people think it is evil to have a reference picture underneath the actual picture.
You can't just draw something without knowing how to draw it, we all have to learn somehow. I used to trace over pokemon on the computer when I was little (with paper, of course xD) and that's how I learned how to draw Pokemon really well.
Honest to God...

Re: the tiny Guy in the centre of my "Faves-Pic" was from soul eater :D

Re: I try my best not to use the undo button when I make my new paintings! :D

Thanks! This helped me a lot!