Using references for animation

This article talks about the importance of using references in animation. That it isn't cheating to use references. Because you have the entire world to look at and try to apply it to your animations. Some really important references you can look at are in comic books, nature videos, or take a video of yourself acting out a scene. But don't just copy it exactly how you see it. Study it so you can apply it to your own animations.

I liked their article because I like to use references all the time when I'm drawing. Mostly for poses because drawing a natural looking pose is difficult. I think that all skillful animators got that way just because they observe the environment around them. We get a lot of tips and the one we see a lot usually say take a sketch book everywhere with you and draw. I don't think theres any reason for someone to feel like they;re cheating when they use references because how else will we learn?