Reference Photos of Zoo Animals

Free to use images to reference for your own artistic practice

One of the biggest challenges as artist is finding reference photos. Often any given piece I use 3-7 reference photos to capture different bodies (animal or people), to get the elements of the scenery right, to understand how the light would effect everything and so on. With copyright laws, reference photos can be murky about what you are and aren’t allowed to use.

Sites like Unsplash and Pexels are a great place to source photos that you are allowed to use as reference, however these sites are still limited, and the images are becoming more common. That’s why I always bring me camera with me to continue to grow my library of reference photos. This becomes especially important for different poses of people and kids as well as finding unique animals that aren’t always easy to find photos of.

If you’re needing some reference photos of wild animals you might find at the zoo, these photos are for you! Please reach out if you use them, I’d love to see what you create.

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Reference Photos of Primates

Elephant Reference Photos

Lion Reference Photos

Reference Photos of Birds

Random Animals & Scenes

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