How to Be a Better Storyteller

The difference is research and people here are the word research. Research is about authenticity, so if you're designing a character who's lived in the midwest in the 20s, don't look at other people's work of artists or designs from the 20s. If your character is distraught and isolated and poor, look at pictures of people who are distraught and isolated  and bring all of that information into yourself until it becomes part of you. It really is digging deep in the reference phase but then you can put it away and start drawing with knowledge instead of habit.