June 12, 2025 - I just did a spurt of portfolio reviews (it's fresh graduates season!) and a topic seemed to come up more than a few times, and that usually means it's worth a Muddy Colors article. So here we go. I don't want to make this sound like a "the kids don't know X" or "back when I was in school we knew how to Y" kind of thing, but I think some old(er) school knowledge might help a growing problem. A growing problem of using search engines for image research. Since I've been reviewing portfolios and commissioning illustrators (for 20ish years now) I have occasionally had to have a conversation with artists about their image research. Sometimes amusingly referred to as "Google-Fu". The most glaring issue was most often reminding an artist — usually one fresh…