Can a character reference be made if I had a picture

[19Norway]

I want a furry of an actual dog breed, but I really stink at drawing.
 I've practiced, but I'm really not getting any better.
If I was to give a few pictures and ideas to an artist and ask for a character reference, would that be good enough? Or do I need to also be good at drawing? 

[Otebon Albrecht]

Depends on how descriptive you are.

Every non-artist that has a reference (like myself) had to start with their words and "idea pictures". Just remember: the more descriptive you are, the closer the artist can get to your vision.

Find someone that understands that they are going to be creating something new from what you detail. Someone that you want art from (everyone has a different style). Once you have that, negotiate with them and see what they can do.

It's possible what you want, but to have something really worth while you will need to work on how you describe what you want.

[WingedZephyr]

Most artists can work off pictures and ideas. You don't have to be able to draw things yourself. If you say you want a Chihuahua character drawn, it is very unlikely that an artist would give you something that looks like a German Shepherd instead. Even if you didn't give reference images for the breed, people should know how to work Google Images on their own.

It can vary slightly depending on the skill of the artist though. There are some artists who know how to pay closer attention to both obvious and subtle differences in dog breeds, and there are some artists who will always draw every canine character to look something like a wolf. It's important to look at an artist's past work and see how well they differentiate between canine species.

As long as you specifically point out that you want it to look like a certain breed though, the artist ought to be able to understand.

[19Norway]

Thank you for giving such detailed answers! I just so happened to have stumbled across Lenny Mutt and his art and sent him my ideas for a quote. He's pretty pricey but if the design is as good as his previous work then I'll probably stick with him for future pieces. 

[Otebon Albrecht]

Glad to hear it!