"Drawing From Imagination Is Too Hard"

[@RudolfHorvath]

It's funny that as a child all I did was draw from imagination. If I did something from observation it was hands and I was just moving and positioning my own in front of my eyes. It was just later when I wanted to get better as if I lost that ability. As children we are so fearless, there is no expecation. If it was good, it was good and if it was bad you just tried again later.

[@aztro.99]

that picasso quote about every child being an artist rings so true every time i think about it

[@enrater123]

Lol I remember as a child there wasn't even a thing such as a bad drawing, I look at it now and it's just straight up weird stuff, but back then I thought I was the greatest artist ever after finishing them

[@Writing_freak]

Damn relatable!!! I used to have my own princesses and barbies when I was small and now I need to refer a Disney picture to draw them....we lose our imagination as we grow up

[@basoosterhuis4573]

​@@Writing_freakit's still there! Just keep trying to use it!

[@hannahmayo6582]

This is so true!!

[@Leviathan_Art]

Yeah the thing that sucked about being in art school from middle to high school and even some college was they want you to focus to much on observation but very little attention was given to do visual artist from your imagination. It takes a while to get that switch to flip between.

[@2fortsmostwanted]

I think the idea is “if we get these kids drawing from observation they’ll have a reference bank in their heads for when they draw from imagination later” but… then they never teach lessons that flex the drawing from imagination muscle. So instead of reference being a tool artists grow up relying on it for every single thing

[@ProkoTV]

Like they said in reply already, the aim is to give you the skills to be able to use those observation abilities for the imaginative works. But we have to intentionally transfer those skills over, if it doesn't happen in art class. That's a lot of what I was trying to tell the students in my Drawing Basics course. They didn't want to draw from imagination yet but I know that it'll be key for them to do it early.

[@wenomachosia]

My advice : learn the subtle art of not giving a f**k

[@egusisoup1826]

​@@wenomachosia™️

[@Chanksss]

@@ProkoTV I'm the 101th person To like your comment that means I am Lucky!

[@Kaemonster]

I had the exact opposite experience. I was drawing from imagination so much I had no idea how to draw from observation. I had some fundamentals, but once I started drawing from observation I watched my skills improve exponentially. And it was that exact same issue where I didn't know how to switch my brain to be able to draw from observation.

[@freewifiinthebackofthevan]

Same

[@Milano6969]

Bruh literally same for me.and idk what should I do💀

[@amigonou]

That's what I'm going through right now! Any tip to fix this would be greatly appreciated

[@LilChuunosuke]

Same here! And to those asking how to flip that switch, the things that helped me most were quick gesture drawings and tracing over reference photos. You need to start training your brain to see the basic building blocks that construct the form. In my experience, racing to draw an entire figure in 2 minutes or less helped force my brain to look for the simplest, easiest forms to copy. After a while, you learn to start seeing lines of action, boxes, triangles, circles, etc. But you can also trace over these images and try to build up these shapes directly over the photo.

[@drawkingnikhil0818]

Drawing from imagination is great achievement for artists!everything fails in front of something original

[@KarachoBolzen]

It's also just so hard to start from imagination when you're already good at portraits. I was pretty good at drawing portraits, I could definitely capture the character of a person, but then I decided to focus instead on character design, from imagination (with references of course) and it just felt like losing all of my ability. It was incredibly demotivating, and my pace dropped from maybe one drawing a week to a few months between trying. But now i am finally getting better again, and i start to create concept art that i can actually be a little proud of again. So yeah, keep at it, even if it feels like running backwards sometimes.

[@ebbily9368]

You cannot understand how much I needed to hear this. As of 5 minutes ago, I also thought I just wasn't good enough.... just hearing someone as successful as you going through exactly what I am makes me feel so much better.

[@ivanasamasova8369]

ProkoTV is hands down the best drawing channel on entire youtube, you explain complex things so easily simple, many of the videos I can relate to- in the past (as the struggle of drawing nose) and in recent (as this video), your videos inspire people to be creative and I'm sure this channel makes a great difference of many peoples work

[@QueenOfShovels]

So refreshing to see such a great artist mention a relatable topic! Thank you!🤗

[@Sketchbookartandcomics]

Totally agree! I have been drawing from memory since I was young, so many don't realize you just get used to it.

[@showthebeebub]

I have aphantasia so drawing from memory or imagination is impossible for me. It’s a terrible curse

[@daddowastaken7543]

I suffer from aphantasia but i can still draw things i saw is strange be i dont see them lmao

[@showthebeebub]

@@daddowastaken7543 huh. Do you have complete aphantasia or partial?

[@Sketchbookartandcomics]

I didn't even realize aphantasia was so common, I'm so sorry. I've been raised in an artist family, I had no idea.

[@showthebeebub]

@@Sketchbookartandcomics it’s actually pretty rare I think. From the studies I've read (there aren't many since it’s relatively new to scientific study) it’s rarer than schizophrenia

[@Daclaem]

Most classical music instrumentists have the same issue with improvisation. They are good at what they do at the cost of being completly formated.

[@dertydank6175]

Formate?

[@bepinkfloyd814]

Yeah i had this thing that i was jamming with a friend and this girl that play violin and piano in the music school, she didn't know how to jam... i mean we just play the basic 12 bars blues, I IV and V. But she didn't know how to improvise beign a classic music student and playing by Reading music, on the other hand i can't read notes and can't play Beethoven on the guitar but i think i just developed a decent hear and just with the pentatonic and Major scale i can do a solo xD

[@lulboiking5806]

It's the other way around for me, I feel like I can draw stuff from imagination but can't replicate stuff from real life

[@bird3769]

Same

[@mahmerkhan1287]

It's simply what routine or ritual one gets accustomed to.

[@FrenchwithBasu]

Unlike many famous KZbinrs, Proko really encourages non certified artists like me who do art from heart but without institutional education... I am very much thankful for your kind encouragements. It helps me a lot, A LOT in my creations. I have one two videos downloaded from your channel in offline. I watch them for getting the inspiration whenever I run out of motivation of creativity. ❤ I am grateful for your amazing guidance.

[@jankhambrams]

I'm really enjoying these thoughtful Shorts. You give good perspective and get me thinking! This one helped me realize that both drawing from observation and imagination are separate skills. And therefore can be practiced and learned!

[@lillymeil7487]

That progressing slowly is the challenge you've to have more faith in your self and trust that the effort that you put in learning won't let you down.

[@chiptenor]

Great observation, Stan, on drawing from the imagination. The more one fails but sincerely tries to do this with good observational knowledge from study and background, the more 'free' in imaginary expression you'll become.

[@Toriahna]

This is so encouraging ❤ I started drawing more back in 2020, and I still have a lot of fundamentals to learn, but I really want to draw from imagination- there’s so many fantastical ideas that I could turn into art pieces, but one of my down falls is discouragement from failure. Gotta remember that’s part of the learning and improving process… and it’s beautiful too… even if my art isn’t at the moment 😂

[@PlanetPineapple]

man that line about learning that you’re probably going to fail more than succeed really got to me so quickly. when you’re learning it’s hard to not become a perfectionist. i appreciate you a lot professor proko 🙏🏼

[@Skinwalker471]

Your videos are helping me alot,I've been struggling with major burnout for past few months now and thanks to your shorts I'm slowly overcoming it. Love your mindset on improving and stay safe

[@aLesbianStaccato]

Being told flatly to expect to fail more than you succeed is no joke, so relieving to hear as someone who seems to only make something good from imagination once in a blue moon

[@neonmoose315]

It’s the opposite for me. From my childhood I always drew from my imagination and memory, now trying to learn how to draw properly, I’m strugling to do it by simply drawing what i see

[@rm.makes.me.smile_]

One thing that helps, is to think of all the features of the reference in relation to each other. In other words, observe the distance between two or more features on the reference, and then try to emulate that same distance between them on your paper. Basically, don’t try to draw each individual feature where you see it on the page, draw them where you see them in relation to them all together. You can also cover up single features with your hand and imagine/visualize where it looks like it should be, and then move your hand away to see where you actually drew it and how far off it was, and make adjustments as needed. This will help a LOT with fixing/preventing wandering eyes and noses that are shifted too far one way or another. Hope this helps ☺️💛 if you need me to rephrase or clarify anything let me know! It’s a bit hard to explain in words without showing it

[@MannEMar]

Same here

[@zephyrias]

@@rm.makes.me.smile_ ooo this helps a lot!

[@Bunny-Bones]

Drawing properly is from your soul-imagination. The only “proper” art is art that moves you and speaks for you or and to you. If it doesn’t give you joy . Run as fast as you can. I speak from experience unfortunately

[@rohitchoudhary4899]

Thanks for this boost up video. I really need this

[@omersaar4682]

I never noticed stan... your eyes are two different colors... so pretty...!

[@PurrbotArt]

I've been switching from drawing from imagination to drawing from real life back and forth, every time I switch my focus I see myself getting better at the other, it's kind of magical

[@operaticxingenue]

I’m an opera singer and the longer I do this I find more and more similarities between all art forms. For us we have to listen as much as we can so we can imagine the sounds we want to create. The bigger our internal library the more colors we have in our palette to play with. The more I watch your videos the most I’m realizing it must be the same for visual artists

[@H1dront390]

Since I started drawing. I was met with the phrases "I'm not gonna do this" " this is just overwhelming" " eh, maybe later, I tired anyway" These phrases and more sometimes break your work, either you'll become rusty at something or straight up just procrastinate. But damages are also part of progress, it builds focus, for example I was supposed to practice, but my mind says, "you're tired" even though your not. put your phone down, lay down for a bit then think "I must do this for the sake of getting good". that worked for me, how bout you try, if not try different approaches. as long as you have the determination for drawing.

[@OddlyAnimated1203]

So true. Learning the fundamentals are gonna improve your drawings a lot, but the thing is that sometimes I know what or how to do it, but since I haven't practised enough, it just sometimes doesn't work like the way I want it to. So practicing along is equally important.

[@CarNerd7]

I relate to this SO much! I'm 17 and been drawing from observation my whole life (except when I was a little kid) and now I'm trying to level up my skills and draw from imagination and suddenly it feels like I lost all my skills, but I'll keep going!! I'm trying to master all the fundamentals currently, man I can't wait to draw from imagination!! I'm quite motivated, I'll grind a lot haha

[@sumerian_robot9561]

Most important Proko video ever and I've been here for like 10 years haha

[@Amanda-yo8xb]

'You should expect to fail more than you succeed' I needed to hear that. I always expect 'im an artist, everything I draw should be nice to look at'

[@InceyWincey]

Improvising is the best way to learn anything. Repetition, copying, memorisation are all very slow processes, but when you attempt to improvise and create something new, whether it is a few sentences in a new language, a melody or chord progression on an instrument, or a character or monster or object as a work of art, the processes required to visualise the new creation are much more intensive than those required to replicate something. This results in a much stronger and faster reinforcement of the neural pathways related to the skill you are trying to learn.

[@KoriWatson]

When I was in high school I had a friend and we had like mutual admiration because she had like an amazing understanding of technique but was sad she felt like she could only draw from reference where I had terrible to no technique but through persistence went from not being able to draw anything comprehensible to being able to draw whatever I want from imagination and it wasn’t good and rarely came out how exactly how imagined I but with iterations and reference I took what I want from I could make some ok looking fantasy creatures with unique designs. We occasionally combined our skills to make something great.

[@lennysamuel9290]

People just need to enjoy the gift of art and discover their own unique way of doing it! So many people telling everyone how it' should be done! Just enjoy it! And don't try to impress anyone! If they appreciate it they do! If they don't it really doesn't matter! The gift is yours to enjoy😊🎨

[@McVilla1N]

Your channel is absolute gold

[@josephflanagan2527]

Contour and blind contour exercises helped me the most with imaginative drawing

[@Tri2fresh]

Starting off completely unrelated, this is a good philosophy that's practiced in JJK. Turning every feeling and emotion you have and directing it towards overcoming seemingly impossible obstacles to pave a way for strong connections and a happier life. In this instance, art is the medium but the process to reach the end goal is the same.

[@MrManAmong]

I used to only draw from imagination. I am self taught and I started with ink. For the first time ever I started using pencils, actual good quality drawing paper and I’m teaching myself the Loomis and Marvel methods. I can see how always using the Loomis or Marvel type methods can almost stifle creativity with its structure. Just know that it’s just as difficult going from imagination to using documented methods for symmetry and consistency. It is for me anyway. The second I try to draw a Loomis face I forget how to draw circles. There is for sure a switch in the brain that has to be flipped in order to do one or the other. You’re not alone and it’s nice to know that I’m not either. Thanks for all the tips!

[@Whateveritsaid]

I started drawing from the age of 3 and all I draw is from imagination, till recently when I started using more references and that really improved my art style

[@squinton-keyhill]

i started with drawing from mind, i learned from drawing like that, i got way better, and I got far keeping like that for year. it makes me not to focuse on details which i did when i tried to draw from something. Sometimes like in school i do have a reference but I don't follow it, only to know how close it needs to be, but it's still my style, what i know and learned. I'm able to draw a face from mind, but yes... i fail way more than succeed, i need to use references if it comes to an already existing character like in my profile.

[@rat_girlie]

I've been drawing from my imagination my entire life and have just recently started to get into drawing from life. It's actually really fun!

[@raingir988]

I really neeeded to see this right now cause I am struggling drawing from imagination.. but am great with references , Ill keep trying

[@MrAaaaazzzzz00009999]

coming up with ideas from imagination is really hard for me. I work around this by doing comics or drawing based on stories because luckily I find story-telling really easy compared to coming up with purely visual ideas. its really strange that I can draw comics so easily but when I switch to standalone illustrations Im at a loss of what to do. although I think 'idea-crafting' is a learnable skill. i heard over a stream recently that everyone has ideas but they have mental inhibitions or fears that prevent people from putting those ideas to paper (eg. thinking the idea is for whatever reason not a 'good' idea). proof of this is the images you'll see in your dreams and daydreams. so it's about unlocking those inner visualizations and building up the confidence to make them. I'm trying to use a sketchbook to do this and just drawing whatever shitty thing that comes to mind. still very hard though.

[@ThePopo543]

Search "random art prompt generator" You're welcome.

[@omegaredtooth5104]

💯 if anyone wants to learn figure drawing to improve invention, make sure you keep doing memory drills to see what you retain! Warmup with simple doodles, perspective, boxes, spheres and then build your figures to whatever level of completion you can!

[@horsegirlsriseup1261]

thank you, i rly needed this rn

[@zam7z20]

It's always easy for me to draw from imagination

[@christinaastreha]

I like that you shared that i don't know the basics yet but this view and sense i had too.

[@noam_levi_draw]

Love your videos their teach me a lot Thank u🙏

[@ScottHebertArt]

this was a missed opportunity to show the kangaroo fetus #neverforget

[@ProkoTV]

I practice my kangaroos daily! I'll never fail again! lol

[@milddiffuse]

thank you for mentioning this :P the video has some great advice even without it though

[@cezar6411]

trying to get something good from imagination takes me hours if not days just to get a slightly decent drawing

[@mikepelosi9877]

I think that, if you draw from observation long enough, you eventually get to the point where every drawing is similar rather than different. That's muscle memory. It's why trace overs are effective if you consider them practice like a musician practices existing songs, note for note. Inevitably, you will "draw from imagination" and create synapses based on the countless hours of observation you put in.

[@abreathingcoffin8089]

This is so important. Drawing from reference is great- but I had friends and peers telling me to NEVER draw without reference, which is a terrible idea. You never are forced to abstract or figure things out on your own- you never leave the comfort zone of always having something already in front of you.

[@ArmandoLizarragaperez]

And the only way to learn to abstract is to do just do it right?

[@silentwitness9255]

Enjoy the process more than the end result and many problems will with practice go away on their own.

[@Maria_Lourdes]

very motivating advice! Thank you so much

[@ronaldtherabbit3065]

Proko is the best art channel every.

[@Kingbacon747]

I started from imagination and still do, drawing from observation is very hard for me

[@StickmanStrozzi]

see, recently i saw that tweet where they say all these pros has like decades of experience under their belt, and then i felt a little better, knowing my like 3 years of drawing experience isnt supposed to make me godlike yet

[@Joyboy.753]

Thanks so so so much!!!🙌🏻✨

[@teknosisglitch2432]

Slowly is the key word here.... Building art skills takes a good amount of time! It's so frustrating but it's true

[@9jadragon306]

I just want to mention one thing - drawing from imagination does not mean forsaking references! If you have trouble with certain aspects of a composition, using a reference is still a valid technique. For me, personally, I have little trouble imagining compositions and developing ideas, but I have later difficulty when it comes to shaping up finer details and whatnot, since I have difficulty mentally focussing on details and portions of a whole. So, to combat this, I often go to references to prevent senseless struggle.

[@Qobbled]

Thankfully most of my drawing experience is doodling. I improve the most when observing from reference, but through doodling I've gotten good at using what I've learned straight into from the mind.

[@sketchartist1964]

I was always drawing from imagination even as a kid. I think it was my desire to be a comic book artist that motivated me. Well, I never actually became a comic book artist, but I did learn how to draw from imagination. My advice to young students, do a lot of copying.

[@aidenyoo2906]

This advice applies to almost everything in the world

[@babydragon409]

I'm a self taught artist (still learning lol) and I don't often use references so I'm glad I've never had this problem. I'm still progressing even without references, just from art video's on KZbin

[@TheFormidable1n3]

I needed to hear this today 😅. Foreshortening the fingers on the hand facing forward has been killing me

[@brandonmckean6326]

Learning ID style perspective based drawing helped free me to be more confident drawing from imagination. Or atleast expressing things with more dimensionality.

[@captainphoton1693]

thats why i only draw from references and observation when the thing im doing is work or training. outside of that i only draw from imagination and only take refeences to draw acurate details but almost always once i have the idea and shape im mind or on papper. and even then its pretty rare.

[@NayNay_D]

Many times I feel my drawings sucks, thank you for the cheers.

[@mircokaiser891]

Its interesting that I have a "rather" easy time to draw from imagination, especially landscapes, but its difficult to extremely difficult to replicate literally anything without making at least perspective changes. I really have to force myself to not change up anything. . . . . . . . . . For example I drew as exercise and bc I wanted to do one anyway, a bear with surroundings and I changed up the way the bear stood almost automatically.

[@aabuyaa]

that really feel like what im at. i can do really good drawings, but only with reference. but then.. my drawings will be almost exactly the same as my reference. when someone asks me to draw something they imagined.. i just cant. idk how to start, where to go... i can only draw what i see. i cant draw something thats in my mind

[@DinaDinoNews]

Meee tooo

[@Fivewees]

I'm an artist, being an artist is hard, still learning and growing.

[@ProkoTV]

Good luck with your journey!

[@mythydamashii9978]

Literally me when drawing digitally

[@eixenI]

I taught myself how to draw and only drew from imagination, only recently have I embraced the idea of references. I’ll admit it’s a struggle to apply this method on my art, I think my brain is still stuck in that imagination space instead of observation/reference space.

[@margaretphenicie4522]

Full figure drawing is pretty intense with coming up with a good composition.

[@BarKeegan]

Solid gold advice 👌

[@danrazART]

I trained myself to draw from imagination because I thought that everyone professionally was like that. But, drawing from imagination result in images looking rather stylized. Missing details etc. But you can use imagination to help fix bad references or observation angles

[@pretzel6989]

That’s why while I learn the fundamentals I still try to draw from imagination often.

[@kaiapparent2653]

i have literally just started to learn to sketch and draw and i’m learning that it’s very much a practice until your hands are numb kind of deal lol. i feel like people are put off when they fail too many times but i’ve started to notice how much better i am now than when i started even a few weeks ago! it’s really hard but a great exercise in not just perseverence but also self confidence 😂

[@markcedricrodelas6036]

For me I love art so here's an suggestions for you guys if your drawing something you don't know how to draw just go with the flow don't be scared to do again your drawing the more you draw the more you will good at drawing and if you're drawing something just put your focus on it dont do any drawing even tho you know you will fail because if you stop drawing on something you already draw you will be lazy and just stop drawing that's how I win on contest so yea that's my observation on my own skill

[@Nol.]

Creativity is something that has to be cultivated, and is completely separate from skill, which also needs to be worked on. Creativity doesn’t just appear one day. It’s something you have to grow. I stopped writing for like 5+ years, and when I got back to it, I had one idea and kept trying to do that. My ideas were flat, too. One day, I got an idea for another story. And then another. And now my brain is so flooded with ideas I’m kinda dying over here 😅

[@Suited_Nat]

While I do partly agree, I have aphasia, so as an artist, I’m often relying on my thoughts of what I expect something to look like, rather than a visualization within my head.

[@HiHi-oc3gh]

Glen Keane, one of the greatest animators has aphantasia and barely uses references. Don’t use aphantasia as an excuse to not get better

[@MsL4Vi]

It's funny how I learned more about how to draw the human body from a small manga course in the uni anime club rather than from the artistic drawing elective course from my faculty. In the first one we practiced first the structure and proportions of the body and its parts, then copied a lot of poses. But the goal was to practice until draw any pose from imagination with the less references possible. In the faculty they showed us some techniques to use sepia and carbon, but then we were immediately asked to draw observing ourselves or the model, directly copying without knowing the basics, just pointers. It was notorious how some of us were more and less prepared (I survived thanks to the course ^^;), others got better practicing and a few ones never got the proportions completely right because they didn't teach us that =/

[@jhiinrex]

this is all i need to hear every single day

[@cham6328]

Art is a mental game

[@Trid3nt861]

Two books I recommend is "Make it Stick, the science to better Learning" and "Drawing from the right side of the brain".

[@Bunny-Bones]

I let my imagination get sucked up also with the whole iPhone internet explosion. I thought the exposure would just be observational. But it saturated my chaos my imagination… As a artist I take in every picture and it just really overlapped my own pictures…. True vid🤘🏼

[@Killerkraft975]

The skill of drawing isn't exclusively tied to the skill of imagination. You can be the worst artist, and have the most creative ideas or the best artist but have no creative mindset. Not implying that artists aren't creative, but it's not really a requirement so it may get overlooked when thinking about form, gesture, shape etc when creating things from scratch. To really get better at imagination, you would need to consume alot of different media to really know how to draw with zero reference.

[@alea16]

I draw from imagination and it's hard for me to draw from observation. I am not good in drawing real objects (or realistic) but I enjoy drawing colorful sceneries to express my emotions. I am trying to learn to see and draw real things, too, now. But it is hard. :-D

[@yin_va.a]

I’ve always had a very vivid imagination and often my drawings are me trying to basically physically trace a memory in my head. It’s super difficult but often yields somethin neat or teaches me something new.

[@Kkaz-Art]

I do both at the same time. But for a second I almost lost my skill of drawing from the imagination because I was doing a lot of observational drawing. Now I seperate my training for when I need either skill.

[@deadsoon]

When I just 'wing it' and correct with my knowledge later, it either comes out very good, or it loses the original impression that I wanted to imprint. It's a hard balance. I treat each piece like a baby I want to see succeeding in life. Maybe I put too much pressure on them and that's why they crumble. Sometimes you just gotta let things be and develop on their own.

[@huntersnyder6888]

I used to always draw from reference, but I got very insecure for not being able to make my own work. So abt a year and sum ago I quit using reference and worked on Hella on poses and everything. I already had anatomy well done. I'm 15 new and able to almost draw anything I think of

[@carmelamarchese507]

I am in the complete opposite boat I have always drawn from top to bottom never really used guide lines or references but I love how everything looks. Now that I’m going into art school and taking life drawing classes I’m afraid to make this switch

[@Congiary]

I struggle. As I started getting better at art, my imagination PLUMMETED. I kind of regret studying anatomy and technical methodologies. They would have developed over time, but in my quest to progress quickly, I traded away something infinitely valuable and difficult to exercise.

[@ProkoTV]

The two things may not have as much to do with each other as you might think. A lot of people correlate that but usually, it's just that more life requirements popped up as you got older and were studying those technical aspects. A lot of people find themselves not being as artistically whimsical as they have more responsibilities. Try just drawing free of constraints and make tiny doodles whenever. Draw like you did when you were younger and for nothing but the fun of making drawings. Doesn't have to be perfect or seen by anyone. I find that helps to regain some of that whimsy.

[@beans9288]

Couldn’t have been timed better, as I just chucked my sketchbook after suffering through bad imaginative drawings haha…

[@zezenono6205]

As someone who is struggling with the opposite let ot also be said that you shouldn't be so rigid as to not use references or look up advice from someone who knows how to do what you want to learn.

[@p5rsona]

I'm going through this now and struggle is too much

[@connormacleod1490]

Best advice ever!

[@MrChochichon]

Well, the best way to learn how to draw from imagination is... to draw from imagination... And the problem is, whenever you try and ask people feedbacks, they will tell you to go back to drawing from reference because it looks disproportionate.... So basically people tell you not to draw from imagination until you magically can!

[@GraceCreatesLivingSpace]

You can always use references too for like poses, anatomy, what the heck this animal even really looks like and then exaggerate them, get comfortable with different kinds of anatomy and creating a creature or a new animal or a person won’t be quite as tricky. Not that I’ve ever gotten it down, but most of the time when you see people who draw from imagination you will also see them practice with references still.

[@maz031]

Ive maintained my imagination based drawing by avoidong direct use of reference, so instead of drawing from observation, i would draw more from memory, and then check and recheck my reference for clarity

[@tanya2774]

I am the opposite. So here's the story. I started sketching at the back of my science notes at school. And I usually would do it secretly and out of boredom. So I actually didn't want to get caught by the teacher that I am sketching or drawing so I would actually sketch all these wild characters snd random portraits of people that would just pop up in my head since I was least dependent on any sort of... reference. And it build a lot of creativity in me. I used to express my emotions through those drawings and thats actually how I realised I wanted to become an artist. Yes drawings without observation won't be perfect. But heres a tip, it will help you in drawing from imagination and build confidence. 😊

[@PissboigrenLogs]

As mostly long time self taught artist I have trouble with fundamentals the most as I’ve spent so long drawing from imagination lmao I have been working on combining the two tho