How often do you draw from imagination?

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>>2866102
I find myself drawing from imagination most of the time, though I know it's holding me back a fair bit so I'm getting into referencing a lot more.

Here's some of my imagination stuff.

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When people say "imagination," do they mean creating original pieces (and maybe using a reference for subject matter they're not familiar with) or no references at all?

I constantly see and get told that even professionals use reference. I don't want to mislead people when I say "imagination" and I'm using a reference for a car I haven't seen before.

>>2866122
I just guess no referencing, stuff that comes from your mind and memory.

>>2866122
>see and get told that even professionals use reference.
Well, just look at James Gurney. He always paints/draws from reference. He even creates his own models from clay and stuff.

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>>2866102
I mostly draw from imagination, since I think it's more fun and challenging. Even if the results aren't 1/10th as good as when I use a reference.

Guess which side is imaginary and which is references. In my defence, I'm pretty sure I did the imaginary side while on the train.

>>2866122
Almost every single professional uses references. It's the standard.
KJG is the exception because of his mystical Asian superpowers of photographic memory.

I really don't understand why people use professionals ways of doing something as justification for it. If you understand the needs and requirements of something in a design sense then you can extrapolate around those core elements. Scott Robertson draws a vast array of machines without further reference, why do people feel the need to constantly say "well they do it, so it must be ok".

>>2866168
Robertson advocates tracing prints of digital 3D models to easily set up a proper perspective.
The dude is a master of his field, no doubt. But he's a reference fag. I'm sure of it.

>>2866178
cont. because I remembered something, not that I can bother looking for source.

But KJG have said that there is absolutely nothing wrong with using images as reference.

I feel like I learn the most when I draw/paint from imagination and then use reference to fix it up and make it better, this in combination with drawing stuff from reference. You can't draw something from imagination when you don't know what it looks like.

>>2866178
The context is important in that sense though isn't it? I can fully understand the need to look at how an Operator wears his equipment or to understand the why of differing plane mechanics but to me thats coming from a "know the rules to break the rules" mentality.

The idea of someone taking the quote removed from context and just saying "they do it and say its ok" and taking it no further seems to only stifle the potential to create something different.

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Entirely from imagination, without any reference? this one

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>>2866200
..aand that one.
i usually use ref tho, even if i change and add things

>>2866119
I really like your stuff. Good jeb.

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I definitely should've used a reference for this. I'm in too deep now. Should I trash it or keep trying to work it? Gouache on watercolor paper.

Everyday after i studied, i will go on Drawpile and just draw some random faces and figures..Its a good way to just draw.

>>2866102
Pretty much everything or almost everything i've done is from imagination, right now I think i'm at a point where i can do basicaly everything human related like anatomy/faces (+props) decently from scratch, but I would love to reach a point where i can do so with cars and play with complex perspective at the same time.

>>2866286
Same here, but after drawing tons of hard perspective pics I'm getting pretty okay at drawing scenery from my mind. It's like learning anatomy all over again, but easier- since I already learned how to learn. You know?

>>2866216

>>should i finish-
yes. itd be a waste of the pigment, otherwise
also, love the hair.

How do I start drawing from imagination? I can only find myself using a reference and even then it isn't that good.

>>2866314
holy shit exactly! I remember when most of my practice time was only focused on anatomy, I completely left out faces/heads on the side, but when I decided to practice them again the heads I did were already a lot fucking better than the heads before. I guess anatomy helped me learn about forms a lot, and when I got back to faces that knowledge helped a fuck ton.

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sometimes like 80% imagination and 20% ref/study

>>2866163
Do you consider preconceptions of a subject as using references? Look at Peter Han's work, he has a wealth of knowledge and draws without reference.

>>2866196
I personally would still call that to draw from a photo reference. It might not be "the human printer", but imo it still qualifies.
At least it's definitely not to draw from imagination.

And I get your point, and partly agree with it. But I think it mainly comes down to the artist's mental point of entry.
If the artist sees a photo and think "I want to draw that", and draw the image. I could possibly see a issue.
But if the artist thinks "I want do draw a dinosaur", and then looks up the dinosaur and maybe even draws it exactly like in the photo, it at least comes from a creative point of entry.

And if the purpose of the drawing is practice, go crazy and do whatever. That's a different thing entirely.

I've looked around for the source on KJG, but can't find it. I'm pretty sure I read it in Juxtapoz, but I'm not sure. It was a while ago.
I did find this interview though, where he mentions in passing that he sometimes use a reference. But he doesn't specify what that means, so it could be anything.
https://www.juxtapoz.com/news/magazine/kim-jung-gi-the-performance-artist/

>>2866377
If you don't look at the thing while drawing it, it's not really using a reference.
I suppose one might disagree with my opinion regarding this. But I would call drawing from a mental image and/or knowledge about the subject as drawing from imagination.

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I doodle a lot from imagination, i try to keep a good balnce though

>>2866119
>>2866102
>>2866596

teach me senseis

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>>2866608
Knowledge is power. The better understanding you've got of the thing you want to draw, the easier it is to draw it without reference.
And this does not only have to mean that you know EXACTLY how (I dunno) a Ferrari F40 looks. It also means that you want to understand camera angles, construction, and perspective.

Pic related might be fairly singular in its purpose. But the same philosophy goes for everything.

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>>2866620
I'll make it.

>>2866621
We'll all make it brah.

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>>2866187
This is a great way to learn. It helps to clarify your mental image of things.
I also found that drawing from imagination helped me to process information about anatomy. If I forgot how a muscle goes or something, I will see it in my drawing and draw it until I remember and it looks right.

My imagination doodles are pretty rough at the moment. I'm a bit better with heads than full figures. Sometimes I'll surprise myself and draw something that looks good, but those moments are very rare. I can draw animals from imagination pretty well though.

>>2866187
>tfw can't find reference for the thing you're drawing

>>2866628
>tfw all you draw is gay nigger dwarf porn

>>2866631
Never seen a nigger dwarf now hat I think about it.

>>2866633
Just imagine my pain.

>>2866314
what do you mean by hard perspective?

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>>2866102
Would this count?

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>>2866102

When i'm stoned.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaCodgL9cvk

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>>2866102

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Made this just now for this thread. Actually pretty fun to force yourself not to look at images.
Like the shark. I have no clue if that's actually what a shark looks like.

>>2866863
You draw good women that's for sure

All the time, but my shit sucks

Translating the ideas from my head onto a visual medium is the reason I got into drawing in the first place. But I also understand that to get better, I have to expand my knowledge and understanding, which means grinding drawings from reference, which I find to be a total slog.

I naturally gravitate towards cartooning since it detracts from the uncanny valley of drawing realistic things but being shit at rendering.

>>2867031
Thanks bro!

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I try to draw both from life and from imagination every day.

Keeps me tuned.

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>>2867409
I really enjoy drawing silly animals.

>>2867382
Practicing both will help you get better. The abstract picture plane and the careful study of reality go together in forming good artwork.

>>2867382
>to get better, I have to expand my knowledge and understanding
Yup. This statement is true.

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>>2866596
>two pairs of heads in the same angle
>two pairs of upper bodies in the same angle
>that shiiit foreshortening (look at more comic artists for help)
>dude in front and dude to the left have two different arm sizes/lengths (fixed with foreshortening practice)
>using curvilinear perspective to hide mistakes

I THINK that you would be much better off trying to nail nice rhythmic curves and gestures. These poses are quite stiff and could use some character behind them. The reptilian dude in the back i sort of in the right direction.
It seems like these guys are just posing in space. They don't have purpose to be performing the action they are. Are they lost? Confident? Tired? Powerful? How do you express these ideas?

Right now all I'm seeing is a sausage fest of characters I don't really care about.

>>2867416
>>2867409
These are cute. I feel like I've seen your work before. Got a blog?

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Just finished this piece. I only used ref for the skull and the silhuette of the train.

>>2866122
True masters compose from imagination then build their composition with real life reference and get to work.

>>2866200

reference is a cobra and a reptilian. nothing imaginative

>>2870799
>He thinks imagination means making something up with absolutely zero basis on reality

Kek, not gonna make it.

It depends on what I'm doing. If I'm doodling I'm usually thumbnail IMG. Coming up with ideas, concepts and poses I like. If I find one I like I'll use a reference for parts I need it on. With figures I mostly use myself or my husband for reference for specific details like hands in certain positions.

Objects I usually use a reference for.

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just doodles

>>2866102
every day
no, I get banned

>>2870050
this is great

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Pretty much everything I draw is from my imagination...

>>2870551
who made you the arbiter of true art mastery?

>>2871016
clearly because it looks like shit

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Is this book good or bs?

>>2871254
it's good, but it's very oriented on design so it might not be what you need

>>2871225
Ayyyy that's the spirit.

>>2866102
Rarely, maybe once per month

>>2871254
it's the gold standard book for learning perspective/form building

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does drawing fanart count? i guess you could make the argument that you're just drawing from someone else's imagination

>>2866863
>>2866369
>>2866119
these are nice lookin fampais

>>2866369
>photobashing
into the trash it goes.

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>>2866119
Some stuff I did tonight from imagination, thought I might as well post it here.

>>2871212
idk I agree with him. pmuch my method but I think just about everyone on this board is better than proko, so....... take that as you will

>>2871594
its neat. looks like teeth. I like the idea of drawing based on a few "elements" or choosing some words at random to work into the idea

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Isn't drawing from imagination symbol drawing?

>>2873789
no. Symbol drawing is when what you draw comes off as a default generic version of what you want to draw at the cost of not looking natural or being technically correct (Usually from drawing it from a false angle).

>>2873789
Isn't all representational drawing that isn't straight up copying something 1:1?
One could think of better drawing as using more sophisticated symbols.
But for the sake of not deluting the term I guess it really means extremely simplistic, if not crude, depiction of an object... so what the other anon said.

>>2866102
About 99% of the stuff I've drawn is drawn without reference. It's actually held me back quite a bit.

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Probably 99% of the time. Still got a looooooong way to go tho.

It really isn't that complicated. It baffles me how this is even a discussion.

Drawing with reference: having one or several pictures to refer to for visual information

Drawing from imagination: drawing without refering to a picture for visual information

You can do one or the other or do both.

>>2873870
I like your stuff, but where do you want to take it, graach? Comics?

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Don't really do it as often unless I'm making monsters like this.

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>>2873870
derp face

>>2874074
Thanks man. Yeah, i think that comics is the way to go for me. I'm slowly starting to work on a webcomic, so we'll see how that will go.
>>2874103
That's about the exact expression i was going for, should have drawn the hand too.

>>2866102
you can draw from imagination alone, for example you must had seen some chinese art to draw that

>>2873789
No it isn't. You don't seem to know what symbol drawing is. Symbol drawing is when you draw, for example an eye, as a simple football shape while ignoring the information on your reference.

In symbol drawing, you're drawing what you THINK a subject looks like rather than what it actually looks like. Bad artists draw what the THINK they see, Intermediate artists draw what is ACTUALLY there, and great artists draw what they KNOW.

So drawing from imagination competently, would be drawing from your knowledge of perspective, lighting, anatomy etc

>>2875044
Drawing from imagination can be called "advanced" symbol drawing. Hell, PROPER symbol drawing is an excellent way to draw from imagination, you just have to memorize the "symbols" correctly.

>>2871016
I really like this keep it up ; )

>>2871016
really good light control, forms dont seem completely thought through though (<help), so it still looks fairly amateur, keep going anon

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i do it often even though i have no idea what im doing

>>2875104
....Nnnno...This is very wrong.

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What y'all think?

>>2866102
How do you define drawing from imagination? If you just mean without references 99% of the time.

This also results in a ton of NSFW art. But not always.

>>2873870
how long did you do ref studies before going full imagination tho?

>>2873870
yo dude do you still do streamings, I think I watched you a while ago?

>>2875158
>>2875342
sticky

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>>2875118
Thanks.

>>2875152
I'm trying to keep the detail limited on these because they're supposed to be animation BGs.

Might make them look a bit muddy and simplistic if I'm not careful.

>>2875613
I like. looks like something from an old videogame with a gritty backstory

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One way I like to generate ideas is by drawing something small and then expanding upon it. A squiggle can turn into a figure if you follow it through to its natural conclusion. Then I interpret what I drew, and redraw it, each drawing a new interpretation of the last.

By starting small, each stroke (be it pencil, paint or digital brush) implies so much more information. A zig or a zag will ultimately tell a completely different story as it's scaled up.

>>2875678
Mind doing a webm of what you mean?

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>>2875678
I like to embrace mistakes and try to see what a stray line would look like it it were a scar, or a limb or a river, depending on what scale. Likewise, a body could be seen as a landscape and viceversa.

>>2875680
There was this one video that I think would be relevant, but I can't seem to find it. It was a group experiment where people would trace over a line in turn. It started off perfectly straight, but, as each person came in and saw the last person's line, they noticed its irregular shape and tried to copy that. The irregularities compounded and the line became more and more complex.

It was on some old science Youtube channel that I forgot the name of. Anyone have an idea? Their videos were often narrated by a particularly monotone woman, and the channel was named something pretty plain probably with the word "science" in it. Must've been from 08 or 09 or something.

>>2871212
God.
He says you're a fag.

>>2875613

Thanks. Trying to capture that "rough" feeling.

>>2875399
I started drawing more or less seriously at about 12-13, but i didn't do any drawing from reference until i was about 17, I think. But even then it was mostly just croquis two times a week. It was always more fun for me to draw from imagination, i guess?
>>2875401
Yeah dude, used to stream a lot in the early days of LAS, but i rarely do that anymore. I'll probably get back into it when my day job schedule gets a bit more stable!

>>2871016
i think this is fan fucking tastic. reminds me of mike mulligan and his steam shovel illustrations

>>2875104
No.

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>>2866102
I drew pic related just now and then found this thread. R8 me, /ic/.
I like drawing anatomy and ortho views of buildings from imagination, it relaxes me.

>>2878384
nice job!

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>>2866102

I only draw from imagination.

>>2878384
Good, but the head size is... Disturbing

>>2879095
Wow, loved it, blog?

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>>2879208

I'm afraid I don't have a blog :( But thank you.

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>>2880131