Hey guys, beginner here. I had a question about mental imagery/visualization

Just keep drawing and reaching for you perfect standards, but also know your own limits of your skill and don't overshoot it. It's true, as you get better at this, you'll be able to mentally visualize better. Even I can tell after a year with memories and such. A main helpful one for me was learning how colors worked, so you can see what a color really is in your mind and that's about reaching closer to reality.

>>2994791
What you're talking about is your visual library. Simply put, it's foggy because you've never really paid attention to how things look. Much of the progression in art will consist of slowly building that visual library and remembering the appearances and details of various things from people to simple objects, etc.

Early on, it will be good to practice envisioning a fully complete project. Say you have a character you want to draw, take some time to think about the pose, the outfit, the weapons, the values, the colors, and even the scenery. Put it all together in your head. Then draw what you see.

At first, you will notice gaps, not knowing fully how something looks like, like a the hands, or the face. When that happens, then you go back to your fundies, look at references, look at your own hands and build the visual you have in your mind. Then apply it.

It's a process that I don't really hear artists talk about too much, perhaps because they can do it intuitively, but it's definitely an important skill to start practicing.

Don't worry about your lacking visual library. It will have many gaps of course but it will slowly build up. If you focus on being a perfectionist, you will get stuck. Just accept that your work is not going to be perfect but the more work you produce the better they will get each time.

Neuroticism and anxiety is just that. It's just brain noise. There is no solving it. Think of a pond that's been disturbed. It's muddy cloudy from all the sediment that's been shaken up. You don't try to iron the water back into stillness do you? No. You just let the movement play itself out until it recedes and the pond is calm again. If it splashes once in a while, let it splash, that's what happens to ponds. So let the noise be what it is and just continue drawing. No sense in getting caught up in brain noise.

>>2994791
Pretty much what these anon said. You just need to build a better visual library with constant practice.

Also good taste in artists. Soejima is good shit (I still prefer Kaneko over him though)

>>2994801
Thats the best analogy for dealing anxiety ive ever heard,thank you

>>2994792
>>2994801
>>2994940
Wow, I didn't expect such detailed and helpful responses, thank you all so much. I will keep trying.

And to the second poster, I just want to say, as >>2994947 said, that is the best advice on anxiety I've ever heard. I saved it, and I will return to it when I feel down. There's something very therapeutic about those words. Thank you.

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>>2994791
A fellow Soejima fan?

I had the same question as you, and after a long research I've come to understanding that problem is not only in visual library but more in the "output power" of your imagination. Human is a very complex object, just test yourself with something simple, so visual library won't be needed for this exercise. For example, draw a composition of a square, triangle and circle (or if you're brave enough try cubes, pyramids etc) mixed together in one interesting silhouette, but don't use constructions, only silhouette. Now try to imagine it reversed horizontally or rotated 90 degrees and draw it without rotating your paper. Or try to copy your favourite artists' drawing from memory. Look hard at the picture for a couple of minutes, try to remember all the details, and draw it. You find if very difficult, your brain will be literally in pain, cause your imagination power is weak and insecure. As an adult you have to intentionally forge your memory and imagination power, unlike children who develop it intuitively.

I don't know if this is related or not but I find it interesting how there is always a feeling I get when I imagine what I want to draw. Like specific emotion or whatever is attached to it. Then when I draw it the image doesn't have the same emotion that I felt.

Like the ferocity of an attack or the surprise in someone. those things kind of disappear when I put it on paper and sometimes the image in my head loses it too.

Anyways what I'm getting at is that I've learned you gotta study the details that make those emotions come out. Like the facial expressions or the tightness of a pose, the weight and weightless ness of something. the space around it, the framing around it. the colors the lines the contrast the pattern. all that shit. Its like a meta of things you should learn to make people feel the same thing you felt when you imagined it.

I'd say be conscious of what your drawing is supposed to be outside of the image.

>>2994791
wtf if that's beginner level I'm done with art

>>2995145
That's official Persona art you dumbass

>>2994791
This is normal for beginners, especially if you've never really drawn before. You simply need experience. Don't sweat it. Just focus on working hard, and keeping yourself open to improvement. Grind your weak areas as they say.

And don't forget: You are not alone. Many artists before you and those that will come after you have these worries and doubt themselves. It's actually a really good sign, since you're probably not going to be satisfied with mediocre work.

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This is called aphantasia.
http://www.bbc.com/news/health-34039054
1 in 50 is absolutely incapable of visualizing.

No matter how much I study and build up my visual library, I have never been able to visualize.

But I just relentlessly beat the canvas until shapes start to form, so I'm doing ok. I know I'll never be a real artist.

>>2995627
With the sheer number of amazing artists out there, I'm sure some of them have aphantasia. Don't give up anon.

>>2995627
So if you can't visualize, how did you know what kind of reaction picture to pull out from your folders?

>>2994791
yes pretty common. i think he was showing off. most people i think can do the detailed image part, but i don't think normally people can just 'copy' that onto paper. that's not usually how drawing works, otherwise everyone would be much better at drawing.

>>2994791
if you take 5 minutes to think before you pick up the pencil you're guaranteed to make better pictures, especially if you avoid pinups who do nothing but look pretty in a pose

never start with a head, always with a spine gesture