Drawing From Your Imagination
78Drawing from your imagination and other helpful resources
 | Amazon Price: $18.50 List Price: $29.99 |
 | Amazon Price: $15.72 List Price: $29.95 |
 | Amazon Price: $11.33 List Price: $19.95 |
 | Amazon Price: $55.41 List Price: $44.95 |
 | Amazon Price: $3.55 List Price: $18.95 |
 | Amazon Price: $1.06 List Price: $19.99 |
 | Amazon Price: $24.95 |
 | Amazon Price: $12.97 List Price: $24.99 |
 | Amazon Price: $1.47 List Price: $4.95 |
 | Amazon Price: $5.26 List Price: $9.99 |
 | Amazon Price: $15.72 List Price: $29.99 |
 | Amazon Price: $2.44 List Price: $4.99 |
 | Amazon Price: $1.88 List Price: $4.99 |
 | Amazon Price: $8.98 List Price: $19.99 |
Drawing from your imagination
Drawing from your imagination is a skill and a fairly straight forward one to master, firstly you have to be confident with your own drawing ability and art style to such a degree that you yourself believe that you can draw anything your mind thinks of, without the aid of visual references.
First steps
Think of something you know you can draw, off the top of your head and start by thinking what you usually had trouble with when you first learnt to draw it, an example could have been that the proportions were all wrong or the actual drawing didn't translate very well from what you intended.(meaning it didn't look realistic enough)
Next try to work towards overcoming these problems or obstacles in drawing, there are various ways to do this, and I shall show you how:
Proportions and structures of many things are related in many ways and to percieve these as equal we need to have had some visual reference to these at some point in our lives, therefore when starting to draw anything for the first time, it is okay and also important to have a visual picture or photograph of what you are trying to draw in front of you( this is not termed as cheating, as you are not sitting an exam, you are merely learning yourself)
By viewing images and then taking mental images of the real life stuff around us you will gain a better understanding of drawing more realistically and more natural, and then go on to build a wealth of underlying drawing and observational techniques that will be of great value to you later on in your artistic ventures.
Next steps
Finding what you're good at drawing is an important step, because more often than not you will find yourself or need to specialize in a particular area of field and then build upon it.
For example, you start to perfect your area of expertise in comic book drawing and build on what you love to draw like monsters and superheroes and get on with researching every minute aspect of your creations and others to maximise your knowledge range.
Drawing is fun, so why not let yourself be free in what you want to draw, just have faith in your ability and practice at every available moment you get.
So again if you have a general understanding of the drawing basics then you will go far and create what you want to all the time, additionally I also find that looking at your most favourite artists work can inspire you even more to be better at drawing and painting, especially if it is in the area you most want to work in aswell.
For me I love the drawings and paintings of Boris Vallejo, John Howe, Frank Frazetta and Larry Elmore to name a few, of course there are numerous other ways in which you can gain inspiration for your drawings like listening to your most favourite music albums (Korn for me!) watching exciting films loaded with special effects, or just simply reading a book for which your imagination is left to wander to wherever it goes.
Other drawing resources:
Imagination is the key to the possibilities!!!?
Wonderful Fantasy Tree Demon Art And Other Imaginative Art
Other Drawing Art Hubpages
- How To Draw A Flaming Skull
Skulls, the popular emblem of the pirate or a great tattoo design entwined with tribal swirls and frilly design elements. This is a hub page simply on how to draw a flaming skull, simple enough right? ... - Drawing Art
Over the many years I have been around on this polluted planet, I have been drawing for as long as my feeble mind can remember, usually I gravitate to the more darker side of art, such as demons and horror,... - How To Draw Fantasy Art
Draw fantasy art with links to many different fantasy art drawings and art tutorials. - How To Draw A Demon
When starting to draw your monsters and demons, you can do a little exercise called drafting, this is simply a process where you begin to sketch loosely without having a clear idea what you are drawing in the... - How To Use A Grid To Make Drawing Simple
Most of the time I prefer to draw free hand, but using a grid to help draw a picture can be very useful. Grid drawing is very helpful because it allows the artist to focus on one block of the picture at a...
Imaginative Art Drawing
Drawing From Your ImaginationLoading...
i started drawing when i was about 4 or 5 so its been along time but all i draw are furries i want to do comics but to me drawing furries wouldnt catch much attetion like superman or any other human hero. im sure this will help thx ur demon art looks cool.
It went to Hill billy heaven!
weres the left pupil ov the hill billies eye gone
thanks for the tips, i hope to eventully get into Video Game Art Design (like designing the levels and characters), but im always struggled with drawing from imagination, im sure all these will help me in the coming years :)
I have been trying to do this for ages... to accompany my dream journal. The images I have just don't seem to come out on the paper exactly how I need them :/
fentastac & supar draing
Jolly good, I had to have my eyes lasered a few years ago, because they was going right blurry, so I know how you feel with the art stuff, it would be nice to see some of your art....cheers Ethel!
Great stuff. I hope to re kindle my art now that I have had my eyes sorted out.
I'm hoping to write and draw comics one day.it is not that easy to be a comic book artist (alot of people THINK it is!)but with comics you have to be able to draw everything that exists!and even things that don't exist!Anatomy,perspective,backgrounds,humans,animals,aliens,zombies,monsters,cars,trains,planes,planets,spaceships,costumes,clothes,hair,people sitting,people walking,people talking,laughing,crying,sleeping,fighting what ever the story may bring,so thats why I do the magazine thing three nights a week.I also buy a how to draw comics book every month (christopher hart has some good ones)right now I'm practicing some things from Tim Nguyens book on drawing comics,story telling,pacing,etc...but when I'm not drawing from a book It's strictly Imagination.I would like to put in three or four hours a day but I can only get in about thirty minutes to a hour a day right now,within the coming months I will start posting some of my stuff on my hubs,you'll be the first to know.peace,and keep drawing.
Cheers now Bill!
That sounds like a concise and self disciplined method of working and I suppose it would help you in the long run by drawing or rather forcing yourself to draw the stuff you don't like on magazine covers.
here's a thing I like to do as practice,I will buy three different Magazines Vogue,GQ,home and gardens,whatever its a random excercise,I'll start with the cover and draw everything from cover to cover,even the stuff I don't like.I practice Three nights a week mon,weds,fri-day. on the other days I draw from my imagination.
Thanks...lots more to write about!!
Very well explained and really awesome images
I've drawn from images inside my head for as long as I can remember, and you aptly demonstrate that it isn't "wrong" or a "cheat" to not use references from the world around us, or to actually ignore them in favor of what we see in our mind. It does seem that you draw from the darker side of the images in your mind, but I tend to do that myself--I am more apt to draw demons or monsters than "imagine" a sunset or flowers (or whatever the "lighter side" means. Good hub, I enjoyed it.
Thanks scheinandras!
I have dabbled in abstract art as it is almost dream like and almost basic of art styles that I may just paint some more abstract pieces.
Drawing from imagination is one of my favourite subjects. I think it could be an extra step for you, if you leave your figurative thoughts behind and start investigate abstraction! It's just breaks up all the boundaries what the work with figures causing. Keep up the good work! Andras
Thanks for your Comment Robert!
There was a time were I had a plan of quite a few graphic novels and such and I still do, but it's become a chore to finish them as I'm always chopping and changing the stories and different pages, but I'd say there are two that are nearly finished called Witches Evil and Demon Tower and it's these that I have focused on as I've had the stories in my mind for at least 12 years!
As I draw a lot of tattoo designs I suppose that has took the time away from me gettin these graphic novels done....anyway just keep plodding on!!
Great article and great points -- all true. I have reached a point where some favorite subjects aren't hard to draw from imagination, such as trees. I can do trees wherever I want them and get fairly plausible ones. Cats, I'm starting to get there, especially since I started doing quick gesture drawing of my cat more often in various poses.
Half the time I try to draw him and he'll move, so 3/4 of the sketch is from my immediate memory of how he looked when I started. Yet the more often I sketch him from life, the better my cats in general come out. I used to do dragons years and years ago and sold quite a few but was never satisfied with them. I wouldn't tell the buyers that, because I didn't want to spoil their enjoyment.
Your demons are spectacular. I can see the Boris influence and the comics influence and your style is very polished. You could do a great graphic novel if you wanted -- if you can get regular people as well as the monsters, of course, or the story was all monsters. Even if you have trouble with less extreme figures and faces, I can see how a good story involving nothing but extreme demons and heroes could work well. Civilians aren't always part of it, not if the story's set in Hell or a dungeon or something.
thanks for your comments!
you suck copy and paste if you agree
I love drawing stuff out of my head, because it could be a good exercise of sometimes creating some cool stuff. I use reference pictures for special projects.
Cheers for commenting Sweets!
I always admired those who have the talent to draw from their imagination because I tend to need a reference picture at the least.
Yes I have a Squidoo lens that shows a fair bit of my art http://www.squidoo.com/demonsaredark
This is a wonderful Hub! Drawing from imagination was always something I was not the best at; I definitely prefer doing portraits. You are great at drawing! Do you have more to show? :)
Thanks for your great reply, I like great replies like yours, full of interest and experience, drawing is learning and sketching is the basis of drawing, I like to pick up new ways of drawing things all the time.
I am currently using reference material such as photographs, to further my understanding of proportion and figure drawing, it fascinates me!
Cheers for your reply!
Well written. The only thing I would add to it is that if you have trouble drawing something you love without photographs, draw it several times. Or several dozen times. Or several hundred. Eventually you'll change the photos around to the point you can do it off your head, that's how I drifted into drawing from imagination well enough to tolerate the results.
Absolutely it is not cheating to use reference photos -- the next step from being able to copy photos is to be able to combine references, and most realist artists combine references and use references all the time. Including some of the greats you mentioned -- though sketching from life is good too and teaches different things, and they did that too.
Wayne it's obvious you're talented and this article is so interesting. Usually if you write you also draw...you know the whole creative package. I used to be an avid artist...somehow got away from it. I drew some art for the walls of my apartment a few years ago, never picked up the interest I had but I am a fiend for other artist - smile.
Excellent!
Is that fella your 'Fight Club' guy? (the person you really want to be?!!)
That's a pretty wicked lookin' dude, Wayne.
You must have my share of talent too. :) lol
waynet Hub Author 3 months ago
Thanks! Furries are cool. Sometimes it's hard trying to specialize in something to draw at first when there are so many things to draw!