How do I draw from imagination? I Google it and get shit, I ask people just to find out nobody else can draw, or thinks they they can and embarrass themselves. I have an idea of repeatedly drawing things I have issues thinking of, but then I'll just being drawing hundreds of everything and I don't have time for that. How do you guys draw from imagination?
Pic is my goal in every way.
Try something like this:
Grab an item in your house, study it, then draw it in 3 different angles without the item in front of you.
>>2366023
Like I said, I'll have to do that with everything.
>>2366027
Well yeah faggot, there are no shorcuts for art.
>>2366016
You think people who draw like that just come up with the architecture and machinery?
Nah dawg, these people spend years drawing and studying their favorite subjects, if you wanna draw like that study boats, blimps, European architecture and anything you wanna implement into your drawings, you gotta know it first before you can draw it from imagination.
And even then people who do concept art still use reference, the creativity is still there but they use all the resources they can get to achieve what they want to draw.
To be able to draw anything from imagination you need to greatly expand your visual library, that means you need to put time into learning what makes certain objects unique and studying those unique characteristics. Over time, as you study more and more objects you'll learn what makes objects what they are and eventually your visual library will expand to the point where you can compose pieces like your related pic. The main issue is that its impossible to expand your visual library to encompass everything, so just choose a theme(ex. Steam punk) to study and learn what you can from it, and once you're comfortable with it you can move on to more and more different themes
Tldr; start small, learn basic characteristics of something , gain more and more knowledge over time, work hard, practice hard
Also, it comes with hard work so dont give up
So, pic is your goal, you should analyze why, and how does it achieve it.
It's got very fancy architecture, it's got the somewhat run-down looking steam-punk-esque airship, it's got tons of people in clothes you'd expect to see in history books. It's also got a lot of atmosphere, both figuratively and literally, hazing out buildings in the background, gives it more depth and evokes an outdoor feel.
I'm gonna say this guy has a lot of experience, especially in drawing landscapes and buildings, I'd wager they have a gallery of the stuff. And during that time, they're probably looking at and analyzing architecture themselves, either real life or from other artists, and asking themselves the same question, why is it my goal, and how did they achieve it? The steep staircase leading to a wide entrance with many pillars is something common you see in fancy architecture, banks and government buildings. That thing that looks like a tower but is partially merged with the main building, that looks pretty neat. A centerpiece window, might of drawn inspiration from churches and stained glass.
He's also obviously had a lot of practice with lighting. I really admire a good landscape artist, you should practice it. Study up on your linear perspective and horizons and draw some buildings, then just start adding stuff to em. Draw dream homes, dream neighborhoods, dream kingdoms
You don't have to draw hundreds of everything that's retarded
You learn how forms and perspective work
You imagine how the thing in your imagine would be formed from simple forms
You draw that in perspective
you wrap it in detail, then apply light and color texture and value ect
>>2366149
To add on this, yes studying a subject matter is a god way to draw it better, but it doesn't effect that directly.
The reason drawing so many faces makes you draw faces better is because it lets you IMAGINE faces better which hopefully through your understanding of the fundamentals of light form perspective and such, the really core things, will translate to better faces.
>>2366158
You build IMAGINATION from your precious REFERENCE. The entire point of practice is to get comfortable with a subject or skill, be it drawing a specific object, or studying the clothing of a time period. By practicing and using reference, you get to the point where you can draw things like OP mostly from IMAGINATION.
>>2366164
You will never stop using reference. Ever. Even grandmaster artist's of all fucking time still use reference for every painting until the day they died.
If you take any sort of schooling in illustration the teachers will grind this shit into your head. Get references, use reference. Always and forever. If it's how Howard Pyle, Dean Cornwell, Leyendecker, Mucha. and crew did it then it's best you do it that way too.
>>2366016
Something that I never heard before I started attempting to draw from imagination is that you don't have to necessarily put in paper a 100% preconceived mental image, sometimes you start with a small idea but when you put down some lines and values these lines and values dictate something else somehow it's evident that this unforeseen path is more appealing and honest than what you initially had in mind.
Maybe I need to sleep badly but in short what I wanted to convey is that you need to start, experiment a lot and be attentive to unexpected but favorable results.
>>2366173
no offense man, but in years of browsing/posting on /ic/ i have not once seen you draw anything other than pretty girls. i don't think you are entirely qualified in terms of imagination.
>>2366180
good job missing the point famila
>>2366181
He's right, firez. I'd sooner ask r9k how to properly pleasure a woman.
>>2366220
This.
Also, was the trip necessary for something like this?
>>2366158
>>2366164
>>2366167
James Gurney makes models.
James Gurney lights models.
James Gurney photographs those models.
James Gurney even uses photoshop to adjust the colors in those photographs, and this is a man who works almost exclusively in oil.
If James Gurney has to go through all that to make his paintings, what makes you think you're exempt, OP?
>>2366294
James Gurney makes his own reference in order to make sure the idea that orignated in his imagination is most realistically rendered on canvas.
And thus the circle is complete. Start your African chants.
>>2366321
>As for the Frazetta thing... I think it's a bunch of LIES.
>http://muddycolors.blogspot.com/2014/04/cheating.html
mfw
Frazetta was doing the 'oh guys I'm so incredibly busy I barely even have time to take shits inbetween AAA movie gigs guys. Wow I'm so super sought after and established, like really guys! Holy crap! Oh btw buy my gumroad'-thing before the internet was even around.
>>2366339
How on earth do you come to that conclusion from reading this article? Are you literally retarded?
What works for me,and most likely for you,is drawing lots of research stuff in sketchbooks. Quick basic shapes,even rough layouts to the scene you are trying to portray,then dwell on details. Think of Functionality of what you're creating,as it applies to anything and everything. If its a creature,how will it move,eat and compete? If a machine,what does it do,how does it do it and what level of technology is involved? Did the artisan have time for artistic flourishes,or only for basic physics? You can convey a lot of subtle background info through what the tools,clothes and archetecture of a picture shows. For instance,I had to visualize an art deco column of submissive female rabbit anthromorphs,and a staff top of similar style. What I got...works. Kinda sorta. But if I went in "blind" it would have been a LOT worse.
>>2366016
1. Grab a book
a) preferably the one you like and inspires you
b) preferably the one with very descriptive/specific language and narration
c) preferably some weird fiction, sci-fi, fantasy and the like
AFAIK Michael Kandel translates few very good polish authors like Lem or Jacek Dukaj, I recommend especially the second one even though there are only parts of his texts on the internet.
http://www.dukaj.pl/en/
Alternatively go for some cult classics - first books of Ursula Le Guin should do the trick.
2. Read a book, alternatively open on random page and read, pick more or less static scene with big description if possible.
3. Draw it, re-read fragments if possible.
>>2366357
Dear god what is this shit. Ever heard of "show, don't tell"?
>>2366321
Not really, there comes a point where you're secure enough with your art that critique don't phase you and your fans will ridicule /ic/ tier faggots for their anal retention to meaningless details.
That's when you actually start producing the most art and are the happiest with it.
You'll never make it tho.
>>2367268
You WILL need reference eventually. IF you're trying to paint like OP's example, you will need it MORE often. There are no exceptions.
I've already worked in an animation studio, and as a concept artist, so I'm not sure what you mean by "make it".
>>2366430
There are also people that tread water for years and regurgitate the same cliche poorly-crafted shit ad nauseam. Which sort are you?
>>2367306
Obviously you'll have to look at reference every once in a while and do studies if you need to get comfortable with a new subject matter you've never drawn before. Or plainly look at reference to brush up your memory of something you already studied and know how to draw, just to give it that extra degree of believability. No one is saying anything against doing these things.
However, we have a whole bunch of delusional beginners on this board who can't draw for shit and they project their own incompetence onto literally every other artist. They have convinced themselves that no one was ever able to draw anything decent without using references. That there are seriously people who think that Frazetta couldn't draw from imagination because he's used references for some of his finished illustrations is so unbelievably idiotic it blows my fucking mind.
>>2366315
>kim doesn't use reference
Not for his publicity stunts, but he's constantly looking at pictures and subjects and drawing them from reference on his own time so it gets ingrained in his mind. He didn't just start drawing shit out his ass, he has literally thousands of hours of practice from refs.
