creative constipation

[waronmars]

I seem to have this problem where i can do pretty nice looking drawings from references, but it all goes down the crapper when I wanna draw imagined things. do i just need more practice, or more anatomy or what? any recommendations flames or what. /m\ \w/ Save me from the insects!


Guess its time to head down to the ca academy...

[USER777]

i've got the exact same problem.
guess the only way to solve this is to keep on practising tho. and understanding the basics of drawing like perspective and anatomy. /m\

[Jens]

I was having huge problems drawing hands from imagination, while I could pull off quite difficult poses when I was drawing from life so I started to do this exercice that I think will help me quite a bit.

First thing was drawing a page of just hands from life and after that a page from imagination, but that didn't give me very good results. Then after that I decided to first look at a hand pose for a few second, memorize the important shapes, then put my hand away and draw that hand pose from imagination. And I saw that the actual results were way better than the ones drawn just from imagination. Mayby that can help.

Also, you should start a sketchbook where you do speeddrawing, just start drawing with just a pen, randomly picking subjects. Draw an element of your environment, some people from life, then do a sketch from imagination, then life then imagination.

When you're drawing from ref you shouldn't just copy the picture but remember the important things about it. A copy should always be a study. Remember light direction, shadows, perspective of the face, pose, clothing etc.

Wehn you're walking the street in daily life or on the metro I try to remember the people's faces in a sort of charicature way. Then when you're at home try to sketch the people you remember. Of course it's better to draw the people on the metro on the spot but that isn't always possible. I think this will help you drawing better from imagination.

I'm rambling :D

[Warhead82]

Just draw everyday, draw anatomy, draw percpective, practise composition, colour theory, draw from magazines, movies, people out and about..animals in books, everything around you and in front of you, the best you can do is draw draw draw and your imagination will eventually build up.

[NoUseFrAName]

I find it makes a big difference what sort of reference you use. Going from photos can help you to develop good rendering skills....but drawing/painting/creating from life, a lot of other info registers in your subconscious that helps you to execute things with more effectiveness when you're not using ref.

And I always find it to help during creative constipation to draw some subject matter that you're familiar with. So often people stall themselves by trying to take on subject matter that's foreign to them. Drawing what you know can get the juices flowing again.

-Rob

[waronmars]

ugh...rob /me makes cross with fingers

thanks guys, thats some good advice. Very helpful!

[Floris Didden]

This thread reminded me of the following IRC quote.
insane_visions: doing concepts is like shitting in a bucket..you really need to squeeze hard
bizarre: i find it pretty easy to shit in buckets
insane_visions: u must have a hugh hole then
bizarre: nah
bizarre: just years of practice
insane_visions: all lubed up and ready to go
insane_visions: dope

I had an art dip the last month or so. Finally while sketching in my book I was finally completely fed up and drew this weird troll thing with a big sword right through his back and outta his belly and tried to fuck it up as bad as possible, scratching grinding the pencil on the paper. That troll was like a personification of my frustration at that time.
It actually helped too. I started making more dope shit and had a lot of fun drawing again.
Frustration usually kicks in when you're really concerned about the outcome of a drawing. Making something that doesn't have to be good or has to be bad on purpose can be really fun to do.

[figure2]

There is a thread in "Life Drawing Techniques" about books many of the artists on the forum have found inspiring or helpful. One of the recommendations I made was "Life Drawing Without a Model (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showpost.php?p=345741&postcount=235)" by Ron Tiner (It's the last of the 3 titles I submitted). You might find it helpful.