That's what happens to me sometimes...I block myself. As an art student the best way to avoid that was to start with very simple sketches for a while, very very simple, and then if I feel like do a bigger project. Sometimes I've stopped drawing for months and that happened because I was too stressed

I found that drawing a lot on scrap paper or cheap printer paper and discarding each drawing, good or bad one after the other helps to detach yourself form the final result and focus on the process of drawing. It's hard to be stressed about a drawing when you know in advanced it will be discarded. It gives you permission to be imperfect. Good for warmups or practice time. Alternatively, instead of throwing away the drawings, sometimes I store them in a folder or a box for comparing the progress later. I bought a Galaxy tablet to save on paper and I just delete my current layer between each drawing. Alternatively sometimes I make the current layer invisible and create a new one for the next drawing. Same principle as above.

Hi, It happens to me a lot. In my case I think it comes from gratification. Like I do not want to invest myself in something that makes me feel disappointed. I think we have to take the risk and take it as it is a learning process. Allowing the failure to happen so we can grow from there. A challenge makes you grow for sure. I am a little stuck with perfection sometimes and I try to don't pay attention to that.

For me personally, I try to loosen myself up, I usually do this by "warming up" with practice sketches, the point of this "warm up" is to loosen my mind. The practice sketches are at times simple lines, curves, ad circles, other times a rough attempt to draw my desired subject/topic, something I like to remind myself is that "This is just a warm up sketch, if it looks bad, messy, poorly made, that's fine, I'm not striving for perfection in this sketch, and it isn't going to be my final product, so it doesn't matter. As for the hands, they're looking solid, If I were to suggest something would be: try to give more shade towards the mid-tones; Try to make the highlights (white areas) smaller. Anyway, thanks for your time, and good luck with your future project, goodbye!

Yes it was hard for me, I think every artist struggles with that. What helped me was having 2 sketchbooks, one for dirty and bad drawings where I don't care if it turns out good or bad. and the other for more finished drawings (not perfect). I think something that can help you is to use a pen, so you can't erase and slowly stop having that perfectionist urge. Be messy! (I will give you some images of my sketchbooks). These episodes of the Draftmen podcast helped me a lot (check the last link first if you want): 1.- Draftem S3E09: Sketchbooks. (7:19 Timestamp) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vQNb5vY1ao&t=551s, 2.- Draftmen clip: How to Approach Figure Drawing (A Guide for Taking Proko Courses) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFB7deiL-3s&list=PLgmIuDShVZ3iZ8O7PnSOF_kKauv_xfQK1&index=5, 3.- Draftmen clip: Long Study vs. Quicksketch (Which is Better?) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zb_pxmpG0xA&list=PLgmIuDShVZ3iZ8O7PnSOF_kKauv_xfQK1&index=6 4.- Draftsmen S1E1: Letter From a Frustrated Artist (for this one plaese watch the full episode) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXaVVGNfqU0&t=148, And answering your last question, you will never stop using references even if you draw from your imagination. One of the best comic artists in the world, Alex Ross, uses photographic references (Ask Alex Ross: Why Use Photo References? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0InB6axv024, How Alex Ross Creates Models for his Photorealistic Style https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBxPsVUge9s&t=158s,) So don't think that the day will come when you don't have to use references, nobody has a photographic memory. Now, if you want to stop relying on reference alone, that comes with a lot of practice and observation. References will help you expand your visual library, and the Drawing Basics will help you put your ideas on paper.   By the way, it's not bad to copy, if you copy the right things. It is good to copy aspects and qualities of your favorite artists, that will help you improve your art. (Also watch this video from Draftmen podcas: Adopting Art Parents to Develop Your Style - Draftsmen S1E05 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxJOjvsj3j0&list=PLgmIuDShVZ3iZ8O7PnSOF_kKauv_xfQK1&index=3&t=1720s,) Sorry for the text.