Drawing Basics
Getting Started
Lines
Shapes
How Perspective Works
Bonus Content
Here you go level 2! My sketching from imagination project demo. From studying the reference, to explorations, to final sketch.
Newest
Alex Jin
5d
Really love the constructing with colored pencil idea. For some reason it really frees me up from attacking detail right away.
Alex Jin
5d
Oops these should've gone in the drawing from observation vid, my bad!
Alex Jin
5d
Joan Lacasse
19d
I had a lot of fun doing these explorations. Thank you very much!
Yury
13d
Charming characters and drawings!
Joan Lacasse
19d
I had a lot of fun doing these explorations. Thank you very much!
Joan Lacasse
19d
Art Stark
28d
"Class Notes," or "Sketching with Stan," or "This is why it takes me so long to get through a demo video." :P
Sol Garcia
29d
I decided to try this project but I mainly focused on drawing from observation. As I continue in my art journey maybe I'll come back to this project to see how much I've improved. Any critiques would be appreciated :)

@aubrey
1mo
This is my first attempt at this project. I was inspired by these finches but i think that the final character looks like a seagull.
1mo
Very cute! :>
I think what can help in terms of making it less seagull-y is aiming for a closer proportion between the head mass and body mass. For the finches, the head mass is much larger, and both masses are more round and "squished" vertically (so the width is longer than the height), and accentuating this can add to the cute, round finch characteristic. Also, note the small, short legs. Either way, a very cool drawing indeed!
Nate
1mo
I thought I would give a level two assignment a go this time around instead of just sticking to level one. For this assignment I just copied one of my light sketches I got from an image and then I altered it a bit, so I'm not so sure if that's really drawing from imagination, but I still really enjoyed the process a lot!

Sharath Chandra
1mo
Hello everyone! I tried a Barn Owl,
I started with 4 reference images and the tried the last one on my own.
Yury
1mo
Good start! And congratulations on first post here. I hope you continue your practice and keep posting your works.

@jorniel
2mo
Hello everyone! This is my first post here. If anyone has any feedback please tell me. It will be deeply appreciated.
Have a good day everyone.
Yury
1mo
The overall approach is correct. The only place where I would improve is legs. It looks like you did not try to search for the right lines there and a bit rushed them. You can think of its legs as consisting of cylinder/cones and draw that instead of legs. That is always easier to draw and will look more closer to the model.
Eruera Hohaia-Turuwhenua
2mo
Nice work Everyone. You all seem to have some pretty amazing drawings. I know my drawings will be embarrassing compare to others but I wanted to do a follow up from the Demo and only stick to loose sketch lines as Proko Suggested. Thanks all
@pixlbny
2mo
your definition of embarrassing is different than mine. These are great!
Show all replies (1)

@kaj
2mo
Decently happy. The head felt off for so long and I spent so much time trying to get it to feel right that I now realize how much I neglected the body. But, was fun and I'll probably go back and do more with the body soon.
Lenserd martell
3mo
it's so hard but it's fun
2mo
Love these! You found such fun expressions and personality!

Bree Bree
3mo
Hi everyone, this is another attempt at the imagination sketches. I studied tigers this time. I took the time to do some exploration and came up with a boxer tiger character. Also, I make sure to keep my lines loose.

Ali W
3mo
Hi everyone! This is my attempt at imagination sketches of a lemur. After studying them I kind of wanted my character to look sneaky and innocent at the same time. Not super convinced but there we go!
3mo
I like the fun poses you tried, there's a cool gesture to the lemur curling up its tail. I think there's still room for experimentation/stylization with the face, which can help achieve the result you want. It seems you nicely broke it down into the simplified pentagon face they have, plus muzzle, eyes, and ears. With just these elements, you could change the proportions to see how you can achieve something innocent, like huge eyes and a small muzzle, or change the expression towards something sneaky, like side eyeing or pushing back the ears. Try a couple different variations, just keeping it to simple shapes with no shading, and see what you think works best.
Smartlin
3mo
Truly inspiring! This demo has provided an in-depth explanation of Pro's thought process when doing the creation. And it really really helpful to beginner like me who has no clue of the direction. Feel I am getting a hang of it. I am going to explore and keep trying it. Thank you Proko!

Eugene Kim
4mo
Hi, these are my attempts at imagination sketches after watching the demo video. Got some new reference pictures and broke them down.
Jacob Ibáñez
6d
these are so cool! I love the texture of the toad!

@aubrey
1mo
These look great!
Cédric Legault
4mo
Hi, I am new to the course and it's my first post on Proko!
I was inspired and decided to draw along the demo... I got a bit carried away and did some highlights and arsh shadows. He gives me the vibe of a bad guy in a movie like Rio but with chameleons or reptile instead of birds.
I am very very open to criticism, go hard, don't take any comments back, don't hesitate. I want to become better, a lot better!
Thanks in advance
4mo
I love this grumpy little guy!! Nice sketches and exploration, keep it up! Excited to see your work moving forward! Looks like you're working digitally, which is great! What program are you using? Keep the line work for this one handy when you get to the How To Draw With Lineweight lesson assignments, I'd love to see how you apply those concepts to this character design!
Show all replies (1)

@goldfinch411
4mo
I wanted an animal character combining a cat and a bat. It's very difficult to capture right facial expression and the body in motion. But it was a fun exercise; I was hesitate to try it because I was afraid to fail.
Jacob Ibáñez
6d
If you tried, you didn't fail! I think this is a very cool idea, have you developed it further?

@drawingdodo
4mo
I think this was one of the best lessons of the entire course so far! The importance of the mindset of making mistakes is so critical, and studying with exploration in mind is something I haven't done in a long time. I'll do the whole two lessons projects again, with different images, and apply what I learned from this!
@pizzle
4mo
Here's my sketching from imagination. Recently I had been drawing Shere Khan from The Jungle Book, so I was heavily influenced by his design. Attached are some of the reference photos I looked from and the sketches based on those photos.
I did two final designs. I couldn't quite get the back leg of the young Snow Leopard and I didn't bother with a full body of the adult.
Jacob Ibáñez
6d
your exploratory sketches are amazing!! I feel like I would like to see a final sketch with some of those mouth, eyes or claws!
Give a gift
Give a gift card for art students to use on anything in the Proko store.
Or gift this course:
About instructor
Founder of Proko, artist and teacher of drawing, painting, and anatomy. I try to make my lessons fun and ultra packed with information.