Project - Learning to Sketch from Imagination

Lesson by

Stan Prokopenko

inDrawing Basics

2.3K

Assignments 514

Downloads 5

Project - Learning to Sketch from Imagination

Lesson by Stan Prokopenko in Drawing Basics

2.3K

Assignments 514

Downloads 5

Pick an animal, a bug, or some kind of creature, and find several reference photos to use as inspiration to sketch a new character.

Don't copy the photos. Feel free to explore with proportions and exaggerate or simplify things to make it your own. Do multiple sketches to experiment and try different ideas.

Once you think you have a clear idea of a character, do one full page sketch. Even in this final sketch, try to use loose, confident lines and focus on the shapes of the character you have in mind. We're trying something new here with this project by starting to develop our ability to draw from imagination. So it might be a bit of a challenge, but don't sweat it.

Let's keep it loose and rough with our sketches and just focus on letting those creative juices flow. Don't focus on the cleanliness of your lines. We're sketching, and when you post your assignments, please include the photos you found and all your experimental sketches.

If you'd like to have a chance to be included in the upcoming critique videos, you must submit your drawings below by March 9th.

And don't forget to have fun!

Really enjoying your course...thank you so much.

Audrey S

I love your reference sketches! Your lines have the sketchy quality that I think the assignment was looking for, and the final product is quite adorable!

Sophia Neishtoot

I'm so late...

Audrey S

18h

Nice job! you've done a great job of exploring the pose with your lines. Would love to see some of your reference sketches :)

yecai

Attempt to draw T-Rexes from imagination. Blue sketches were drawn from observation at the beginning. Btw I love the Jurassic series for so many years, eventually I get done with a dinosaurs sketch from imagination. Not one ,but three. It was a challenge.

Audrey S

18h

I love this! I think that you've done a great job with your exploration to find the essence of the poses and the parts of the dinosaur. I would love to see the sketches for your final drawings! Those sketches while not as clean would show your thought process as you explored the concept. Otherwise, your finished drawings are gorgeous :)

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Rose Bernatovich

23h

Your hard work paid off, these are awesome!

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Mike Karcz

These are Awesome studies!

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Moonless_Sky

First time I tried to scetch something from imagination. This was fun :)

Francesca Puccio

Thought I’d give Level 2 a try. I’m still not loose enough with my sketches…I’ll keep working on it! I was going for a caricature of a pelican.

Lee Davis

I rushed a little so I didn't really do very many studies before doing the sketch from imagination, but here they are. My brain is a little fried this week.

kendallx

For this project I sketched a pig. There were a couple more reference photos that I used, but I could not relocate them. I did use the photo reference to sketch from observation as I studied the pig. Then, I played around with a couple different ways I would like my character to look on the page. The third photo is my first attempt at drawing from imagination, which I dislike. I did not really try on this sketch, especially on the legs/hoof area of the pig. The fourth photo is a second attempt to draw from imagination, which I like a lot more. I feel that it has more character and interesting shape. I continue to struggle with feet and hands of animals/people, something about the small details get me. I also have trouble with loose sketching still, most of the start of my drawings start with light chicken scratch and it will take practice to develop a new habit. Also, I am still learning to grip my pencil correctly, I have held pencils in an incorrect grip all my life and still find myself doing it sometimes when sketching. Anyone else have this issue?

Lee Davis

Hi, I can see the progress in your fourth photo as well. It looks good. Some things that help me and I think could help you too, is to always build whatever your drawing with basic shapes and forms first before you do any outlines. I don't quite remember if Stan said that yet, but building the figure out of boxes, spheres, and cylinders etc helps visualize its 3D form a lot and helps you learn to see form instead of just outlines. Don't sweat the small details. It's better to get major things down first anyway, then you can get more detailed. As for the pencil thing, it's not a right or wrong thing. you can hold it however you need to to get the best results. It just helps you use your whole arm more, which is the more important concept I think. Your doing good, hope you keep going!

Tony Chang

Drawing from imagination is so much harder for me because of the lack of knowledge. It’s a lot harder to try and get confident lines/tapered strokes because I focus a lot more of “how can I convey my ideas correctly”. I had fun though.:)

Tony Chang

I literally have zero knowledge of anatomy, perspective, or shapes. LOL. Still trying to explore, but I had fun!

drawstfffu

I leel like I didnt do enough but also maybe I needed to learn more tiger anatomy and foreshortning

Audrey S

I think you've got the right idea so far! I would love to see more of your exploratory sketches and how you figured out the different shapes and parts! The line work on this sketch you've provided is very clean, and doesn't have the sketchy, exploratory quality this project is looking to find. Feel free to make looser lines as you find the right shapes!

Jeramiah Escobar

Mara De Saulles

Here's my little cat! I think next time I attempt this exercise I'll definitely do a few more exploration/development sketches before going into the final. But overall I am pleased with how it came out!

Audrey S

These are adorable! Remember that this is a sketching exercise. Your lines feel a little too clean and wobbly. As you are doing your study, ask yourself what are the major shapes? what is the energy? You'll get drawings that are a little more messy but will capture the essence of the subject and then let you manipulate the essence to the pose you're looking for

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Tamai Kobayashi

Welp, another creature in an Elizabethan collar - inspired by all the great work here!

Tamai Kobayashi

My bear from imagination with wings and vest. Right leg messed up!

Audrey S

Would love to see some of your exploratory studies as well. What makes the bear the bear? how do the wings of the bird move in different positions?

Thieum

My first "sketch from imagination". I was quite happy with the result but after watching the demo I realise I didn't do the exercice at all... just mixed two images together. Let's try with another animal and a better approach!

bc2023

J B

That's really good!! Very creative!

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Audrey S

Your linework is awesome! I would love to see more exploratory sketches, maybe a few different poses, and then trying to fit the body onto different poses and expressions. I love the detail you've put into your wing structure. Maybe that's something you can use to exaggerate a pose! I've been playing with fencing gesture, so maybe the bird captain in an impressive lunge that is hard because of it's let length, but impressive because of the wingspan!

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czarek

I tried to keep it as loose as I could but it looked too messy so i felt I had to come back and clean up the lines for the final picture. It was especially hard for me to think about the spikes and not make them feel 2d.

Samuel Lemons

Audrey S

You have really great line quality! I' love the final pose! I think it's super interesting how you broke it down into parts to do the study!

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Andrea Böhm

You really explored the fox! I like how you captured the very special neck to head pose of a fox in your sketch from imagination. In my next sketch I’ll try your part by part explorative approach.

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Tony Chang

I mean, OMG. I’m definitely going to be a furry if I continue drawing like this because I really can’t draw humans (and paws are so much easier than hands!!) Tried to be more clear this time. Not overly messy. I probably can’t get a clean and neat line drawing out of this, but I had plenty of fun! Who says a tiger can’t be Dr. Strange?:)🐯

Samuel Rebernik

i picked a penguin for my animal, making two differnt versions the first ones being a lot more playful and fun (atleast for me) and the second being more serious to the assignment. This was a fun project thank you

xeixas118

Choose the japonese rhino beetle for the aassigment, starting by observation some of the images i researched and then moving to imagining the beetle in diferent poses / expressions (keep refering to the references to see if was correct what I was doing) I used Pureref for organizing my references (if anyone interested in something to display / organizing ref is a great app to do so)

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Stan Prokopenko

Founder of Proko, artist and teacher of drawing, painting, and anatomy. I try to make my lessons fun and ultra packed with information.