Project - Learning to Sketch from Imagination

Lesson by

Stan Prokopenko

inDrawing Basics

5.6K

Assignments 816

Downloads 5

Project - Learning to Sketch from Imagination

Lesson by

Stan Prokopenko

in Drawing Basics

5.6K

Assignments 816

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!

Styrbjörn Andersson

20h

I might have deviated a bit from the project goal here, but at least I had fun doing it :)

Sean Hennigar

Here is my submission for the drawing from imagination assignment. The rough sketches and reference photos are also included. I spent a lot of time trying to work out an interesting pose without losing the distinct characteristics of the boar's body. The first couple of attempts ending up looking more like a bull than a boar.

@donnelly

Honda CRX vs Cricket, probably need to focus more on shape, too heavy lines on the second one, maybe a bit heavier on the last?

Martin M

Initially the idea of creating something new from reference pictures felt weird and alien. Now I am convinced that it IS weird and alien! :D I am happy that I was able to step outside of my comfort zone and drew from imagination a bit instead of just copying the reference line by line. I started off by very loosely copying the reference photos or parts from the reference shots. I then fixated on the idea that my dog is very demanding about dinner being served on time. So I committed to a pose and the expression in my head but the dog transformed more towards some kind of a Yoda being. I haven't drawn dogs before so maybe that caused some of the transformation towards the alien being as I lack the mental library of how to draw animals. I am not complaining tho. I really liked what I experienced during this exercise! Any thoughts and critique is most welcome!

@mariabygrove

Your dog has such expressive eyes! 1st photo - reproach, 2nd photo - well, just chill, 3rd photo - beseeching, 4th photo - expectant. In your drawing the expression is more angry and I wonder if instead you could somehow use the reproachful expression from the 1st photo (the one with the ball in the water bowl). I think it's all in the eyes maybe? Just a suggestion :)

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@shedraws37

Making time anywhere I can to draw. This one was fun and challenging as I don't often draw geometrical shapes like this. I guess I'm behind everyone else, but it's really fun to see what people are drawing! Any comments on this would be helpful as it's hard to tell if what I think I'm doing in actually executing 😂

Jacob Ibáñez

Well, here's my sketch from imagination. The little fella is asking how are you all doing, and he is complaining about the hot weather. There's also a page of preliminary sketches that I did before going for the final sketch, as well as the reference images I used.

Vera Robson

This assignment was going to be great fun, but I found it exceptionally challenging in the end. I guess something to think about and try again.

Sean Hennigar

These are really nice. Your lines are very elegant.

@sniggy

I was so scared of sketching from imagination. The result is a minimum of complexity and a crazy mix of 2D and very incorrect 3D "shapes" XD NOT. READY. YET!!!!!

Gannon Beck

Sometimes it's good to jump into the deep end. Try this again after you've had a bit more practice with mastering form and gesture. Those two skills will help solve a lot of problems. One other thing that will help with coming up with something out of your imagination is to think of a moment in a story. For instance, imagine a fox that is setting up chess pieces in the park. He is playing chess against another animal, say an alley cat in a game of chance. If the fox doesn't win the chess match, he doesn't win the wager, and thus doesn't eat. Is he confident in his chess playing abilities, or insecure? Does he have enough money to pay the cat if he loses? Is he afraid of the cat, or does he feel like he is hustling the cat? The point is, it helps to give the character design context. Give your imagination something to work with.

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Gannon Beck

Here is mine. I do a fair amount of this sort of thing, so this is in my comfort zone.

Christian R

Very cool

@sniggy

OMG adorable! How long have you been practicing/drawing/being an artist?

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@bwebb2732

I love these, very well done, good job!

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Vin

17d

Here are my attempts. I had fun but still feel using the loose line (with energy ) to develop the character is hard. Hope I am doing it right or at least not too wrong. I would appreciate some feedback.

Martha Muniz

14d

Hey, this is great! I love all the explorations you did and the loose line quality throughout, and the final result is amazing of course XD As for feedback, if you wanted to push this further, you could play around more with shape and line as part of the design. So you could think about the individual shapes that make up the cat and if they could be a different size or more exaggerated, like if the head were bigger or smaller or more squished downwards. Or you could also think about if you wanted more realism/believability in the drawing, like by showing more volume or the pressure of the arm on the leg, or adding a chair/stool and showing how the weight of the cat presses down on it--or on the opposite end, if you wanted it more cartoony by exaggerating the roundness of the lines, maybe exaggerating the poof of hair on his head. These are some ideas to think about, but nonetheless this is a great submission :)

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Liviu Parausanu

19d

One my wife said: "This car looks like a shark" and here we are :)

Sean Hennigar

Sharknauto!

Andrew Bell

20d

I drew a mouse going out for a hike with his backpack on.

@ecorax

20d

Aaaand an attempt to foreshorten an elephant a bit, which I think just resulted on a non-foreshortened elephant with a big foot, unfortunately. Also I think I was subconsciously copying a lot from one of the reference images, which is something I have to watch out for.

@ecorax

20d

First attempt; a hammerhead shark doing a bit of a loop. I want to do another subject with more preliminary drawings, I just thought the shark was a bit too smooth and lacking in structure. It was fun though!

Joy Smith

20d

I’ve never draw wolves before so I thought this would be a good exercise for me to practice shapes with the lines. I studied wolf photos and drew out the fundamental shapes. Then I played around with the shapes and made these two wolf characters.

@igamble

23d

Ack. I've been sitting on this assignment for too long, I wanted to do a few more studies because I'm not completely happy with my final drawing, but I'm just not finding the time. I liked the initial drawing, but goofed on the final lines lol. Ready to move on I think, ad astra!

@azormx

23d

The more I drew an ostrich, the more it felt like drawing chocobos. I’m happy I managed to get the sketch I imagined out of my head(2nd pic), then just went wild!

@azormx

16d

Went back to restudy the ostrich and try to understand it more. I feel like my last attempts were too simple and I was missing some features of the ostrich. Still trying to figure out how to show the feathers without having to draw all of them

Juan Cabrera

24d

Moving away from drawing from observation was extremely hard for me, but it finally allowed me to feel loose! I struggled soooo much to do the level 1 version of this project because I wanted to replicate the clean line work of the references. Here, though? I went nuts compared to what I usually draw. I had a lot of fun with this one! I'll definitely change my schedule to include more "drawing from imagination" days now. Thanks for the assignment! I included some of the references I used.

Juan Cabrera

17d

Round 2: I explored the chunky monkey. This was super fun, but I still feel like I need to go further. I'll change animal for my next couple of sessions of drawing from imagination.

Siv Nilsen

25d

First time I've ever done something like this! Attempting to draw from imagination. I think it was hard to move away from the reference images... I tried to simplify and turn into geometric shapes, and to make the weasel cuter. Now I feel like I am doing the same thing over and over so moving on to next task! This was fun though, and stretched me out of my comfort zone.

Martha Muniz

21d

If you feel like you're tied to your reference, something than can help after already doing studies like the ones you have, try just doodling without looking at the photos at all. Using the simplified shapes from your studies, try different perspectives or varying the size/exaggeration of your shapes. Once you have something different you like, you can bring back the reference to tie it all back in together.

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@aubrey

25d

These are my characters refined, I wanted to go back and make him better because I thought it was a really cute idea to have a finch magician, and a worm assistant. Note, in the scene Cans (the bird) was presenting their act not making fun of Dirt (the worm.) I think that was one of the weaker points in the drawing. To me without the context it looks like Cans is pointing. I think I will continue to use these characters in stories and make them better. The character designs really pushed me out of my comfort zone, but it was a blast!

Liandro

25d

Cute drawings and funny idea!

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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.