Project - Learning to Sketch from Imagination

Lesson by

Stan Prokopenko

inDrawing Basics

11K

Course In Progress

Assignments 1.8K

Downloads 5

Project - Learning to Sketch from Imagination

Lesson by

Stan Prokopenko

in Drawing Basics

11K

Course In Progress

Assignments 1.8K

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 2023.

And don't forget to have fun!

@ason

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I really like doves, but they're very limited in expressions so I made him look more expressive, made him give you guys a thumbs up! :)

Rachel Dawn Owens

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23h

He’s rad! Doves could be made even more expressive if you push the shapes more. Consider the body language of a relaxed vs an alert bird. Keep it as simple as you can and keep having fun with it!

Gordon Clark

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Rachel Dawn Owens

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This dude is super rad 😎

@hampop

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This one was quite challenging. I decided to draw a tardigrade lying on its back.

@hampop

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decide to give it another shot and focus more on simplification and clean lines.

Magdalena

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It is so much harder without exact references.

Melanie Scearce

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Haha I love the mushrooms from the warm up. Keep up the sketching!

Tony Zhang

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So happy to draw my OC for the first time!

Pat Lou

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I struggled to draw from imagination so I mostly just copied, but I'll research and practice some more. Apologies for the very soft drawings. I would appreciate your feedbacks!

Marjorie Beauchamp

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I did used a video instead of photo to avoid copiing the image https://youtu.be/szhZdVWToL8?si=45NBTC-Uqd4pARPF

Marco Sordi

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2025/6/7. Good evening everybody. Here's my character (with some ref pics and sketches I made to memorize the characteristics of the hammerhead shark). Thanks for any comment or critique.

Styrbjörn Andersson

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10d

Ugh, this kind of exercise truly exposes the difference in difficulty between simply copying something and actually coming up with stuff from imagination. Which is good in a way, but also awfully humbling. I continued with the snail theme from before and did a kind of Hachikuji wannabe character. The main takeaway here is that whatever fluid sketching skills I might have, they go completely out the window as I am faced with inventing rather than copying. Hopefully that is something that can be solved with enough practice.

Melanie Scearce

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10d

This is a cute idea! Nicely done. Yes, invention will become much easier with practice, just like any other skill. The more you build up your visual library, the more you'll have to pull from when it comes to drawing from imagination. Drawing from observation helps add to that library. Keep practicing both, you're on the right track!

Tony Zhang

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12d

I wanted a guy who is an ironsmith and looks like Liam Neeson. I ended up with a random guy who looks sad. Lol

Tony Zhang

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11d

I gave up trying to make him look like Neeson. Let’s have a look at this…

HM L

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13d

In the end, I didn't use the deer's antlers.

Abitha J

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13d

Here are my attempts and i really had a fun:)

@c_ratcliff

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13d

This one was super fun to work on! Kept things very loose but still feel that the end result is in a decent spot. His name is Bill, the Shoebill Stork. He may look scary but he is a sweet old boy. I feel that my lines getting more confident with time and I'm getting the lines I want more consistently. But still struggling a bit with eyeing out proportion, Would love any feedback or critique on where I can improve. :)

@alexmolaver

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13d

I ended up mostly keeping the same pose as one of the references and not making it as cartoonish as it could be but I'm happy with how it came out as a scissor fencing/boxing lobster with an evil antenna mustache. I've just been drawing from references before this so it was hard to figure out the shapes and perspective and everything but this helped me feel more confident about drawing from imagination and looking forward to learning more about how to do that better.

Lib

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14d

@alexmolaver

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13d

Uncle Ben!

Martha Muniz

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14d

OMG! Hilarious 😂 (great studies too!)

Tori Tempo

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17d

This was a really helpful project. I learned so much and I'm definitely going to do more drawing from imagination. I had fun with this one.

Martha Muniz

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14d

Really great explorations! Love how you started more realistic then pushed the shapes to create an awesome new design! The end result has great appeal :)

@locksmith

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17d

I tried my best to create a simplified, cartoony owl. I started with the more vague sketches and landed on clearer features. I tried not to get lost drawing the wings too accurately but I did want to study them here and there.

Patrick Bosworth

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17d

These are wonderful sketches! I love the facial expressions and personality you've injected into these, keep up the good work!!

@caprissa

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19d

I had a lot of fun doing this exercise! I first started from drawing from reference but trying to slightly simplify it and then later tried adding some stylisation too. The last one was my attempt at trying to turn my fennec into a scholar (with mixed results from anatomical perspective :D) using Rembrandt's Scholar painting as a reference. As always would appreciate any feedback! :)

Melanie Scearce

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18d

This is so adorable @caprissa. The love the final character, you did a great job overall. I drew over your final drawing a bit to see if I could figure out those legs since you mentioned the anatomy issue. Studying the skeleton of the fennec, I noticed that the shoulders were pretty narrow and close to the head, which is proportionally almost half the size of the fox itself including the ears. Those are pretty crazy proportions and unique to the animal. We can use those characteristics when we simplify to give it more specific character. Using basic shapes like cubes and spheres when sketching can help you figure out the form. It can get a bit messy so using transparency paper (or layers if working digitally) can help you keep organized. I used cubes and rectangles, trying to maintain the general proportions and orientation of the legs. I narrowed the shoulders a bit, not too much since he's anthropomorphized. Hope that's helpful :)

Daniel Oliveira

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20d

I wanted to create a Moloch, which is like a Minotaur, but I like to think of it as bigger and more menacing somehow. Also the myth goes around them being recepients of human sacrifices (children, it seems). So overall, I wanted to join a bull, with a bird cage (to put humans in it) and a gorilla for the body because it felt heavier on the upper body. I took the images from Pinterest, but I leave here what I drew from each picture before I joined them. I am not happy with the Moloch, but I had many questions in my head, especially what perspective to use. But overall it looks odd, not natural at all, and I got very picky with small things, so I think I stopped being loose after a while...