Some people (some of them will even be artists themselves but mostly they just be critics) will tell you that drawing from your imagination is the hardest thing to do and there is no way to properly teach it. For a part they are true, there is no formal way of teaching someone to draw what is in their mind, as only they can see it, it is in their mind after all. But there are ways of teaching you how to train yourself, to train your brain and your hand coordination to properly draw images in your mind. Once you get the hang of it, this will be your greatest ally when it comes to drawing. You’ll be able to create things that, before, only existed in your imagination. You can now share things that only you used to be able to see.
To be able to do this, as in all things related to art, you need to practice. One good way to achieve this is by following the previous chapter on drawing from memory. This is pretty much the same concept, except for the slight difference of the source of your reference. Instead of it being a real subject, it will mostly come from just your mind. I say “mostly” because at some point, consciously or not, some part of your subjects design will have come from something you have seen or heard. Don’t worry, there’s no shame in that, you are only at the beginning of your drawing career, getting ideas from other subjects or even art works cannot be helped. Just make sure you don’t copy it exactly as it is, because that will just be, well, copying it, it wouldn’t be coming from your imagination anymore, would it? It’s ok to get ideas and altering them until you get the hang of drawing from your imagination.
Here’s a quick tip that might help you achieve this goal:
Remember the image
When you draw from imagination, you are actually producing what image you saw in your mind. You need to remember the details like, “what image it was?”, “what’s the colour?” And lastly, “what is the important part of the image that you need to highlight?” If for example you imagine a Unicorn you can try to look for a picture or take a photo of a horse and a horn. Several available references can be used such as books, magazines or the internet. Put these pictures together to come up with a clear image of a Unicorn then voila! You already have the image you are thinking of. All you need is to put your personal touch with a bit more flair and different style that completely represents you in that drawing.
Draw like a Pro
Superheroes are some of the common images that we imagine most of the time. You might ask yourself “how do I start drawing something I haven’t seen”? It might be easy for some but for those who are just starting, they need to be more creative. You can start by making a line for your chosen figure. It depends on what action you picture them to be: standing, running, walking or sitting. Add the other important details like arms, neck, chest, limbs and so on. Make use of shapes to distinguish the body part. You can use circles for the face, oval for the palms, shoulders and feet, rectangle for the body and diagonal or the legs. Then with the use of a thicker coloured pen, make a more defined feature of the face, upper limbs, lower limbs and the entire body. Make it as close to the shape you create as this acts as your pattern. Next, you can put some pertinent details to the costume like mask, boots, belt and other stuff. Lastly, you now need to color the image depending on your preference.
If you want it to be as close as possible on how you see it in your mind, try to recollect all the details that you could possibly remember. For example if you are imagine an image of a monster then continue building it by drawing them step by step, little by little until you’ve completed the image. Once the image is already there, enhance the image and add more life in the image that you’ve produced.
As you go along your practice, make sure you use the techniques taught on previous chapters, if you’re drawing a portrait, make sure you use the oval and four guidelines to properly portray your subject. To give it variety, use the different hand positions shown in chapter 2 and to give it realism and depth, use the toning techniques you’ve learned in chapter 3. These techniques aren’t only used for drawing real life subjects they can be used in any kind of drawings, especially drawings from your imagination.
Here are few steps to get your juices going:
When drawing from your imagination, it a good practice to jot down details of your subject or in this case the character I’m creating. For this example, we will be creating an exo-suited female warrior wielding the powers of fire. You can even create a back story for your character to help you better draw them. For example:
The character we will be creating was curse as a child. The curse forces a non-lethal spontaneous combustion upon her so in order to contain the flame bursting from her body, a suit of armor was built for her. In time she learned how to control some of the flame to the extent the she was capable of flight.
Now that we have established details of our character, we can start drawing her. We will not delve too much in deep details for this character but we highly recommend that you do when creating your own character.