There's a difference in mindset between observational drawing and drawing from your imagination.  Frankly, I find it surprising that not only beginners have problems with this, but there are pros who do too. More on that below.

I started my drawing "career" by only drawing from my head. When I decided to go pro, I was dragged kicking and screaming into figure drawing classes where I HAD to learn observational drawings.  I didn't want to do it.  I thought I could ALREADY draw. Why did I HAVE to COPY life? Wasn't that "cheating?"

I was so wrong. Turns out the best thing someone who draws only from their imagination can do is go to figure drawing class and learn observational drawing.  You're able to create much more imaginative, complex and naturalistic drawings by doing so. It also makes your cartoons look SO much cooler. Your draftsmanship skills increase by leaps and bounds. Also, no matter how good you think your drawing formula is, observational drawing will always give you a way to improve it.

But what about the other way around? Observational artist often find themselves handicapped by the fact that they have to see something to draw it.  They have to "Frankenstein" a drawing based on whatever drawings and photos they can find. How can they make the leap from observation to imagination?

I didn't know this until this week but, I have a friend at work who has EXACTLY this problem.  Yes, you read right, a pro who draws for The Simpsons has this problem. I found out about it when I had lunch with him this week. 

He came at me with the type of frustrated comments I usually get from artists who want to get into the industry,

"When I draw I don't have a style. What's my style? When I try to draw from my imagination it always comes out wrong.  I don't know where to begin. I then resort to finding photos or pictures that help me draw what I want. How do my favorite artists do it?"

I have to admit, I was a bit shocked hearing him say this. He's been in the industry for years and has worked on tons of different shows.  How could he possibly be asking these questions?!

That's when I realized that there was a mindset difference.  Something he'd never really put together in his head that I never had to because of the way I started drawing.

So I looked at him,
"Do you need reference when drawing The Simpsons characters?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because I've been drawing them forever."
"Okay, yeah, but how do you draw them? Do you do a gesture drawing and then construct over that to finish the drawing?"
"Yes, I start with the gesture."
"But you're able to finish the drawing over the gesture because you know how to construct the characters."
"Yeah."
"Well, it's the same thing when drawing other characters out of your imagination. The problem you're having is that you don't have a formula. You've never come up with one. You're copying photos and other people's drawings but you're just copying the surface details.  You haven't figured out the internal working of what you're seeing.  You haven't broken down and created a formula that solves the drawing problems you face. 

A formula you that can give you the solution over and over, like the construction guides we get for The Simpsons characters.  Everyone gets a copy so we all know how to do it, but to be able to draw naturalistic people from your imagination, you have to invent your own. You may use someone else's formula but it might not solve all your problems.  Sometimes someone else's formulas explain some of what an artist is doing but not all of it because, sometimes they solve certain things in their heads that they didn't bother to set down in their formula.

That's why my personal formula is a combination of a lot of different artist's formulas: Vilpu's, Huston's, Reilly's, Chen's, Loomis', Bridgman's and I still modify and adjust it as I go along and develop.  But it's no different than a construction sheet for The Simpsons characters.

What you end up doing once you develop a formula is apply it to whatever style you want to use.  Once you have a formula it's easy to modify it to any style.  Style is just surface detail, the key is in the construction of the formula you create.  It's how the comic book artists do it. 

You can still use reference here and there but it's not as mandatory.  It just helps with accuracy.

You should go home and work out a formula that you can use.  Make sure it's got enough depth that it can solve really complicated drawing problems. This means you're going to have to study anatomy, rhythms and stuff like that."

He thought about it for a while once I finished my little speech which was not so clear as what I wrote above.  But I said something like it.

We ended up parting ways once we got back to the studio and he said he had liked the talk.  It was fun to talk about drawing.
Whether or not he'll take my advice I don't know.  I also invited him to come to figure drawing. We'll see if he shows next Tuesday.

I still hold to my advice.  If you suffer from the same problem, I recommend you do yourself a favor and follow what I said. It's what you're missing.

 

Draw Chi

Here's this week's design:

What's this "Draw Chi" thing? Find out about it HERE.

Luis

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