Project - Learning to Sketch from Imagination

Lesson by

Stan Prokopenko

inDrawing Basics

9.4K

Assignments 1.5K

Downloads 5

Project - Learning to Sketch from Imagination

Lesson by

Stan Prokopenko

in Drawing Basics

9.4K

Assignments 1.5K

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!

@skoomacat

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14h

Had a lot of fun with this, I'm a level 1 learner but wanted to give the level 2 a try as drawing from imagination is where I want to be. I tried to merge the raven as a character with mech components which was an enjoyable experience. I'll definitely be doing this again with only the creature as a reference after watching the demos to see where I can improve on my linework. Getting consistant and confident lines was a struggle due to the detail of the creature (using line to differentiate between small feathers, fur, larger feathers etc) Coming back to this post to upload after watching the demos to compare and see where improvements have been made.

Melanie Scearce

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10h

Very cool exploration and idea. Your notes on the feather patterns are cool to see. You could also find reference for the raven's skeleton to study and get an idea of how thing work under the hood. It'll give you more freedom to explore different poses and actions the more structural understanding you develop.

Anthony Huynh

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I tried doing a whale, not any specific type but just focusing on the features that I really liked (like that big ol' chin/belly). Just did a bunch of sketches from different angles and trying out multiple ideas that I thought might be good, like multiple fins with different shapes, or trying to get that spikey bearded dragon look on the chin (but I didn't really like the idea, so I scrapped it). I ended up settling on a droopy looking whale with big and glorious stag horns, and some killer whale spots around the eye. Experimenting was definitely quite fun even if it didn't necessarily match-up entirely with what I thought of in the beginning.

Martha Muniz

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18h

These are really fun ideas, and you pulled from great inspirations! If you want to keep pushing it, I think a fun place to hone on would be the size relationships, especially with the massive chin/belly and horns vs everything else. Even just making other areas as tiny as possible, like the tail, fins, and head/eye area could really change how the belly is perceived. There's a lot of room for experimentation too just on the principle of size: large vs small horns, long vs short tail, big vs small eyes, and so forth. I'd love to see what you can come up with, it's definitely a fun challenge! :)

@pmirko

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tried with a wombat ended up with a polar bear cub i guess....

Melanie Scearce

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Try finding a few more reference images. You don't know what you don't know, so do a few sketches of the wombat from different angles so you can get a feel for what it looks like in 3D space -- then you can try your hand at drawing from imagination. Think of it like you're adding information to a library that you can pull from (with lots of practice of course).

@yashimon

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I tried a sketch from imagination, and it took a little bit longer time than sketching from observation. I think that sketching from an imagination take a lot of brain effort!

Melanie Scearce

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These are so cute! Sketching from imagination definitely is a different skillset altogether. Keep practicing with these -- try to push yourself to use even lighter lines to start as you're sketching, that way you have a bit more freedom to experiment with shapes.

@yashimon

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These are other sketches of hedgehog.

Guillaume JORANDON

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I decided on a crow, because crows are awesome. I did the final assignment (the last two pictures) on Procreate but did some sketches on paper as well. I tried going for an « animal looking » crow, then one with more anthropomorphic proportions. I am not happy with the end results though, I think my lines are still very insecure and lack a lot of dynamism. I am still too focused on small scale details I think. But it was a very interesting learning experience, I cannot wait to work on the next projects!

Melanie Scearce

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Really wonderful studies and exploration. You're very accurate in your analysis. I see where you're coming from on the small details comment -- focusing small too quickly can make a drawing feel stiff. I see you have some structural layins underneath these, so maybe try a few more sketches and focus more on the guesture, or the line of action. Think about where the energy is moving through the pose. This is a topic that comes up later in this series of lessons, so don't sweat it too much. These are really creative ideas.

@blackhand

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Decided to have a go at the level 2 assignment and see what comes of it. I actually enjoyed it, although I don’t think a quite achieved the goal, I’m quite pleased with some of these. My struggle is to not get caught up in detail and my perfectionist tendencies. I need to work on letting go of that strong desire to make it look “real”, and play more with shapes and sizes. Still, it feels like progress was made with this.😀

Melanie Scearce

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Progress is made every time you make marks on the page 😁 These are perfect for this exercise, you're definitely on the right track. Experimenting with shapes is a great idea, and can add lots of personality to your drawings. This is just an introduction to the concept, so take the ideas you developed here and run with them!

Rachel Dawn Owens

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I love these raccoons! They are all great but there’s one in particular that i really like. I posted him below along with a quick demo. Keep your shapes simple. Big, medium and small. That’s it. Design as you go, but don't copy. Keep up the cool studies and you will get good really fast.

Rebeca C

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I tried also the second project..but i think i didn't do it right.. it came too much like from the references...

Jerome

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I chose the red fox for this exercise. The first drawing is the final result and the others are previous attempts. Thanks for the critiques.

Katka Cvachova

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So I picked a Crocodille/alligator cause I never drew any of these. I made up a story or two actually. 1. She is a girl that stole mums make up and accessories to play pretend and she is playing she is the mum or something 2. She is a teenage girl going to prom or first date and is trying hard to impress. Do not know where the story came up but somehow it did and it helped me it eased me and made it even more fun cause I have no clue about these creatures and their anatomy so it was a bit of struggle and I used the first drawings to kinda test drawing them really. But I had real fun!

Stéphane Mor

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I don't know what you need help for, but I do like the dynamics of your sketches. It's a nice idea to create a little story, like a "persona" for your character, as it allows you to make it richer. I see mostly side view references and sketches, you may experiment with other views (front, belly, etc.)

Katka Cvachova

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Sorry fir the bad photos and light !

Noah Myburgh

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I have been having trouble moving on from projects ever since I started this course. I always seem to find a reason not to move on or something I could improve on. When do I know I’m ready to move on to the next project and what should my goal be. Should I strive for perfection and try to apply the concepts mentioned until they become effortless and intuitive or should I practice just enough so I could say I got some valuable information out of the project which helped me improve. Critiques or more than welcome.

Melanie Scearce

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Drawing from imagination is like any skill and takes consistent practice for it to become second nature. You're in it for the long haul if you want to master it. You'd be here forever if you didn't move on, and especially in these early lessons I think as long as you have a decent understanding of the concepts it's good to keep going. This lesson is meant as an introduction to drawing from imagination -- you will learn techniques that will help you be more successful with this project, and you can always come back and revisit this and other lessons later, which I encourage you to do. There will never not be places to improve so don't let that get you stuck for too long. That being said these are great! You clearly have a great deal of skill when it comes to drawing. I say let the reins loose a bit on the reference images and see what you can come up with, even if it doesn't look as good as your drawings from reference look. I like where you're going with your lizard drawings here!

Carlos Pérez

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This my Pokémon result .

Carlos Pérez

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Previous sketches

Dandy Ben

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Loosening up was the toughest part for me on this one, but find the shape became really fun once I got more gestural with it and found the relationships between the body I was building. Nonetheless, any advice you guys have helps, let me know!

Rachel Dawn Owens

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Your drawings are epic! I love these strange goat lizards. The first one is extra cool because you added a bit of an environment and a story- he’s about to eat an apple. and it’s adorable. Keep drawing! also here’s a little tip about finding the flow:

Preston Fujiki

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Did the warmups before tackling this project. Definitely helped to loosen up, but definitely found that I wasn't as accurate as I would have liked to be. I think it may be from drawing for longer periods without looking back at the references. Either way, I had a lot of fun with the imaginative drawing. Couldn't attach all the references, but had a lot of fun designing one after the fact with the CSI lines, and then continuing into another sketch that I decided to ink for fun

Dandy Ben

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You did pretty well with your inked moth by the end, I like the hollowknight vibe from it. From what I can tell, you started to add more depth and form by the end. If there's one thing I think will help as you continue, is try to continue to think in 3D as you move forward. Trust me, I have to as well, and once you get used to it, the drawings won't feel as flat. Also, try to keep your sketches loose and gestural, not worrying too much on how your lines cross over or overlap on each other because I can see your earlier sketches focus too much on contours. I'm no guru, but I hope this helps, keep up the good practice!

@fox4

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Ben Ludwick

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some sketches of squirrels

Kyle

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10d

Here’s my character based on a manta ray. I’ve never done a character sheet before but this was a lot of fun! Also a bonus sheet for an opossum I gave up on.

Rachel Dawn Owens

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Your mantra rays look so happy!

@superokay

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12d

Not sure if I fulfilled the requirements on this one. Maybe my sketches was a little simple, I enjoyed doing it though.

Melanie Scearce

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11d

You're on the right track! I love the bird sommelier, keep playing with these ideas 👍

Stéphane Mor

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14d

My experiment of a tardigrade character. This was fun to do. I'm a bit disappointed by the end character, which did not come out as powerful and badass as I wanted it to be. An animal without a real face is quite a challenge ! :)

@flixkopf

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14d

Very happy with the shape design of the trex's mouth and tail, not so happy with his legs. Finding a nice pose for the boring panda body aas djn

@tgambrell

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15d

Attempt at sketching a wasp. Think I did pretty well on the first image then on the second page I did a lot more line searching than I needed to do to not being familiar with other views, particularly the belly view. Ill have to practice once or twice more on this one. Also I think I need to control the darkness on my sketch lines here since the lines that are meant to be darker look feathery on top of the lighter ones.

@tgambrell

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14d

Attempted the belly view again, think I figured out the perspective and proportions a little better.

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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.