How to Draw From Imagination

5/20/2023

Because I'm a surrealist, people ask me frequently about how I get an idea from my imagination onto the paper. What is the secret to drawing from imagination?
My secret is, I don't draw from imagination. I fake my way through it, and today I'll tell you how.

There are so many artists I admire that are incredibly skilled at drawing from imagination. They may or may not have some secret method for achieving this, but I personally haven't cracked their code. The reason I don't draw from imagination is because I don't know how.
Instead, this is what I strive towards.
Mastering the skill of drawing from MEMORY.
When I draw something that doesn't exist, I am using a combination of these
3 methods for faking the skill of drawing from imagination:

1. Drawing from observation. I typically start with a reference image, which I use as a starting point and I alter or exaggerate it to fit my needs.

2. Drawing from memory. I rely on my memory of all the things I have drawn and painted in the past to tell me where the shadows should be on a given shape, or even the makeup or anatomy of an object I have drawn from a reference before, like a cat or an apple or a cloud. I remember painting or drawing it and I take what I learned about rendering that object and apply it to the current project.

3. Draw and redraw the idea. I try to push it further each time until I achieve the look I wanted, or until we've both just had enough and I have to move on.

Playing with the image from memory in preparation for an oil painting. I like the second cat lurking below in the first drawing, so I think I'll add that in the final version. :)

So basically, there isn't any magic trick to drawing from imagination that I am aware of, just practicing and doing the best you can with the experience you have is the method I have always used.

For some tips on getting there, here is a video from a great teacher I know who shares his own methods and struggles with this topic.