/ic/ - Artwork/Critique

>>3937548
>I've come to the conclusion the real profressional artists, all used reference or copied from real life models.

Correct. You're on your way to making it. But you need to stop thinking of using references/models as simply copying unless you 're going for a near 1:1 reproduction, and even then if you do that there's still a lot you can learn (master studies).

Everyone but /begs/ who want to cope for their lack of basic drawing skills know how important reference is. 90% of illustrators worth their salt has relied on models and references, and the old masters would copy other masters before them to learn and to use their work as references ontop of using models to finish their paintings.

What you have in your head even if you're a master like Alex Ross or James Gurney, is never as real or lifelike as it could be and there's always more you can learn from nature to give life to your drawings. Gurney was able to bring his ideas to life and paint them as realistically as he does because he uses references, does studies for every piece, and builds models. That's just part of creating imaginative realism.

Especially as a beginner, your drawings from imagination look like shit because you've done so little studying from observation that you have so little memory of how figures actually look and move and how to draw them for example. If you can't draw a figure very well from observation, how do you expect to figures well from imagination? You clearly can't do it without the image right there in front of your eyes so don't even expect to get anything of value from imagination.

If you can draw what you see well then you can realistically draw that again from memory afterwards (or something similar) with enough practice. This is how Kim Jung Gi got to where he is - he became really good at drawing from memory and that hugely carried over drawing to from imagination. Drawing from imagination is mostly drawing from memory and part invention. Read his interviews.