/ic/ - Artwork/Critique

When drawing figures from reference I do have a half-decent job, but when drawing from imagination what I create is absolute shit. Is there something I can do to help me properly transfer what I learn from life to imagination? I feel like I don't "learn" anything when drawing from life except how to draw better from life.

To be clear, I build the ones from ref use construction as well. So I'm not copying/tracing. I thought this would help me construct from imagination, but it doesn't.

I don't know if I made my question clear enough. Hopefully some of your all can drop a few tips.

Is it just a matter of more practice from life? Or is there something I can do to help me get better at this? My goal is to do comic art, so I cannot rely on references for every pose.