Drawing from memory

[Anonymous No.3494160]

When is it okay to reference from real life in your drawings? Is your skill level as an artist entirely dependent on how well you can render a scene from memory?

Plus I don't get how to study from references. I just copy what I see without learning anything. When it comes to memory I can draw simple shapes in perspective but adding details to them makes no sense. I don't know how people make detailed drawings of cars or buildings without have high-functioning autistic memory of them.

[Anonymous No.3494221]

>>3494160
You can reference real life all you want. Learning how to deconstruct references is supplementary to learning how to construct imaginary stuff, use both to be good at whatever.

How well could you draw a tank right now, using only your memory and imagination? What parts make up a 50 ton mobile gun? You've probably seen a shit ton of pictures of tanks before, but have you ever really examined what a tank looks like? If ya copy a whole bunch of tanks, all kinds, I promise you don't have to be autistic to retain some memory and understanding of what different parts make up a tank and your future tank drawings will all be so much better.

[Anonymous No.3494222]

>I don't know how people make detailed drawings of cars or buildings
By having done it a lot already. It's not that hard when you know what you're doing

[Anonymous No.3494232]

>>3494160
>I just copy what I see without learning anything
That's your problem. Do you analyze it after? Do you really study it or just draw it mindlessly?
If the answer is the latter then you'd really need to study your subjects better

[Anonymous No.3494252]

Can you draw simple 3d forms in perspective? If so, you can draw literally anything given that you study it, because everything can be broken down into those simple forms. Amazingly enough, your brain CAN hold all that visual information, down to a pretty astonishing level of detail. You just don't do that normally because most of the time you aren't really studying anything, just getting a vague memory that's good enough to get you by.

Memorizing stuff is essentially breaking an object, any object, down into simplified component masses. For example, in the human body that would be the two major masses of the torso, the pelvis and ribcage; the limbs, and the head. Simplify them into an easy to remember form, like the mannequin figure in Loomis books. When you get that down, you further break those down into more components, like the muscles and bones, and then you memorize those masses. As you keep studying, your inner memory of that thing will become more and more complete and fleshed out. When youre drawing, you put a guideline for where the body goes (the gesture or rough sketch) and then fill it in with solid form using your knowledge you have acquired on the anatomy.

That's how it works for everything you study. Cars, buildings, trees, household objects and animals. Of course, human and animal bodies take a while to get down, and you would be better off reading books and watching videos (Loomis, Bridgman, Burne Hogarth, Proko on Youtube), but for things like vehicles or household objects, they generally have rigid, unchanging forms and you can start on those right away.

Try it now, anon. Take a few simple household objects to start with, something that's as close to a simple form in its natural state (cylinder, box, ball) and try to recreate what you see in front if you using those forms. Take an object (like this 3DS), break it down into simplified forms, and try drawing those forms from different angles.

[Anonymous No.3494257]

>>3494160
Reference is always okay. Your memory of the things you have seen and studied are reference, because you can't draw something if you have never seen it (barring imagination, obvs., but the stuff in your imagination is built off of things you see and know). Of course, your memory will never be 100% perfect or complete, so its also okay to use reference thats pertinent to what youre drawing. References give you fresh visual information and inspiration; use references to augment and strengthen the knowledge that you've already attained.

[Anonymous No.3494270]

>>3494232
When I study I'm just looking at comparisons and proportions and looking at whats light and whats shadow. Of course all that changes the minute you slightly alter the lighting or perspective. That's why I never get anything out of it.

Maybe I just need to focus more on breaking them down to 3D shapes in a 3D space.

>>3494252
This helps. I've been reading Figure Drawing by Loomis. He gives breakdowns of the human figure and simple manniquins, but when he gets to the crazy manniquin poses I hit a wall. Oh, how did he know to put that arm there in that position/angle? etc

I'll try doing more of what you said.

[Anonymous No.3494272]

>>3494160
Howard Pyle method:
-take a drawing/illustration as far as you can without reference
-fix up and bring to a finish using reference
-do studies that are relevant to the illustrations you want to do

[Anonymous No.3494361]

>>3494270
Try simplifying the mannequin further into a stick figure, then draw the mannequin on top of that.

[Anonymous No.3494497]

>>3494160
it's quite simple. just like if you were writing a book you can reference your actual life all you want, but it may not be that good without editing. and editing so that you have something better, more interesting, is the important part. autist savants that can memory dump onto canvas are not making anything good. it only serves to impress the casual working man about the wonder of the human brain. it is completely without artistic merit and doesn't even touch that much upon skill.

[Anonymous No.3494625]

>>3494160
knowing what I do now and what is capable technologically...

Shit like this guy go into severe question about how they are about to do what he does. It could just be some organization pumping images into his brain using nanotech-brain communicators that make him THINK he has some kind of super memory or problem solving skill.

Fuck you assholes. It's not divine inspiration, they are just test subjects.

[Anonymous No.3495796]

>>3494160
I dont think that autistic guys drawings are that impressive. He basically remembers landmarks and all the small streets inbetween are improvised city noise. Im sure it takes a while but not beyond what an average artist could achieve

[Anonymous No.3495824]

>>3495796
Autistic people have more trouble converting what they see into easy-to-categorize symbols that normal people do automatically.
For some, when they see a landscape that's what they remember in full, not a flat plane with some hills and symbolic representations of trees like how an average person would store that memory. With early intervention and lessons, they can be taught to think more symbolically to an extent.
It's part of why children diagnosed with autism tend to take things really literally and can have trouble with verbal/literacy skills.

[Anonymous No.3496120]

>>3494272
It's more like this
>-take a drawing/illustration as far as you can without reference
>-open some references
>-realize everything is fucked up and needs to be redrawn
>-give up