How do you draw?

[Taelune]

Do you draw something by looking at it and drawing what you see in front of you, or do you use your imagination and create something from your mind's eye?

I use a little of both, I make the character in my mind and find reference for certain things I have trouble with, but that is only on a rare occasion. Most of my art is fantasy.  

[Elsiane]

Most of my stuff is in fantasy genre just because it's a cheap way to draw things that people are less able to check whether they're inaccurate! haha. To answer your question, I find I can't draw fantasy unless I see with my real eyes first. So yeah.  

[Ms Edward]

Im a mixture of both. I do more mind drawing than realistic drawings. When I find myself stressed I like to go and draw from observation.  

[bunnypot]

i draw more using my imagination
bit hard when i have/lack one  

[Gash Rain]

I usually dream about anime since im a fan, totally random stuff that doesn't exist. I try to draw it but my skill isnt as good as my imagination is XD. But to answer your question I do draw by my minds eye however most of the time I dont know how to portray the pose, hair or foreshortening so I have to look at something to get the just of it ^_^  

[Copic-Kun]

I use my imagination. Or i get most of my ideas from a dream/nightmare. Most of my freals are creative. Lol. Or if im sitting with a pencil or a pen in my hand i look at something i get a idea. Like if i look at a bike I would picture A little girl Riding her bike down a hill with a little boy chasing her or something . lol  

[Masalya]

I use both.
Sometimes it all just comes from my mind
but when I want some thing to come out well that's
when I do both.

 

[Karillis]

I love to use my imagination and like Copic-Kun my ideas tend to come from my dreams. Also music helps out a great deal since they tend to put images in my head. Only when it comes to certain poses do I have to look it up but who doesn't :3  

[KAKASHI no Hentai]

I use my sharingan  

[CoralYoshi]

I like to do my cartoons from my imagination, but occasionally I need reference to figure out anatomy on some of my poses. It really depends on the media and the subject though, I like to sketch from life often but I use real media for that, while when I sketch on my computer it's usually my cartoons and silly things like that. smile Sketching random things and people from life helps me improve my art in general, but I never upload any of those.  

[Eizoryu]

I do both, though I'm primarily a draw-from-the-imagination gal. I would do nothing but imagination drawings if I could, but I lean towards a more believable stylization of fantasy, so I can't do that. xD I needs my reference.  

[Vodou von Prettypants]

Oh, hello there, internets!

Although I think that it is important to be able to draw things in an anatomically correct fashion (or at least convincingly close), I prefer to pose and proportion my figures in a way that is meaningful to the purpose of my artwork.

So, while I mostly use my mind's eye to draw and sketch, I also like to use a live reference in order to achieve a look that is surreal rather than unreal. Do I always succeed? No, but that is what sketchbooks are for -- practice.

I do hate when people flip through my work and are constantly asking, "Who is that? Who is that?"

It's never anybody. And when they ask why I never draw real people, I tell them that it's because (aside from life drawing models) it's no fun to create something that already exists.

I did not see you there.

 

[Jiyou]

I don't really do anything realistic so I guess I draw more from my mind's eye. I live with my real eyes and I see everything with them. The things I've seen are stored in my memories so with that I can manipulate it for my art I guess.  

[Bubblegum_Paint]

I try to use both, otherwise I feel likee my drawings and paintings would become too stif. xp  

[Blue Feather Wings]

First I try to sketch at least the idea I have. Then I fix proportions, making the pose more real, fixing errors, details etc etc XD
First imagination, then technique.