I can sorta draw what’s in my head (see my profile for my webpage—I’ve got an example of a few “imaginary” portraits there). I have made up quite a few portraits and illustrations, but I definitely have my limitations.
The way I learned this was through practice. Lots of it. I learned how to draw figures from my imagination (not that I’m that great, but I can pass) by studying Life Drawing and anatomy. Lots of anatomy. (I recommend Burne Hogarth’s books, along with George Bridgman. And nothing can replace some good Life Drawing and anatomy classes as well.)
I learned to draw faces by drawing so many damned faces—from life, from photos, and while watching the TV. (Interestingly enough, drawing off the TV seemed to really help me develop my skills.)
I often will get inspired by a photo or a scene from a movie and use parts of it as a “springboard” for my own ideas.
For me, it’s been about lots of practice and observation. And I guess, to an extent, I’ve been able to pull it off. I remember one of my art teachers being surprised when he asked for my “reference photo” on a painting I did (I had gotten something a little off) and I had to tell him, “There is no reference photo.” The fact that I got it close enough to fool him (and he was no slouch) was pretty gratifying.
I would say study anatomy, perspective (that’s my main failing right now), color theory, and do LOTS and LOTS of studies. It should come in time. You’ll end up filling quite a few sketchbooks in the meantime, though.
I’m not exactly the world’s greatest drawer (3D is much more my style), but one thing that I’ve found to help for drawing people or other animals is to first pencil in a stick figure skeleton. All you have to do on such a skeleton is to get the proportions right (you could even use a protracter and ruler for this, if need be), and then you flesh it out. If you’re good at drawing from sight, then I would imagine that you should be able to handle the fleshing OK.
Yes, a lot of them do to some extent. Some cannot even draw at all; the rely on tracing photographs exclusively.
However, that wasn’t my interest and it isn’t the interest of many fellow artists. (I’m not against using photographs; however, I just don’t want to be tied to them exclusively.)
I know of some awesome artists (from various art message boards, etc.) who have studied anatomy and perspective (etc.) extensively, and man, they can create wonderful artwork. They make up these fantastic science fiction scenes and mythical animals and wow! I am in awe of some of these people. Many of them emphasize how they never use photographs, and debates constantly crop up about “how much photo reference is okay to use”? (Needless to say, nobody can agree on the “acceptable” level.)
I can do a little bit of such kinds of works (I used to illustrate fan fiction and I often drew completely “made up” scenes that looked acceptable), but I’m by no means as awesome as some of these other artists.
Frankly, I never understood the artists who never even learned how to draw. I saw what some of them went through. They had to find photographs for everything. They couldn’t ask someone to pose quickly for them so they could get the hand just right in a drawing, they couldn’t adjust something a little bit in a picture, because they flat-out couldn’t draw. That seemed like such a terrible inconvenience to me. It appeared like some of them went to a great deal of trouble trying to “work around” their inability to draw. I sometimes wondered why they didn’t simply learn to draw, it would have made things simpler for them and would have allowed them far more freedom and flexibility. But I guess they didn’t see it that way.
Chronos: Yes, the technique you describe is commonly used in the Life Drawing and anatomy classes I’ve taken, and is also described in the Hogarth and Bridgman books. It’s a great method.