If you have crazy dreams you can start sketching those. It’s your imagination in a way. I often have imaginated scenes I want to draw, if the composition involves people I would take pictures of friends in those positions and combine them with the environment I want to represent.

ironically enough, i’ve had this exact same question. i usually draw from pictures, but when i’m practicing from the imagination, it seems a lot harder.

well, the real question is, isn’t your imagination just pictures formed inside your head?
if you possibly can, when think of something, try and look closely at it, recognizing each particular space and line. if you close your eyes you can see exactly as if you were seeing a picture.

i’ll look up on it more, though and get back to you if i find anything out.

The dream tip is a good idea. Just mess around with odd shapes until you find something you like. Usually I just doodle and it turns out crazy. Try stuff like that.

Happy drawing!

doodle… when you’re not thinking about actually trying to draw something accurately you allow your brain to subconciously create. i doodle all the time.. in notebooks and my school planner. lol. although it’s not really work of art or anything, i think it helps a lot. just.. try to loosen up artistically. don’t set out to create a masterpiece. for me listening to music can help give me ideas. get a sketch book. carry it around with you and whenever you get an idea try and draw it. also.. you might want to give this a try:

http://www.43things.com/entries/view/1233401

it’ll give you ideas to start with.. maybe it’ll inspire you and get your imagination going.

Thanks everyone! Those are some excellent suggestions. While I do keep a sketch book, I’ve been using it more for figure drawing sessions than for random thoughts.

There’s this book I found, “Figure Drawing Without A Model” that looks like a good find as well:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0715306464/ref=wl_it_dp/104-1547303-6823962?ie=UTF8&coliid=IQY2Q214TPNFL&colid=1B2UD9E5K5SSP

Onlii Heartshot, please let me know if you find anything on the subject & thanks for checking it out.

Here’s an article I found on about.com:
http://drawsketch.about.com/od/drawfantasyandscifi/tp/imagination.htm

Maybe I’m strange, but I’ve always found it harder to draw from life than from imagination. But then, I’ve always been good at visualization.

One thing to remember is that the mind can imagine things that are physically impossible. A drawing will never look exactly like what you imagined originally, but it can be as good, or even better. The point isn’t to re-create something, but to create something new.

doodle lots. and the dream idea are real good. music is excellent as well. a bunch of my friends sit around in the art room and just paint to music. It really gets your imagination going because you have to imagine which scenes the music portrays.

It is really hard to draw accurately from the imagination. Even the best artists in the world used models most of the time. But if you really want to, draw something that you like and draw it a LOT. Use a model at first (or look up a picture) then just keep drawing it a ton until your hand instictually knows the shapes, curves, shadows, whatever. Also, I don’t know if this is obvious or not but don’t try to draw immediately in detail, you need to start by laying it out in shapes then progressively getting more and more detailed.