First, use references and draw from life. You will improve much faster from actually drawing things that exist. Depending on what kind of imaginative drawing you want to do, you need to study landscapes, or animals, people, anatomy, etc. As you learn how to draw, start working on combining things, like turning an orchid into a monster, or a cat with a fish head. Even if you want to draw completely imaginary creatures, like dragons, you will still benefit immensely from learning to draw life and learning comparative anatomy. You'll know basic bone and muscle structure, gesture and movement, etc., and all of that will show in your artistic skills.
A really good book, which is unfortunately out of print last I checked, is "Keys to Drawing" by Bert Dodson. Another good book is "Imaginative Realism" by James Gurney, who was the creator of Dinotopia. He walks you through how to build small sets and machetes and how to incorporate real life references to come up with fantastical settings and creatures.
Helen-Baq in the post "How to draw from imagination?"
2023-05-21 09:19
First, use references and draw from life. You will improve much faster from actually drawing things that exist. Depending on what kind of imaginative drawing you want to do, you need to study landscapes, or animals, people, anatomy, etc. As you learn how to draw, start working on combining things, like turning an orchid into a monster, or a cat with a fish head. Even if you want to draw completely imaginary creatures, like dragons, you will still benefit immensely from learning to draw life and learning comparative anatomy. You'll know basic bone and muscle structure, gesture and movement, etc., and all of that will show in your artistic skills.
A really good book, which is unfortunately out of print last I checked, is "Keys to Drawing" by Bert Dodson. Another good book is "Imaginative Realism" by James Gurney, who was the creator of Dinotopia. He walks you through how to build small sets and machetes and how to incorporate real life references to come up with fantastical settings and creatures.