I’m going to demonstrate how I might draw from my imagination.
I tend to use the drawings that I do from my imagination as a check on my skills. It shows me what I can bring to mind quickly or slowly, what I’ve gotten down, and what I need to work on.
Pulling from the Imagination and Constructing a Face
I start with the abstraction. The face is generally an oval. I’ve gotten the shape of the jaw in. I put the cheeks in as circles. I do this because I want this fictional model to have rounder cheeks, and this is a way of reminding me of that as the drawing progresses.
I put in the features. The eyes, the nose, the mouth.
When I do this, I try to remember what I’ve learned about the features. I try to remember instructions from books I’ve read on portrait drawing. I try to remember what different features of different people I’ve drawn have looked like. I try to remember what they look like in different artwork I’ve looked at as well – fine art, illustrations like comics, manga, etc. When I draw my lines, I try to be conscious of how I’m fashioning the line with all these things in mind.
I’m not trying to reproduce things exactly as I’ve seen them – I’m trying to create my own original face with my experience as a guide.
I put in the hair, the neck muscles. I change the mouth. Originally, I wanted to make it slightly open, reminiscent of the last portrait I drew from direct observation, but I don’t like it on this face, so I redraw her mouth closed.
Imagining the Form
Part of creating a face (or anything really) from the mind involves imagining its interior contours. By this, I mean cross‑contours.
If you were to draw a line across the face of a form, be it the cheek, the chin, or anything else, how would the line turn? Of course, it would follow the contour of the face, curving as the surface curved.
Here, I illustrate how I might think about that. I don’t always draw the cross‑contours of objects, I tend to imagine them for the sake of speed. But I wouldn’t get that across if I didn’t draw them as an example here.
Imagining the Light
I erase the cross‑contours and draw the borders of the shadows of the face. Although the contours are gone, I do intend the shapes of the shadows to conform to the internal contours of the face of course.
I intend the light to be coming from above. The way the shadows fall, the light shouldn’t be too much in front.
Rendering
I start with the shading around the eyes. I block in the shadows of the lower face. I won’t be making the shadows very dark – I imagine the room the model’s supposed to be in to be filled with ambient light, which would soften the shadows by a lot.
Right now, I’m using a 2H.
I continue the rendering. For the darker shades, I switch to a softer B. I shade in the hair, the neck. As I do, I need to keep in mind how things would look under this kind of lighting. I keep trying to conjure the image in my mind, thinking whether it would look natural or not.
This does take experience.
For me, it’s intuitive.
For a beginner, they might have to draw a few portraits under certain lighting before it becomes second nature to them. They should be able to imagine where the light will fall and where shadows will as well after a certain amount of time drawing.
Refinement
I refine the shading.
Here I work on craftsmanship.
The shading should not be uneven with blotches of light and dark in areas that should be uniform in shade. So, I go in and darken or lift out with the kneaded eraser as needed.
There are areas of transition (blending) I need to work on to make the face look round.
I continue trying to see the image in my mind, thinking of whether what I’ve laid down on paper looks right, looks natural, changing and changing back if need be. I push and pull the drawing, carve it, mold it like clay.
The darkest areas are the areas that are recessed. Areas the light shouldn’t easily reach. They set off the light areas properly.
Deciding When to Quit
The most difficult part is knowing where to end it. It’s hard to know that when drawing from direct observation, and I feel it’s even harder when drawing from the imagination where you have nothing to check against.
I still think this drawing is rough, but I think I’ve gotten in all I need to create a believable face for now.
Final Image
As usual, slight adjustments to brightness of the photo, hopefully more accurately representing what I see in real life.
Other Pages and Posts
To draw believably from your imagination, you need to build up your catalog of mental images first. To do that, I recommend you draw from direct observation.
At the time of this posting, I don’t have too many pages up on how to draw, but I have a few, and I think they could help you if you so have this goal.
- For me, the skill that really started me along my journey was learning how to draw contour.
- A complement to drawing contour is learning how to use plumb and level.
I have blog posts that demonstrate drawing from observation: