📅 Monday, 19-01-26

I've just finished an eye opening journaling session.

It was a retrospective on 2025.

(I highly recommend doing yearly retros, they're so helpful!)

But the key takeaway was this:

Most of you know from my videos that I'm a software engineer full-time.

I don't have much time to dedicate to my art, but still.. I am motivated by lofty goals which often feel unrealistic for a self-taught hobbyist like me.

Drawing from imagination was one of them.

In 2025 I unlocked it.

And it changed the game for me, not only for the quality of my art on a technical level, but also on the emotional level: it re-ignited the joy of drawing!

This year I want to focus on helping you go through the same transformation.

I'm writing more of my insights down on paper, and will make more videos about it.

Here is one of them, enjoy! 😊

👇

Drawing from Imagination: What I wish I knew earlier

For a very long time, I could draw decently well if I had a reference to copy.

But when I tried to draw something original, it would feel literally impossible.

Drawing from imagination was like a dream for me.

A dream I thought was only reserved for professional artists, not hobbyists like me.

But still, I tried.

I thought that if I could train my visual memory so that I could remember how things looked, then I would be able to effectively draw from imagination just as well as I could draw from reference.

Because I would essentially be copying what I could see in my mind’s eye instead of what I could see with my own eyes.

But no matter how much I trained my visual memory, no matter how many landscapes, objects and poses I tried to add to my mental library, when it came time to summon it in my head, I couldn’t see them well enough to draw them.T

here was just too much complex ity

Too much stuff to remember.

So I actually gave up on trying to memorize how things looked.

It felt like a defeat I'm not gonna lie.

So instead of trying drawing from memory, I resorted to just putting boxes and basic volumes to mark where I originally wanted the character or thing to be.

And THAT was the moment it finally clicked for me.
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When I stripped down all the details, I could see the bigger forms that made up what I was trying to draw.

I could put the building blocks in the right place, and then it would actually be easier to remember what goes on top.

Or even if I couldn't remember, I could intuitively make it up, and it would still look good because the underlying forms made it believable.

In essence, what I realised is this:

To draw from imagination, you don’t need to remember how things look.
You need to remember how things are built.

You are not imagining a complete scene in your brain and copying it on paper.

You are imagining a rough map of where the main masses are, with zero detail.

And then you build them out, making it work as you go, based on the starting point you have on paper, rather than based on the finished drawing you have in your mind.

In fact, there should be no finish drawing in your mind at all. Only the rough blueprint to make you start building. You are not drawing, you are building!

Now that I know this, drawing from imagination has become like an addictive game to me.

I love it, and I try to do it every chance I get.

It has allowed me to stop being a slave to copying what I see, I finally understand how to use references the right way, to "inform my design" instead of for copying. And it has truly unlocked a new world of possibilities.

But most importantly, drawing from imagination has brought me back to why I started drawing in the first place:

To invent my own worlds.

To create my own characters.

To go on fantastic adventures.

Have a strong week
🫶

Massa

P.s.

If you missed it, the first video of the year is out!​

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I got carried away with the thumbnail... 😅

But I share a nice insight in there that helped me grow a ton as a self-taught artist in 2025.

Let me know in the comments what you think?
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P.p.s

​YTGems continues to grow strong, thanks to all for submitting your favourite channels.

It's now a legit database of high quality emerging YouTubers 🤴👸

I am using it in my own life to avoid scrolling and make sure I always only consume high quality content that will inspire me and have a positive influence on my tastes as an artist.

(that's also why I am leaving tutorial channels out)