Are you a CBCC Artist? 🤔
“What the hell is That?”
CBCC Artists Copy But can’t Create.
These are artists who copy really well from real life or photograph. They may even be extremely proficient at it.
My CBCC Art phase
But when it comes to drawing from their imagination, its impossible for them. 😫
So impossible, that Tom Cruise can make a movie about it. 🥷
I once was a CBCC artist.
The Proof 👇
I was able to copy things. I was even able to imagine things I wanted to Draw Vividly.
But when I put it down on paper, it frickin sucked! 🤮
Just look at this!
These 2 were drawn by the same person in the same period. 🤯
One looks like it was drawn by a professional, while the other looks like it was drawn by a drunk monkey from the north pole holding a crayon. 🐒
It took me a couple of years to get out of this trap.
After which I was able to draw whatever the hell I want from my imagination. 🧠
From flying pigs drinking cans of red bull to demons and monsters.
So what’s the secret?
What is the secret behind drawing from your imagination? 🤔
First, In order to understand the secret, we have to break a few myths that most people believe that is stopping them from drawing from their imagination.
Myth 1: "My Drawing Needs to be 100% Original, birthed from the womb of my mind."
Fun fact, Nothing is Original (or atleast not as original as you think it is)
Everything is a unique remix.
Here’s Darth Vader 👇
Do you know where this came from? 🧐
It came from the ancient Warriors of Japan.
George Clooney…..I mean….. George Lucas, the creator of Star Wars took inspiration from various places like the western cowboy films, space adventure films with a nice tint of the Samurais from the east to come up with the world of star wars. 😮
Heard about the story of Lion King? 🦁
Where the envious brother kills the King in order to take over the kingdom only for his forbidden son to take back the reigns.
That’s a story derived from the stories of Cain and Abel.
The point is this,
Things you see are original, but are not as original as you think they are. 📌
They have parent ideas, just like you have actual parents. Your art doesn’t need to look exactly like your parent. It is original, but it also has the DNA of the parent ideas.
That’s why we say everything is a remix of different artists DNA rather than a “original” 😌
Myth 2: "Pro Artists don't use references."
I’ll keep this one short.
They do. All the time. You just don’t know it yet. Wait till you become a Pro, and then you’ll know. 😏
Here’s an example 👇
All these Myths are leading to the Fundamental Secret of Drawing from Imagination which can be summed up in one sentence. And it’s this:
Your brain is a kitchen. 🥗
That’s it. Thank you for reading.
Well, Just kidding, let me elaborate..
Just like the kitchen, where you are cooking a new and an original dish. You use existing ingredients to make up that dish. 🥑
In order to create a “original” drawing, you need the ingredients, the VISUAL ingredients in order to create a new piece of Art. 👀
Those ingredients enter the kitchen of your mind, They get cooked, to a point where you cannot recognise the original vegetable that went into it (where you mistake red sauce for tomato) 🤷♂️
And give birth to new piece of dish a.k.a a Drawing.
Here’s an example 👇
See this drawing? Here are the visual ingredients that went into the cooking of this drawing.
Icy Landscape from the Movie ‘Day After Tomorrow’
A Picture of Me Sitting
A Tint of Anime
Mixed with ancient representations of lord shiva
These were all the raw ingredients that I used that I kept stored in my head in order to make this illustration.
When I was making this illustration I wasn’t looking at any of these images while drawing it. But, I was looking at them inside my mind while drawing it. 🧠
The poor newbie artist mistakes this for “Talent” or The Power of the ‘Force’ flowing through my veins.
When in reality all I’m doing is creating a baby in the kitchen of my mind. 🧠
That’s what you need to know. That is the Secret. 🍔
Now, you might say, “Ok Kesh, I get the secret. I believe you, but I’m still not able to put the ideas in my head to the paper. I can vividly imagine it but I’m not able to put it out into the world.”
Well, Here’s the Problem you are facing right now
You don’t have the right tools to draw from your imagination. 🔧
I’m not talking about pencils or paper. I’m talking about the technical art skills a.k.a tools you need to draw everything you want.
These are:
📏 Lines and Shapes
🧊 Forms
🔺 Perspective
🔦 Light and Shadows
🤪 Character Design Principles
🧍 Human Anatomy
🧠 Principles of Stylization.
✍️ Creative story telling skills.
These are the technical tools that brings imagination to life.
Once you learn these tools, everything else is possible. 😤
And in case you are wondering for a very efficient way to learn these tools. 🤔
Checkout ‘Drawing Camp’. 👈
My 100 Day Program that goes through all these skillsets Step-by-Step through Daily Actionable Exercises that can be done in 20 mins a day.
If you have ever wanted to learn the “Secret”, Checkout ‘Drawing Camp’
Best,
Kesh.
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