Drawing Without Reference (Patreon)

I mentioned this on twitter, but I have spent so many years studying from photos, doing master copies and learning realism that I forgot to practice drawing from my head alongside it. My confidence is already shaky to begin with, and using reference has been my safety blanket for so long that I always feel lost without it. 

But I'm nothing if not determined, and I'm also pretty good at kicking my own ass. So I sat down the other day with my ipad and drew the heads above with no reference. They aren't much and it took a long time to get them to not look awkward (face shapes, especially the jaw and chin, have always been a struggle) yet I love that I can see my vintage style coming through because of all of those old photograph studies I have done.

All of this is about gaining confidence. I want to be able to draw consistently from my imagination and not need reference for every little thing.  I would also like a quick, simplistic style that I can draw comics with. I will never stop using it of course, I'm just tired of feeling like I need it. 

Changing a more than ten year old habit is going to be hard though, but I am always up for a challenge.