Guilty over not being able to draw from imagination.

I can draw simple things from imagination, things that lean on the more cartoony and stylistic side. Doodles and such. But other than that, I’m heavily reliant on references.

It’s suffocating. I have many ideas, but to execute any of them I have to find the right reference or attempt to construct my own with multiple references.

I’m beginning to feel ashamed of it. I feel as if a REAL artist doesn’t need references as much as I do. I know artists use references all the time, even professional artists. But I still feel kinda bad about it.

I feel as if I need a reference for EVERYTHING. Even simple things I have done many times now. And I feel as if other artists don’t need to do that

I’m also kinda bad at drawing from imagination, so that doesn’t help much either 😭😭😭