When's the time you actually can draw from imagination

[kappapeachie]

i feel like i use reference way too much and it's hard to find a pose or scene that exactly fits what imagined.

[DiegoPalacios]

When you develop your own art style, and when you have a clear idea in your head what you want to draw.

Even the pros use references for complex stuff every once in a while. So don`t feel bad if you need references to know how to draw a piece of clothing, an animal, hands or whatever is complicating you.

[soyasholm]

I'm with Diego on this. No matter how good you become normally you still will use references, even tho it feels like it should "stop" at some point it probably never will.
References are there to help you and even if you do remember how to draw something from doing it a lot you'll still need to brush up on the skill eventually so yeah. It never stops but that's okay (even tho it's frustrating)

[Luminosophy]

Doing a lot of gestures will help build a visual reference library so you'll be less stuck for ideas in the future. However, pulling away from reference, even if your drawings are somewhat awful for it, is exactly what you need to do in order to practice. What it does is show you problem areas. If you don't know how to depict a certain part at a certain perspective - it's because you lack any data on it. Use that information to study those specific areas later, and do allow yourself time to just practice randomly. Imagination itself is something you need to build on in time. It's like a memory test, how much do you remember? Just keep throwing yourself at it and you'll get there.

[okellymx]

Everyone else already covered everything I could possibly say. But it's worth noting that even Kim Jung Gi still uses references from time to time not as much as most obviously, but to say he never does would be lying. So if one of the most amazing artist still uses references after all these years then you probably shouldn't worry about it.

[Milhamah]

Don't worry too much about it. As long as you're not tracing somebody else's work, it's fine to have a visual model to compare for accuracy. I just focus on letting the art be the vehicle for storytelling.

[JeanGuillet]

for me this happened when I realized how long it took to look up references. so about 4 months into weekly updates. so i launched into it and my art promptly sucked...but despite how hard it was, it was worth it I think. I may not be much good at anatomy now, but i'm sure better at it than i was then. that was four years ago I suppose! it feels good to be free.