I am one of those who CAN draw, very well, from memory.
However, even my memory cannot hold the sum total of all of the world's objects and their appearance from all angles. I have, in my studio, a file cabinet full of clips, winnowed from magazines, calandars, book, newspapers and online sources. I also have about fifteen linear feet of shelf spase containing books and more magazines with more photographic references. I have cars, planes, boats, trees, flowers mountains, landmarks, people, costumes, uniforms, jewelry, animals, trains, rockets, weapons, tools and equipment and much, much more.
If I need to compose a new image of a pride of lions and some cubs, I have, no less than a dozen images I can lay my hands on within minutes. More, if I go to my online sources. I can choose the face from one image, a body from another and foot placement from a third. I may create a cub's image from scratch, but, I can refer to different photos to make sure my proportions, expressions and anatomy are correct and age appropriate for the subject
The result would be a completely original composition, accurate in every way.
By the way, when I mentioned that I can draw from memory, I could do this composition that way, and, most people would say it is ';pretty good.'; But, for a paying client, ';pretty good'; is NOT good enough. I strive for excellence in my professional work. But, what it takes to be a pretty good, ';from memory'; sketch artist is a LOT of practice drawing from real life, and photographic references.
Look, no matter how talented someone is, if an artist is asked to draw an Australian wallaby, his memory will do no good unless he knows what one looks like. Because of my practice, if someone asks me to draw a horse, I know the difference in appearence between a cow pony, quarter horse, thoroghbred, plow horse, even the subtle differences between a Percheron and a Clydesdale. But I would still pull out my images from the ';morgue'; to make sure I got it right enough to satisfy someone else who also knows the difference.If you want to be a children's illustrator?
Au contraire to popular belief, illustrators use lots of references! Many people think that it comes from memory and it sometimes does but that's because they've studied the references and kept it in mind.
I always found that drawing from imagination was strangely difficult when I had to represent an animal, scenery, etc. My Advanced Illustration class and Children's Illustration class (She's the same lady.) is one of the upper members of the Society of Illustrators in NYC and she constantly reminded us that we HAVE to have references to create successful images. I'm not sure about it being necessary all the time but it does help!
Anyway...Good luck! :D
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