Musicians practice through repetition, playing the same piece over and over until they own it and can play it the way they want.
Interestingly, we artists are not trained to practice this way. We’re not taught to take one reference image and draw it over and over again.
I have found a new routine.
I draw something lots of times, from memory and observation. Each time, after drawing, I compare it to the original and see new things I’d missed. It’s easier to remember the whole thing that way because each iteration, you remember a delta relative to what you already remember of the image.
It’s hard work but rewarding. Ultimately, I can piece-wise see the image in my mind’s eye, and then I can play with it.
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