Artists with Aphantasia

[CosmicRot]

So seeing a post talking about learning art when you have aphantasia, being an artist who has aphantasia to the severe end [I can't see shit! I can almost never hear stuff in my brain either] and just having seen sooo many artists talk about their experience with aphantasia either not knowing they have it, or knowing and struggling a lot to learn how to draw or improve.. or in general just struggling.. I figured hey why not let's try and find other artists with aphantasia and maybe we can learn from each other or talk to each other, or even have those without aphantasia learn about it so they don't keep trying to give the same advice that is not helpful to those of us who struggle to or absolutely cannot visualize things.

For those unaware, aphantasia is when you are unable to visualize or see anything in your mind. Some folks struggle with it and 'see' or imagine blurry things, things with no color, very low detail stuff, some are worse and can only see literal blobs, while others are unable to visualize anything whatsoever.

Rubberross is an artist with aphantasia [one of the only ones I can think of off the top of my head] and people always seem really shocked to learn it because they think he has good character design and especially because of how stylize a lot of the work they do is.. but well just cause you can't visualize things doesn't mean you can't be a good artist, or that you can't have creativity or imagination.. it's just a lot different for folks who can't visualize things ya know? it's like reading a description of something visual or molding something from clay, you can't see it until you see it.. but if you know what you're doing or have the building blocks or ideas in front of you [or in your head in terms of just thinking of stuff haha] you can learn how to do a lot of visually creative stuff.

So with all that in mind, these questions are only for people who have aphantasia, no matter the extent of it. [and also free free to ask for advice or just talk about your experience with aphantasia, or share you art even!]

What are some of the main things you do to help learn art, or have done in the past to help learn how to draw?? Are the ways you've taught yourself to do art outside of 1:1 recreations the same or different than what you do for 1:1 creations [such as drawing still lives with measurements, doing the grid method, etc]

I'm also curious how many of y'all have traced or still trace in order to use that as a reference or to learn and/or refresh muscle memory. If you have or haven't i'd also just like your general opinion on using it as a way to learn.

[tracing 3d models or pose refs is a super handy tool for folks with aphantasia learning muscle memory and anatomy and the like, but even if you're doing it privately A LOT of people are super aggressively against any kind of tracing.. though most of those folks don't have aphantasia or assume we're stealing things or claiming things as our own. so disclaimer even though it's a good tool, please don't trace other people's artwork without DIRECT permission and don't share it or try to claim it as yours or whatever]

and how difficult is character design for y'all?? whether that be slightly altering clothes/outfits when drawing fanart, or outright fully designing your own character from the ground up. Can you do it from scratch? or do you need a layout or a picrew or moodboard or something?

for those of y'all without aphantasia, feel free to ask questions as well! I'd rather y'all not give advice in here if anyone asks cause it really is an entire different ballgame when you can't visualize things and i know y'all mean well but a lot of the advice outside of "practice" [no duh] or saying to use refs/resources [which a lot of us already do] kiinndd of often falls flat at best, or is outright unhelpful at worst. Sorry.

anyway thanks for reading here's my old banner with some old art cause i've been too lazy to make a new one.

also also tiny thing I'm trying to get the tag "artists with aphantasia" to be used on social media so we're more visible to each other, so <3 if y'all would want to join.

[CosmicRot]

At 7/23/23 12:59 AM, noelchianart76 wrote: Some people might consider an artist's ability as a god given talent. I agree that to some degree that it is but I think most if not all "artists" need to nurture and cultivate that talent. That means taking the time to learn the fundamentals and applying them. Being analytical of their own work and always seeking to improve. I have rarely ever met an artist that hasn't used references, after all that is the very basis of drawing from "life" and is the very foundation that is taught in every art institution. I wouldn't worry too much about what others think. Everyone develops at their own pace so set your own goals, look for inspiration and then work towards them.

like yeah a majority of people have for sure used references or similar resources to draw, especially if they're trying to get better and not just having fun [which is valid also] but I'm honestly not at all worried what people think [and I don't understand where you got that from or why you'd comment that, if it's directed at me or at other artists in general?? i'm genuinely asking]

i'm mostly just curious how other artists especially those who can't visualize things/have aphantasia, have gone about learning and what kind of things they've used. Whether it be using references indirectly, using them more directly with 1:1 grid recreations or using them by tracing them such as 3D models or what have you... or if they've used all or some or none of those, ya know?

[switzrr]

As the person who inspired the creation of this thread, I wouldn't say I'm a complete aphantasiac, but my "mind's eye" is quite weak. Therefore all my "art" is just copies of pre-existing images, although I hope someday I might be able to make something original

[CosmicRot]

At 7/23/23 02:36 PM, switzrr wrote: As the person who inspired the creation of this thread, I wouldn't say I'm a complete aphantasiac, but my "mind's eye" is quite weak. Therefore all my "art" is just copies of pre-existing images, although I hope someday I might be able to make something original

not the only person! it's been a long time coming i've wanted to have discussion with other folks who have aphantasia [but too often do folks without it come butting in and then I give up]

but yeah like aphantasia is definitely a spectrum. Anyone who has a lot of difficulty would be considered to have aphantasia but i'm out here unable to visualize even the tiniest simplest un-colored blob haha. And honestly making something original is just as much of a skill as doing 1:1 re-creations.

I've never been able to do the grid method or create things 1:1 cause as soon as I'd stop looking at it I'd immediately forget what it looked like so I learned to re-create stuff mostly from drawing still lives in a way where I can still halfway see what i'm looking at and lots of psuedo-measuring with my pencil and fingers... but after years and years of looking at character designs or watching tutorials and just figuring out what I personally like you can kind of start to smash things together

instead of it being a 1:1 re-creation you can kind of frankenstein references together,then frakenstein things you like, then slowly you learn how to do it without needing to take bits of pieces from other things [though I still do need pose and anatomy references 90% of the time, I can design outfits and faces and hair with little to no help]

[CosmicRot]

At 7/23/23 03:08 AM, noelchianart76 wrote: I only meant that as encouragement and advice and it was not a personal attack. I'm sure that are a myriad of ways to overcome aphantasia and I'm pretty sure others will share their own solutions. I do not ( or I don't think) I have aphantasia, but it's not like I can visualise exactly what I'm going to draw as well. I usually do quite a bit of research, I compile references, I create a mood board and I will scamp out ideas before actually jumping into an artwork. I will work out different versions and then have a few rounds of self critique (running through the fundamentals or lack of) before refining on the final piece. This is a pretty methodical but slow process that I find works best for me. Hope this helps clarify things.

I didn't take it as a personal attack I was just confused and curious as to why you assumed I or anyone else cares what other people think and so I was just wondering what your intention was/where that came from.

And yeah a lot of people without aphantasia can't visualize things exactly [though i've met some people who say when they close their eyes it's just as detailed at real life which sounds so fake to me haha] being able to visualize things with or without aphantasia both have their own kinds of spectrums of how detailed they can see things

but yeah not to be rude, as I said in the original post I'd really rather people without aphantasia not give advice cause y'all are working with a tremendously different book/skill set/whatever when it comes to learning art. Severely struggling or being entirely unable to visualize things changes so many aspects of learning to draw.. and it also just feels weird hearing someone say you have to 'overcome' having it.. like it's not something you just overcome or get rid of, it's more like you just have to work with it or work around it. saying overcome feels dismissive like it's something you're supposed to get passed and never deal with again.

[dupreedraws]

Never knew RubberRoss had aphantasia, that's super interesting! It's even inspiring to me, so I know it must be inspiring to you lot too. I hope someone out there can convince him to use the hashtag #artistswithaphantasia on his works on sites like Instagram or Twitter, so that people know they're not alone. I understand how difficult it must be for you all to find each other in something so rare, especially without non-aphantasiacs chipping in.

Unfortunately I don't have aphantasia, and I'm sorry for being another non-aphantasiac who's responding to this thread, but I'm doing so in hopes that'll boost the activity in hopes that this Topic can get more eyes on it. Hope this helps!

[dupreedraws]

At 7/24/23 10:59 AM, dupreedraws wrote: Never knew RubberRoss had aphantasia, that's super interesting! It's even inspiring to me, so I know it must be inspiring to you lot too. I hope someone out there can convince him to use the hashtag #artistswithaphantasia on his works on sites like Instagram or Twitter, so that people know they're not alone. I understand how difficult it must be for you all to find each other in something so rare, especially without non-aphantasiacs chipping in.

Unfortunately I don't have aphantasia, and I'm sorry for being another non-aphantasiac who's responding to this thread, but I'm doing so in hopes that'll boost the activity in hopes that this Topic can get more eyes on it. Hope this helps!

As far as having any questions goes, I'm just trying to figure out a unique and interesting question that you haven't heard a million times, lol. The information you've given so far has been pretty insightful though.

[Oddlem]

this thread made me freak out for a couple of days because it made me find out that I might have it or at least be on the spectrum of it?? I can't on command visualize images, I fail the stupid apple test and I can't imagine a red square. I see in concepts, which this whole time I thought WAS visualizing. but then at the time time, I have a photographic memory, I just can't conjure my own images in my head if that makes sense, I can only see pre-existing images if I DO see something. Ask me to picture a god damn red square and I can't do it-- I just see black, tell me to picture the sun and I see a high res detailed image I saw from google images lmao (if you're curious it was a cropped version of this). I see my characters as blobs in a black void. I have no idea what that means or how normal that is, or even if that is visualization in the first place. I'm a mess rn lol

BUT I think regardless, I do have a super weak mind's eye-- when I read I only see blobs in a black void and I thought that was just normal. When I draw, I don't picture anything in my head and I just draw directly from feelings to paper. Apparently people map out art pieces in their head, I can't do that! I just go with the flow, and piece stuff together manually. I've come to the conclusion that because I have a weak mind's eye, doing art is an extension of what WOULD my mind's eye. I just put down stuff that I think logically makes sense

I don't know if I count (please educate me on this!) because I literally just learnt about all this like 1-2 days ago and I'm still doing research as we speak, but this was my experience! I hope even if I don't count that it's good to bring to the table since I don't think I visualize well either way

[CosmicRot]

At 7/24/23 12:33 PM, Oddlem wrote: BUT I think regardless, I do have a super weak mind's eye-- when I read I only see blobs in a black void and I thought that was just normal. When I draw, I don't picture anything in my head and I just draw directly from feelings to paper. Apparently people map out art pieces in their head, I can't do that! I just go with the flow, and piece stuff together manually. I've come to the conclusion that because I have a weak mind's eye, doing art is an extension of what WOULD my mind's eye. I just put down stuff that I think logically makes sense

you are SO valid honestly.. I felt similarly when I first learned about it. I was annoyed, and freaked out, and kind of mad that apparently others can see stuff in such detail?? especially cause a lot of folks with aphantasia don't have dreams so when I learned I thought "maybe one day I can visualize things or see stuff!" well a decade later and... nothing :'))

but yeah like!! I have a friend with similar stuff they can recall images they've looked at for a certain amount of time or longer, but if you ask them to imagine something from scratch or visualize a concept or even when they're reading what they see?? and it's just.. nothing at worst, or colorful blobs at best [like damn you get color in there?? I get the faintest almost black blob AT BEST.. and the ocassional weird split second blips when i'm super relaxed and my eyes are closed but they're effectively visual intrusive thoughts that make no sense and i can't recall or describe them even seconds later cause it's just black again]

and personally I'd say yeah! this sounds like aphantasia. Aphantasia is totally 100% a normal thing it's just a matter of being able to see nothing is.. apparently a lot more rare than I thought so I often feel like the odd one out?? but i'd say if you can't at least do the apple test to an extent of "slightly more detailed then insanely simple clip art" you're probably somewhere on the "have mild aphantasia" to "full blown aphantasia" spectrum haha. there's a lot more people who have mild aphantasia or a "a weak mind's eye' --or however people wanna word it-- than actively know they have it. But a lot of us who can barely see anything or can't see anything at all it's like *we know* usually something is up but just often don't have the words forit.

welcome to knowing about aphantasia??? I hope you enjoy your stay lmao <3 and thanks for being here

[CosmicRot]

At 7/24/23 11:01 AM, dupreedraws wrote:

At 7/24/23 10:59 AM, dupreedraws wrote: Never knew RubberRoss had aphantasia, that's super interesting! It's even inspiring to me, so I know it must be inspiring to you lot too. I hope someone out there can convince him to use the hashtag #artistswithaphantasia on his works on sites like Instagram or Twitter, so that people know they're not alone. I understand how difficult it must be for you all to find each other in something so rare, especially without non-aphantasiacs chipping in.

Unfortunately I don't have aphantasia, and I'm sorry for being another non-aphantasiac who's responding to this thread, but I'm doing so in hopes that'll boost the activity in hopes that this Topic can get more eyes on it. Hope this helps!

As far as having any questions goes, I'm just trying to figure out a unique and interesting question that you haven't heard a million times, lol. The information you've given so far has been pretty insightful though.

just wanna say i appreciate this and you haha. Glad to be informative! and yeah if you think of any questions or are just curious about art process stuff def let me know and hopefully me or someone else with aphantasia can help and answer :>

[Oddlem]

At 7/24/23 02:09 PM, CosmicRot wrote: and personally I'd say yeah! this sounds like aphantasia. Aphantasia is totally 100% a normal thing it's just a matter of being able to see nothing is.. apparently a lot more rare than I thought so I often feel like the odd one out?? but i'd say if you can't at least do the apple test to an extent of "slightly more detailed then insanely simple clip art" you're probably somewhere on the "have mild aphantasia" to "full blown aphantasia" spectrum haha.
but yeah like!! I have a friend with similar stuff they can recall images they've looked at for a certain amount of time or longer, but if you ask them to imagine something from scratch or visualize a concept or even when they're reading what they see?? and it's just.. nothing at worst, or colorful blobs at best

HUHHH that makes sense!! it's just nuts cause I would do the apple test, and I THOUGHT I was visualizing an apple but I was just remembering the actual image of the apple test and not actually thinking of one from scratch. I just never thought about that much I guess! I try to imagine a dog and it's like I'm taking out a stack of images I saved and I'm just flipping through them, my mind's eye is just google images AAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!

welcome to knowing about aphantasia??? I hope you enjoy your stay lmao <3 and thanks for being here

THANK YOU!! it's been a wild few days LOL, I keep trying to picture stuff and it's all a lieeeee, I can't do it!! MY LIFE IS A LIEEEE, but it's kinda neat tho! I guess maybe that's why I'm more of a feel-y type person because I've just been feeling colors in my head but not actually visualizing them

I keep trying to see different shapes and it just doesn't happen!! maybe people who can't visualize well just visualize differently in a way? I've been thinking about it and art-wise, I just think of figures I've already drawn (or am in the process OF drawing) and just pivot it around in a 3d space. Sorry to ramble so much!! This just changes like everything LOL, idk how I work anymore!

how's your art process btw if I could ask? do you have to feel things out more and conceptualize stuff since you can't visualize?

[CosmicRot]

At 7/24/23 04:41 PM, Oddlem wrote: how's your art process btw if I could ask? do you have to feel things out more and conceptualize stuff since you can't visualize?

oh man, i think the best/clearest way I've ever described it was when i explained it to my therapist haha

effectively my entire drawing/creating process is just like slapping things down and seeing what works. It's like taking a blob of clay with only a written description of like say.. "feminine character with long hair" and I have to just aggressively slowly shape it into that. It's painful and awkward and I have to redo the same pieces and shapes over and over and over again,becoming more detailed each pass.

well, drawing without using a 3d model i can pose and trace [and then either stylize that tracing to the kind of anatomy/cartoonishness/etc i want, or to use that tracing as a reference and i redraw next to it] I tend to have to do anywhere from 3 to 7 passes for JUST the pose of a character. It's like a stick figure with trapezoids as hands/feet and two rectangles for the torso/pelvis.. then I have to slowly build up from there.. creating the 3d shapes in a 2d space, i sometimes have to redo anatomy entirely or i have to alter shapes and angles and etc.. then suddenly i have something that resembles a person [or animal or anthro or whatever]

I mostly only do digital art now because i used to ruin so many papers by drawing and erasing and drawing and erasing until it'd be stained badly or the paper would rip...

Every single time I draw though my process is slightly different. Sometimes I draw with no refs and just build up like i'm sculpting and carving clay. Sometimes I frankenstein references together and make mood boards or slap together a bunch of different inspo. Some times i just use the 3d models in clip studio and pose them and either use it was a reference or trace it [i try to draw hands entirely myself though cause i don't ever wanna become reliant on 3d models for that haha, which I always make sure to draw without ANY refs AT ALL once in a blue moon so I can keep the skill/muscle memory required to draw, especially with the whole no visualzing.....]

I think my most common way of drawing though, is to do a bit of all of these haha, OR i'll draw something, and when i realize oh huh i can't do this anatomy right I'll grab a ref or pose something and use refs after i already have the poses and sketches and such down... cause finding refs is hard when you're stuck in a "i don't know exactly what I want until I see it" cause then you can't be as detailed in searching.

tldr; my process is "fuck around and find out" and start broad and weird and just slowly become more and more detailed and specific whether it's brute forced or i make mood boards or whatever else.

Anyway I hope this wasn't too long! T v T and i hope it's at least kind of interesting if it isn't helpful.

[Oddlem]

At 7/24/23 05:01 PM, CosmicRot wrote:

At 7/24/23 04:41 PM, Oddlem wrote: how's your art process btw if I could ask? do you have to feel things out more and conceptualize stuff since you can't visualize?

oh man, i think the best/clearest way I've ever described it was when i explained it to my therapist haha
effectively my entire drawing/creating process is just like slapping things down and seeing what works. It's like taking a blob of clay with only a written description of like say.. "feminine character with long hair" and I have to just aggressively slowly shape it into that. It's painful and awkward and I have to redo the same pieces and shapes over and over and over again,becoming more detailed each pass.

well, drawing without using a 3d model i can pose and trace [and then either stylize that tracing to the kind of anatomy/cartoonishness/etc i want, or to use that tracing as a reference and i redraw next to it] I tend to have to do anywhere from 3 to 7 passes for JUST the pose of a character. It's like a stick figure with trapezoids as hands/feet and two rectangles for the torso/pelvis.. then I have to slowly build up from there.. creating the 3d shapes in a 2d space, i sometimes have to redo anatomy entirely or i have to alter shapes and angles and etc.. then suddenly i have something that resembles a person [or animal or anthro or whatever]
I mostly only do digital art now because i used to ruin so many papers by drawing and erasing and drawing and erasing until it'd be stained badly or the paper would rip...

Every single time I draw though my process is slightly different. Sometimes I draw with no refs and just build up like i'm sculpting and carving clay. Sometimes I frankenstein references together and make mood boards or slap together a bunch of different inspo. Some times i just use the 3d models in clip studio and pose them and either use it was a reference or trace it [i try to draw hands entirely myself though cause i don't ever wanna become reliant on 3d models for that haha, which I always make sure to draw without ANY refs AT ALL once in a blue moon so I can keep the skill/muscle memory required to draw, especially with the whole no visualzing.....]
I think my most common way of drawing though, is to do a bit of all of these haha, OR i'll draw something, and when i realize oh huh i can't do this anatomy right I'll grab a ref or pose something and use refs after i already have the poses and sketches and such down... cause finding refs is hard when you're stuck in a "i don't know exactly what I want until I see it" cause then you can't be as detailed in searching.

WAIT WHAAAAAAAAAAAT this is almost exactly what I do too WTFFFFF!!!! like basically ALL of that, even comparing it to molding clay!! ESPECIALLY the redoing a pose a bunch of times thing or not being able to see it in a 3d space so then I bring up a reference. in fact I'm ND, so sometimes when I burn out I find that I just lose some skills LOL and I struggle even more to "sculpt" the drawing or mess around in 3d spaces hehe, and I end up needing more references. that's so neat!! I'm not sure if you also are, sorry if it sounds that way! I just kinda typed before I thought it through LOL I'm just thinking a million MPH rn

tldr; my process is "fuck around and find out" and start broad and weird and just slowly become more and more detailed and specific whether it's brute forced or i make mood boards or whatever else.

I'm all for that honestly hehe, maybe it even makes it easier to experience around!

Anyway I hope this wasn't too long!

not too long at all!! it was extremely helpful actually and I'm super glad you shared all of that! I'm honestly grateful you went into detail cause it made it all a lot more clear for me personally. I'm still not completely 100000% I have it because it's just all so new for me, so I hope it doesn't seem like I'm just kinda sneaking my way into this space or anything! I'm just just glad to learn about all of this and that others can too

[CosmicRot]

At 7/24/23 05:13 PM, Oddlem wrote: I'm not sure if you also are, sorry if it sounds that way! I just kinda typed before I thought it through LOL I'm just thinking a million MPH rn

lmao no worries! I'm actually autistic and have adhd lmao <3 so I totally get it

not too long at all!! it was extremely helpful actually and I'm super glad you shared all of that! I'm honestly grateful you went into detail cause it made it all a lot more clear for me personally. I'm still not completely 100000% I have it because it's just all so new for me, so I hope it doesn't seem like I'm just kinda sneaking my way into this space or anything! I'm just just glad to learn about all of this and that others can too

and yeah no worries! like I'd much rather someone who's trying to figure stuff out or who is unsure be able to get the info they need and it's nice when people can relate whether or not they have aphantasia, it's just ya know sometimes like you're looking for art help or suggestions and someone who *absolutely knows they don't have aphantasia* and has amazing detail when they visualize stuff just keeps saying "imagine blank" "visualize blah" and it's like.. 'oh my god s t o p you have no idea what it's like stop trying to """help""" shut uppppp' but if someone can relate or they're like "wait is this me?!?!" or whatever that's very cool actually and i just think sharing the knowledge is neat and glad that people wanna learn.

[Oddlem]

At 7/24/23 09:00 PM, CosmicRot wrote: lmao no worries! I'm actually autistic and have adhd lmao <3 so I totally get it

YOOOOOOOOOOO SAME!!! potentially I mean LOL, I was soft diagnosed but I'm waiting for my last ASD assessment in a monthhhhh to know officially! 😭😭 I was actually wondering, could aphantasia be linked? ANYWAY I'm getting sidetracked LOL

Thank you for being understanding!!

and yeah no worries! like I'd much rather someone who's trying to figure stuff out or who is unsure be able to get the info they need and it's nice when people can relate whether or not they have aphantasia,
but if someone can relate or they're like "wait is this me?!?!" or whatever that's very cool actually and i just think sharing the knowledge is neat and glad that people wanna learn.

AWWWWW good! I hope more chime in too, and I'm glad I wasn't poking around in a space that wasn't meant for me or something. It's super nice to have a thread like this! a place to share experiences and also learn hehe

it's just ya know sometimes like you're looking for art help or suggestions and someone who *absolutely knows they don't have aphantasia* and has amazing detail when they visualize stuff just keeps saying "imagine blank" "visualize blah" and it's like.. 'oh my god s t o p you have no idea what it's like stop trying to """help""" shut uppppp'

THAT I can totally understand, I kinda relate it to me going to ADHD places (I can't get meds rn so I need to look up alt solutions) and seeing advice like "just try to concentrate better" or whatever, it's like "wow thanks I haven't tried that before". Sorry if I'm derailing this a little LOL I just wanted to let you know that it's completely fair to feel that way and I understand!

[Charlmot]

This is a very informational topic! I personally don't have aphantasia, in fact I think I'm pretty much on the opposite of the spectrum (I don't have any form of photographic memory though), but it's very interesting to hear how you guys approach art and deal with this!

Although I do wanna clear up a little bit of confusion

To my knowledge (and I may be wrong about this), piecing a project together instead of just visualizing the end result is still a completely valid method of creating art, even if you don't have aphantasia, many many people just wing it (while I don't make art I still do this for pretty much everything else unless I have a good idea lol).

We definitely do have an advantage being able to imagine the final product before we make it, but I feel like it still takes an absolutely huge amount of skill to create something even if you can imagine the end result

This isn't me invalidating any of your experiences by the way I'm just clearing a few things up :)

[CosmicRot]

At 7/25/23 12:59 AM, Charlmot wrote: This is a very informational topic! I personally don't have aphantasia, in fact I think I'm pretty much on the opposite of the spectrum (I don't have any form of photographic memory though), but it's very interesting to hear how you guys approach art and deal with this!

Although I do wanna clear up a little bit of confusion

To my knowledge (and I may be wrong about this), piecing a project together instead of just visualizing the end result is still a completely valid method of creating art, even if you don't have aphantasia, many many people just wing it (while I don't make art I still do this for pretty much everything else unless I have a good idea lol).

We definitely do have an advantage being able to imagine the final product before we make it, but I feel like it still takes an absolutely huge amount of skill to create something even if you can imagine the end result

This isn't me invalidating any of your experiences by the way I'm just clearing a few things up :)

I mean... yeah?? there's no confusion on that, like anyone can just wing stuff or piece things together. No one said that people without aphantasia don't or can't do that, it's just a lot more common when you can't visualize stuff that you have to mold things or get waayy more references than people who can visualize things... because while winging or piecing together things people without aphantasia can visualize where they want it to go without outright having to draw it to see what they want, or grab more references, you know?

also i wanted to say as an autistic person this comes across as you trying to defend something or shut down something no one was saying.. like of course art in any way shape or form takes tons of effort, learning to draw with or without aphantasia can take years or decades to learn and we're all still learning, and one way of making art isn't exclusive to one person or even a group of people.. so your post just has me confused and I'd like to genuinely ask where it came across that people without aphantasia don't require as much skill or that they don't draw or brainstorm in the same way as those with aphantasia.?? [cause I'd like to make sure i'm not accidentally doing anything for that to be the case cause no one directly said that kind of stuff, just that it's a little easier when you don't have aphantasia]

Anyway I do appreciate the effort and intent with your post, but there wasn't really any need to clear up anything. Thank you though.

[Charlmot]

At 7/25/23 02:53 PM, CosmicRot wrote:
I mean... yeah?? there's no confusion on that, like anyone can just wing stuff or piece things together. No one said that people without aphantasia don't or can't do that, it's just a lot more common when you can't visualize stuff that you have to mold things or get waayy more references than people who can visualize things... because while winging or piecing together things people without aphantasia can visualize where they want it to go without outright having to draw it to see what they want, or grab more references, you know?

also i wanted to say as an autistic person this comes across as you trying to defend something or shut down something no one was saying.. like of course art in any way shape or form takes tons of effort, learning to draw with or without aphantasia can take years or decades to learn and we're all still learning, and one way of making art isn't exclusive to one person or even a group of people.. so your post just has me confused and I'd like to genuinely ask where it came across that people without aphantasia don't require as much skill or that they don't draw or brainstorm in the same way as those with aphantasia.?? [cause I'd like to make sure i'm not accidentally doing anything for that to be the case cause no one directly said that kind of stuff, just that it's a little easier when you don't have aphantasia]

Anyway I do appreciate the effort and intent with your post, but there wasn't really any need to clear up anything. Thank you though.

I guess it was more just me giving extra input than clearing some things up, that's completely my bad. And I'm sorry it came off that way! I wasn't trying to defend anything or shut down anything. I was just trying to say that I felt like if you don't have the ability to imagine the end result of a project then it could be more difficult to get there. Which there's a chance that you guys don't have that much trouble! It just seems like it does to me personally

Sorry again that it came off like that, I didn't mean it in any negative way, I guess I just worded it the wrong way. I'm sorry :)

[Template88]

Aphantasia sounds like somebody who is haunted by the ghost of a friendly elephant.

[Oddlem]

At 7/25/23 05:48 PM, Template88 wrote: Aphantasia sounds like somebody who is haunted by the ghost of a friendly elephant.

boo

[Template88]

[CosmicRot]

At 7/25/23 08:22 PM, Oddlem wrote:

At 7/25/23 05:48 PM, Template88 wrote: Aphantasia sounds like somebody who is haunted by the ghost of a friendly elephant.

boo

y'all are funny lmao

[CosmicRot]

Welp I kind of forgot you can't add to posts after they get replies haha,

but i was curious and wanted to ask, cause someone on tumblr was trying to share some visuals on how their borderline aphantasia works when they're trying to draw, and while I can't see anything in my head I can't exactly recreate that outside of just.. sharing a blank screen haha, would anyone be interested in me showing off like a simplified version of what my sketch/drawing process looks like?? [I can do a version that involves refs and one that doesn't depending on interest]

[CosmicRot]

Hiya! I just wanted to post a little mini update because I've started experimenting with how I do my art :)) It's especially been a game changer for digital art.

So instead of trying to focus on exact shapes I've been kind of doing a messy version of what I see painters do to be able to block out the shapes instead of trying to block them out with outlines [which is A LOT of how people are taught to draw, especially if being taught with pencil or effectively anything but pastels and paint really]

For example i've been drawing this person's OC I found over on twitter.. and here's my step by step so far

The inclusion of using a brush that slightly changes hue and saturation also allows me to keep my flow by being able to just redraw over something to make it more visible or put emphasis on things so I can separate them a bit...

I'm also doing this with some one piece OCs I've been designing!

[I merged the layers forever ago fromt he veerryy first lay down of blocks but here's the process from there

both of these I drew the entire pose without any references and as you can see off to the side in the first one that was me trying to get how i wanted the face and eyeshape to be.

I had a veerryy loose design reference i was using which was a gaia avatar I made then drew over and changed the colors of, but otherwise I had no references for anything, not just no reference for pose.

I even streamed a decent amount of my process though i'm unsure how long the vods will be up cause i'm very new to streaming and some of the stuff got muted, but please do check it out if you wanna see how I've been working lately without references and with my aphantasia

[AarixOrb]

Total aphantasia here. I don't think my process is different from an artist without aphantasia, actually. I use references and pay attention to how things look in nature. for instance, here's my latest pic.

I wanted to draw an exaggerated picture of a super tall guy with a really aquiline-ish nose and skull-like eye sockets, face in profile, kind of just standing there, wearing a leather jacket. so, my references were:

[tall guy] [nose guy] [standing guy] [leather jacket]

You'll see bits of them all through it, but I didn't copy and of them 1:1--it doesn't look exactly like any of my references. I was fitting them together as I went, drawing stuff and revising it as I went. I could have made the proportions more realistic if I wanted to, but I wanted to exaggerate this guy anyway, so I left him wonky.

I'm not really into designing characters, but I start with simple shapes and make, like, folders of clothes they'd wear. Make them in the sims also ;p

[CosmicRot]

At 10/22/23 08:26 AM, AarixOrb wrote: Total aphantasia here. I don't think my process is different from an artist without aphantasia, actually. I use references and pay attention to how things look in nature. for instance, here's my latest pic.
https://www.newgrounds.com/art/view/aarixorb/good-tshirt

I wanted to draw an exaggerated picture of a super tall guy with a really aquiline-ish nose and skull-like eye sockets, face in profile, kind of just standing there, wearing a leather jacket. so, my references were:
[tall guy] [nose guy] [standing guy] [leather jacket]
You'll see bits of them all through it, but I didn't copy and of them 1:1--it doesn't look exactly like any of my references. I was fitting them together as I went, drawing stuff and revising it as I went. I could have made the proportions more realistic if I wanted to, but I wanted to exaggerate this guy anyway, so I left him wonky.

I'm not really into designing characters, but I start with simple shapes and make, like, folders of clothes they'd wear. Make them in the sims also ;p

that's something I notice a lot of people with aphantasia do actually! like a lot of my friends if they've drawn even a vaguely similar character before they only really grab a reference for posing and then everything else is made up... they might grab some outfit inspo here and there but that's the most they do unless they're drawing something they've drawn before.. but me and anyone else i've known to have aphantasia will typically grab multiple refs for each thing. that and the whole like making piccrews or avatars or sims or whatever and compiling an bunch of different things for a character.

I often don't reference clothes beyond looking at folks and basic shapes so nothing is direct refrenced [which frankly i should actually reference the stuff more but i'm lazy] but yeah lol

I noticed though A LOT a lot a lot of folks I've heard talk about the experiences this past summer and fall.... they also all don't like character design haha. Which is wild to me cause i think it's actually one of my favorite parts of art. I love creating little guys... but i wonder if that's something to do with aphantasia?? or if it's just a coincidence.