How to Draw from Memory

Hello everyone, drawing from memory can seem like a real challenge and some people resign themselves to thinking they are incapable of it. Yet, we all possess a much more powerful memory than you might think, storing a huge amount of information; we just need to understand how to use and train it. In this article, I will propose several simple steps to improve the design of your memory.

Get your pencils, paper, or tablet ready and most importantly, your creativity! Let's go!

OBSERVATION: THE ALLY OF MEMORY

Our memory fills up at every moment of the day, it accumulates in memories but also in olfactory data (sound, taste, smell... and visual). What interests us as illustrators is the visual data.

When we start drawing from memory, we tend to get frustrated because we struggle to depict what we think we remember. However, the problem does not lie in our memory, but in the way we observe.

To make a comparison, it's a bit like when you play Memory; if you carefully observe the tiles, it will be easy for you to make pairs, whereas if you are distracted or you take a quick glance, it immediately becomes more complicated to remember the locations of the different cards.

SO HOW TO OBSERVE?

Initially, it is interesting to observe and try to memorize simple things:

- The main topic of the scene;
- Areas with a lot of detail and those with less;
- Types of shapes (soft, steep, square...)
This information is perceived by the eye and brain very quickly, because it allows us to classify what is interesting to look at and what is less so. By forcing yourself to spend a little more time observing well, you will remember just like in a classic memory game.

Then you can push the observation a little further to start going into detail. For example, look at the relationship of the elements to each other, the colours...

To help you can also ask questions such as:

- What catches my eye the most?

- What am I feeling about this?

- What is the story being told?

- How does light impact the scene?

Through all these reflections, you then become active in your observation and it will be easier for you to access these data.

THE FULLS AND THE EMPTIES

When observing something, it is also interesting to note that there are different ways to do it: observing the filled spaces (in 1) and the empty spaces (in 2). Often, we instinctively observe the filled areas because that is where the material, and thus the object/subject, is present. However, it is by observing the empty spaces that the object/subject itself becomes fully meaningful, because it is precisely the empty spaces that define its silhouette. It is a bit counterintuitive, but it is a very effective way to observe better.

The more you get used to observing voids, the more you realise that the same object/subject seen from different angles has very different solids and voids that make its silhouette more recognisable and therefore easier to remember and understand when drawing.

OBSERVATION EXERCISE

To work on your observation skills, I recommend the following small exercise. First, choose an object with a clear silhouette (1). Then mentally analyse the main contours of this silhouette, simplifying them as much as possible so that they correspond to reality (2). Finally, without looking at the object, try to redraw these same lines (3).

It's possible that at the start you forgot the object, it's not a big deal. Continue with your drawing and compare it to see the areas where you made mistakes. You can then repeat the exercise several times with the same object or with other simple objects. The goal is not to have something very detailed, but just a comprehensible silhouette.

 

THE ANALYSIS FOR DRAWING

Analysis is the complementary step to observation; it will allow you to go further when you observe in order to dissect the scene and represent it better later on.

Observation will answer the What? and analysis the Why?

THE PLANS

One of the quickest and most interesting analyses is that of plans, which will allow you to prioritise the information observed.

If we take the example on the left below, we could summarise it this way:

Foreground: Dark. Bush
Second plan: Light. Sheep. House. Trees
Third plan: Less light. Trees
Background: Light. Clouds.

By using simple keywords you minimize the amount of information and it becomes easier to remember them. The more comfortable you get, the more you can add keywords and exercise your memory.

DECOMPOSITION

Decomposition is the second most useful method of analysis. It will allow you to simplify the different elements with simple geometric shapes and thus, just like keywords, to better remember them.

If we take the example of the building below, we could get lost in all these architectural details and thus not focus on the main point: the structure of the building. By decomposing it in a simplified way, it becomes much easier to remember because its structure is more understandable, consisting of several cubes/parallelepipeds with prism or pyramid roofs.

ANALYSIS EXERCISE

This analysis exercise will combine the two concepts we just discussed above.

First, you will choose an image with simple volumes (1). Then you will mentally study this image and try to memorize keywords, for example (2):

Foreground: Dark. On the right. A tilted cylinder and a very flat one on top of it.
Second plan: Less dark. On the left. Two close cylinders with two flat cylinders on top.
Third plan: Even less dark. It crosses the image. A bridge.
Fourth plan: Clear. On the left. A rounded mountain.

Once you have carefully observed the scene, do not look at it anymore and try to represent what you remember using lines and then attempt to accurately transcribe the different planes (3 and 4).

Nor is it a problem if your image is not beautiful or detailed; it is a matter of memory exercises, the more you can master basic shapes and volumes, the more detail you can add.

THE VISUALIZATION

This phase is a bit more complicated than the previous ones, but it will allow you to further strengthen your memory. However, I recommend that you move on to this stage when you feel comfortable with the first two.

After observing and analysing an object, the idea will be to redraw it but from different angles. You can start with very simple volumes, imagining that they are no longer in 2D but in 3D, and that you can mentally rotate them to redraw them from a different angle. This will require digging into memory and the ability to understand and analyse, as it is no longer just a matter of reproducing an image or object from an angle that you have in mind.

The more comfortable you become with this exercise, the more you will be able to move on to increasingly complex objects (see landscapes/characters). I recommend always drawing by deconstructing, this will help you better position the elements and volumes.

This is a real mental exercise that will later allow you to reuse what you have acquired in your memory, even if the mental image does not match what you needed in your drawings.

EXPERIENCE

Finally, this last point is not really a point, as it boils down to one thing: try, test and experiment! Don't be afraid to make mistakes, it is completely normal when you are in the learning phase. If you encounter difficulties with something, keep working at it until it makes sense and take advantage of breaks in the day to observe your surroundings.

The most effective exercise you can find is a mix of all those we have seen before:

Carefully observe an image, analyse it, and dissect it as thoroughly as possible within a specific time frame (for example, 5 minutes). Then, within the same time frame, redraw everything you can remember from the image.

You can make the exercise more challenging by observing the image for 2 minutes and then redrawing it in 2 minutes.

In conclusion, remember that patience and perseverance are the keys to success when learning to draw, and even more so when trying to draw from memory. By learning to observe and analyse well, you have the skills to succeed!

I hope you enjoyed this article 😊

Illustrator and writer: Chloé Pouteau