Can I Draw Animals from Memory? - REALISM Challenge!

The cat one was hilarious. As a cat lover and frequent drawer of cats, it gave me genuine laughter to watch that bit.

This perfectly explains why medieval paintings of lions look so weird. They didn’t have reference photos back then so it was all from memory. And even if they painted it right when they got back home, it could’ve been a weeks long journey from wherever they saw it.

3:14 reminds me of medieval cat paintings

I'd love to see a second part to this video where you allow yourself to work with the same images as a permanent reference you can look at to take the memory aspect out of it as a stronger test of the realism aspect. I think it would also be neat to compare the two versions, from memory and from reference.

great exercise, but also a great way to show that even the best artists need refrences and there is no shame in needing them

This is honestly a relief to see, because you are a Proper Artist Who CAN Draw. And even you can't draw without looking at references. Makes me, the Not An Artist at All not feel so bad that I can't either. <3
Also, your use of the medium was still great. They're all still artworks!

You can definitely see how much of a 'Human' artist you are in these. Your faces naturally have a human look. It's the opposite when I see 'Animal' artists attempt Human characters. LOVE IT.
LOVE the video as a whole!
The body of that Bulldog was fantastic!!!

Your cat reminds me of alle the memes about animals like cats in historic paintings xD

3:07 is giving old historical paintings of cats

The cat is so cursed, I love it! 😂😂

I love the crow with eagle talons

"4:58 - Don't worry, I never do"😂😂 Hey this is hard but makes for a great challenge!!!! Wish more ppl would attempt this. This is me trying to draw from memory, My ADHD makes this difficult 😔 Enjoyed watching you suffer and planning to attempt this challenge ❤❤

Omg the cat jumpscared me at 17:15💀💀was not expecting that

I love this. So many beginner artists think you're supposed to be able to art without references, when in reality, part of arting well is finding good references.

I think it’s good to show that even professional artists can’t draw everything from memory. A lot of people get hung up on not being able to draw from memory; thinking they’re not good artists if they have to use references.

The problem with drawing realism from memory is that our brains have a natural tendency to fill in details we don't remember and applying a more familiar bias filter to the image in our head. That is why when it comes to realism you will always hear people say these words: "draw what you see and not what you think you see" and "always draw with a reference" or ... GRID! I think you should do it ag

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Honestly, I was really impressed by the bulldog, especially as you were drawing it from memory and don't usually do animals

3:28 sorry but that is horrifying😭🤚

Medieval cat! - Actually, they all look medieval or later. I guess this shows why animal art became a lot more realistic when people actually had the stuffed animal in front of them (or a similar one - see bird drawings by ornithologists)