Memory Drawing

A Workbook
Memory Drawing
A Workbook

Copyright 2024

Document Version 2024-02-04-001 (draft 12)

All content in this book is copyright Ayal Pinkus unless

mentioned otherwise
All rights reserved

Ayal Pinkus
Memory Drawing

A Workbook

Ayal Pinkus
Index
Introduction
1. Lines I
2. Shapes I
3. Forms I
INTERLUDE: When You Don't Feel Like Drawing
4. Gesture
5. Forms II
6. Shapes II
INTERLUDE: Anatomy of Habits
7. Lines II
8. Parts
9. Imagine
INTERLUDE: Balance, Yin, and Yang
10. Loose Versus Tight
11. Rotate
12. Memorization
Freedom At Last!
Afterword
Heinrich Kley Illustrations
Introduction

This is a boring document.

With that, I mean this book is not meant to be read. It's

a course, a series of drawing exercises. You're meant to
read today's drawing exercise and then do it. It is like a
tutorial, but one where you learn by doing.

In this introduction, I will quickly go over the basic

principles that underpin this course so that you
understand the why of these exercises. Then, feel free
to start drawing immediately!

This introduction provides an overview of a course

that contains twelve assignments with two quick, short
daily drawing exercises each. They are designed to be
easy to start and do in a half hour: fifteen minutes
warm-up and fifteen minutes drawing with a reference.

The course begins with an assignment that lets you get

acquainted with your tools. The following eleven
exercises should each be repeated for several days. Each
assignment shows one aspect of memory drawing; it
starts with memorizing simple lines and shapes and

1
later proceeds to use Heinrich Kley's illustrations for
reference. The Heinrich Kley illustrations are ideal
because they demonstrate many principles: shape
design, simplified underlying forms, gesture poses that
tell a story, and anatomy. The illustrations are in the
public domain; I scanned them from books from
around 1911 myself. The anatomy plate is from Paul
Richer and was published in 1890. It is also in the
public domain and was copied from Wikimedia
Commons.

After the assignments, you can apply what you learned

to reference images you collected and decide on the
direction you want to take your art.

This course differs from others because it is about

something other than teaching how to draw specific
things like anatomy or perspective. Instead, it is about a
way of practicing that allows you to practice anything
yourself. In this course, you will learn to become your
own teacher, see mistakes in your work, and plot plans
to fix these. Although I will ask you to practice drawing
from a specific set of reference images later in the
course, it is not about that particular reference.

With drawing, you use your eyes, brain, and hand. In

this course, we will exercise all three. Seeing also
happens in the brain. We get so much information

2
bombarded at us that our brain is forced to simplify
information to symbols. When we see a lion, we don't
notice how the sunlight is subtly reflected into
different colors by its fur because then we would be
eaten. Our brain reduces it to a symbol: a dangerous
predator, and we run. But it is precisely this
information about how the light reflects in its fur that
we need to draw the lion. Unfortunately, for untrained
artists, it is the symbols and the simplifications we
readily have in mind and first think of when we want
to draw something. When people say they can't draw,
what they mean is they keep drawing the symbols when
they want to draw something, whereas you need to
draw the abstract elements you see before you, and
then the image magically reappears on the page. In this
course, we will focus on observing the abstract
elements in the reference images, bypassing the step of
reducing them to symbols.

But that is not the only part the brain plays. When you
draw, you see something, a graphic abstract element,
and then you turn to the paper and draw that small
element you memorized. You can expand this ability,
remember even more, and learn to visualize it on the
page before drawing it. You can even access visual
information hidden in your brain! Your brain doesn't
just simplify things to symbols; it does also store what
things look like. You need to train to access this

3
information through, you guessed it, memory drawing.
While drawing from imagination, you will discover
that you will remember what things look like without
consciously studying them!

Lastly, the hand needs to place the line exactly where

you want it. For that, I devised a set of warm-up
exercises where you don't need a reference to tell if a
line is off. The warm-up exercises are designed to get
you in the right meditative flow mindset to draw. They
also make you better at placing lines accurately and
with intent. They are designed so that you immediately
see if a line you just drew is off. You can do these
warm-up exercises anytime; you don't need reference
images. And they make you better at placing lines more
accurately and with intent.

Later in the course, you can decide whether to do a

warm-up exercise, which one, and for how long. You'll
know and feel if you need it. Warm-ups may not be
necessary, and it may depend on the day. Sometimes,
you may not be in the right mindset at the start of a
session, and then you must do the warm-up for a little
while. On other days, you may already be in the right
mindset, and you may then treat the second half of the
exercise, the memory drawing itself, as a warm-up.
Ghosting curved lines as a warm-up can also be
practiced while drawing from memory.

4
The second exercise for each day involves seeing the
reference image, memorizing it, drawing it from
memory, correcting it with the reference, and then
drawing it from memory again. That's it.

Drawing from memory is an intense exercise; initially,

you should do only one daily for 15 minutes. Your
brain may be spent after that, so the second drawing
might not come out as good. Stop after the first
memory drawing comes out good--especially if it comes
out good--because you'll feel satisfied and motivated to
do it again tomorrow. That's why you must ensure that
what you memorize is small enough.

You will likely feel like drawing after these exercises, so

feel free to proceed to draw from observation or
imagination. I like to draw from observation and
imagination after doing the memory drawing exercise,
so I do both.

You will rapidly get better at memorizing more

complex things, and you can do the exercise several
times during the day. For example, when you are out
and about and waiting somewhere, instead of grabbing
your phone, you can memorize something you see
around you to draw it from memory later when you
have access to drawing tools. This way, you can do
drawing exercises even without drawing tools!

5
Suppose you continue to copy references from
observation after doing a memory drawing exercise. In
that case, you can treat drawing from observation as a
sequence of tiny memory drawing exercises: look at a
small bit, try to memorize it, then turn your eyes to the
paper and draw it from memory. Look at the reference
image again and make corrections.

One great thing this does is help you discover things

you do wrong each time. For example, if you draw
heads too big or lower legs too short each time, this is
the way to find out so that you can be conscious about
drawing it correctly next time.

One particularly cool thing about the memory drawing

exercise is that it can scale with your ability. You can
start by memorizing something really simple--two
curved lines--up to many people in complex poses and
costumes. You can do this as a satisfying short
warm-up for the rest of your life; it leads to
nice-looking sketchbook pages and makes you
significantly better at drawing.

Later, when you have filled your visual database, you

can also draw better from your imagination.

Try to end with a satisfying result, as it will make it

easier to start drawing tomorrow; you'll be more

6
motivated. For that, let go of accuracy if you forget
certain aspects of the reference. Just wing it, have fun
and try to make it a nice drawing. Try to feel where
lines look good and where they should be placed to
make the drawing look good again. That is the end
goal, after all: visually pleasing art, not art that is an
accurate copy of a reference image. You're not a
camera; you're an artist.

Drawing from memory is not necessarily about

memorizing that one reference. However, it can be
used for that, and we will touch on how to, for
example, commit anatomy studies to long-term
memory. Drawing from memory instead makes you
better at visualizing what you want to draw and better
at sensing when lines feel right or wrong. You will
become better at noticing what is off in your drawing
and effectively become your own teacher, seeing the
mistakes in your drawings yourself. The memory
drawing exercise is that great.

Furthermore, as you are only indirectly working from

reference, that frees you to deviate from it more freely
and use your imagination to change the proportions in
the reference or even change the thing depicted in the
reference into something different.

You will be able to repair mistakes and correct

7
drawings on the fly, even in pen, and finish with
satisfying drawings, which will keep you motivated to
draw.

In this course, I will show you many tips that will make
drawing from memory easier and more fun, and then
we will work on the reference images you collect
because they inspire you. Try these short, quick, fun
drawing exercises; they will change your life.

To prepare, have a sketchbook ready. A big letter-size

one is preferable, but a smaller one, or printer paper, is
fine also. And grab pens or pencils, whatever you are
comfortable drawing with. I like to draw with pens
with a fine tip, but ballpoint pens or pencils can be
better initially as they allow you to draw softly or even
erase. They may be better initially, as the drawing
exercises involve drawing something from memory and
correcting it using reference. With a ballpoint, you can
draw it lightly and then draw darker or with another
color to fix it. With a pencil, you can even erase.
Ultimately, though, it doesn't matter what you draw
with. What matters is that you draw, so don't waste too
much time choosing drawing tools.

Do the warm-up exercises on separate sheets of paper

that can be tossed out later, as the ambition is not to
make pleasant images there. Try to draw with the same

8
pen or pencil you'll use for the memory drawing
exercise.

In the first assignment, I will let you get to know your

drawing tools, so prepare a sketchbook and pen or
pencil now so you can start. Try also to prepare a clear
spot where you will draw without distractions.

You will repeat the eleven drawing exercise assignments

after that for several days each. You can find sufficient
reference images to work from in the back. I
recommend re-reading the same chapter each day
before you do the exercise. You may notice something
you haven't seen before, and repetition helps you
commit the information to long-term memory.

You can do the same exercises with other images in the

book and reference images you can find elsewhere.

When doing this course, it is okay if you miss days. Life

happens; don't beat yourself up over it; it's okay. The
course will be there for you to pick up again days later.

Do write down the date. In the future, you will be glad

you did when you browse through old sketchbooks
and see how far you have come, at the same time seeing
the seeds of what your art eventually became in your
early work, which is motivating and joyful. I also place

9
a mark next to each drawing to indicate if I did
something from memory (M), observation (O), and
imagination (I), and I write down where the reference
came from (Heinrich Kley mainly in this case). If I do
more than one memory drawing, I will mark them M1,
M2, etc., so you can see the progress when doing
multiple memory drawings from the same reference.

After doing the memory exercise for the first time and
before doing it the second time with the same
reference:

1. Note what you got wrong.

2. Write it down, and make a quick, small, rough

sketch from observation where you draw it correctly.

3. Do pay careful attention and try to memorize.

Try filling pages with lots of drawings, as that looks

good. Looking at these pages in the future will
motivate you to start drawing.

So, with that said, let's start drawing!

10
1. Lines I

Welcome to the first of my daily little drawing exercise

assignments! These are assignments where I explain
how to do the memory drawing exercises. They start
very easy but will get more challenging as the course
progresses.

You can repeat this exercise for several days, as you

wish. Feel free to move to the next exercise when the
one you are currently doing is boring or too easy.

For each of the exercises in this course, re-read them

each day before you do them.

Have a sketchbook ready. A big letter-size one is

preferable, but a smaller one, or printer paper, is fine
too.

Grab pens or pencils, whatever you want to with. The

drawing tools don't matter; the exercises are about
memory drawing. Pick what you find most
comfortable to draw with.

11
As a warm-up drawing exercise, begin by drawing some
circles and ellipses.

You can use cylindrical objects like glasses for

reference. Being able to draw these will come in handy
more often than you realize. Repeat the exercise until
you feel the resistance fading and you get into the flow.

Draw from the shoulder, or the elbow, or maybe the

wrist. Try to resist the temptation to draw with your
fingers. Hold your pen or pencil some distance from
the tip so you are more inclined to "paint" than "write."
This may feel uncomfortable at first, but keep at it.

A cool trick, a warm-up before the warm-up, is to

make motions with your hand to draw a spring to get
your hand moving correctly.

Draw slowly and carefully; try to see the line ahead of

your pen or pencil as you draw it.

12
Now, on to the second part of this warm-up. I use
separate pages for the individual parts of the warm-up.
The sketchbook pages look better if you do just one
type of exercise on each page.

Look at the image at the end of this assignment. It has

several simple shapes.

Draw them from memory using the following

procedure:

1. Pick a shape and study it carefully. Try to memorize

how the lines are oriented relative to each other, at
what angle the lines begin and end, and where line
endpoints are relative to other line endpoints and lines.

2. Put the image away and draw it from memory. You

mustn't cheat. The point is to find out which details
you forgot or missed. If you cheat and look at the
image, the information is just in your short-term
memory, and you forget it as soon as you place the line
correctly. By not cheating, you discover the hiatuses in
your knowledge of the shape.

3. If you are drawing with a pencil, use the reference to

fix your mistakes. If you are drawing with a pen,
redraw the reference, but now do it from observation
while comparing it to the drawing you made from

13
memory. Carefully and consciously focus on what was
incorrect and find ways to remember the new
information. Is some line or point positioned relative
to another line or point so it is easy to remember?

4. Put away both the reference image and your

drawing. You may have to cover your drawing with a
piece of paper or a Post-It note if you are drawing on
the same page.

5. Draw it from memory again.

6. You should have done better the second time. You

can repeat drawing the reference from memory and
observation until you can confidently draw it from
memory.

We will work with progressively more complex images

as this course progresses. If you drew the reference
correctly from memory the first time, the reference was
too easy, and you may consider moving to the next
assignment. If you need more than two attempts, the
references at this level are still challenging, and you
could stick to doing the same assignments as a
warm-up before you start your creative sessions.

However, feel free to move on to the next assignment

when you start feeling bored with the current one.

14
Feel free to keep doing the warm-ups or to continue
drawing from observation or imagination after the
warm-up.

15
16
2. Shapes I

This is the next drawing exercise assignment in a series

of tutorials. We'll do this exercise for several days again,
one session each day. As previously, and for all future
assignments, feel free to move on to the next
assignment when you feel ready.

For each of the exercises in this course, re-read them

each day before you do them.

Grab a sketchbook, preferably letter size, but any

sketchbook will do, and grab a pen or pencil, brush, or
whatever you want to draw with. The exercises are
about memory drawing, and you should use any
drawing tools you find most comfortable.

As a warm-up, we'll draw lines from many angles to a

point.

Start by drawing a tiny circle with a white dot in the

middle. Then, draw straight lines to that dot from any
angle without rotating the page.

17
Draw from the shoulder, or the elbow, or maybe the
wrist. Try to resist the temptation to draw with your

18
fingers. Hold your pen or pencil some distance from
the tip so you are more inclined to "paint" than "write."
This may feel uncomfortable at first, but keep at it.

Draw slowly and carefully; try to see the line ahead of

your pen or pencil as you draw it.

You will notice that your elbow and shoulder

mechanics make it easier to draw in certain angles.
What you can do is rotate the page so that you can keep
practicing the problematic angles using the same white
dot. As with yesterday's warm-up, repeat the exercise
until you feel the resistance fading and get into the
flow.

Now, on to the memory drawing. At the end of this

assignment are two images of shapes that form a
human figure. They are studies I made of George
Bridgman illustrations. Choose one shape, or two or
more if you are up to it, for the assignment.

Notice the angles the lines in the shape make, their

relative lengths, and the relative orientations of the
corner points. If you are doing more than one shape,
then notice the relative orientations, positions, and
proportions of the shapes as they relate.

Close your eyes and draw in your mind, then open

19
your eyes and see what you got wrong, and draw in
your mind's eye again.

When ready, put the image away and draw on paper

from memory.

Again, you must refrain from cheating! Find out which

details are missing in your memory so you can focus on
memorizing these details in the next step. If you cheat,
you rob yourself of the opportunity to discover what
you still need to memorize.

Compare with the original image, correct or redraw

from observation, carefully notice what you got wrong.

Put both the reference and your drawings away and

draw from memory again.

One important thing is to clear your mind completely.

Try to have silence in your head, no inner monologue,
no words. You will start to sense where lines need to go
and feel that parts of your brain become excited about
the marks being made. You're drawing something from
memory; it's like magic!

Keep drawing from memory repeatedly, correcting

from observation using the reference image.

20
Again, these exercises are not about memorizing this
specific shape but better recalling and projecting the
image you want on paper and then drawing it
accurately.

Feel free to keep doing the warm-ups or to continue

drawing from observation or imagination after the
warm-up.

21
George Bridgman study.

22
George Bridgman study.

23
3. Forms I

This is the next in a series of tutorial exercises. We'll do

this exercise for several days. You will know when you
are ready to move to the next assignment. Make sure it
stays fun.

First, as a warm-up, draw lots of boxes, spheres, cones,

and cylinders in lots of orientations in space. If unsure,
look at natural objects with those forms, hold them in
your hand, and rotate them.

You can also refer to the practice sheets.

24
Warm-up reference primitive forms: cylinders.

25
Warm-up reference primitive forms: spheres, cones, and
boxes.

26
Now, do the memory drawing exercise with the
reference image at the end of this assignment. Select
one of the organically deformed primitive forms to
memorize.

Try to memorize them. Proceed to draw it in your

mind, opening your eyes and noticing what you got
wrong.

When you're ready, draw it on paper from memory.

Then consciously correct, paying attention to what

you got wrong. And then immediately drawing from
memory again.

Keep drawing from memory repeatedly, correcting

from observation using the reference image.

These exercises are, again, not about memorizing these

specific shapes but about becoming better at recalling
and projecting the image you want on paper and then
drawing it accurately as intended.

27
Two boxes.

28
Stretched and squeezed primitive forms.

29
Bent cones.

30
Bent forms.

31
INTERLUDE: When You
Don't Feel Like
Drawing

There are days you may not feel like drawing. Here are
some tips.

It is surprising how important it can be to have an

uncluttered workspace. The clutter distracts your brain
considerably. If you don't feel like drawing, and your
workspace is not ideal, clean it up and organize the
space so that it is easy to do the right thing and hard to
do the wrong thing. Have drawing tools ready, and
remove addictive distractions like your mobile phone.
Music, podcasts, a nice view outside, or pleasant
sounds from outside can help and be beneficial. See
this as part of your creative process, as doing
something. You are investing in future drawing
sessions, which will be much better and more pleasant.

Looking at art by artists you admire makes you want to

draw, so surround yourself with books with that art

32
and posters that showcase that art. This is a very
personal exploration. Choose artists who inspire you
the most. After doing the exercises in this course for a
while, you will start to appreciate the results, and as
you flick through the pages of your sketchbook the
next day, you'll be more likely to feel like drawing as
your art will inspire you.

If you don't feel like drawing, collect photos online and

take pictures with your mobile during the day. Get into
the habit of collecting striking images so you have a
library of images to do memory drawing exercises from.
I won't always be there to provide you with reference
images! You may prefer to go in a different direction
visually.

A unique form of reference collecting is memorizing

something you see during the day and drawing it from
memory the next day or later in the day. You'll find
that you are more free to augment what you
memorized with imagined details as it was recorded in
your mind much earlier. And this is a form of drawing
you can do when you don't have drawing tools with
you! Close your eyes and draw it in your mind while
standing before it; open your eyes, notice things you
got wrong, and try again. People won't see that you're
drawing in your mind. Then, draw it on paper the next
day.

33
4. Gesture

For today's exercise, you don't need to warm up first, as

this drawing exercise is a warm-up in its own right: we'
re talking about gesture drawing! You might already
know this exercise, but I'll add a twist: you are to draw
it from memory.

Look at the Heinrich Kley illustration you chose today

and try to memorize the gesture.

Gesture drawing is about getting the pose down

quickly. Only spend up to two or three minutes on
each pose. Don't try to get the proportions right, and
forget about drawing in details like facial features. It's
about quickly getting the dynamics of the pose down
on paper. Draw quickly, and draw small.

Notice the line of action: the movement in the pose

that unifies the pose. Notice the tilt angles of the
shoulders and hips, how they are oriented relative to
each other, the head, arms, and legs. Notice where the
weight point and the feet are planted to ensure the
model doesn't topple. Also, notice how the feet are
planted on the ground, suggesting the ground surface.

34
Then, draw it from memory. Feel free to exaggerate the
pose or to deviate from "proper" proportions.

A note on "proper" proportions: there is no such thing.

No two humans are alike; no human has "average"
proportions. You're far better off feeling the right
proportions and playing with them. It'll be more fun,
AND it'll yield better results.

Also, try to draw it from memory from different

angles. Imagine the pose before and after this one, and
draw that, too.

Feel free to look up additional poses in other places to

continue doing gesture studies, but now it's okay to
draw them from observation.

35
5. Forms II

As a warm-up drawing exercise, first, draw a curved

line on the page.

Now trace over it with a pen. It helps to focus on

where the pen will be a second later. Draw slowly and
carefully. Trace repeatedly over the same line. Hold the
pen or pencil some distance from the tip so that you "
paint" more than you "write."

Draw slowly and carefully; try to see the line ahead of

your pen or pencil as you draw it.

Then, place more curved lines and repeat the process,

36
tracing over the curved line with your pen. If you feel
resistance against drawing, keep drawing these until
you feel the resistance fading and start to get into the
flow. You'll know when you're ready to go to the next
step.

Warm up as necessary, then look up a Heinrich Kley

reference image for the day in the back of this
document and draw the forms you see in the reference
image from memory.

Draw simplified forms and cross contour lines that

suggest the underlying form.

You can simplify the reference to primitive forms like

spheres, boxes, cylinders, and cones or use more
complex forms you see.

37
Shape and form studies, deforming, rotation,
imagination, part of a Heinrich Kley illustration

38
6. Shapes II

Start with the following warm-up: draw two parallel

lines approximately one inch apart. Now, draw parallel
lines that start precisely on the one line and end
precisely on the other line.

As you try to draw parallel lines, draw them straight

(obviously), look slightly ahead of your pen as you
draw, but also make it the most important thing that
new lines are equidistant to the line next to it
everywhere. Consider lines as related to the lines
already on the page.

If you feel resistance against drawing, keep drawing

these until you feel the resistance fading and start to get

39
into the flow. You'll know when you're ready to go to
the next step.

Warm up as necessary, then look up a Heinrich Kley

reference image for the day in the back of this
document and draw the shapes you see in the reference
image from memory.

When drawing complex things like hands, it can help

to draw the outline and the shapes first. This bypasses
what you think you know about the subject, and you
start drawing what you see. The abstract shapes are also
often what makes a visual beautiful.

40
INTERLUDE: Anatomy
of Habits

We want to form a daily habit, so it is beneficial to

study the anatomy of a habit to design one: a drawing
habit.

A habit has the following stages: the trigger, the craving

for the reward, the pleasant to execute habit, and the
reward and an overall rationalization for its use.

I'll use brushing one's teeth as an example here.

The trigger typically is a time, a place, an event, or a

combination of these. Brushing your teeth may be
something you do late at night; you are home and
about to go to bed. That is the trigger. Then comes the
craving for the reward: in this case, a fresh taste in your
mouth. You perform the habit of brushing your teeth,
which isn't unpleasant, and you end with the reward,
which is the fresh taste in your mouth, which makes
you feel clean, attractive, and good about yourself. The
overall rationalization is that you are taking care of

41
your teeth.

It is important to note that even though we brush our

teeth to care for them, that is not how we choose
toothpaste! We choose it based on taste. We choose the
reward when choosing toothpaste. We don't look at
the ingredients that take care of our teeth.

When buying toothpaste, we choose based on the taste,

which is the reward.

I call this a near-perfect habit. Another perfect habit is

The Morning Pages: as soon as you wake up (trigger),
you crave the satisfaction of having three pages written;
you write for 30 minutes, three pages of long-hand, just
writing and writing without stopping to think (the
habit). Writing with a nice pen on good paper can be
an enjoyable activity. And then you end up with
satisfying pages covered in text. These pages tend to
look good! "I just wrote that!" The rationalization is
that it helps you process thoughts. What happens in
your mind is what is essential about the exercise. You
can throw away the pages later; they are just a
byproduct.

Both brushing teeth and Morning pages are

near-perfect habits. They are good for you, and they
can be addictive; you do them on autopilot every day.

42
We want that for our drawing habit, too!

We often have little control over the trigger. It can be

impossible to find a guaranteed time, place, or daily
event as a trigger for a daily drawing habit, especially if
you have kids. In the evenings, I'm tired; during the
day, other things may take precedence. I could get up
extra early. I have done that in the past. It works but
requires significant discipline. My go-to trigger is an
Event: when I'm bored, I look around or on my phone
for reference images to memorize. If I have drawing
tools handy, I can also do memory drawing.

The pleasant habit, for me, is making marks with a pen,

building up lines, carefully sculpting them, painting
them carefully, and installing each line with patience
and intent. This may be different for you. Find the
actual drawing method that feels like a pleasure every
second.

A huge complicating factor in developing a drawing

habit is that we see the mistakes in our drawings. After
a drawing session, we see the errors in our drawings,
and it doesn't feel like a reward. The next day, we aren't
motivated to draw, as we miss the craving for the
reward as the result didn't feel like a reward the day
before.

43
But like with toothpaste, which we choose for the taste,
which is the reward, we can do so too with drawing by
deciding what to focus our attention on. For example, I
love how a messy sketchbook page looks, so I will fill
pages with lots of lively drawings. It is satisfying to look
at such pages and note things that came out well. I'll
also interpret the reference freely, using different
proportions, for example, so that it doesn't have to be
so accurate and can be more joyful and fun-looking.

With an activity like drawing, the most important

thing you can focus on because it is so hard to get right
relative to the other steps is finding a way to be satisfied
with your work to have that reward. Note how you feel
at the end of a session and why. For example, consider
ending a session if you arrive at a beautiful finished
drawing or a page. Also, notice how posting it on social
media immediately can make you feel down, as the
engagement with your post is invariably unsatisfying. It
feels like a punishment, not a reward. If you want, you
can post it days later, but stick with something you
control that makes you feel good about your work.

When drawing from memory, the reference image was

too easy if you got it right the first time. If you get it
wrong even on the second try, the reference may be too
hard, and at any length, it won't be fit for purpose as
you need to be able to finish with satisfying results.

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The exercises in this course will help you arrive at
beautiful, rewarding sketchbook pages that are fun to
draw. All the rest follows: you'll get better and create a
body of work.

While I strongly hope you arrive at pretty drawings

during this course, the exercises are actually about
changing what happens in your mind as you try to
retain visual information. The most valuable result, in
this case, will be an improved ability to visualize what
you want to draw and to place lines accurately and
with intent, becoming better at sensing when lines are
right or when they are off and visualizing a solution
before you draw it.

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7. Lines II

Welcome to the next of my daily little drawing exercise

assignments that are part of a tutorial on memory
drawing. We'll do this exercise for several days. How
many days depends on when you feel ready. Feel free to
move to the next assignment if the assignments are
boring or too easy.

For each of the exercises in this course, re-read them

each day before you do them.

Ensure you have a sketchbook and pen or pencil ready.

A big letter-size one is preferable, but a smaller one, or
printer paper, is fine too. And grab pens or pencils,
whatever you are comfortable drawing with.

Start with the following warm-up: draw long, straight

lines.

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Draw from the shoulder, or the elbow, or maybe the
wrist. Try to resist the temptation to draw with your
fingers. Hold your pen or pencil some distance from
the tip so you are more inclined to "paint" than "write."
This may feel uncomfortable at first, but keep at it.

Move your eye near the paper and look alongside the
paper to see if the line is straight.

If you feel resistance against drawing, keep drawing

these until you feel the resistance fading and start to get
into the flow. You'll know when you're ready to go to
the next step.

Now, on to the second part of this memory drawing

exercise assignment.

Pick one of the line art images I provide at the end of

this assignment. If you don't find any of them
inspiring, you can do this assignment with one of the

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Heinrich Kley illustrations at the back of this
document. Now, select one, two, or maybe even three
lines near each other in these illustrations.

Study them; notice how long they are relative to each

other, where the endpoints are relative to each other,
and how they are oriented relative to each other.

Now, close your eyes and try to draw the lines in your
mind. Open your eyes and see if you got it right. If not,
close your eyes and try again.

When ready, put the image away and draw the lines on
paper from memory.

You mustn't cheat! Find out which details are missing

in your memory so you can focus on memorizing these
details in the next step. If you cheat, you rob yourself
of the opportunity to discover what you still need to
memorize.

Look at the original lines, and consciously focus on

fixing mistakes if you drew in pencil, or redraw the
reference from observation if using a pen. Notice
where you deviated from the reference. Pay attention
to where your memory drawing was off. Focus
studiously on remembering the corrections.

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Now, put away both the original image and your
drawings, and draw it from memory again.

One important thing is to clear your mind completely.

Try to have silence in your head, no inner monologue,
no words. You will start to sense where lines need to go
and feel that parts of your brain become excited about
the marks being made. You're drawing something from
memory; it's like magic!

Keep drawing from memory repeatedly, correcting

from observation using the reference image.

The drawing exercises are not about memorizing that

specific thing but about becoming good at seeing a
drawing on a page with your mind's eye, getting the
lines where you want them, and feeling where the line
would look well. That's why the exercises in this course
are structured that way; they each start with a warm-up
where you train to place lines exactly where you want
them. These warm-ups are chosen so that you instantly
see when they're off. Then comes an exercise that trains
you to see the lines on the page before you place them
accurately.

Write down the date. Don't worry if there are days you
can't draw; you won't get punished for skipping days!
Life happens. Maybe tomorrow. Do the course, but

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feel free to take days off in between.

Heinrich Kley, 1911, scanned from 1911 book.

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Heinrich Kley, 1911, scanned from 1911 book.

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Heinrich Kley, 1911, scanned from 1911 book.

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Heinrich Kley, 1911, scanned from 1911 book.

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Heinrich Kley, 1911, scanned from 1911 book.

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Heinrich Kley, 1911, scanned from 1911 book.

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Heinrich Kley, 1911, scanned from 1911 book.

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Heinrich Kley, 1911, scanned from 1911 book.

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8. Parts

From here, we will look at more complex references:

illustrations by Heinrich Kley. In practice, you will
work with much more complex reference images than
we have worked with so far, and in the following
drawing exercise assignments, I'll show different ways
you can deal with that complexity.

Start with the following warm-up: drawing textures.

Use long, straight lines to make a matrix of rectangles.

Don't make too many because we will fill them with
textures. This was supposed to be a quick, short
exercise, remember? Two by three one by one-inch
rectangles will do.

Now, come up with textures to fill the squares with.

The purpose is to get acquainted with your drawing
tools. And a sketchbook with rectangles filled with
textures also looks good.

Write down the day with your drawing so you can keep
track. Also, write down the date. Don't worry if there
are days you can't draw; you won't get punished for

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skipping days! Life happens. Maybe tomorrow. Do his
course, but feel free to take days off in between.

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Now, browse the Heinrich Kley reference images at the
end of this document. Choose one, and select only a
tiny part to memorize; maybe only a face, part of the
clothing, or a hand or foot. Find something you
consider visually appealing, memorize it the way we did
before, and draw it from memory.

One way we can deal with complexity is to focus on

parts, one at a time.

This exercise goes well with Forms II and Shapes II,

doing Lines II to memorize details of parts. Doing
these on the same reference image will help you
understand the reference better.

You can do these in one session and turn it into

something more than a warm-up, a complete study of a
reference that will allow you to render it from
imagination from any angle.

It is also important to note that you do not need to

worry about mistakes. It is just a drawing, and you will
make many more.

Your drawing also doesn't have to be an accurate copy

of the reference; it must look good, though. But for
that, it doesn't have to follow the reference. Follow
your instincts! That is one of the cool things about

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memory drawing.

There will be more about filling in the blanks from

imagination in the next assignment.

You don't have to stick with the reference images in

this course. Collect images online on your phone or cut
them out of magazines. Feel free to draw other source
material from memory if the included images don't
inspire you!

Start memorizing visuals during the day when you're

bored or waiting: images you prepared for that purpose
on your phone or things you see around you.

Draw what you memorized that day later or even the

next day when you have access to your drawing tools.
Make it a short but intense fifteen-minute warm-up.

Make sure you relax and enjoy being creative after the
warm-up memory drawing sessions. I like to draw from
observation or imagination after that.

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9. Imagine

Today, I will introduce another way to deal with

complexity: we'll try to memorize something complex,
in this case again an image by Heinrich Kley, but while
drawing it from memory, fill in the blanks, areas you
forgot, from imagination!

Use any of the warm-up exercises we used before,

whichever you feel like doing the most. It is also about
getting into the right mindset for having fun drawing.

Again, warm up first, then do the memorization

drawing exercise, but this time, don't bother with the
second stage, where you "fix the mistakes." Instead,
have fun filling in the blanks from your imagination.

Have fun changing something from imagination.

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You can even draw the whole thing from imagination,
like in a cartoon style. This can be a great way to wind
down after a full day of serious drawing: goof off and
draw cartoon variants of things you've drawn before,
from memory and imagination.

You will find that cartoon styles can be more pleasant

to look at as they are simplified and not as overworked.
And if you consciously change shapes and proportions,
it might be easier and more fun to draw than when you
go for deadly precision. The goal, after all, is not to
make an accurate copy but to make an illustration
visually pleasing! You can deviate from reference; you
don't have to copy it slavishly.

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INTERLUDE: Balance,
Yin, and Yang

Balance is essential to prevent burning out. Lots of

things come with two sides that balance each other out.
Choosing a compromise in the middle isn't the same.

For example, it can be great to split a holiday into going

to calm, soothing, quiet places in the countryside for
maximum relaxation and to balance that out with
visiting a city with lots of activity and culture. Having
something in the middle, like a mid-sized town, would
be different. The extremes both have value and can
balance each other out.

Many things come as a balance of extremes: sleep

versus being awake, resting versus working out, work
versus leisure, day versus night, eat versus drink.

Look for balance in your art process. Draw, but also be

active and work out. Work on paid commissions, but
also work on your private projects. Make studies versus
finished pieces.

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Balancing extremes is much more powerful than taking
a middle ground where they are mixed, having none of
the advantages of the extremes.

Try to do that with the exercises in this course: practice

hard for 15 minutes, but then have fun drawing from
observation or even imagination. Or balance it out
with a healthy workout or walk, where you can even
memorize visuals you see around you. Or balance the
solitude of drawing out with charging up socially by
being with friends and family.

You need the extremes; don't mix them. Keeping a

balance between extremes will prevent you from
burning out.

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10. Loose Versus Tight

Use any of the warm-up exercises we used before,

whichever you feel like doing the most. It is also about
getting into the right mindset for having fun drawing.
Warm up as you feel is necessary.

Today, I want you to notice how you have to get

certain things exactly right or else they won't look
good, hands and female faces being primary examples
because we've seen them so often and know how they
look, and some things you can be more loose about,
like trees, clouds because they can have arbitrary
shapes, and dragon, because who knows what THEY
look like.

Choose a Heinrich Kley illustration from the back to

try it on.

In these memory drawings, play with trying to get

various parts exactly right versus drawing them more
loosely, and notice the effect it has; see how some
things look better when drawn accurately and other
things when drawn loosely.

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A secret trick: A drawing can look good if one part (a
face, say) is drawn very precisely and another part
(clothes, say) very loosely to suggest the material of the
clothes. It's a yin and yang thing again: your brain can,
if this is done well, be tricked into believing it is
masterfully yet loosely rendered, making it look more
impressive.

And it is a fun tool in your tool chest.

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11. Rotate

Use any of the warm-up exercises we used before,

whichever you feel like doing the most. It is also about
getting into the right mindset for having fun drawing.
Warm up as you feel is necessary.

Today, you will draw things from memory but rotate

them in your imagination. Try to imagine what these
look like from other angles. Consider balance, but also
have fun with it! We don't know what it looks like
from another angle as some of that information is
missing from the images, so we'll have to ensure the
results look believable and cool and do so by using our
imagination and memory of things we've seen in the
past.

It is helpful to start by doing the Forms II exercise on

the reference first to get to know the underlying forms.
You can then rotate the underlying forms (in your
head) and add in the detail.

If you have a new reference in front of you, an

excellent exercise is to start with an outline of the
reference image and then "swap nearby and far,"

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mirroring the depth. You'll have to imagine details out
of sight in the reference.

Swapping nearby and far, starting with the outline of a

reference image.

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12. Memorization

Use any of the warm-up exercises we used before,

whichever you feel like doing the most. It is also about
getting into the right mindset for having fun drawing.
Warm up as you feel is necessary.

For the coming four days, we will use memory drawing

to commit a piece of anatomy to long-term memory.
See the plate with the two arm anatomy illustrations at
the end of this assignment.

You initially thought memory drawing was about

memorizing references or not? Well, if you've come
this far, I hope you've noticed that the benefits of
memory drawing are far more significant than just the
mundane remembering of one thing. I hope you see
that you have become better at things you haven't
practiced drawing yet!

On the first day, memorize this bit of anatomy, then

draw it from memory, correct it with reference, and
draw from memory again. On the other three days,
draw from memory immediately, then compare it with
the reference to notice where you were off, and draw

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from memory again.

You should be able to draw this piece of anatomy by

heart, even weeks from now.

When you do a memory drawing of a subject just once,

the image is in your short-term memory, but your
ability to visualize will have improved. When you draw
a few times over days, then weeks is when you commit
the information to long-term memory.

This way of memory drawing is reminiscent of

test-based learning: you do a test to find the hiatuses in
your knowledge. It is important not to cheat because if
you cheat, the information is in your short-term
memory. Find out what information is missing in your
brain instead. This requires a mental shift: don't feel
bad about not knowing details! You will study them
later. But first, you need to find out what you don't
know in the first place.

Feel good about leaving things blank: first, you didn't

know, now you know you didn't. Then, focus on what
you didn't know and find ways to remember this
information efficiently. Concentrate on internalizing
the information again. Then, do the test again and
repeat it tomorrow, the day after, and the week after.

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Memory drawing is predominantly not about
memorizing references. If you don't believe me, try
drawing something you haven't practiced like this
before. Notice how you're now able to pull details out
of thin air! It's all there in your brain; you need to learn
how to access it. Memory drawing did this.

Although this course is not about memorizing a

specific reference, it can be used for that. It can be
helpful to memorize anatomy or character design.

We're nearly at a place where you will spread out your

wings! I gave you the tools to do memory drawing
exercises and showed you how they were helpful. Now,
I want you to start collecting the images you want to
study.

There are no rules! You can collect art by artists; don't

pass your copies off as your own, and don't infringe on
copyrights. Private copies for studying in your private
sketchbook are acceptable.

Collect photos online and take pictures with your

mobile during the day. Get into the habit of collecting
striking images so you have a library of images to do
memory drawing exercises from. I won't always be
there to provide you with reference images! You may
prefer to go in a different direction visually.

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A unique form of reference collecting is memorizing
something you see during the day and drawing it from
memory the next day or later in the day. You'll find
that you are more free to augment what you
memorized with imagined details as it was recorded in
your mind much earlier. And this is a form of drawing
you can do when you don't have drawing tools with
you! Close your eyes and draw it in your mind while
standing before it; open your eyes, notice things you
got wrong, and try again. People won't see that you're
drawing in your mind. Then, draw it on paper the next
day.

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Paul Richer Anatomy Plate, 1890, source: Wikimedia
Commons

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Freedom At Last!

Here we come at the end, where you fly off on your

own, using the reference images you collected for the
exercises.

Warm up as you feel is necessary. Browse through your

sketchbook to get inspired to draw. Choose a reference
you collected before to draw from memory or draw
something you memorized on the spot yesterday from
memory.

Apply the lessons from this course. Also, keep drawing

from observation and imagination, play with
proportions and style, and move between abstract,
realism, and cartoon styles.

Celebrate when you finish another beautiful page!

Keep noticing how sketchbook pages can look
beautiful in all their glory.

Collect more reference images and memorize

something during the day. But most importantly, have
fun with it, and ensure you enjoy the results any way
you can!

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Afterword

Betty Edward's book "Drawing on the Right Side of

the Brain" has interesting information. In the book, she
mentions that it is best to clear your head of words
while drawing. When you have complete silence in
your head, you can sense a silent part of your brain
being excited about a line.

This was a striking bit of information because it is

accurate and points to something usually not
discussed: what happens in the artist's mind as they
draw.

And it worked! When you clear your mind of words,

you start to sense if a line is right; you can feel a part of
your brain becoming excited after you place the line.
Having a loud inner monologue drowns out that
whisper in your mind.

We secretly strive to be able to make these magical

pieces of art our predecessors created, and we look at
their art for hints as to how they did it. And indeed, the
art is there in its full splendor, seemingly giving away all
its secrets to the artist willing to try to copy it. But one

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crucial part is missing: what goes on in the head of the
artist as they work?

I suspect that masters don't even know most of the

time. We often can't ask them anymore, and we can't
ask them while they are creating because the
interruption would break the mental spell.

Kim Jung Gi had practiced drawing from memory a

lot, partly because he often didn't have his drawing
tools with him in the army. So he'd memorize
something during the day and then draw it later.
Suspecting this significantly impacted his ability to
draw fantastic worlds seemingly from imagination, I
tried drawing from memory. At first, I didn't see the
point; why draw from memory when you can also
draw from observation? However, after just a few days
of doing the memory drawing exercise, I noticed a
significant improvement in my ability. I tried drawing
a rabbit, something I hadn't practiced in any way, but
it came out surprisingly well. That is when I suspected
something was going on.

I am not aware of any scientific research that has been

done in this area, but it would be fertile ground for
study. There is something here, as you probably
discovered after doing the memory drawing exercises
yourself.

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If you did the exercises, you likely noticed an
improvement in your ability to visualize images before
you draw them. This is all mental power.

I struggled to convince people on social media to try

this exercise. Form studies are the most popular posts
by far. People find my website by searching for form
studies, of which I have a few. They don't search for
memory drawing at all.

I understand why: you want to believe you can draw

anything if you can deconstruct a subject into
three-dimensional forms. And this is true, but there are
better paths to mastery. Rembrandt didn't do form
studies. I suspect Kim Jung Gi didn't, either. You see
him drawing form often, but I suspect he was trying to
tell us that was what he saw in his mind as he drew--
again, a mental thing happening in the artist's brain.

At any length, if you did this course, even if drawing

from memory wasn't a spectacular success for you,
then the worst that came out of it was improved hand
dexterity, fun drawing, pleasing art results, and a
chance for you to study Heinrich Kley's work more
closely. That is not a bad worst case.

If this exercise does as much for you as it did for me,

prepare to experience the best-case scenario, experience

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immense improvement of abilities, and have your mind
blown.

This is an N=1 dataset, and I might be seeing a causal

relationship that is not there, and memory drawing
might not work as well for others. It might not work
for people with Aphantasia (an inability to visualize),
but it might also work better for them. Who knows.
When I was presenting my memory drawing exercises
on Instagram, someone with Aphantasia contacted
me. I asked if they could memorize the drawing by
memorizing the angles of the lines that made up the
shapes. The illustration was by Bridgman, a series of
shapes that formed a leg. To their surprise, they did
well, drawing the leg from memory. This is again an
N=1 dataset: one artist, one drawing.

I wish I were younger; I would start researching it

myself. I suspect that scientists who would devote their
lives to studying the effects of memory drawing would
discover fascinating results. It's not a subtle effect, at
least not with me.

But you, my reader, don't have to wait for science to

prove it! You can quickly try it for yourself! There is
something here! You should notice a marked
improvement in a short time, days, or weeks, not years.
You only spend a little time if it doesn't work for you.

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I hope that memory drawing brought you as much skill
improvement as it did for me, that your drawing results
were at least as pleasing as mine, and that you, like me,
will continue to find joy in drawing from memory.
You can make the reference image as complex as you
want, and you can keep challenging yourself with just
this one drawing exercise for the rest of your life.

On that note, I'd love to learn whether memory

drawing worked for you and how you experienced the
exercise.

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Heinrich Kley
Illustrations

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Heinrich Kley, 1911, scanned from 1911 book.

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Heinrich Kley, 1911, scanned from 1911 book.

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Heinrich Kley, 1911, scanned from 1911 book.

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Heinrich Kley, 1911, scanned from 1911 book.

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Heinrich Kley, 1911, scanned from 1911 book.

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Heinrich Kley, 1911, scanned from 1911 book.

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Heinrich Kley, 1911, scanned from 1911 book.

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Heinrich Kley, 1911, scanned from 1911 book.

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Heinrich Kley, 1911, scanned from 1911 book.

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Heinrich Kley, 1911, scanned from 1911 book.

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Heinrich Kley, 1911, scanned from 1911 book.

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Heinrich Kley, 1911, scanned from 1911 book.

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Heinrich Kley, 1911, scanned from 1911 book.

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Heinrich Kley, 1911, scanned from 1911 book.

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Heinrich Kley, 1911, scanned from 1911 book.

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Heinrich Kley, 1911, scanned from 1911 book.

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Heinrich Kley, 1911, scanned from 1911 book.

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Heinrich Kley, 1911, scanned from 1911 book.

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Heinrich Kley, 1911, scanned from 1911 book.

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Heinrich Kley, 1911, scanned from 1911 book.

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Heinrich Kley, 1911, scanned from 1911 book.

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Heinrich Kley, 1911, scanned from 1911 book.

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Heinrich Kley, 1911, scanned from 1911 book.

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Heinrich Kley, 1911, scanned from 1911 book.

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Heinrich Kley, 1911, scanned from 1911 book.

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Heinrich Kley, 1911, scanned from 1911 book.

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Heinrich Kley, 1911, scanned from 1911 book.

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Heinrich Kley, 1911, scanned from 1911 book.

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Heinrich Kley, 1911, scanned from 1911 book.

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Heinrich Kley, 1911, scanned from 1911 book.

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Heinrich Kley, 1911, scanned from 1911 book.

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Heinrich Kley, 1911, scanned from 1911 book.

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Heinrich Kley, 1911, scanned from 1911 book.

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