I have the same problem as your students!
I'm finding that I just need to remind myself to really SEE the details in life, rather than the whole picture. I'm generally good at this with nature. In that, I can imagine things in nature because I have memories of studying them.
Where strangely, faces and body shapes are not the same. It's like in my imagination my proportions get confused... So maybe features that are more noticeable in my subconscious end up being larger than life. I guess that could work in my favor for cartoons though.
Anywho! Thanks again for sharing your works and processes. I hope your student returns too!
Actually we all have that problem when we are beginning to take the drawing more seriously.
Not for nothing it is easier to imitate and copy, but creating something new in our mind is difficult and complicated
Of course, one that you manage to create that idea will be a million times more satisfying than achieving a replica of an image.
I know very well to frustrate you that the drawing does not come out as you imagined it, that is one of the reasons why I share these guides with you, when you know all these drawing techniques and tools very well, you will be able to draw exactly how You imagine it and even better ^ _ ^.