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I'm like that too, I think. I would hesitate to call it "seeing" things. Something like counting sheep actually causing a visual experience (in color!) just doe

I'm like that too, I think. I would hesitate to call it "seeing" things. Something like counting sheep actually causing a visual experience (in color!) just does not compute. It's frustrating, because I've been wanting to learn how to draw, and now it seems like there should be something in my mind that I could try to put on paper? Would certainly make things easier If I close my eyes, all I experience is blackness. Is that not true for most people? I don't think I'm completely incapable of using this superpower; I can recall two instances where I've experienced an actual vivid in-colour visual hallucination while sleeping. Both times completely blew my mind but I woke up so they didn't last, I can't figure out how to trigger them again. :/

Groxx 8y ago
fwiw I've done fine as an art minor, and one of the first things you learn is to stop doing things by memory, and do it by vision :) I'm not sure it's really necessary.
- chousuke 8y ago
  Well, yeah, I'm aware of that, but it still boggles the mind that there'd be something visual in people's memory to actually reference while drawing, other than things like "there's supposed to be muscle here and some bones there, and gravity will affect the hair". ie. facts about structure. I don't know, perhaps I could put together a drawing just by assembling such facts and trying to figure out what to put on paper to represent them. It's really hard to describe how I feel about it. I can't know how other people perceive the world, so I might be misunderstanding the whole thing, but for the longest time I though "imagination" was metaphorical, but lately I've been wondering that it might not be. As I said in my earlier comment, I do get these feelings that might be "seeing" something inside my head sometimes, but the feeling is so indistinct that I can't call it constructing images in my mind; I've been trying to figure out how to make my brain do it better, but it's difficult.
NamTaf 8y ago
Drawing is something I'm absolutely awful at. I was talking to some friends about it a month ago. They draw very well and they very much picture a mental image, then essentially translate that. They can conjure up images out of their minds, hold them there and draw each detail. Meanwhile, if I'm not literally line-tracing, I'm woeful at it (like, stick-figure level bad). I can't even directly look at something and translate it, though that may be due to my general lack of practice. Regarding dreaming, I know I've dreamt maybe 3 times a year? When I'm in very light sleep and drifting in and out of it. Within seconds of waking up, I've lost it however, so I never remember my dreams, just knowing that I did in fact have dreams happening. For the other 360 days, I'm essentailly closing my eyes to a void and then teleporting to the next morning.

Groxx 8y ago

fwiw I've done fine as an art minor, and one of the first things you learn is to stop doing things by memory, and do it by vision :) I'm not sure it's really necessary.

chousuke 8y ago
Well, yeah, I'm aware of that, but it still boggles the mind that there'd be something visual in people's memory to actually reference while drawing, other than things like "there's supposed to be muscle here and some bones there, and gravity will affect the hair". ie. facts about structure. I don't know, perhaps I could put together a drawing just by assembling such facts and trying to figure out what to put on paper to represent them. It's really hard to describe how I feel about it. I can't know how other people perceive the world, so I might be misunderstanding the whole thing, but for the longest time I though "imagination" was metaphorical, but lately I've been wondering that it might not be. As I said in my earlier comment, I do get these feelings that might be "seeing" something inside my head sometimes, but the feeling is so indistinct that I can't call it constructing images in my mind; I've been trying to figure out how to make my brain do it better, but it's difficult.

NamTaf 8y ago

Drawing is something I'm absolutely awful at. I was talking to some friends about it a month ago. They draw very well and they very much picture a mental image, then essentially translate that. They can conjure up images out of their minds, hold them there and draw each detail. Meanwhile, if I'm not literally line-tracing, I'm woeful at it (like, stick-figure level bad). I can't even directly look at something and translate it, though that may be due to my general lack of practice. Regarding dreaming, I know I've dreamt maybe 3 times a year? When I'm in very light sleep and drifting in and out of it. Within seconds of waking up, I've lost it however, so I never remember my dreams, just knowing that I did in fact have dreams happening. For the other 360 days, I'm essentailly closing my eyes to a void and then teleporting to the next morning.