I'm someone who can copy a picture or scene in front of me to near photo-realism level of detail, but usually makes cartoon-like pictures without a reference. I

I'm someone who can copy a picture or scene in front of me to near photo-realism level of detail, but usually makes cartoon-like pictures without a reference. I can visualize 3-D Tetris blocks in my head and rotate them at will, and read off information (like, if letters were assigned to the faces of the blocks, I could spin the whole chunk around and read off according to instructions). I think the main difference here is due to two factors: 1. Time investment, and behind that, 2. Contextual demands. With a reference, one may feel more _expected_ to produce a high-fidelity drawing, and take the appropriate time. But if someone simply asks, "Draw a horse", I would usually try to make a basic outline, and not worry too much about the details. The difference between a photo-realistic drawing, and one that is like a child's, is tens of hours of focused work, because reality is very easy to picture for many people, but reproducing that level of detail requires a lot of pencil-strokes.