Proko made the kangaroo and said 'dont wait 10 years to draw from imagination'

Ive been doing a bit of both, but copying from refernce is easier to do because you need fewer skills to get it to look good.

>>7927281
Black Mage on the 'log
Honestly though its not just a matter of "copying" but being able to break it down. Like you got a decent copy there, but if you want the Black Mage to perform other actions you gotta know the structure underneath to understand how to move his arms and legs and shit. Gesture drawing for example is good for that cause you learn how to break down forms and move them
>but thats just drawing old naked hags
Again its the principals that you learn that matter. Like look at flour sack animation tests on Youtube. It's no secret that those "flour sacks" are actually representations of the human torso and see how those artists move and manipulate that to perform actions
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaP_DWFnr6I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lNkdeQD0OE
I also bring up the flower sack cause look at your black mage drawing. His body basically is a "flour sack" but with a simple chibi head added on top

>>7927281
It will help you build drawing muscles, but you've eventually gotta start doing real artist shit. Studies and perspective and so on.

>>7927281
If you just copy lines, you won't develop much beyond overall line accuracy and fluidity.
To truly learn from copying, you need to put effort into noticing things, and trying to understand why they are that way.