Are most good artists able to see a crystal clear image of what they want to draw in their mind?

or is it basically a hand eye coordination thingAre most good artists able to see a crystal clear image of what they want to draw in their mind?
I'd say neither. My mother has a hard time picturing things but she's a great artist (if she ever picked up a pencil and drew again...). I on the other hand think in pictures, so before I draw I usually have a picture in mind. But its never ';crystal clear'; and it usually changes as I draw it or find ways to make it look better.





I've seen a lot of artists do ';thumbnails';, which is when they draw several quick sketches of a vague idea they want to draw and see how they may want the finished product to look like. When a picture is really vague in my mind, I do this too to see how I may want it to turn out.





I don't know what you mean by ';hand eye coordination'; though....I've never found that factoring into art at all...Only sports...o_OAre most good artists able to see a crystal clear image of what they want to draw in their mind?
I would say it's probably a little of both. As there are different ways of thinking and learning, there are different ways artists produce their creations. My kind of thinker/painter latches onto an idea or vision (and feeling). I may do a quick sketch of the basic idea--mostly words and scribbles. For a major project, often I seem to ';paint'; it in my mind beforehand as well as during the process to keep the idea alive.





There are so many different philosophies out there that I have encountered, such as in Yahoo ArtChats.
Neither. My work changes so much from the initial stage to completion. If I get an ida, chances are good I'll forget it after I come back from lunch, so I get a sketch pad and sketch it out. Then when I'm putting pieces together I can just look over all my ideas and put a combination together. The whole thing, art, is a process. Most artists who think they can make it all in their head are usually new students.





But now for drawing, I don't try to visualize it in my head, personally. I draw with wet ink a lot, and there's a good accidental quality to it. It something changes from what you want it to, it's usually going to look good anyway.