Is it bad that honestly not really? I almost always use references, or my mental image of a character. The only time I really don't use a reference is when drawing an OC of a cat, because I don't have the same stuff to reference as with the dragons. Whenever I try to draw without a reference, I end up either a) getting worried that it's not good enough and then finding a reference or b)getting really frustrated that I can't get something right (usually proportions) and have to stop because I'm just angry at the drawing at that point. I started drawing with cats. I like to draw horses too, and I tend to do them in a semi realistic style instead of full realistic that I usually try to go for. I really like drawing them.