John Wick

So I initially set out to kinda draw more from imagination and create a stylized character with cell shading. I started sketching, the moved onto lineart and noticed that my lineart is still kinda sketchy and I need more confident lines. Then when I tried a less painterly and more cartoonish approach with cell shading and using multiply and screen etc to add light and shadows on top of the mid tones, it looked trash so I just gave up with it.
My current skill level definitely leans more to messy scribbling until I find the likeness of the reference and then messy rendering that doesn't leave a "cleaner" illustration. In the end I just kept the artwork as a more graphic, and it looks very amateur.

Also I've only ever really drawn from references. I feel like I can't really draw from memory and only from what I see, and studies build mechanical skill and observation but not really creativity and character design. I guess with more practise and more study Ill build the memory bank to be able to draw more from imagination. Ive started this year with a huge motivation to get better at art and have painted a "complete" artwork very consistently, but moving forward now that my art career and also this instagram account has got more momentum, I can incorporate more actual structured learning of drawing, anatomy etc.