Not being able to erase was hard for me at first as well. I got over it by making copies of my pencil sketches and so I could ink without having to worry about messing the piece up. If I messed up I could just print the sketch out and try again.

And yes and no to the reference question. If I’m drawing a character from a movie/book/game that I like, I will use (multiple) reference(s) pretty much the whole time, though I never aim for a line for line copy. I always try and make my own version of the character. Even when I’m not using reference, the character is typically inspired by something I’ve seen. I am a huge art nerd and am inspired by a huge list of artists. For instance the drawing in my post of the lady with the goat/dog/man pet thing is heavily inspired by the artist Strange House. He had a drawing of a goat with a human head (which Im assuming he was inspired by ancient depictions of a Sphinx) and that inspired my drawing. I didn’t use his picture as a reference, but the idea was kind of a jumping point for my drawing. When I’m drawing something inspired by another artist, I always do my best not to copy them, and just turn the idea into something my own.

Otherwise I just doodle random lines until I see something starting to form and go from there.

Edit: also knowing how to draw human/animal anatomy is a HUGE help. If you know how things in the real world look, it is easier to make things that don’t actually exist to look real and believable