Are those like sunglasses?

I can do that too. You're misunderstanding the concept. I'm perfectly capable of drawing, eyes closed or not (though it's much harder eyes closed, obviously). I do digital art. I just conceptualize things differently. I don't have a mental image, it's more like a knowledge of what shapes go together to make certain forms. I build things piece by piece from fundamental shapes that I analytically know make certain objects or creatures, but I don't have an image of what it is until I have actually put it down in paper.

I don't know if I worded that in a way that makes sense, as I've always struggled with explaining how I conceptualize to people that have an ability I don't. I know what shapes make up a dog, but I can't see the dog, if that makes any sense.

Your "eyes clothes" typo was so unexpected it got me good. I couldn't stop giggling for a solid minute. My partner asked me what was so funny and I gasped out "eyes clothes" and she just sighed and walked away.

Books are fine. You just need to find authors who don’t spend two pages describing someone’s clothes, as you won’t remember anything past “pretty tall and dark haired”

I love reading, and I love writing and storytelling. I think books can be for anyone. I wouldn't let a difference in perception preclude you from enjoying an entire form of media, entertainment, and information. For me, audiobooks work best to hold my attention, as I struggle to sit and read words in front of me without keeping myself busy. It's not a fit for everyone, and not everyone will like reading, but I think it's a very simple joy that so many people have had hammered out of them by bad parents, bad teachers, or bad education systems that taught them to dread or hate books and reading. I got back into reading as an adult, and it's one of the most fulfilling parts of my day.

No, certainly not. It's a condition known as aphantasia, and isn't something that can be cured with practice. I have a lifetime of practice in conceptualizing in a different way though. I don't feel that I'm missing out on anything really, just experiencing the world differently. I didn't even know that I was any different than most until I was an adult, and a friend of mine made me realize it.

Someone with aphantasia might be able to learn how to conceptualize in a different way, but I don't think you can train what's not there, any more than a blind person could train themselves to see. There isn't a lot of study into it though, and I've found it difficult to get solid information on my condition, so perhaps there's more to learn. Why, for example, do I have a very vivid imagination of sounds? I can imagine an entire song in all of its different instruments as if I could hear it, but I can't even conceive even a little bit of what it means to see something in my head.

I've had it explained to me very often by people with varying degrees of sincerity or understanding, and I still don't quite get it. Is it like dreaming, or like a hallucination, or like an image you can't really see but still know is there? It's foreign to me, and no description I've heard makes it clear. I dream quite clearly and in color, but that's like I'm there experiencing it in person. I'd love to learn more about aphantasia, especially since my fiancée has the opposite, hyperphantasia, and it would be nice to more easily collaborate as artists.