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Full course
You’ll learn the most important foundational concepts for drawing anything and soon you’ll be drawing pictures out of your imagination or from reference.
$159
It’s here! The Draw Basics course is now available. A true beginners course aimed at teaching you core drawing fundamentals.
As a complete beginner, are there any books on drawing that one could start referring to?
Off the top of my head (most of these should be available on Amazon) :
* The art and science of drawing / Brent Eviston
Starts with learning how to draw simple geometric forms (circles, rectangles etc.) before tackling more complex compounded forms, measuring and proportions, outer and inner contours, and finally basic explanations on light and shadow. Very good beginner book IMO.
* Keys to Drawing / Bert Dodson
A slightly different - maybe a bit looser - approach compared to the previous book, but contains (among other things) a lot of useful information on comparative measurement, foreshortening, textures and composition.
* Perspective Made Easy / Ernest R. Norling
Because perspective is important, no matter what your art style is. Don't ignore it.
* Classic Human Anatomy / Valerie L. Winslow
What I like most about this book, are all the colored diagrams with muscle origins and insertions.
If you want to get the same information from 'Artistic anatomy' by Paul Richer, you'll have to do a *looooot* of reading. That last one's still good though with (mostly) clear images, but entirely in black & white. I'd go for the Winslow book instead.
* Cast Drawing in Sight-Size / Darren R. Rousar : interesting book, but probably not recommended for absolute beginners. I suggest reading Eviston first, or similar books on drawing basics.
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7d
Clean shading! I would make sure your values are distinct! Making sure the part of the pear that is in light is a lot lighter than the shadows will help bring some volume into your drawing. Try making a value scale for your next drawing! :) Keep it up!
After watching and make some practice on the course, it's very helpful to understand the basid and I try and few time to get it right, any comments and criticis , ?
Just 2 minor things: I think you could just slow down a bit when filling out shapes, keep the value uniform per shape and the edges super clean. And the other thing is that the outline for your highlight is darker than both tones around it. There shouldn't be an outline, just the edge between hightlight and the tone next to it, so if you draw the shape in, keep it as light (or lighter) as the tones around it.
I hope it helps and wish you all the best for your drawing journey!
So, I'd like to ask for a couple of pointers on the 1st assignment from the Drawing Basics course — the pear. I tried to do it myself which is where images 3 & 4 come in, but also did a drawing-along, which is image 2. Image 1 is reference.
Can you guys/gals tell me what's wrong with the images? I like them, considering I don't have any experience, but I feel like there's something wrong. Thanks for feedback!
Hi! I suggest you watch the video again and note down the instructions (I forgot one too so I had to go back).
On your own versions you used round edges and they are so soft that it's sometimes like a gradient/no edge between values. The idea was to use only straight edges and 5 values without any gradients.
I hope it helps and wish you all the best for your drawing journey!
Extremly helpful and fun course for me. This is sketch from imagination where I practiced principles and tools I learned while doing the Drawing Basics course.
Hi guys! I haven't continued this course in more than a year. And even if I feel scared of seeing myself fail again and again, I will do it because I know it's important.
And if you're in a similar position as me, just wanted to let you know that we are in this together! We can do this!
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1mo
Failure is a part of learning! Don't think of it as a negative thing-- each 'failure' is a lesson to grow from for your next try. Good luck with continuing the course!
Do you have to do ALL the level 1 assignments before the level 2 assessments? I have been doing the level 1 assignment THEN the level 2 assessments after. It did help, but I think I'm doing it wrong.
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1mo
You can definitely do it that way! However you feel comfortable: if you feel confident after doing level 1, absolutely feel free to take a go of level 2. Or, you can go back and do the level 2 assignments after you've done some more lessons. If you're finding that it's working for you, keep doing it! There's not really a wrong way to be learning. :)
I have a question :)
Do you all watch the critique videos for all of the assignements? I love the course and try to follow every project including one try before and after the demo. Unfortunately I do not have as much time as I would wish for, and the critique videos seem to be longer. Do you see them as necessary / a big contributor to your learnings?
I would love to hear your opinions ☺️
For me, the critique videos give me some of the best insights, even more than the demos might. I tend to play around with what's being said as I'm watching them because I can definitely relate a lot of the issues he addresses in them to my own work.
I think the critiques are very helpful because the advice usually applies to my work as well. It's really helpful to have a frame of reference for how others go about the exercises. I would suggest watching them and considering the feedback for your own work. It's not a race, if you don't have to finish the course by a certain date, just take the course at your own pace based on your schedule. I've realized that learning to draw is truly more like a marathon than a sprint. Figuring out how to have a sustainable routine of drawing that fits into your life is by far the most important takeaway from this course.
Newbie Sirrrrrrr🥲.. i have long way to go , please sir let me know what should I improve
I know I went a little darker but please let me know what you think. What should I improve on and what did I do right?
Its fine! You just had to use straight lines, so theres no way it will have a finished look!
Did the project pear. Used a range of pencils 6B 4B 2B B... Not sure if the 3d effect is there. Appreciate any feedback! :D
I did the first project. The pencil I used was a 0.7 mm mechanical pencil but I may try it again with a different pencil
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3mo
Nice work! I'd recommend making sure that your pencil strokes are neat and uniform as you're shading, which will help your values read more clearly. Have fun experimenting with different tools!
Drawing Basics