Learn to draw - a plan of action
Learning to draw is daunting to the beginner. To help, I’ve created a list of useful resources to get you started with learning to draw. These resources range from basic to intermediate instruction. As I am currently learning to draw, I will be using these resources so will be able to review courses and strategies in future blog posts.
Online classes to learn the fundamentals of drawing:
Most of the following classes I recommend can be found on the SkillShare website, but there is one very noteworthy recommendation that isn’t and that’s the art courses on the New Masters Academy website. The quality of the content on that platform is very high and is a great resource for the beginner artist or the more experienced.
Basic Skills / Getting Started with Drawing by Brent Eviston
Form & Space / 3D Drawing & Perspective by Brent Eviston
Measuring & Proportion / Drawing with Accuracy & Precision by Brent Eviston
Shading Fundamentals / Drawing with Dramatic Light and Shadow by Brent Eviston
Shading Beyond the Basics / Shade Any Subject No Matter How Complex by Brent Eviston
Contours / Drawing with Compelling Contours & Foreshortening by Brent Eviston
Courses on New Masters Academy website.
Online courses to learn to draw people:
Figure Drawing Fundamentals by Stan Prokopenko
Anatomy of the Human Body by Stan Prokopenko
Portrait Drawing Fundamentals by Stan Prokopenko
Art instructional books:
A couple of insightful books that will impart knowledge of the use of colour, light and perspective in your paintings and drawings are -
Color and Light: A Guide for the Realist Painter (Volume 2) by James Gurney
Vanishing Point: Perspective for Comics from the Ground Up by Jason Cheeseman-Meyer
Do drawing and painting challenges:
If you choose a thing (a landscape, a face, an animal) you want to draw, and then commit to drawing this thing a hundred times, you will see a noticeable improvement between your first and last drawings.
Giving yourself an art challenge is a great way to focus on getting better at artistically depicting a particular subject.
Get an “ugly sketchbook” to practise:
You can have a sketchbook for polished spreads and also another “ugly sketchbook” to practise challenging aspects of the subject of your choosing. Being able to experiment and figure out how to draw things will accelerate your learning and growth as an artist. For example, if you struggle to depict areas of shadow and highlight in a landscape, you can try to draw those difficult areas of the landscape multiple times in your '“ugly sketchbook” until you achieve your goal and thus you would have improved your skill in this area.
Use Procreate to study reference photos:
I have discovered that I am better able to draw what I see, if I first go into Procreate, and using the “layer” function, create a reference sketch by tracing over my reference photo. This reference sketch will then be used alongside the reference photo to create a more “accurate” and detailed painting.
Below is a reference sketch I made, on Procreate, of the reference photo I used to create my fourth painting of my “100 landscapes challenge”. Tracing over the reference photo in Procreate allowed me to see the form/direction/structure of all the marks needed to create the freehand pencil sketch I did before painting.
Reference photo taken in Wales, U.K.
Tracing of reference photo to better see the form of elements in the landscape, using simple lines.
My painting of a Welsh landscape, using both the reference photo and Procreate sketch as guides.
Become a patron of your favourite artist on Patreon:
Find an artist whose work you love and who also has a Patreon account. By subscribing to that artist, you are able to both support their work and learn from them.
Do master studies:
Find art work that have properties and aspects of it that you want to improve on and try to copy that artist’s art work as closely as you can. This will allow you to deconstruct how the artist created their art, and you will be able to replicate techniques and effects in your own creations.
Take your own reference photos to focus on the things you want to draw:
If you love landscapes, go on walks and take your own reference photos to later use for painting. If you want to learn portraits, take reference photos of your friends and family in varying lighting conditions. It is better to get your own reference photos as you are able to choose your composition, get close-up photos, and focus on the aspects of a composition you are interested in improving.
Draw what you love:
And finally, focus on what you love to draw to keep you motivated and inspired to keep learning and creating art. If you are just starting out with learning to draw and find drawing exercises uninspiring, I would suggest you just draw whatever you like, in the medium of your choice, until you have a consistent drawing routine. Once you have good momentum with drawing, you can do the occasional drawing exercise to try to improve your technique and skills.