Learn How to Draw
If you can draw from your imagination, you can create the universe. But how to get started? Here’s a helpful list of resources for people who want to learn to draw.
- Learn from Proko (Proko)
- Learn How to Think When You Draw (The Etherington Brothers)
- Learn Classical Training Online from Grand Central Atelier
- Learn from Loomis
- Learn from Schoolism
- Learn from Bridgman
- Learn from Hale
- Draw everyday
- Oh, and UX designers, remember if you can draw these three shapes, you can draw the Internet.
- @ mention me your progress on Twitter and I’ll fav. Why? That fav/like is a little tiny bit of positive social accountability, which is sometimes all we need.
1. Learn from Proko
Proko has 45 courses and nearly 2000 lessons on Proko.com. His approach shows you how to construct the figure from basic shapes. His style is approachable, verging on a little goofy, but he knows what he is doing. Try his video lessons for free, or purchase one of the complete courses. His free course is likely the best way to get started on the internet with drawing the figure. Recently he upgraded his site to include many more teachers and classes. I have taken several, even after already knowing how to draw, and Proko is my #1 recommendation for how to get started learning to draw. Take it at your own pace. Try his free lessons. Improve as you go.
2. Learn How to Think When You Draw
Drawing requires both the hand and the mind. This series of free online lessons from The Etherington Brothers shows you how to think about specific problems you are trying to solve. From hands to shoulders to costumes to weapons to compositions, this series is designed for the illustrator who draws for games, movies, and comics, yet these lessons are wonderful for all artists—why?—even your most hard-core conceptualist has something to learn from learning how to breakdown the visual problems presented here. Get them all for free on their instagram or on their blog. To go all the way, sign-up for their once-a-year kickstarter to buy them all as lovely bound books. I own the whole set of physical books. The books come with an index, so you can look up a topic and then it tells you which book and which page has the lesson. These lessons are charming, direct, transparent, and terrifically helpful.
3. Learn Classical Training Online from Grand Central Atelier
GCA teaches classical, old-school, and traditional skills. The vibe is old-fashioned art school, during the era before electricity was harnessed to light our studios at night. The techniques are classical. The program is rigorous. I took several hard-core painting classes on learning to paint like Spanish Masters and honestly I loved every second of it. Not because it was easy (‘twas not easy, very much not easy) but precisely because it was hard. I’ve never learned so much outside of RISD.
4. Learn from Loomis
One of the great boy-girl magazine-era illustrators, Andrew Loomis created marvelous books on illustration. You have two choices: buy the lovely enormous hardback books, or download the PDFs for free. I started out with a photocopy of someone’s PDF, but then bought the entire set of hardbacks as soon as they were republished. If there’s an aspiring illustrator in your life, buy her/him these books in hardback.
5. Learn from Schoolism
Schoolism.com offers video lectures from drawing greats at Pixar and beyond. Start with Alex Woo. We get to see his line and hear his approach. He’s a patient, calm, focused teacher with a clear understanding of what he’s trying to do. Learn from pros like Iain McCaig, Craig Mullins, Dice Tsutsumi, Claire Wendling, Chris Sanders, J. Scott Campbell, Nathan Fowkes, and more.
6. Learn from Bridgeman
Nearly every illustrator from Art Center grew up learning the Bridgeman style. It’s not for everyone, but it’s worth checking out for a sculptural, twisted block approach. Start with Constructive Anatomy. The books are short on words, long on his nearly mannerist style of muscle-blocks and clay-on-bone approach to modeling the figure. Of particular delight is his drawing the draped figure.
7. Learn from Hale
Alex Hale’s Drawing Lessons for the Great Masters makes the case for the artist as a perpetual seeker of truth. His advice is over the top sometimes (to learn anatomy—“Get a collection of bones, build your own skeleton”) but his guidance on where and how to look is timeless. Vary your line weight (he then shows examples how). Know your anatomy. Know the direction of your curves. Know what’s happening under the clothes, under the skin—down to the bones.
8. Draw Every Day
Go to the copier room at your job or school and grab a whole packet of paper, you know, one of those piles of paper wrapped in paper. Draw 50 drawings every day. 1 min per drawing. Do it like you’re practicing piano or doing yoga or watching your favorite show. Make it your favorite show—watching yourself get better at drawing.
9. Remember, If you can draw these three shapes, you can draw the Internet.
(Read more on this idea here…)
10. Positive Social Accountability.
Mention me on Twitter with your work in progress and I’ll fav it. Why? That fav/like is a little tiny bit of positive social accountability, which is sometimes all we need.
Enjoy,
