Part 2: Theory ->

By the end of this course, you will:

• Create a drawing that looks like the object you observed.
• Build fundamental drawing skills that give you the tools to draw what you see.
• Establish effective, consistent study habits that you can apply to any topic as you continue your art journey.
• Gain an understanding of how representational drawing works (optional if you prefer to skip theory).

Part 1: The Course

This course is all about taking action.  We learn to draw by drawing, not by reading about it. Everything in this course is meant to be put into practice.

1. Choose a simple object from around your home.
2. Draw it again and again until your drawing actually looks like the object.
3. Always work from real objects, not a photo. (I’ll explain why in Part 2.)

That is all you really need to do.  However, if you want to get the most out of this course, here are some things that will make your progress even stronger:

4. Learn a bit of theory to guide your drawing process.
5. Reflect on how you can improve your work after each session, and write down your thoughts to make the reflection more effective.
6. Get feedback from the community or from an experienced teacher.
7. Use drawing exercises to improve your fundamental skills.
8. Plan time for experiential learning, which we will cover in more detail later.
9. Share your plan with a friend or post in the Discord community to stay accountable.
10. Keep making art for fun.

You might be thinking, “I don’t want to draw some boring object, I want to draw anime characters.” Don’t worry.  I got you.  Think of drawing as a language.  This course teaches you the basics of that language, the same one you will use to draw anything, including characters.  I will explain this more in Part 2.

How It Works

There are many ways to learn to draw, but at the core, all artists improve the same way: through repetition.  Every successful art program, no matter the approach, requires students to draw again and again until they get good at it.  There is no shortcut around this.  The role of a good course or teacher is to make this process as effective as possible.  The core of this course is understanding how the process works and using it as efficiently as possible.

We learn to draw through repetition in four stages:

1. We begin with a goal or idea we want to express, along with a rough plan for how to express it (for example, drawing lines with a pencil or applying paint).
2. We physically create the drawing.
3. We evaluate the result by comparing it to the goal we wanted to express.
4. We consider what worked and what did not in the previous steps so we’ll have a better idea of what to do next time.

For example:

1. My goal is to sketch an object.  I plan to do this by drawing lines.
2. I make the drawing.
3. I evaluate the result by comparing it to the real object, and I notice the line for the bottom edge is too flat.
4. I learn that just because the bottom of the object is flat, does not mean the line that represents in needs to be straight. When I draw the object again, I factor that into my plan.

Repeating this cycle allows both the plan and the drawing skill to improve a little each time.  This process is called the experiential learning cycle.  The goal of this course is to help you learn drawing by getting the most out of this cycle.

Maximizing The Experiential Learning Cycle

This course strengthens the experiential learning cycle in five ways:

• Giving you a clear goal to focus on.
• Providing theory to guide you in achieving this goal.
• Helping you evaluate your drawings with both theory and critique.
• Offering exercises that use experiential learning cycles to target specific skills.
• Creating a structure that keeps you consistently applying the experiential learning cycle.

The Goal

Experiential learning is most effective when you have a clear goal to work towards.  If your goal was to hit a target with an arrow and you missed your target to the left, you’d know to aim more to the right with your next shot.  Without that target, it would be much more difficult to know whether your shot was good and how to improve on your next one.  Similarly, when we draw without a goal, it is much more difficult to assess our drawing and improve on the next one.  In this course, your goal is to draw your object believably.  If your drawing looks like your object, then it is good.  If it does not, we can try to figure out why and how to improve the next drawing.

Theory

Understanding theory and process will give you ideas on how to approach making a drawing as well as giving you a criteria by which to better evaluate your own work.  For example, you can learn theory on the importance of proportions and how to use them effectively in your drawing.  When evaluating your drawing, you will have a better idea of whether your proportions are accurate and how to correct them if they are not.  I will explain theory more in depth in section 2.  I also cover theory extensively in my free how to draw book.

Evaluation

You can evaluate your own work by writing notes on each drawing: what worked, what did not, and how we can improve in the next drawing.  You will also benefit from critique from other artists. The course includes access to a Discord server where you can submit your work for critique from your peers.  I also offer personalized feedback as part of my mentorship.

Exercises

Just as musicians practice scales and athletes drill technique, artists can sharpen their fundamental skills with targeted exercises.  Each exercise is built around the experiential learning cycle by setting a clear goal that provides a standard with which to evaluate your result and refine your technique on the next attempt.

Exercises can be useful for targeting the weak skills you discovered during your evaluation of your drawings.  For example, if your shading looks messy or inconsistent, you can improve this skill by practicing creating value scales.  When you apply that skill to your next drawing, you will see the improvement. I will guide you through key exercises in Section 3, and you can find many more in my free How to Draw book.

Structure

One of the most valuable things art schools offer is structure.  Students are required to put in the time and take consistent action.  Teachers set clear goals and expectations, and classmates work toward those goals alongside you.  In this course, I want to give you a similar sense of structure by providing a clear goal (to draw your object accurately), theory to help you reach that goal, and a community to keep you motivated and accountable.

In an art school setting, I can expect students to complete a certain amount of work each week based on an assumed level of interest and time commitment.  In a free online course, though, I can’t make those same assumptions without leaving out students who want to learn but have different schedules or priorities.  Instead of setting specific expectations, I’ll offer general advice on how to create your own study plan, along with a few examples. If you’d like a personalized plan, we can build one together through mentorship.

Start by setting goals in terms of time spent on experiential learning.  Results are not always under your control, but the amount of time you dedicate is.  When your goal is clear and specific, you are far more likely to stick with it.

If you set a goal but take no action, you create cognitive dissonance.  The more dissonance you feel from not following through, the stronger the push to keep your commitment.  For example:

• If you say “I will work on it later” and don’t follow through, there is little dissonance because you can always rationalize that “later” is still yet to come.
  
• If you commit to working from 6 to 7pm on Tuesday and skip it, the dissonance is stronger because you know you let yourself down.
  
• If you tell someone else that you will work from 6 to 7pm and skip it, the dissonance is even greater because you also feel accountable to them.

To build in that accountability, I encourage you to post your study schedule in the course Discord community.  Posting your plan creates timestamped evidence of your commitment, and it will motivate you to share your results at the time you said you would.

Example Plans

I plan to study for one hour each week on Tuesdays from 6 to 7 p.m.  During that hour, I’ll spend 15 minutes doing an exercise as a warm-up.  I’ll choose the exercise based on where I think I could improve from my last drawing (more on this in Parts 2 and 3).  Then I’ll spend 40 minutes drawing my object, followed by 5 minutes reflecting and writing about what went well and what I could improve next time.

If you have more time available or want to improve more quickly, you might choose to increase your commitment.  For example: I plan to study for 90 minutes twice a week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6 to 7:30 p.m.  I’ll spend the first 30 minutes doing an exercise as a warm-up, again focusing on areas I’d like to improve from my last drawing. I’ll then spend 50 to 55 minutes drawing my object and the final 5 minutes reflecting and writing about my work.

If you have plenty of time and a strong desire to strengthen your fundamental drawing skills, I recommend a 15-hour weekly schedule made up of two of the 90-minute blocks described in the previous example, five days a week.  I realize this level of commitment may not be realistic or appealing for everyone, so you can scale the plan down to fit your life.

Be kind to yourself if you miss a session or life gets in the way.  It happens to everyone.  When it does, try to return to your schedule or adjust it as needed instead of getting discouraged or giving up.

Materials

This course is designed to be flexible, so you can use whatever materials you prefer.  Here are the tools I will be using in the demonstrations, in case you want to try them:

• Digital: This is the easiest medium for demonstrations, since I can easily record the process and share it online.  I use Clip Studio Paint with default brushes on a Wacom Cintiq.
• Ballpoint pen: A simple and inexpensive option that proves you do not need fancy supplies.  Ordinary office pens will do.
• Conte pencil on newsprint:  Conte lets you build values quickly like charcoal but without the mess.  I prefer Conte pencil, but Conte crayon is the same material in stick form.

Keep Drawing For Fun!

Do not stop drawing for enjoyment in addition to your studies.  Think of drawing as a language.  The purpose of this course is to become more fluent, but the real purpose of language is communication.  If you have nothing you want to express, it does not matter how polished your skills are.

Drawing the things you enjoy and are passionate about will also strengthen your studies.  When you create personal work, you will naturally run into problems and discover where your skills fall short.  These moments show you what to focus on in your studies.  As you improve through study, you will see how those skills are applicable to the art you want to make.

In my experience, you need both personal work and study to improve effectively.  If you only do exercises, art can feel like a chore.  Balancing both keeps you motivated and makes the process more enjoyable.

To Start This Course:

1. Choose an object and make a drawing of it.
2. Post your drawing and a photo of the object in the #entries channel on Discord to establish your baseline.
3. Share your weekly study plan in the #accountability channel.
4. Follow through on your plan and post your results in the #course-critique channel.
5. Reflect on your results and write about what went well and what could be improved.
6. Keep repeating this process until you’re satisfied with a drawing that truly looks like your object.  
7. Once you’re happy with your result, post your finished drawing, along with your baseline drawing and the photo of your object, in the #wins channel.  While the final decision of what counts as a win up to you, take the community’s feedback into account.

The course is technically complete when you create a drawing of your object that you are satisfied with.  That finished drawing is your “diploma.”  However, I hope that once you experience how effective this method is, you will want to keep going with it.  You could challenge yourself to draw more complex objects or apply the same study habits to other fundamentals such as perspective or anatomy.  My free How to Draw book contains plenty of theory and exercises that you now know exactly how to use to keep improving your skills.

Part 2: Theory