Learn to Draw! Step-by-Step Beginner Drawing Lesson

Name: Learn to Draw! Step-by-Step Beginner Drawing Lesson
Rating: 5.0 (2 reviews)

Using Charcoal Media - Better Than Pencil!

Created byRenee Sundaram

Last updated 6/2024

English

What you'll learn

The basics of drawing and a proven strategy for beginners.
You will learn a better tool than pencil. For higher contrast, we’ll use charcoal media.
How to give your drawing a spontaneous and impressionist feeling.
How to draw the basic shapes of both landscape and architecture.
How to give your drawing depth and dimension.
How to analyze and interpret a composition in terms of dark and light values.
Which tools to use to get dark values, light values, and everything in between.
You will learn practical steps to apply what you’ve learned to your own compositions.

Course content

1 section • 5 lectures • 2h 25m total length

Introduction – how to use this course, the tools you’ll need, and set up.11:02
Learn to draw with charcoal through a complete, beginner-friendly step-by-step lesson. Set up tools and materials, then draw along using vine charcoal, charcoal pencils, erasers, and blending tools.
Drawing the outline.29:11
Master the outline stage of a church drawing by placing alignment dots, sketching towers and dome with curved lines, and simplifying forms before building value with an impressionist stroke.
Getting familiar with using the tools, test them out and see what they produce.6:33
Experiment with stick charcoal, charcoal pencil, and white charcoal to learn each tool’s values. Use the stomp for fast, directional blending, keeping paper between strokes to preserve texture.
Filling in the outline with dark and light values to give it depth and dimension1:34:02
Develop depth by layering white charcoal and dark values, blending with vine charcoal and a clean stomp to shape light, shadow, and texture on steeple, dome, and foliage.
Summary of what you’ve learned and how to apply it to your own compositions!4:16
Use your own photos as reference, view them large or print, and warm up by testing tools and pressure. Outline the focal point and build values from dark to light.

Requirements

No previous drawing experience is necessary!
This course is for absolute beginners and intermediate level artists seeking to improve their drawing skills.

Description

Anyone can learn to draw. Even as an absolute beginner, you can draw this composition! Twenty years of experience teaching adult beginners has shown me that beginners are far more capable than they think if given the right instruction. In this course, you'll draw this composition with me start-to-finish in 2 and a half hours. Along the way, you'll learn basic skills in drawing, sketching and illustration that you can apply to your own compositions.

Love the Impressionists? This course leads you step-by-step in drawing this landscape in charcoal media in an impressionist style. This practical, hands-on training is tailored for the adult beginner but can be enjoyed by intermediate artists as well.

Don’t bore yourself with drawing circles and squares! Many teachers will teach you how to draw a single object, but nothing that looks or feels like a completed artwork. You’ll be left wondering, “but what about the background?” or “how do I apply this to other objects?” or “how can I give it movement?” or “how do I get more contrast?”. Instead, I’ll demonstrate a complete composition, start to finish, explaining what I’m doing and why. You’ll learn answers to all these questions and more. You’ll learn how to analyze what you see and strategy for how to go about drawing it. Drawing is less about dexterity and more about learning to see with artist eyes. With my proven teaching method, you’ll learn faster, have more fun, and create something you’re proud of! Along the way, you’ll learn all the basics and practical steps to apply those basics to your own compositions.

See the downloadable Art Supplies List by previewing Lecture1.

Who this course is for:

Anyone wanting to learn to draw. Recommended for adults and advanced teens.
Any artist new to charcoal media.
Painters. Drawing is fundamental to painting, sculpting and many other art forms.
Anyone interested in seriously pursuing art. Although this course is designed for absolute beginners, THE ART SCHOOL 101 series is designed to teach you basic and advanced techniques to express yourself through drawing.