The Complete Beginners Drawing and Shading Course
- 10.5 hours on-demand video
- 32 articles
- 34 downloadable resources
- Full lifetime access
- Access on mobile and TV
- Certificate of Completion
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Try Udemy for Business- Use basic shapes to easily construct drawings and outlines
- Develop a real understanding of light and shade
- Gain mastery of shading techniques to create the illusion of depth and form
- Create drawings in one-point, two-point and three point perspective
- Create a realistic drawing using just six pencil techniques
- Understand the basics of portraiture by creating a child portrait
- Suitable for complete beginners - absolutely no experience necessary
- Pencils (HB, 2B and 4B) and a sharpener
- A4 paper sketchpad
- Plastic eraser (plus optional putty eraser & battery eraser)
- Cotton buds (or optionally a paper stump)
- Fine grain sandpaper (240 grit or similar)
- A Ruler
- A printer (if you want to print the course books and example outline drawings)
- plus a genuine desire to really learn how to draw!
Have you always wanted to learn to draw?
Have you struggled to take your drawing skills to the next level?
You’re in exactly the right place. This course is for beginners and also for those who want to gain confidence with the fundamentals.
I start you off nice and easy - Basic shapes and construction drawing
Master these and you’ll feel your confidence growing already. Lots of fun introductory projects like ‘Peppie the Pup’ build your skills step-by-step.
Wow! It looks so realistic! - Shading and Form
Those skills you’ve admired in other artists for so long can be your skills too. Projects like ‘The Shoe Well Travelled’ will challenge you (but you are up to the task!) Your drawing will almost ‘pop’ off the page, amazing yourself and those around you.
One of the most admirable skills in art - Portraiture
Capturing a likeness is one of the most admirable skills in art. It’s so satisfying. Render individual facial features and create a wonderful child portrait.
Look at the world in a whole new way - Perspective and Proportion
How can you represent the three-dimensional world on a flat piece of paper? How do things we see change as they get closer, further away or turn towards us? These questions are all answered with perspective. Your eyes are now open to a whole new way of seeing and drawing.
Plus an extra bonus...
For additional inspiration I've include an extra bonus section where I detail my approach to drawing people and cute characters using construction drawing.
This is the beginners drawing course you've been looking for...
Even if you think you're not naturally talented my super easy methods and in-depth explanations will set you on the path from your first pencil lines towards creating professional grade artworks.
I've been teaching beginner artists for over 20 years. I know exactly what you need to get started the right way, and I've jam packed it into this course.
Plus, if you have any questions at all throughout your drawing journey, just ask. My team and I are right here for you.
With more than 4100 students enrolled the written reviews tell you all you need to know
"I am really enjoying this course. The explanations are brilliant and there is so much material (among videos, documents and exercises) to explore! However what I love most is the possibility to be part of the course related FB group. That is amazing indeed!! Cindy does give a lot of feedbacks and all the members and the administrators are great!!" - Giorgio
"I'm learning things that seem so simple but have increased my artistic ability ten fold" - Gideon Swanson
"I learned a lot right from the beginning... I always wanted to draw and this lady is bang on." - Elizabeth Brown
"The step by step instruction is so in-depth, easy to follow and produces real results. Cindy and Tannis as well as the online facebook support group that goes with the course provides an extra dimension of responsive and kindly criticism and loads of support." - Helen Hanby
"Cindy Wider is a beyond amazing teacher! She constantly interacts with her students and gives lots of encouraging comments, helpful tips to make sure everyone gets the help they need... You'll never feel alone and got lost in the path of being a better artist!" - Zehra Eylem Kazgöz
"Great match for me - and the FB group discussion and feedback has been super wonderful, too!" - Ann Petrochko
" I love that she’s so thorough with the basics and love her accent too." - Rebecca Douglass
"Clear and appropriate for beginners... I have noticed that she is very active and helpful in the facebook drawing community... Impressed with everything so far." - Shak Man
" Cindy is very engaged with her students and is always very kind, supportive and encouraging!" - Patricia Gliniecki
"Great to have a course that starts off with the foundations and then builds upon them." - Andrew Bensch
"This course is perfect for complete beginners." - Lindsay Ferrara
My students say we have "the best Facebook group on the internet!"
When you enroll in this course you can join my Facebook group "The Beginner Drawing Family". It really is the most supportive and friendly community you'll find anywhere. My students call themselves 'DrawPj'ers" (after my website).
It's family friendly place where you can ask questions and request feedback from the community. When you're feeling confident you can share what you've learned with others taking the same exciting journey.
I'll be there too with my team too. I look forward to meeting you and seeing all the wonderful things you create.
- Complete beginners
- Students with some experience (but who need fundamental drawing skills to progress)
- Hobby Artists
- Students setting out on the journey to becoming an artist, illustrator or designer
- Crafters who want to go beyond pre-made designs
- Adults and Children (10+)
In this series of essential skills I'll be showing you the very beginning steps of learning to draw. We'll start right from how to hold your pencil for sketching. These essential skills form a valuable foundation for drawing so many objects.
Learn how to create your Peppie the Pup final outline drawing from your construction drawing.
Get oriented with the Six Pencil Techniques section of this course. First of all you'll practise all the individual pencil techniques and then you'll complete 'The Old Hay Shed Project' which cleverly allows you to use every single technique that you've learnt so far.
Learn to create a beautiful pencil cross hatch.
Now it's time to have fun creating the trees and the leaves. They are going to look great when you use the pencil techniques you've just learnt.
A silver kettle seems like such a simple object, but it will be a real test of your shading skills to make it look metallic, shiny and realistic. But don't worry. If you've successfully completed the exercises up to this point you are more than ready for the task!