What you'll learn

You'll learn the two most essential techniques for creating drawings that look realistic
Which tools to use for drawing and shading
How to use your pencil as a tool to accurately measure proportions of your subject and translate these into your drawing
How to recognise a range of tones in your subject including highlights, midtones and shadows
How to use shading techniques to create the illusion of 3-D form

Course content

2 sections • 13 lectures • 1h 30m total length

Accurate Proportion: Materials & Resources0:59
Materials and resources needed for Part One: Accurate Proportion:
Paper (A4 or A3)
Pencils (2H and 2B if available)
Printed resource photo (provided) OR your own photo of two still life objects
Accurate Proportion: Using Your Pencil As A Measuring Tool4:58
A quick exercise to learn how to measure and compare the width and height of an object and translate this into your drawing.
Accurate Proportion: Sketching Measurements of The First Object6:25
Using the resource photograph or your own photograph, measure and sketch the proportions of the first object, including width, height, and angles.
Accurate Proportion: Adding The Second Object To Your Drawing6:07
Place the second object into your drawing by considering how it relates in space to the first object. Continue practising measuring width, height and angles.
Accurate Proportion: Measuring and Adding Curves4:10
Learn how to measure and add curves to both objects.
Accurate Proportion: Summary1:14
A summary of points covered in this part of the course and how to use the measuring techniques in three-dimensional space.

Effective Shading: Shading Tools And How To Use Them9:43
Test the potential of your pencils and learn about other tools you can use when shading.
Extra materials you may like to use:
Paper blending stick
Putty eraser
Effective Shading: Identifying Tone6:15
A quick exercise to learn how to identify areas of tone in a subject (in this case a sphere). Create a tone diagram that includes a range of highlights, midtones and shadows. Download and print the attached resource photo to use the sphere as your subject for this exercise.
Effective Shading: Shading A Sphere17:59
Begin with a preliminary exercise to learn how to use a scribble shading technique to build up layers of tone and then use this to draw a three-dimensional sphere using only shading. Be patient with this one! You can always go darker with your shading but its difficult to go lighter so start off very light and slowly increase layers of darker shading.
Use the same resource photo as used in the previous lecture.
Effective Shading: Sketching And Shading An Object22:27
Use the skills learnt so far in Accurate Proportion and Effective Shading to sketch and shade an object (cup). The aim is to create a drawing that has a sense of three-dimensional form and this is achieved by sketching a very light base drawing, identifying the tones and then using shading to build up layers of tone.
Use the resource photo of a cup for this lecture. If you prefer to choose an object of your own make sure it is light coloured with no text or logo on it and place it next to a light source.
Effective Shading: Using A Blending Stick And A Putty Eraser6:09
Learn how to use an eraser and a paper blending stump to enhance your drawing.
Effective Shading: Summary2:40
A summary of the important tips to keep in mind when shading to create realistic form.
Bonus Promo Lecture1:07

Requirements

Basic drawing experience with pencils
An interest in learning how to draw realistically

Description

Are you struggling to achieve realistic form in your drawing?

As a drawing tutor the two biggest challenges to drawing realistically that I see time and again in student work are proportion and shading. In this course you will learn how to measure proportion accurately and how to shade effectively to create a realistic sense of three-dimensional form.

This quick and practical course is divided into two main sections:

Drawing Essentials: Accurate Proportion

In this first part of the course we look at the technical side of measuring widths, lengths, angles and points that line up. By practicing these techniques you will gain an understanding of how to translate measurements from your subject into your drawing to achieve accurate and realistic proportion. Draw along with me to practice measuring techniques and produce a 'skeleton' drawing that maps out your subject so you have an accurate base to work from.

Drawing Essentials: Effective Shading

In the second part of the course we look at how to shade with pencils to create a sense of '3D' depth and form in your drawing. Starting with the basics of tone I will take you through exercises to practice how to see different areas of light and dark, and how to use your pencil to gradually build up subtle layers of tone to draw realistic looking objects.

This course is suitable for beginner artists or for intermediate artists wanting to improve their current drawing skills.

Who this course is for:

Beginner to intermediate artists or art students
Beginners who want to learn specific drawing techniques of shading and proportion
Artists who want to learn techniques for improving the accuracy of their drawings

What you'll learn

Explore related topics

Course content

Accurate Proportion6 lectures • 24min

Effective Shading7 lectures • 1hr 6min

Requirements

Description

Who this course is for: