Why Online Learning Works

Online learning wins because the barrier is zero. Open a browser, set a timer for 15 minutes, and you are drawing.

Studying with notebooks and a laptop

Learn at Your Own Pace

Miss perspective in a group class and the class moves on without you. At home you can stay on ellipses for three days instead of one. Start with drawing basics from scratch.

Instant Practice in the Editor

Read about layers, then make three layers right away. Theory you use in the same minute sticks about twice as well.

Step 1: A Workspace and a Tool

Whatever you already have is enough. People draw with a mouse, a finger on a phone, and a stylus on an old tablet.

What You Need on Day One

Do Not Buy a Tablet Yet

A graphics tablet will not draw for you. The first two weeks go to line and observation, and a mouse handles that just as well.

Step 2: The Order of Skills

Beginners grab a portrait on day one and get discouraged. Skills stack, and the order matters more than effort.

Line and Form

Before each session, spend 5 minutes on straight lines between two points, plus arcs and ellipses. Then a cube, a sphere, and a cylinder.

Proportion and Value

Proportion is comparison: the cup is one and a half times wider than it is tall. For value, three steps are enough: light, midtone, and shadow.

Color and Composition

Color hides construction mistakes, so it comes last. Use three colors and white, and place the focal point off the center of the canvas.

Common mistake

Jumping topics every day: a portrait today, a landscape tomorrow, anime the day after. Keep one topic for at least a week.

Step 3: A Practice Schedule

Skill grows from the number of repetitions, not from the length of a session. Short daily sessions beat rare marathons.

15 Minutes Every Day versus 3 Hours on Sunday

Three hours on Sunday is 12 hours a month. Fifteen minutes every day is 7.5 hours. What you gain is 30 starts instead of four.

Warm-Up and the Main Assignment

  1. 5 minutes of warm-up: lines, arcs, ellipses.
  2. 8 minutes on the main assignment: one object, one topic.
  3. 2 minutes to review what to redo tomorrow.

Step 4: Assignments and References

While you are picking a subject, the urge to draw has time to fade. Write a list of assignments for the week ahead and simply follow it.

Where to Find Drawing Material

Break the photo into forms and light instead of tracing the outline, the way drawing from reference explains.

How to Make the Tasks Harder

The assignment should sit a little above your level. Drew a mug? Add a second one and the shadow between them, then try glass.

Step 5: Checking Your Progress

The eye improves faster than the hand, so your own work starts to look worse and worse. Trust the measurements, not the feeling.

A Before-and-After Folder

Save pieces with the date in the file name. In a month, open the first five and the last five side by side. The difference will surprise you.

Redraw the Same Piece a Month Later

Draw the subject of your first piece again, without peeking at the old version. Same subject, same tool. The only difference is you. Write the takeaways in an artist progress journal.

What to Do When It Is Not Working

The moment when everything looks crooked usually arrives around week two. That is a signal to shrink the task.

Simplify the Task

If a portrait is not working, draw only the eye. If the eye is not working, a circle and an eyelid in two lines.

Go Back to the Basics

A crooked drawing breaks at the foundation: the line wobbles, and the proportions were never measured. Spend three days on straight lines and simple forms.

Time to draw, not just read

Theory fades in a couple of days if you never use it. Open the editor and spend 15 minutes on what you just read. That is enough for the skill to stick.

Try it now

A free online editor: brushes, layers, a palette, and a shared canvas. No install and no sign-up.

Start drawing

Topics in this guide

How to Draw on a Graphics Tablet: Starting without Paper →