Course description

Drawing is a skill of looking, and like any skill it can be learned. This course takes you from your very first marks to a finished drawing you're proud of, step by step and in plain words. You'll learn to see shapes, edges and light the way artists do, to measure proportions with a pencil, to shade objects so they look solid and to use perspective for rooms, streets and buildings. No talent or experience needed, just a few pencils and a sketchbook.

It's a full course, not a quick tour. There are 10 sections and 50 written lessons. You follow a library worker in a Devon market town through 12 weeks of drawing, from a wobbly first mug to a finished drawing of her kitchen window. Every section has a worksheet, model answers, a cheat sheet and practice sheets with grids, value scales and guides to draw on.

What you'll learn

• Getting started: a beginner kit on a small budget, setting up to draw comfortably and making baseline drawings to look back on.
• Seeing and line: contour, blind contour, gesture and negative space.
• Shape and proportion: simple shapes, measuring with a pencil, angles and checking your drawing.
• Light and shading: the value scale, how light falls on a form, hatching, blending and shading basic forms.
• Perspective: eye level, one-point and two-point perspective and ellipses.
• Materials and subjects: pencil grades, charcoal, pen and ink, textures, still life, plants, trees, drawing outdoors, faces, figures, hands and pets.
• Composition and habits: thumbnails, drawing from photos, a sketchbook habit and getting useful feedback.

Who it's for

Adults who have never drawn, or haven't drawn since school, and want to learn properly from the beginning. It ends with a final project: you plan and finish a drawing of a subject you care about, and make a plan to keep going.

What will I learn?

• Draw what you actually see, using contour, gesture and negative space
• Measure proportions and angles with a pencil so your drawings look right
• Shade with a value scale, hatching and blending to make objects look solid
• Use one-point and two-point perspective to draw rooms, streets and buildings
• Choose and use pencil grades, charcoal and pen to draw different textures
• Draw still life, plants, trees and landscapes, indoors and outdoors
• Draw faces, figures, hands and pets with simple guidelines
• Plan a composition with thumbnails and finish a drawing you're proud of

Frequently asked questions