"Drawing Fundamentals Made Simple" DVD Course - Art Lessons - How to Sketch

Description

Dear Artists,
This is a house.
And in just a few moments, I’m going to show you how
this house will make you a better artist.
Hi, my name is
Ethan Nguyen.
I’m a professional artist and teacher.
And my online courses and videos have helped
tens of thousands of students
from all over the world improve their drawing.
Mistakes Almost Every Beginners Make
Over the years,
I’ve seen a lot of student works
and I was started to see a
list of recurring problems
.
If you’re reading this,
maybe you can relate to some of these.
Common Mistake #1
Firstly, students
didn’t know how to hold or control their pencils
in order to make smooth and clean marks. So their drawings were full of scratchy and messy lines.
This not only looks bad but if done for too long,
it can become a harmful habit that holds back your progress.
Common Mistake #2
Second, their
eyes haven’t been finely tuned to see accurately
and so their drawings were full of proportional errors and inaccuracies.
Worse yet, because
they can’t see the mistakes they were making, they kept doing it over and over again.
Some artists might
spend years practicing
diligently, but
never actually getting better.
Common Mistake #3
And third,
they didn’t really understand the 3D forms of what they were drawing
or how light interacts with those forms. So they couldn’t shade their subject convincingly.
And they definitely
couldn’t draw it from imagination.
Regardless of the subject matter, whether it’s portrait, figure, or landscape,
these issues kept popping up, preventing the artists from reaching their full potential.
Why Drawing is Like Building a House…
Anyway, I started thinking about why these students were struggling and that’s when I thought of a house.
See,
learned how to draw is a lot like building a house.
If you want to build a good house, you have to
start with a solid foundation.
Then
construct a sturdy frame.
After that, you’d
add the plumbing and electrical.
And only once all that is complete
should you worry about the
cosmetic stuff
like
painting the walls
and
decorating the rooms.
Each step builds upon the last
and things have to be done in sequence. If you
skip a certain step,
you’ll
compromise the integrity of the house.
Well,
building your artistic skillset is very similar.
There’s a
certain sequence
you have to go through in order to
optimize your development.
The 4 Fundamental Skills
This sequence of skills can be broken down into 4 parts:
basic pencil control, observational drawing, constructive drawing,
and
realistic shading.
1) Basic Pencil Control
Pencil control is just what it sounds like. It’s learning
how to use your tools to make marks on the paper.
This might seem pretty simple but
there’s more to it than you’d think.
It’s the most basic skill because
if you can’t make clean marks, you can’t really do much else in art.
Pencil control is like the foundation of the house…
it sets the base for everything you’re going to do.
2) Observational Drawing
Observational drawing is all about
looking at your subject,
whether it’s a portrait, a figure, or a still-life, and being able to
replicate it on paper accurately.
Have good observational skills means that you can look at your drawing and know when it’s out of proportion or misaligned.
This is the key to improving
because if you
can’t see your mistakes,
you
can’t fix them.
And if you can’t fix your mistakes, you
can’t improve.
It’s THAT important.
Observational drawing is like the frame of the house…
it’s the scaffolding from which you can develop more advanced skills.
3) Constructive Drawing
Constructive drawing is about
understanding the 3D structure and perspective of your subject
and being able to
construct it using basics forms.
This is harder and requires a little more knowledge than observational drawing, but it’s going to give you a
better understanding of your subject
and allows you to
shade it more effectively.
And it’ll also help
train you to draw from your imagination.
Constructive drawing is like the plumbing and wiring of the house…
it’s not always visible from the surface… but it’s extremely important in making everything work.
4) Realistic Shading
And finally, realistic shading is about
adding light and shadow
to make your drawings more three dimensional.
Shading is like the cosmetic portions of the house
like the paint, furniture, and decorations.
It’s the part that gets all the attention and students usually like to go straight to it.
But if you don’t have the previous foundations in place, learning to shade will be extremely difficult.
A lot of times
students will struggle with the shading
without realizing that their
problem actually started way earlier
with the
observational
and
constructive phase.
If you structure your training to
develop these skills in sequence,
you’ll be a more well-rounded artist and
progress much more smoothly.
Why So Many Artists Don’t Improve
The problem I see with so many
amateur
and
self-taught artists
is that they
don’t even know what skills they need to learn.
So they end up taking a very
scattered and haphazard approach to their training.
If they’re lucky they might get a few pieces here and there, but they’ll still
end up missing many crucial components
which significantly
slows down their progress.
That’s like building a house on a
shaky foundation
, with a
flimsy frame
,
faulty plumbing and wiring
, and a
messy paint job
.
There are
many artists who’ve been drawing or painting for years
and may have even reached professional levels,
without having a firm grasps on these essential fundamentals.
So, once I realized what was missing from so many artists’ education, I set out to create a course that would
offer a systematic way to develop these crucial skills
and
correct the most common beginner mistakes
before they become bad habits.
And after two years of hard work, I am proud to present the…
“Drawing Fundamentals Made Simple” Course
What’s in This Course…
Part 1 – Basic Pencil Control
We’ll begin with the absolute essentials like
how to set up your workspace
. This will not only make it easier and fun for you to practice, but it’ll also help you
avoid postural problems
as well as
make your artworks better.
Next, you’ll learn
how to properly hold and control your pencil
.
These things might seem really simple, but many of the
most common problems plaguing new artists stem from not knowing these basics.
By mastering these aspects from the beginning,
you’ll be able to improve much more quickly.
Accompanying the lessons are
fun exercises with printable worksheets
that will help you put the concepts into practice.
Part 2 – Observational Drawing
Once your hand dexterity has improved, you’ll
learn the measuring skills that every artist needs
. You’ll discover
how to measure angles and distances
to make your drawings accurate and proportional.
Then we’ll go through
step-by-step exercises
that will help you master these concepts. We’ll begin by drawing
simple 2D shapes
and gradually progress to
more complex subjects.
For this, we’ll be working with the classical drawings of
Charles Bargue
. These famous Bargue drawings have been used to train artists for hundreds of years.
And in this course, we’ll be using them to
learn skills like accurate measurement, shape design, and simplification.
By the end of this section
, you’ll have a firm grasp of how to measure what you see in order to draw anything accurately.
Part 3 – Constructive Drawing
Being able to
draw from your imagination
is one of the most important and sought-after skills an artist could have. Although it might seem difficult or even impossible,
any beginner can learn to draw from imagination
if they
understand the right concepts and techniques.
In this section,
you’re going to learn the foundational skills and perspective principles
that will allow you to do just that.
We’ll begin by learning the
basics of perspective drawing
. You’ll learn concepts like the
horizon line, vanishing points, line convergence
, and how to use them to
create 3D objects and scenes
.
We’ll cover
how one and two-point perspective works
… and then we’ll go through step-by-step exercises where you can practice
drawing simple boxes
and modify them to create a variety of shapes.
Once you’re comfortable with constructing boxes, we’ll apply this knowledge to
drawing actual 3D objects from your imagination
. We’ll do this from both one and two-point perspectives.
Now that you have a good understanding of how to draw boxy objects,
next, we’ll cover curved objects
. You’ll learn the simple rules that explain
how ellipse and circle perspective works
and how to use them to draw cylinders at various angles.
Then we’ll go through a bunch of different exercises where you’ll learn
how to combine boxes and cylinders to create all sorts of everyday objects.
Lastly, we’ll dive into
drawing spherical forms
. Again, you’ll learn how to use perspective to create three-dimensional spheres.
And we’ll go through lots of examples of how to use this knowledge to
draw even more complex subjects
.
By the end of this section, you’ll have a good understanding of
how to draw boxes, cylinders, and spheres and how to use them to construct more complex objects
from your imagination.
Part 4 – Basics of Realistic Shading
To most people, the ability to put line and tone on a flat page and
create a realistic drawing
can seem almost like magic.
In this section, we’re going to
demystify the shading process
and show you exactly how it’s done, step-by-step.
We’ll begin by breaking down the
different elements of a drawing
and how they come together to create the illusion of form. You’ll learn about the
value scale
and how to manipulate it to create different effects in your art.
Then you’ll learn about the
different types of edges
and how to use them in a drawing.
Will analyze master artworks so as well as go through hands-on exercises so you can see how to apply these concepts to your art.
Next, you’ll learn all about
how light works
and how to use this knowledge to create dynamic drawings. We’ll use diagrams and animations to help illustrates the concepts and you’ll come away from this section with a
deep understanding of the theories behind realistic shading
.
Then, we’ll put all the principles and concepts into practice with step-by-step exercises. We’ll begin by drawing and shading basic forms like the
box, cylinder, and sphere
.
Once, you’re comfortable with the basic forms, we’ll move on to drawing more complex still-life objects like a
book, a cup, and an apple
.
Don’t worry if these projects look intimidating, I’ll carefully
walk you through the entire process
of constructing the lay-in all the way through to a rendered finish.
Part 5 – Dynamic Shading on Toned Paper
Now that you’re comfortable with the basics of shading on white paper, the next section will
build on this to take your rendering skills to the next level
.
We’ll learn how to work with
toned paper
where you’ll use a white pencil to create the highlights.
Toned paper is my favorite method of drawing because it allows you to shade more quickly and with less work while still achieving the same level of realism as regular white paper.
And it also results in really
high contrast dynamic drawings
.
In this section, you’re going to learn the
different ways to use toned paper
to make your artworks more exciting.
We’ll begin by
going over the materials
you’ll need as well as some
basic shading exercises
to get you comfortable with this medium.
You’ll learn how to create a
toned value scale
and how to shade a
basic 3D form
.
Then we’ll progress to drawing a variety of
still life and organic subjects
. We’ll start with a simple
wooden figure
, then a
porcelain teapot
, and then a
human eye
.
You’ll be able to see the
entire process laid out in a step-by-step way
, from the initial lay-in to applying all the shadows and highlights.
Once you’re comfortable with shading on grey toned paper, I’ll introduce you to
drawing on black paper
.
Here, we’ll only use the white pencil to create the highlights and allow the black of the paper to stand in for the shadows.
This style of drawing can create very high contrast and dynamic drawings (even more so than regular toned paper).
And by learning to shade on black paper,
you’ll gain a deeper understanding of the principles of rendering
.
Once again, we’ll learn through a series of easy-to-follow step by step exercises.
We’ll start with a simple drawing of a
candle
. Then we’ll move on to drawing a
glass cup
. And finally, we’ll end with a
bird
.
By the end of this course, you’ll know
how to use toned paper to create awesome artworks
and be well on your way to become a well-rounded and knowledgeable artist.
Key Things You’ll Learn in This Course
The most common mistakes beginning artists make and how to avoid them
How to spot proportional errors in your drawing and fix them
How to use a variety of lines and marks to create dynamic drawings
How to draw the boxes, cylinders, and spheres & combine them to create any objects you want
How to analyze objects so you can understand their structure and draw them with ease
Understand how light works and use this knowledge to create realistic drawings
How to use hard and soft edges to make your drawings more three-dimensional even without using any shading
The ONE most important rule to remember whenever you are shading a drawing
What to look for when selecting photo references in order to make your drawing 10 times easier
How to apply atmospheric perspective to add depths to your drawings
How to design backgrounds that will make your subject leap from the page
How to use cross-hatching to make your shading more exciting
And a whole lot more!
Who Is This Course For?
This course is
designed for the complete beginner
, so even if you’ve never picked up a pencil before, you’ll be able to follow along without being overwhelmed.
All the concepts are
explained in a clear & easy to understand manner
and you’ll get lots of
step-by-step examples
to help you deepen your understanding.
If you’re a beginner who wants to
learn the fundamentals skills of drawing
so you can jump start your artistic career the right way, then
this course is for you
!
Here’s What Other Students
Are Saying About This Course
“This was a FABULOUS class and it totally revolutionized my art.
I love Ethan’s clear examples and the way it was organized was logical and broke down a subject that could be overwhelming into digestible pieces.
Highly recommended!
“
EJ Huston
Course Student
“Best drawing class I have seen so far. Even if you have been drawing for a while, it helps to brush up your skills.”
Meda Halmaciu
Artist & Invitation Designer @invitatiicouture
“I really love this course! It’s very detailed, not too slow and not too fast, very simple, and easy to understand.
I’ll definitely be recommending this course to some friends.”
Alnisa Beckham
Course Student
“I’ve learned a lot and developed my observational drawing skills through weeks of practice using the various worksheets supplied by the course.
I recommend this course for beginners before they move on to other more specialized drawing courses like portrait or gesture drawing.
“
Alex Reillo
Course Student
Try This Course 100% Risk-Free Today!