10 Best Courses To Learn How to Draw (+ Video)

how to LEARN to draw || 10 online resources and courses

Tired of browsing through hundreds of courses? Just want to learn where to draw? We got you, with LearningWhere’s first video.

So, the breakdown of these courses:

Most basic (for beginners)

Course 3: The Art & Science Of Drawing: Basic Skills
“Drawing is a skill anyone can learn”, says this course. It attempts to “replicate the experience of taking private lessons” for drawing, but from anywhere in the world. The instructor speaks from an actual art studio, so it helps the aesthetic and the overall feel of the course, and maybe it encourages you to study more and stay motivated. It starts from basics, such as how to hold a pencil, and how to draw basic shapes. Divided in 5 days: you watch a video per day. And then, once the 5 days are over, there are over 2 hours of extra lessons and demonstrations. The first of a series of courses called “The Art & Science of Drawing”, which you’re able to mix and match according to what you need (says the course page).

And you can check it out here.

Course 10: How to Draw and Sketch for Absolute Beginners
It’s a comprehensive course, with over 10 hours of video. It starts with the very basics, and works its way up. And when we say “basic”, we mean basic. How to draw rough lines, straight lines, and basic shapes are among the first lessons of the course, so it’s perfect for beginners. It’s also one of the most popular on the Udemy platform. The instructor uses digital software, but encourages students to use pencil and paper.

You can check it out here.

Including various techniques and mediums, beyond just pen and paper

Course 4: Masterclass of Realistic Drawing and Shading Human Features
The most thorough course by far, in this entire list. It counts with over 29 hours of video, and 15 downloadable resources. It teaches to draw realistically, not just with pencil and paper, but also by incorporating other mediums like charcoal powder and brushes. So even though it’s comprehensive and does start from the basics, it does go the extra mile into mixed media territory. There’s a two-hour introduction section to understand pencils, charcoal, shading, how to create texture, and other basics. Then, there are separate sections for eyes, nose, lips, hair, and many more. Towards the end, a more experimental 5-hour section called “Drawing with Creative Ideas”.

You can check it out here.

Course 6: The Complete Drawing Masterclass: From Beginner to Advanced
Here, we have a relatively new course on Udemy. It doesn’t have many reviews yet, but the few that are there look promising (it has a rating of 4.6 stars). It counts with over 19 hours of video, and it’s pretty comprehensive. Basic pencil and paper are the basis of some of the first lessons, but later it digs into specific techniques, such as cross contour, wipeout/reductive, and block-in drawing. According to the info on the Udemy page, by the end of the course, you’ll be able to have made: professional landscape drawings, accurate portrait drawings, artistic still life drawings, and more. Early vids in the course discuss basics, such as drawing on a table vs on an easel.

You can try it out here.

About specific topics: perspective, and characters

Course 2: Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Perspective Drawing
“Perspective is an artistic fundamental, and you cannot afford to skip any of your art fundamentals” is what the instructor says, in the introduction to the course. So, specifically, the course focuses on teaching perspective in drawing. It starts with basic exercises, and works its way up to teaching more complex forms of perspective. These can be specially useful in designing games, for example. The instructor uses digital software, but encourages students to use pen and paper.

You can try it out here.

Course 7: Character Art School: Complete Character Drawing Course
This one focuses specifically on designing characters. It starts with the basics, so in that sense it’s comprehensive, but in the end the ultimate goal is to draw characters. Game designers and people who work with animation can particularly benefit from these lessons. It’s a wildly popular, with over 122k students enrolled, and it counts with 26 hours of on-demand video. The Instructor draws digitally, but students can use pencil and paper.

See it for yourself here.

FREE

Resource 5: Driven to Draw, website and youtube channel
Driven To Draw is a free resource, offering mini-lessons in short videos. It covers some fundamentals of drawing, but there’s a focus on drawing automobiles, since it’s the instructor area of expertise. It’s available as a library on the website, and as playlists on YouTube.

Visit the website here, or browse through the channel.

Resource 8: Emmy Kalia’s youtube channel
Emmy Kalia is an artist who features speed drawing videos on her channel, but also has some tutorials on basic drawings. Tutorials include how to draw realistic eyes, realistic hair, realistic skin, and more. There’s a variety of short tutorials, and 1+ hour tutorials.

See more here.

Resource 9: RapidFireArt, youtube channel
RapidFireArt is a YouTube channel featuring over 30 tutorials of basic drawing skills, in addition to some speed drawing videos throughout the channel. Tutorials include how to draw noses, realistic eyes, facial expressions, how to shade with pencil, and more!

Check it here.

Most comprehensive from beginning to end

Course 1: The Ultimate Drawing Course – Beginner to Advanced
This is a comprehensive course with over 11 hours of video. It covers the fundamentals of line, shape, and form; space and perspective; creating texture; and more. No requirements other than pencil and paper. The average rating is 4.5 stars, and it’s actually one of the most popular courses, with over 289k students enrolled. So, feel free to scroll through the endless reviews on the page for more!

You can find it here.