Drawing resources

June 7, 2022 9:21 PM

Can you recommend a specific book, YouTube channel, online course, etc for improving drawing techniques?

Not looking for creativity building stuff, instead looking for mechanical technique oriented resources for someone who has some basic drawing skills but not beyond basic. General drawing technique or specific skill building (hatching, charcoal, figure drawing, whatever) both welcome.

posted by latkes to Education (10 answers total)

I enjoyed working through Draw a Box. It's very focused on a pretty specific skillset (handling a pen, thinking in three dimensions, construction and texture techniques) to the exclusion of some others (like gesture and figure drawing) but I found the rigid structure and specificity of the assignments to be really helpful and motivating.
posted by theodolite at 9:27 PM on June 7, 2022 [2 favorites]

came here to add drawabox.com, so +1 to theodolite’s comment above. second add is proko on YouTube.

full disclose this is from the SO, and not personal rec. but i’ve witnessed the skill development and it’s been great!
posted by tamarack at 10:19 PM on June 7, 2022

Vilppu Glenn Vilppu has great classical drawing skills and has very detailed instructions on how to draw in a classical style in traditional media.
posted by effluvia at 11:07 PM on June 7, 2022

Previously and previously (and also previously, but that's more advice than specific resources).

From the first linked question I recommended:

I Want to Draw: Simple Exercises for Complete Beginners
Disney Parks: How to Draw YouTube series
posted by underclocked at 11:09 PM on June 7, 2022

Figure Drawing: Design and Invention by Michael Hampton
posted by Balthamos at 12:00 AM on June 8, 2022

Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain
posted by itesser at 12:56 AM on June 8, 2022 [2 favorites]

I refer to How to Draw What You See as "Drawing on the Left Side of the Brain" because it's more a analytical approach to building skills.
posted by BrashTech at 1:47 PM on June 8, 2022

If you need figure model references, posespace.com is an excellent source.
posted by foxfirefey at 2:37 PM on June 8, 2022

The Etherington Bros How To Think When You Draw series is great. I find it especially fun when I want to draw but am bereft of inspiration - I can just choose a tutorial randomly and do what it says.
posted by smartyboots at 5:52 PM on June 9, 2022

I find the website of John Muir Laws to be utterly marvelous for this purpose.
His YouTube channel is full of practical lessons, but what makes them special is that he has a target for those lessons: his focus is on nature journaling and explicitly not on producing final pieces of art - but in order to do so, he goes through a whole series of skills and perspectives. By focusing on the nature journal part of things, the art skills part of things gets a lot of practice - you get a reason to be drawing/painting/arting. And the skills are transferrable to final pieces.
posted by Shunra at 8:37 PM on June 9, 2022