Drawabox | A free, exercise based approach to learning the fundamentals of drawing

Anyone can learn to draw. It's not some magical talent a few people are born with. It's a skill you can train. We can help.

Drawabox is a set of free exercise-based lessons that focus on the fundamentals - the skills you'll need to make sense of all the other resources and tutorials out there. First we focus on the basic mechanics of mark making, and how to use your arm. By the end, we develop a strong understanding of form, 3D space and construction.

I won't lie to you - our approach is tough and involves a lot of hard work. It's also structured and gives you a clear path with concise explanations and assignments you can complete and submit for review.

You can read more about Drawabox and how it came about here.

Or you can join the community of thousands of beginners and professionals alike and get started.

Homework

Once you've completed a lesson, one of the best ways to refine your understanding of that material is to help others by critiquing their work. After having done thousands of critiques and having improved immensely over the last few years, I can attest to that myself.

  • 250 Cylinder Challenge

    CyberKitty

    6:41 PM, Wednesday February 12th 2025
  • Lesson 3: Applying Construction to Plants

    Ageth

    11:49 PM, Monday February 10th 2025
  • Lesson 4: Applying Construction to Insects and Arachnids

    yadav106

    12:28 PM, Friday February 7th 2025
  • Lesson 2: Contour Lines, Texture and Construction

    Vncaheo

    4:00 AM, Saturday February 8th 2025
  • 250 Cylinder Challenge

    Friendly__Neighbour

    10:45 AM, Friday February 14th 2025
  • Lesson 5: Applying Construction to Animals

    Friendly__Neighbour

    10:37 AM, Friday February 14th 2025
  • Lesson 4: Applying Construction to Insects and Arachnids

    Friendly__Neighbour

    10:29 AM, Friday February 14th 2025
  • Lesson 3: Applying Construction to Plants

    Friendly__Neighbour

    10:24 AM, Friday February 14th 2025
  • Lesson 2: Contour Lines, Texture and Construction

    Friendly__Neighbour

    10:14 AM, Friday February 14th 2025
  • Lesson 3: Applying Construction to Plants

    Ash5680

    8:33 PM, Monday February 10th 2025

Questions/Discussions

Take a moment to answer someone's question, or contribute to a discussion, if you have anything to offer.

  • Organic Perspective (alternative)

    NameWithFace

  • How to aim better to the VP when It is off the page

    CauaEckhardtPaschoal

  • when to start warm-up rotation

    Drudeger

  • Took a Year Break from Drawabox, should I continue to 250 Boxes or Restart?

    Card_509

Sketchbooks

Along with Drawabox work, our community members also post other artwork to their sketchbooks.

  • pseudonimo's Sketchbook: Other Random Sketches

  • carpediem's Sketchbook: Pre-construction training charcoal work

  • 44MON's Sketchbook: Trying digital again after a long break from drawing

  • RaiiNamoor's Sketchbook: 50% rule drawing - Something I saw in a dream

  • DrawingDad11's Sketchbook: Connecting the dots

The recommendation below is an advertisement. Most of the links here are part of Amazon's affiliate program (unless otherwise stated), which helps support this website. It's also more than that - it's a hand-picked recommendation of something we've used ourselves, or know to be of impeccable quality. If you're interested, here is a full list.
PureRef

PureRef

This is another one of those things that aren't sold through Amazon, so I don't get a commission on it - but it's just too good to leave out. PureRef is a fantastic piece of software that is both Windows and Mac compatible. It's used for collecting reference and compiling them into a moodboard. You can move them around freely, have them automatically arranged, zoom in/out and even scale/flip/rotate images as you please. If needed, you can also add little text notes.

When starting on a project, I'll often open it up and start dragging reference images off the internet onto the board. When I'm done, I'll save out a '.pur' file, which embeds all the images. They can get pretty big, but are way more convenient than hauling around folders full of separate images.

Did I mention you can get it for free? The developer allows you to pay whatever amount you want for it. They recommend $5, but they'll allow you to take it for nothing. Really though, with software this versatile and polished, you really should throw them a few bucks if you pick it up. It's more than worth it.

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