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.

  • Lesson 7: Applying Construction to Vehicles

    CyTori

    5:40 PM, Monday April 29th 2024
  • Lesson 5: Applying Construction to Animals

    senj

    7:18 PM, Tuesday April 30th 2024
  • Lesson 4: Applying Construction to Insects and Arachnids

    Gyanyu

    4:29 PM, Tuesday April 30th 2024
  • Lesson 2: Contour Lines, Texture and Construction

    r0m1

    3:15 PM, Sunday April 28th 2024
  • Lesson 4: Applying Construction to Insects and Arachnids

    kotka

    2:50 PM, Wednesday April 24th 2024
  • Lesson 3: Applying Construction to Plants

    Cornball

    5:23 AM, Monday April 29th 2024
  • Lesson 2: Contour Lines, Texture and Construction

    tamagaft

    9:40 AM, Tuesday April 30th 2024
  • Lesson 2: Contour Lines, Texture and Construction

    toai3

    3:44 PM, Sunday April 28th 2024
  • 25 Wheel Challenge

    Absolute

    10:11 AM, Sunday April 28th 2024
  • Lesson 2: Contour Lines, Texture and Construction

    Isaias

    5:14 AM, Friday April 26th 2024

Questions/Discussions

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

  • 50 Percent Rule Clarification

    Marmoolak

  • ok for placing 2nd vp from the y in the boxes challenge

    anstupidartist

  • Questions regarding form intersections

    Tuanz

  • In 50 box challenge it feels too late for lines this rough!

    parappa_catkin

Sketchbooks

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

  • Dotti's Sketchbook: Polar Bear

  • Gyanyu's Sketchbook: 50% for lesson 4

  • Snowguy's Sketchbook: 50% Rule 2

  • Omertoso's Sketchbook: 50%, Part 2: Impatience

  • Ritz's Sketchbook: A typical day in the life of my pet lucy, struggling to complete her work as she constantly gets distracted by things outside. Meanwhile her colleagues are occupied by their chores.

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 I've used myself. If you're interested, here is a full list.
The Art of Blizzard Entertainment

The Art of Blizzard Entertainment

While I have a massive library of non-instructional art books I've collected over the years, there's only a handful that are actually important to me. This is one of them - so much so that I jammed my copy into my overstuffed backpack when flying back from my parents' house just so I could have it at my apartment. My back's been sore for a week.

The reason I hold this book in such high esteem is because of how it puts the relatively new field of game art into perspective, showing how concept art really just started off as crude sketches intended to communicate ideas to storytellers, designers and 3D modelers. How all of this focus on beautiful illustrations is really secondary to the core of a concept artist's job. A real eye-opener.

This website uses cookies. You can read more about what we do with them, read our privacy policy.