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 2: Contour Lines, Texture and Construction

    laurada

    5:34 AM, Tuesday April 16th 2024
  • Lesson 5: Applying Construction to Animals

    Allipses

    8:14 PM, Tuesday April 9th 2024
  • Lesson 5: Applying Construction to Animals

    seebfl

    8:17 AM, Saturday April 13th 2024
  • Lesson 3: Applying Construction to Plants

    Culhwch

    9:58 PM, Saturday April 13th 2024
  • Lesson 4: Applying Construction to Insects and Arachnids

    srpadlop

    7:02 PM, Saturday April 13th 2024
  • Lesson 2: Contour Lines, Texture and Construction

    QriousK

    2:23 AM, Wednesday April 10th 2024
  • 250 Cylinder Challenge

    seebfl

    8:11 AM, Tuesday April 9th 2024
  • Lesson 4: Applying Construction to Insects and Arachnids

    Arcayl

    4:28 PM, Thursday April 11th 2024
  • Lesson 4: Applying Construction to Insects and Arachnids

    Fable

    7:52 PM, Wednesday April 3rd 2024
  • Lesson 6: Applying Construction to Everyday Objects

    Absolute

    5:47 PM, Wednesday April 10th 2024

Questions/Discussions

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

Sketchbooks

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

  • Allipses's Sketchbook: Prompt Drawing 4-15-24

  • Dotti's Sketchbook: Beholder

  • izaichan261102's Sketchbook: Some 50/50 drawings

  • Fable's Sketchbook: 50% Drawings

  • EpainDedRick's Sketchbook: 250 box challenge 50% sketches

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 Science of Deciding What You Should Draw

The Science of Deciding What You Should Draw

Right from when students hit the 50% rule early on in Lesson 0, they ask the same question - "What am I supposed to draw?"

It's not magic. We're made to think that when someone just whips off interesting things to draw, that they're gifted in a way that we are not. The problem isn't that we don't have ideas - it's that the ideas we have are so vague, they feel like nothing at all. In this course, we're going to look at how we can explore, pursue, and develop those fuzzy notions into something more concrete.

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