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 3: Applying Construction to Plants

    dargonfyl

    5:32 AM, Thursday April 18th 2024
  • Lesson 2: Contour Lines, Texture and Construction

    Grumdere

    9:04 AM, Wednesday April 17th 2024
  • Lesson 2: Contour Lines, Texture and Construction

    laurada

    5:34 AM, Tuesday April 16th 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

    Fable

    7:52 PM, Wednesday April 3rd 2024
  • Lesson 4: Applying Construction to Insects and Arachnids

    Arcayl

    4:28 PM, Thursday April 11th 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.

  • Armageddun's Sketchbook: some old drawings i like to share with yall :)

  • see_wolf's Sketchbook: Man Shows Fish Eclipse

  • BreadyReady's Sketchbook: Sketchbook sketches

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

  • Dotti's Sketchbook: Beholder

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.
Ellipse Master Template

Ellipse Master Template

This recommendation is really just for those of you who've reached lesson 6 and onwards.

I haven't found the actual brand you buy to matter much, so you may want to shop around. This one is a "master" template, which will give you a broad range of ellipse degrees and sizes (this one ranges between 0.25 inches and 1.5 inches), and is a good place to start. You may end up finding that this range limits the kinds of ellipses you draw, forcing you to work within those bounds, but it may still be worth it as full sets of ellipse guides can run you quite a bit more, simply due to the sizes and degrees that need to be covered.

No matter which brand of ellipse guide you decide to pick up, make sure they have little markings for the minor axes.

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