I was in awe the first time I saw Kim Jung Gi at work. He would draw realistic-looking scenes, seemingly from his imagination, directly in ink. How did he do that! I went online in search of interviews to find out how he had done that. He said he had drawn from memory a lot since a young age. I wrote about that here.

I didn’t understand why you would have to draw from memory if you could just draw from observation. I tried it for two weeks, and even in that short period, the results already blew my mind. From that moment on, memory drawing became my go-to exercise, a Swiss army knife I could use to practice anything. I will explain that some more in the practice sessions, but one thing that dawned on me is that I could do the same exercise he did! Not at his level, of course, but I could do the same. While I still struggled to memorize one image, he’d memorize stacks of images. But it was the same exercise, just at a different level.

I thought that was rather elegant; exercises you can do at any level.

In other fields, it often works that way, too. I do competitive swimming, and each coaching session starts with a “drill”, an exercise designed to help you feel what it feels like if you do the movement right, which is crucial because you can’t see yourself, so you can not know what you are doing wrong. But these drills help you feel how it feels if you are doing it right.

Starters do those drills, but pro swimmers still do the same drills, too!

It’s in most fields, if you think about it. Runners can run at different speeds and distances, but they all practice using the same exercise. Weightlifters may lift different weights, but they all do the same thing: lift weights. It’s the same with learning to play a musical instrument; a novice practices the same way a more experienced musician practices.

I have tried to make that the basis of the exercises you will find in this course: you can do these exercise types whether you are a beginner or a more experienced artist.

Because of that, this course will be slightly different from the courses you are used to: Instead of “lessons”, I divided them into separate “practice sessions”. Each practice session will explain the why and how of an exercise type and then present the same exercise at various difficulty levels, allowing you to return to it and continue improving. These practice sessions are designed to show how to use the resources on this website to do these exercises.

These practice sessions are similar to the different exercise machines in a gym: you keep doing all of them, but as time progresses and your fitness improves, you do them at more challenging levels.

A goal of this course is to provide a routine that you can keep doing and improve on your own, like a runner training and improving every day, moving up the skill ladder.

And that’s also the power of the exercises presented here; you can do them at any level of skill. I still do them myself, and they still help me improve. You might even be a better artist than I am and get a lot from doing these exercises. They are for any skill level. You can do them with one-pound weights or hundred-pound weights, so to speak.

It’s actually a key difference with other courses that I still do my own exercises myself. Not many courses are like that. A teacher learns to draw somewhere and then devises a course that is different from how they learned.

Peter Han and Drawabox are notable examples who learned “Dynamic Sketching” from Norman Schureman and now teach the same method.

I go through these myself and (hopefully!) notice problems with them before you do. That said, if you have tips on how I can improve Practice Drawing This, please let me know.

In addition, over the years, I developed many free drawing practice resources, and this course introduces them, showing how you can use these resources to do these exercises in the practice sessions.

This course is designed to lead you through the different types of drawing exercises you can do using the resources on this website. Each practice session itself goes from beginner to advanced, and each practice session is self-contained so that you can jump in at the drawing exercise you fancy at the level you are at.

The idea is that you go through the practice sessions doing the exercises in easy mode, and then return to these practice sessions later to do the more advanced versions of the same exercise types.

You can keep drawing fun that way; when you get bored or stuck, you can jump to a different type of drawing exercise and continue to grow there.

Don’t hesitate to revisit earlier chapters when you feel you need to brush up on some skills. As mentioned earlier, you can continue doing these exercises and get something from them.

Regarding what tools to use, I would say, don’t overthink it. Use drawing tools that are comfortable to you. That said, if you are new, experiment a bit, find out what works for you.

Pencils are fine, especially for certain exercises where it can be helpful if you can erase a bit, but try not to erase too much while you are drawing. I also use a pencil when I want to ensure the result is correct.

Drawing directly in pen can be beneficial because you get better at drawing more quickly, because it forces you to consider placing each line carefully, as you can not erase it. That said, the pen doesn't smear and is therefore less messy. My preference is a thin fineliner. It's also very portable; all you need is a pen.

Ballpoint pens are a great option too, and are somewhere in the middle between a fineliner and a pencil: you can’t erase them, but they do allow for soft lines, like a pencil. A disadvantage is that ballpoint ink typically fades quickly over time; however, this is not a problem for drawing practice, where you make disposable sketches.

14 Things To Consider When Choosing A Pen

Regarding paper, you can use printer paper or a cheap sketchbook. It doesn't matter; you need to draw a lot. Sketchbooks can be great, too. Their advantage is that they invite storage on bookshelves, allowing you to revisit them later. And they are more portable than a loose stack of paper sheets. Large sketchbooks are more pleasant to draw in, but they tend to be heavy and thus harder to lug around. But they are fine as studio sketchbooks. While out on the go, smaller sketchbooks are therefore preferred.

7 Things To Consider When You Are Looking For The Perfect Sketchbook

My go-to outside is a fineliner and an A5-size sketchbook. At home, I will work in an A4 sketchbook using various media, including pencil, fineliner, and ballpoint pens. Sometimes I draw on loose sheets of paper.

For the exercises in this course, all you need is a surface to make marks on and something to make marks with. It doesn't have to be expensive.

Some resources on this website are not specific to any type of exercise, and I will list them here.

It is a good idea to first go through this course to get acquainted with all the exercise categories and resources from this website. After you’ve gone through the course, the Morning Sketches APP is a convenient place where you can continue with all the exercises that were explained in this course.

You can find it here:

Morning Sketches APP

This is for anyone who wants to improve their drawing skills and build their visual library. Practice drawing every day. Never be without a reference image to draw from. Hundreds of images are ready to be drawn. There is no need to choose an image; a sophisticated scheduler chooses one for you. Start the day with a drawing warm-up to improve pen(cil) control. Practice drawing 3D models designed for artists. Practice drawing gestures and breaking down a reference to simplified forms. Master drawing objects rotated from imagination.
Check it out

I am prone to procrastinating. One way I procrastinate is by going onto YouTube to create a playlist to listen to while drawing. The podcast player for artists is a solution for that.

The solution I came up with is a page on this website with a podcast player designed for artists. The idea is that fresh new playlists are generated every day, and you just go to the ArtPodPlay website and start listening to the playlist of the day. The podcast episodes are selected from a curated list of great podcasts. You can choose from a set of categories of podcasts you want to listen to.

Try ArtPodPlay Here:

Podcast Player For Artists

Listen to podcasts while drawing. New playlists are created from select podcasts every day. Choose from various categories, from Ambient for concentrated drawing to spoken podcasts on various subjects. There is no need to waste time choosing; just press play and start drawing while listening to great podcasts!
Check it out

This site has a podcast with episodes designed for listening while drawing.

Listen To The Podcast

These podcasts can also be found on the YouTube channel here.

Jerry Seinfeld famously mentioned the “don’t break the chain” approach he used: each day after writing, he’d place a red cross on today on a calendar. From there, it became a matter of not missing a day, not breaking the chain.

I created a page for that, and you can find it here.

Daily Drawing Habit Tracker

Artist-friendly daily drawing habit tracker. See your drawing streak on a calendar. A forgiving system that allows you ample days off. Turn your drawing practice into a semi-daily habit and feel the satisfaction of having a long drawing streak!
Check it out

This animator’s stopwatch lets you time a motion by performing it yourself and marking key moments in the animation.

Animator's Stopwatch

Community

We have a friendly, active Discord server you can check out if you are interested in interacting with like-minded souls.

The Discord Server

And there is a newsletter that goes out weekly, featuring a usually short article on a thought-provoking topic for artists, and a section with updates to the website, including resources that were added or improved.

The Morning Sketches APP provides reference images, organizes everything, and schedules all the exercises in this course for you.

Stay informed of new exercises and drawing resources. Subscribe to the newsletter or join the discord to stay informed.

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