Your sketchbook journey starts here!

This class is aimed at teaching you simple principles that make casual drawing fun and gratifying.

Learn Basic Concepts for Shape & Proportion

No, you won't be measuring in this class!

(We save that for Foundations of Drawing.)

In this class, you'll learn foundational rules to assess your subject and get believable proportion. Perspective basics and techniques for judging relationships are covered.

You'll also learn a simple approach to lay out your design on the page before first so that you can actually relax and enjoy the process of shading and adding line work.

Create Studies of Your Favorite Subjects

A great thing about sketchbooks is that you don't have to create a whole composition, or even finish everything you start! This is an opportunity to learn about how things look from different angles, in various positions, or under different lighting.

Techniques learned in this class will apply to everything from cityscapes and interiors to animals and portraits. Whether your subject is man-made or organic and whether you're using photo references or observing in real life, you'll leave this class equipped to tackle sketching them!

Make Any Sketch Pop with Shading & Linework

Accuracy does not an interesting drawing make!

Even if you've faithfully drawn and shaded what you see, you still might have a boring drawing on your hands.

In this class you'll learn simple yet meaningful ways to push depth, bring attention, and add style to your work. With this you can turn a ho-hum sketch, and even an inaccurate one, into a cool and satisfying study.

Understanding how light and shadow work, how to use shading to describe the surface of a form, and how to use value to show what's near or far gives you a language you can use to translate your vision on to paper.

What Materials Do I Need?

Pencil, paper, eraser.

Seriously, that's it!

You're welcome to get a set of pencils, mechanical pencils, colored pencils, different eraser types, or a variety of papers to try if you wish. However, we want to keep the materials list simple so it's accessible, approachable, and portable.

If you're attending class in-studio, materials are provided.

Is this course good for beginners?

YES! Even if you are a total beginner, if you want to enjoy sitting down with a sketchbook and are eager to learn, this class will be great for you!

Lessons are organized to be approachable by folks who have never drawn before. Folks who can't draw a stick-figure, or even a straight line. ;-)

You begin with the very basics and choose subjects based on complexity: Start with easy stuff if you're a beginner, tackle complex ones if you've done this before.